Winemaker Notes
This is such a huge contrast to the Dundee Hills wines that is produced and in particular the soil-based Volcanic bottling that is also made. The interaction of dark fruits, stony/earthy-driven characteristics from the Pommard, sweetness from the Dijon 115, acid and tannin from the Mariafeld and a little bit of je ne sais quois from the Coury Clone produce a wine that will appeal to those that want secondary characteristics, structure, cool minerality and restraint. This is the inherent nature of wines from vineyards planted in these soils.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Rich and steely, this offers soil-driven suggestions of iron and graphite, along with a range of black fruits. Released quite young, it rewards extra breathing time with a broader palate, good balance and a lightly toasty finish.
-
Wine Spectator
Refined and multilayered, featuring raspberry and blueberry flavors that show poise, laced with black tea and crushed stone notes, building tension toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2029.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
The Chehalem Mountains is a northwest-southeast span of several distinct mountains, ridges and peaks in the northern part of the Willamette Valley. Of all of Willamette Valley's smaller AVAs, it is closest to the city of Portland. Its highest summit, Bald Peak at an elevation of 1,633 feet, serves to generate cooler air for the rest of the AVA and its hillside vineyards. The region covers 70,000 acres but only 1,600 acres are planted to vines; soils of the Chehalem Mountains are a mix of basalt, ocean sediment and loess.