Winemaker Notes
#6 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2024
A rich garnet color sets the stage for their 2022 Roserock Pinot Noir. The nose unfolds with memorable aromas of lavender, violet, cherry pie and home-baked warmth. Layers of flavor, includingcassis and cardamom, lend an exotic, spicy note, complemented by the bright, juicy sweetness of marionberry. The tannins provide a firm structure, adding depth and dimension to the wine, leading to a broad finish that lingers on.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Pinot Noir is kaleidoscopic on the nose, mixed berry jam and rosewater giving way to accents of tangerine peel, cola, woodsmoke and aniseed. The medium-bodied palate is bursting with spicy flavors, and a streak of iron-like character adds to its complexity. It’s structured by silky tannins and refreshing acidity and has a long, layered finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a Goldilocks porridge wine where everything from the lemony acidity to the sturdy tannins was “just right.” It is mediumbodied fare, with blackberry, Thai basil and orangezest flavors. Violet and cinnamon-stick aromas blend harmoniously with notes of dark raspberries and blueberry fruit leather. It is a stunning value.
Editors' Choice -
Wine Spectator
Supple and elegantly structured, with detailed raspberry and cherry flavors accented by rose petal, brown baking spices and orange peel as this glides toward polished tannins. Drink now through 2032.
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James Suckling
A delicate, crunchy and refined pinot noir with notes of cranberries, Morello cherries, baking spices and roses. It’s medium-bodied with sleek tannins and fresh acidity. Bright and agile with a silky texture. Succulent, with a focused, subtle finish. Drink or hold.
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Vinous
The woodland-inspired 2022 Pinot Noir Roserock wafts up with peppery herbs, florals, woodland berries and hints of clove. This flows across the palate with supple textures and vividly ripe wild berries, all balanced by a core of vibrant acidity. It tapers off with medium length and perfumed, leaving a gentle mineral tinge and inner roses. The Roserock is a finessed beauty.
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.”
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.