Winemaker Notes
The Estate Cuvee sets a classic tone with its passionate garnet hue. The bouquet is an experience of floral expression as well as red cherries and fresh raspberries accompanied by an immense layer of spices ranging from nutmeg to white-pepper on the finish. While approachable now, the acidity within this wine will reward one's cellar for years to come.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Sumptuous and distinctive for its range of cherry, boysenberry, floral and dark chocolate flavors, dancing suavely through the long, expressive finish. The tannins are submerged, and this has miles to go.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Pinot Noir Estate Cuvee was aged for 12 months in 30% new French oak. It, too, offers up herbal overtones which seem to be a characteristic of this vineyard. Here it is merely a background note accompanied by Asian spices, incense, and assorted black fruits. In the glass it displays unusual richness and concentration for the vintage as well as a fruit-filled, lengthy finish.
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.