Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Pinot Noir Alsea Vineyard was picked earlier than other vintages, around mid-October and is completely destemmed as usual. It has an exuberant candied bouquet with strawberry and desiccated orange peel soaring from the expressive nose. It actually reminds me of a fine Hemel-en-Aarde Pinot Noir rather than Burgundy. The palate is medium-bodied with candied red cherry and strawberry fruit, just a touch of vanilla developing with aeration in the glass. It feels sensual and harmonious with fine weight on the finish. It gently grips the mouth and delivers a salinity that makes you return for the next sip...job done. Drink this over the next 5-7 years.
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.