Winemaker Notes
Immediately engaging, the 2015 Pinot noir Justice Vineyard is vibrant with purple fruits, heady ground spices, and a lushness the belies its finesse. Beautiful allspice, red berry, and dense dark dried fruit flavors carry across your palate. Broad tannins and a soft, juicy acidity carry the spice notes into a very balanced and layered finish. Typically, Justice is especially impressive at seven years of age, I expect the 2015 to be stunning well past a decade. Goes well with nuanced dishes and complex preparations like risottos and blanquette de veau.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Strawberry compote, blackberry bush, dried orange rind, nutmeg, almonds and cinnamon. Very structured and dense with chewy tannins, driven acidity and a fruit-forward finish. Drink in 2020.
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.