Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Displaying a deeper magenta/ruby hue, the 2023 Pinot Noir Domaine Danielle Laurent was sourced from biodynamically farmed vines planted nearly 25 years ago. It offers depth and intensity, with saturating notes of black raspberries, grenadine, crushed flowers, and a touch of reduction. This wine needs time to integrate and shed some of its youthful character. The broadest and most plush in the lineup, it’s relatively full-bodied, with savory, mushroomy earth notes and a darker overall profile. Structurally firm, with ripe tannins and some grip on the finish, it’s going to benefit from some patience. Drink 2027-2047.
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Wine Enthusiast
This berry-licious treat begins with Rainier cherry, mulberry and grape hyacinth aromas. The fruit on the palate is darker, with blackberries mingling with bits of bay leaf, nutmeg and a cup of strong-brewed English breakfast tea. The acidity is elevated with fine-grained tannins. After fermentation in stainless steel, the wine rested in French oak barrels, 22% new, for 11 months.
Editors' Choice -
Wine Spectator
Opens with a burst of pure, floral raspberry but then shifts gears, building a deep structure with tarragon and forest floor tones. Finishes with cherry fruit leather accents and broad-shouldered tannins. Best from 2027 through 2035. 400 cases made.
Home of some of the planet’s most amazingly elegant and expressive Pinot noir, the Willamette Valley is a pastoral, mixed landscape of green, bucolic rolling hills, dramatic forestlands and small, independent, friendly wine growers. As a leader in environmental stewardship, the valley has some of the nation’s most protective land use policies, with two-thirds of its vineyards farmed sustainably and over half, organically. While the valley claims a cool, continental climate, and is heavily influenced by the cold, moist winds of the Pacific Ocean, its warm and dry summers allow for the steady, even ripening of Pinot noir.
The potential of Willamette Valley Pinot noir continues to attract the investment of serious growers and winemakers both locally and from abroad, as naturally the finished wines bring accolades from professionals and enthusiasts. With a range of styles from delicate dried cherry, raspberry and hibiscus to stronger notes of truffle, mocha, plum and spice, a fine Willamette Valley Pinot noir is a perfect expression of both character and grace.