Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Pinot Noir Estate Dussin Vineyard underwent a native fermentation with elevage in 40% new oak. Dark ruby in color, this exceptionally perfumed Pinot displays an aromatic array of wood smoke, toast, floral notes, black cherry, and black raspberry. This leads to an elegantly styled, spicy, focused, impeccably balanced wine with excellent volume, intensity of flavor, and a lengthy, seamless finish. It merits a minimum of 3-4 years of cellaring.
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Wine Spectator
This is broad and ripe, featuring dark berry and smoky, minerally flavors that compete for attention on a light, airy frame. Firm tannins mark this for the cellar, but the generosity of flavor should carry it well. Best from 2012 through 2018. 535 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.