Winemaker Notes
Aromas of dark cherry, cocoa and tart blackberry. Primary flavors of ripe red plum and black cherry, as well as flavors of sandalwood and toasted vanilla. The finish is dense, lush and spicy. Made with 100% Pinot Noir.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Pinot Noir Reserve has a medium ruby color and scents of cranberry sauce, tea leaves, iodine, wood-smoke and earth. The medium-bodied palate offers concentrated fruit balanced by abundant, grainy tannins and soft acidity, and it has a long, spicy finish. Best After 2023
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Wine Enthusiast
The latest reserve falls right in line with previous vintages, a full-bodied mix of blackberry, black cherry, black olive and light hints of sandalwood. It’s full-flavored from start to finish, with loads of pure fruit power. It was aged in 40% new French oak, fully supported by ripe, almost silky tannins.
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Wine Spectator
Supple and expressive, with elegantly structured raspberry and cherry flavors that gather appealing layers of clove and spice tea.
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.