Winemaker Notes
The nose of the Pinot noir Temperance Hill boldly walks the line between ripe cherries and raspberries. A signature of this wine is the smoky quality that is a classic feature of its terroir. This year it veers toward fresh spruce balanced by purple iris and wisteria. The mouth is immediately generous with very sweet fruits including wild strawberry and plum. True to 2016, you can crack this bottle and it will be a delight. Always fabulous with grilled salmon or pretty much grilled anything: vegetables, mushrooms, bread and the protein du jour.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There’s some transient reduction here, so give this a good airing and some time in the glass before you drink it. The red-cherry aromas are framed in fresh spices and sappy complexity. There’s a structured, succulent and long palate that has some real potential. Give this a year or two. Try from 2023.
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.