Winemaker Notes
The 2022 Zéphirine Pinot Noir embodies the poetic qualities of the Roserock vineyard. It is alive with aromas of freshly picked raspberries, citrus, and marionberries, followed by delicate traces of rose petals and violets. On the palate, there is a vibrant mix of juicy strawberries, cardamom, fruit, and spice. Both subtle and strong-willed, the 2022 Zéphirine is charming in its youth, with a silky-smooth texture and balanced structure that promise a long future.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A richer red hue, the 2022 Pinot Noir Zephine Roserock is also more floral and has some savory elements, but it also has a more pronounced dark stone mineral tone, with violets, black raspberries, tea leaf, and toasted spices. Medium-bodied, it’s ripe but has fantastic linear drive through its floral-noted finish, and the lift almost suggests whole cluster, yet it’s entirely destemmed. Drink it over the next 15 or more years.
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Decanter
A gorgeously floral nose from the Zéphirine, a barrel selection cuvée from the Roserock estate in the Eola-Amity Hills at the southern tip of the Eola-Amity Hills. The fragrant complexity veers from smoky violet notes to dusty Oregon marionberry and a sweet blueberry compote. The palate shows a textured array of blue mountain berries, sweet blackberries, smoky clove and black tea. Structure and finesse come together wonderfully in the Zéphirine.
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Wine Spectator
This version is loaded with tension and tightly structured at this point, but also dynamic with cherry and blueberry flavors that are laced with clove, cardamom and other dusky spices as this builds tension toward refined tannins.
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Vinous
The 2022 Pinot Noir Roserock Zéphirine opens with a candied personality as autumnal spices and hints of licorice give way to wild blueberries. Cool-toned and racy in character, this soothes with its silky textures as ripe red berry fruits saturate and grippy tannins mount toward the close. The 2022 finishes incredibly fresh and admirably long and structured, leaving an air of sweet lavender.
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.