Winemaker Notes
Pair with rich fish and shellfish dishes. This is especially good with mussels.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This pinot blanc possesses an easy savor, leading with sur lies scents of cracked wheat and brewer’s yeast, a foil for the ripe citrus flavors of grapefruit and Cara Cara orange. Lean and flavorful, this is a hunger-inducing wine for scallops in herb butter
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James Suckling
An aromatic nose of green apples, peaches and fresh herbs. Medium-bodied with floral and stony character. Refreshing tannins at the finish.
Approachable, aromatic and pleasantly plush on the palate, Pinot Blanc is a white grape variety most associated with the Alsace region of France. Although its heritage is Burgundian, today it is rarely found there and instead thrives throughout central Europe, namely Germany and Austria, where it is known as Weissburgunder and Alto Adige where it is called Pinot Bianco. Interestingly, Pinot Blanc was born out of a mutation of the pink-skinned Pinot Gris. Somm Secret—Chardonnay fans looking to try something new would benefit from giving Pinot Blanc a try.
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.