Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Sophisticated, urbane, and pure, the 2015 Nicolas-Jay Pinot Noir expresses Willamette Valley authenticity. The wine exhibits red to blue fruits, with a streak of minerality. Its refined palate pairs it well with seared wild salmon. (Tasted: March 15, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
The second release from this impressive new project is a touch lighter than the previous vintage, but just as well built. Blending grapes from four different sub-AVAs, this shows a sleek and detailed mix of fruit—strawberry, plum and cherry—married to just the right amount of new French oak (one third of the barrels). Editors’ Choice.
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Wine Spectator
A lovely and delicately complex wine, with expressive violet and raspberry aromas and harmoniously layered cherry, floral tea and stony mineral flavors that glide through a long 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.