Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
A truly wonderful effort, the 2012 Raptor Ridge Reserve Pinot Noir serves up a load of fruit in the aromas and on the palate; haunting, fine strawberry flavors from start to finish. Smooth and lasting overall; perfect with grilled lamb.
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Wine Spectator
Taut, minerally and expressive, with blackberry, cherry, pear and balsamic flavors that extend into the long, refined finish. This has tension and persistence. Best from 2016 through 2022.
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Wine Enthusiast
Full-bodied and firm, it's loaded with blue plum and black cherry fruit, along with streaks of root beer and vanilla cream soda. The barrel aging brings in coffee liqueur highlights.
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.