Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A brilliant, composed and polished wine from Tony Soter that captures fresh, pure fruit flavors on an elegant texture. Strawberry, black cherry and subtle pine aromas lead to tangy red cherries, orange zest and creme de cassis on the palate. A medium body and moderate tannins complete the picture. Made from certified sustainable grapes. Drink now or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A deep ruby red color, the 2023 Pinot Noir Estates boasts attractive aromatics, featuring notes of red cherries, cedar, lifted spices, and potpourri. Medium-bodied, it has ripe tannins, refreshing ripe acidity, and chalky richness of texture through the finish, with lightly warming spice. Drink 2025-2035.
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Wine Spectator
Graceful and elegantly crafted, with fragrant raspberry and pomegranate flavors laced with black tea and tarragon as this glides on the sleek finish. Drink now through 2033.
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Wine Enthusiast
Estates is an invitation to walk in the garden to smell aromas like blackcap raspberries that are ready to pick, pine needles from that tree that's too close to the house and catmint. This medium-bodied venture has a sturdy tannic structure and all the black cherries your palate can handle. A bittersweet horehound candy flavor shows up on the moderately long finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pinot Noir Estates was fermented with 25% whole clusters and matured for 10 months in 35% new French oak. It has layered aromas of wild berries, orange peel, conifer and forest floor. The medium-bodied palate features concentrated, earth-laced flavors and well-integrated oak spice. It’s framed by soft, chalky tannins and has a refreshing finish.
Tony Soter is the founder of Soter Vineyards at Mineral Springs Ranch in Yamhill-Carlton, Oregon. Soter is a Portland, Oregon, native who began his remarkable 40-year winemaking career in the Napa Valley. After graduating from Pomona College in southern California with a degree in philosophy, Soter joined the staff at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars in 1975 to learn the trade. By 1982, he released his own wine under the Etude label, selling the winery almost 20 years later to Treasury Wine Estates. In the meantime, Soter worked as consulting winemaker for such world-famous Napa estates as Araujo (now Eisele), Chappellet, Dalla Valle, Shafer, and Spottswoode, among others. After almost 30 years in California, Soter moved back to Oregon and founded Soter Vineyards in 1997, where he is still making some of the most heralded pinot noirs in the state.
Today, Soter focuses on biodynamic grape growing to create rich flavors and substance. His cellar techniques look to the wisdom of past generations, trusting those natural processes to evoke the voice and character of each vineyard.
There are three distinct labels produced by Soter:
1. SOTER VINEYARDS ... Illustrious estate-grown wines from Eola Amity, Ribbon Ridge, and Yamhill Carlton (where the Mineral Springs vineyard, farm, and winery are).
2. ORIGIN SERIES ... Limited single-appellation bottlings showcasing each AVA's unique microclimate, geographical features, and growing conditions.
3. PLANET OREGON ... affordable, delicious, organically-grown wines from the Willamette Valley, ready to drink tonight.
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.