Winemaker Notes
The 2018 vivid, deep-red, personable Rex Hill Jacob-Hart Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir greets with warm spice aromas (cinnamon, saffron, paprika, clove, nutmeg, black pepper) joining fruity ones (fig, black and red berry, plum skin, and guava). A deeper layer emerges suggesting earth, iron, dark chocolate and balsa wood lightened by floral and citrus notes. The fully developed mid-palate is complex, rich and succulent with hints of vanilla bean, rose petals, raspberry, black cherry, and coffee contrasting with a saline quality reminiscent of nori seaweed, tamari, and tamarind providing both tension and freshness. A balanced, integrated acidity ushers in long finish with just a dash of meringue.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
A polished, rich nose of plums, dark cherries, dried herbs, smoke and cedar. It’s medium-to full-bodied with fine tannins. Opulent and silky with a caressing texture and a flavorful finish. Drink or hold.
-
Wine Spectator
Refined, almost stately, with well-structured and expressive violet, raspberry and orange peel accents that build richness and polish on the finish. Drink now through 2030.
-
Wine Enthusiast
The founding estate vineyard brings somewhat deeper fruit flavors of blackberry and cherry. As with many of the winery's 2018s, the aging curve seems accelerated, and the leafy, herbal and citrus flavors are emphasized. This tart and somewhat astringent wine should be enjoyed over the next few years.
REX HILL has been making elegant Pinot Noirs for over 30 years in the Willamette Valley at the gateway to Oregon's wine country. It is one of the original LIVE certified wineries and owned vineyards that are farmed following Biodynamic principles. REX HILL honors exceptional single vineyards and continues a legacy of singular Pinot Noirs that reflect their origin. That sense of place is paramount to the way we farm our land and make our wines. Named a 2017 Wine Advocate Extraordinary Winery in the Americas, REX HILL consistently offers authentic wines that are balanced, complex, rich and delicious.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
The Chehalem Mountains is a northwest-southeast span of several distinct mountains, ridges and peaks in the northern part of the Willamette Valley. Of all of Willamette Valley's smaller AVAs, it is closest to the city of Portland. Its highest summit, Bald Peak at an elevation of 1,633 feet, serves to generate cooler air for the rest of the AVA and its hillside vineyards. The region covers 70,000 acres but only 1,600 acres are planted to vines; soils of the Chehalem Mountains are a mix of basalt, ocean sediment and loess.