Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A selection from a higher and drier location with lower vigor, which delivers more profound phenolic development. The nose has striking mineral notes with oyster shell and a rich, dark-cherry and blueberry presence, as well as a lightly spicy edge. The palate has intensity with elegance. The tannins are handsomely defined and deliver a very long and mouthwatering, red-cherry, blood-orange and pomegranate finish. Drinkable now, but better from 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby, the 2016 Pinot Noir Mineral Springs Ranch has alluring, botanical-toned aromas of fernet and fir with a core of pomegranate, cranberry and blueberry. The medium-bodied palate is ultra silky and energetic, loaded with perfumed fruit, and it has a long, nuanced finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is sourced from the biodynamic estate vineyard, and it is a vivid synthesis of wild blackberry, mint, tarragon, anise and other spring herbs. Subtle, lengthy and detailed, it finishes with fine tannins and considerable length.
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.