Winemaker Notes
“Own-Rooted” Pinot Noir showcases several old-vine sites in the Willamette Valley, each at least 30 years old, and planted at a time when rootstock was relatively rare in Oregon viticulture. The Bishop Creek Vineyard supplies a portion of the blend, showing off its characteristic black fruit. Hyland Vineyard, the oldest in the McMinnville AVA, sits atop a hillside looking over the Van Duzer Corridor, and its 45 year old biodynamically farmed vines supply a high-toned red fruit and floral element. 1990-planted Pommard from Nysa Vineyard completes this wine, supplying elegant red fruit and spice. Native yeast fermentation, 16 month maturation in 50% new French oak, bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
A youthful red/ruby hue in the glass, the 2022 Pinot Noir Own-Rooted is very pretty and floral on the nose, with notes of wild black raspberries, fresh flowers, a hint of porcini powder, and sweet forest earth. Harmonious and medium-bodied, it fills the palate with a juicy feel upfront and is approachable now, with ripe, sweet tannins, fresh accents of bright acidity, and an even, balanced finish. It’s well-detailed and rounded and is going to show its best over the next 10-15 years.
-
James Suckling
Racy and nervy, this generous and complex pinot offers aromas of wild strawberries, raspberry bush and touches of dried rose petals, dusty minerals and pepper. The medium-bodied palate is silky and fresh, with fine tannins gently framing the delicate red fruit and hint of citrus zest in the long, graceful finish.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Making a wine exclusively from fruit grown on own-rooted vines is getting harder and harder, but I’m glad this one exists. Its boysenberry and chalkboard-dust aromas make for a pretty introduction, followed by flavors of red cherries, orange zest and a touch of cedarwood.
-
Vinous
The 2022 Pinot Noir Own-Rooted opens with a spice box bouquet, blending cedar shavings and cinnamon sticks with cloves and dried black cherries. It’s soothingly round and pliant with ripe red berry fruits, building saline minerality as an air of rosy inner florals amasses toward the close. It tapers off with tension, pleasantly tart and gently tannic, leaving a hint of blood orange that slowly fades. Don’t be surprised if the Own-Rooted shuts down in bottle for a short time. It’s worth following.
-
Wine Spectator
Sleekly layered and tart, with expressive flavors of cherry and cranberry accented by stony mineral and forest floor tones as this builds tension toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2033. 413 cases made.
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.