Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This brisk red is spicy, with ginger and mace adorning its dark cherry fruit. It’s brooding at first, the flavors cornered by the oak, until some air works its way in, releasing a line of acidity that brightens the flavors, and courses through to the finish. An expressive red for braised rabbit.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Attaché is matured in 40% new oak and comes across a little sweeter and plush on the nose compared to the Two Messengers: kirsch, blueberry and a touch of violet coming through with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with silky smooth tannin, again, very well-judged acidity and a sense of natural poise that cannot disguise the Burgundy influence from Louis-Michel Liger-Belair. Like the Two Messengers, this is not only impressive, but exceedingly good value.
Home of some of the planet’s most amazingly elegant and expressive Pinot noir, the Willamette Valley is a pastoral, mixed landscape of green, bucolic rolling hills, dramatic forestlands and small, independent, friendly wine growers. As a leader in environmental stewardship, the valley has some of the nation’s most protective land use policies, with two-thirds of its vineyards farmed sustainably and over half, organically. While the valley claims a cool, continental climate, and is heavily influenced by the cold, moist winds of the Pacific Ocean, its warm and dry summers allow for the steady, even ripening of Pinot noir.
The potential of Willamette Valley Pinot noir continues to attract the investment of serious growers and winemakers both locally and from abroad, as naturally the finished wines bring accolades from professionals and enthusiasts. With a range of styles from delicate dried cherry, raspberry and hibiscus to stronger notes of truffle, mocha, plum and spice, a fine Willamette Valley Pinot noir is a perfect expression of both character and grace.