Winemaker Notes
The 2017 Pinot noir, Villages Cuvée has robust sweet spice aromas with lovely black cherry, smoky berry and dark rose notes. Juicy and pungent flavors of dark cherry, wild strawberry, allspice, cinnamon with a touch of smoke fill your mouth. Beautifully balanced with soft tannins and fresh acidity, the finish slowly fades into supple dried fruit and spices. Still young now the wine will fill out through the winter and into the spring. This is my favorite wine for thanksgiving and flavorful white meat dishes. It is just as good with burgers, brats and pizza. Enjoy now through 2022. Food Pairing Salmon, quail, pork tenderloin and pasta dishes with full-favored preparations.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very floral nose with roses and violets, decorating light, bright red cherries. The palate has a very bright core of vibrant, sweet red cherries and strawberries with fine, lacy tannins holding fresh. Drink now.
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Wine Enthusiast
Composed of juice from six top vineyards that contribute to St. Innocent’s vineyard designates, this is a firm, herbal wine with a tight core of black cherry fruit. A vein of iron runs down the spine, and the acidity brings hints of citrus.
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.