Winemaker Notes
#9 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023
Deep and brilliant dark ruby color. On the nose, aromas of red fruits pair elegantly with a touch of spice and wood. Flavors such as cherries and currants standout in the mouth and finish with soft tannins and a pleasant minerality.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley (not yet in bottle) features bright cranberry, raspberry, orange peel, aniseed and lavender on the nose. The medium-bodied palate already feels complete, offering a balance of grainy tannins, mouthwatering acidity and generous, perfumed fruit. As it spends time in the glass it gains amplitude as it continues to unfold its concentrated flavors, and its juiciness calls you back to take another sip.
Barrel Sample: (93-95)
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Wine Spectator
Precise and elegantly structured, with detailed raspberry, savory tea and crushed stone accents that gather richness and tension toward refined tannins.
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James Suckling
Fresh cherries, strawberries, red plums and cloves. Juicy mushroom notes, too. Medium-bodied, fresh and plump, with soft tannins and a succulent finish.
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.