Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Love the strawberry and citrus undertones with hints of orange peel. Full-bodied yet refined and tight, leading to a fantastic finish. An exciting wine with layers and length. Excellent value, too. Drink or hold.
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Wine & Spirits
With its oak-spice aromas and wood-enriched texture, this feels like an old-school red. The wine’s cherry flavor drives through the oak on a tense line of acidity, that tension suggesting that it’s not quite ready to drink. Lay it down for six months or more before opening with roast pork.
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.