Winemaker Notes
In September, the right amount of rain at the right time of grape maturity gave the vines the perfect conditions for great healthy thick skinned pinot noir, which in turn produced great wine. I believe it reflects ethereal elements beyond logical reasoning. Some descriptors that come to mind are: red fruit, fresh rain in the forest, Douglas Fir trees, lavender, rosemary, and Frank Dummer’s energy. We are confident that this wine, Sequitur 2014, our first-born, will cause you to reflect and ponder life’s forces.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Vines for the 2014 Sequitur Pinot Noir were in their third year in 2014 yet produced an impressive wine. The nose is aromatically intense and layered with streaks of star anise, amaro, orange peel, tea leaves and mushrooms accenting a core of cranberry fruit. The medium-bodied palate is chalky and seamless as it flows through the mouth loaded with spicy accents. It strikes a fine balance of concentrated fruit, bitters and tertiary character, and it has a very long, nuanced finish. It's in a great spot for drinking right now. Best After 2023
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Wine Spectator
Broad and spicy, open-textured and generous, with ripe plum and currant flavors, shaded by pepper, sage and coffee notes as the finish sails past fine-grained tannins. Completely harmonious and made to age. Drink now through 2024. 538 cases made.
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.”
Ribbon Ridge is a regular span of uplifted, marine, sedimentary soils (called Willakenzie), whose highest ridge elevations twist like a ribbon. An early settler from Missouri named Colby Carter noticed this unique topography and gave the region its name in 1865—though it wasn’t declared its own AVA until 140 years later, in 2005. The AVA is enclosed by mountains on all sides between Yamhill-Carlton and the Chehalem Mountains, and is actually part of the larger Chehalem Mountains AVA. Its soils have a finer texture than its neighbors with parent materials composed of sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone. Given its presence of natural aquifers in this five square mile area, most vineyards are actually easily dry farmed!