Winemaker Notes
—Luisa Ponzi
2006 may be remembered as the year Oregon's orchards and vineyards produced record yields. Crop tons per acre this year were extraordinarily high across the Willamette Valley. Higher than normal rainfall in the winter charged soils with abundant water. This ground water enabled vines to flourish through the very dry summer. Harvest was hot and fast for most sites. Soil water may have been the causal factor for such a large average cluster size, but it also insured high quality and clean fruit from happy vines! This Pinot Noir is a blend from Ponzi's Aurora Vineyard, Madrona Vineyard, and Estate Vineyard along with Dion Vineyard, Alloro Vineyard and Gemini Vineyard. This wine is made from 100% certified sustainable fruit.
Professional Ratings
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.
