Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Supple and generous, light in texture and intense, with cherry, red plum, nutmeg and floral flavors that don’t quit as the finish lingers against delicately crunchy tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
Young and a bit stiff when first opened, this multi-block blend mixes berry and cherry fruit with a streak of cola and a dusting of peppery Italian herbs. The tannins are smooth and ripe, and, as is often the case with Shea wines, this has the structure and muscle for cellaring.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Pinot Noir Shea West Hill comes from Wadenswil, Pommard, Dijon 114 and 777 clones picked October 7-13 and sees 50% new French and 20% whole-cluster fruit. It has a more cohesive and delineated bouquet compared to the Block 5 with perfumed raspberry and wild strawberry scents. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tart red cherry and blackberry fruit bouncing around the entry. There is commendable sense of tension underlining this 2012, more so than the Block 5, and the dash of spice toward the finish is welcome. This is worth seeking out
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.