Winemaker Notes
Aromas of fresh raspberry, strawberry and white pepper. Flavors of bing cherry and pomegranate with additional flavors of spice box and orange citrus. The finish is smooth, tart and polished.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This takes a savory stance and bends in style more towards the Soter estate wines, in terms of having a more reserved style. Dark cherries and spicy oak here with forest wood and a blueberry to red-cherry core of flavor with attractively structured tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
The reserve is a year older than the ‘Classic’ release, and remains rather tight even after substantial aeration. A mix of black fruits, black olive and coffee components, it was aged in 36% new French oak, yielding a stiff finish, with a streak of dark chocolate.
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.