Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
There are no such issues regarding the 2009 Pinot Noir Homer, a selection of the best barrels in the cellar. Dense, layered, and plush on the palate, it retains a sense of elegance along with plenty of richness as it sits in the glass. Unlike the 2008 Shea offerings which continue to demand cellaring, these are forward, friendly wines to drink while waiting for the 2008s to strut their stuff.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and fleshy, brimming with cocoa-tinged blackberry, cherry and spice flavors, coming together seamlessly on the long, expressive finish. Drink now through 2019. 343 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.”
Yamhill-Carlton, characterized by pastoral, rolling hills composed of shallow, quick-draining, ancient marine soil, is ideal for Pinot noir and other cool-climate-loving varieties. It is in the rain shadow of the Coast Range to its west, whose highest point climbs to an altitude of 3,500 feet. Yamhill-Carlton is actually surrounded by mountains on three sides: Chehalem Mountains to the north, the Dundee Hills to the east and the western Coast Range to its west, which, when it lets Pacific air through, serves to cool the region.
Vineyards grow on the ridges surrounding the two small communities of Yamhill and Carlton and cover about 1,200 acres of this 60,000 acre region, which roughly makes a horse-shoe shape on a map.