Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A refined and very fine wine with medium, velvety tannins and dried strawberries. Medium body, a polished texture and a flavorful finish. Floral undertones. Better in 2018.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Lynn Penner-Ash says, "In 2014 we really started to see the ratcheting up of growing degree days. It was both hotter and drier. It was the next really warm vintage after 2003." Pale to medium ruby in color with a hint of purple, the 2014 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley has a lovely open nose of potpourri, pink peppercorn and violet over a core of warm red and black cherries and berries with touches of undergrowth—very spicy and perfumed! Light to medium-bodied, it offers good layers of black and red fruits, exotic spices and earth in the mouth. It’s got a strong frame of grainy tannins and just enough freshness to lift all that flavor on the long finish. This is drinking beautifully right now.
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Wine Spectator
Firm and focused, with juicy blackberry and cherry fruit. Peppery tannins are sprinkled through the open-weave, deftly wrought finish. Best from 2018 through 2022. 6,850 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.