Winemaker Notes
Pairs with Coq au Vin, Boeuf Bourguignon, Oeufs en Meurette, as well as wild birds and game, sausages, mushroom and a wide variety of risottos.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The Justice cuvée pushes the fruit forward, with clean strawberry, raspberry and cherry flavors highlighted by streaks of pine needle. Behind that, one senses a wine still knitting itself together, dropping off a bit in the midpalate. The tannins have a pleasant tea-leaf taste. It's best to tuck this away until 2016–2017.
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Wine & Spirits
Lean and tightly wound, this wind-driven red from the Eola–Amity Hills has a mouthwatering cherry-scented core. The tannins are demonstrative at first; a day after opening, the wine feels fresher, more immediate, its tight structure acting as a propellant for the vibrant fruit. It would benefit from a little more time in the cellar, and a serving of duck sausage and lentils.
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.