Winemaker Notes
The 2022 Pinot Noir Freedom Hill Vineyard entices with an old-world bouquet of rose petals, worn leather, dusty earth and dried strawberries. Silken textures and ripe red berry fruits glide across the palate, underscored by chalky mineral tones. A cascade of inner florals resonates over a bed of fine tannins as the 2022 tapers off with outstanding length and structure. It remains fresh through and through. Have patience with this youngster.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Aromas of herbs, forest botanicals, wild berries, cedar and flowers. Wonderful lift and concentration on the palate, with a plush mouthfeel, gently chewy tannins and saturating black cherry flavors. Bitter oranges, rose petals and cinnamon come through in the finish. Full-bodied. Drink or hold.
-
Vinous
The 2022 Pinot Noir Freedom Hill Vineyard entices with an old-world bouquet of rose petals, worn leather, dusty earth and dried strawberries. Silken textures and ripe red berry fruits glide across the palate, underscored by chalky mineral tones. A cascade of inner florals resonates over a bed of fine tannins as the 2022 tapers off with outstanding length and structure. It remains fresh through and through. Have patience with this youngster.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the reds, the 2022 Pinot Noir Freedom Hill Vineyard pours a jeweled red color and reveals preserved cranberries, fresh herbs, cedar, roses, and stony earth. Medium-bodied, it has a refined texture, fine tannins, refreshing acidity, and mouthwatering orange pith on the finish.
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.”
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.