Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The WillaKenzie 2012 Pinot Blanc – from two Alsace clones – is dominated by sweet corn and apple, garlanded in lily-of-the-valley and tinged with piquant corn shoots; saliva-liberating salt; and smoky black tea. Creamy yet vivacious and infectiously juicy – revealing a charming alliance characteristic for the best wines from this grape – this succulent bottling finishes with invigorating Saar-like hints of lime peel, apple pip, cherry pit, and wet stone. An outstanding value, it should prove versatile and still-succulent through at least 2015. I was shocked to discover that it weighs in at just over 14% alcohol, because it doesn't in any way betray that, not even in terms of bulk or body.
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Beats many of the examples from Alsace, the 2012 WillaKenzie Estate Pinot Blanc is very easy to like. Shows understated aromas and flavors of ripe core fruits; textured on the palate; dry, yet not overly acidic; a bright finish that is smooth in the aftertaste. (Tasted: March 10, 2015, San Francisco, CA)
Approachable, aromatic and pleasantly plush on the palate, Pinot Blanc is a white grape variety most associated with the Alsace region of France. Although its heritage is Burgundian, today it is rarely found there and instead thrives throughout central Europe, namely Germany and Austria, where it is known as Weissburgunder and Alto Adige where it is called Pinot Bianco. Interestingly, Pinot Blanc was born out of a mutation of the pink-skinned Pinot Gris. Somm Secret—Chardonnay fans looking to try something new would benefit from giving Pinot Blanc a try.
Yamhill-Carlton, characterized by pastoral, rolling hills composed of shallow, quick-draining, ancient marine soil, is ideal for Pinot noir and other cool-climate-loving varieties. It is in the rain shadow of the Coast Range to its west, whose highest point climbs to an altitude of 3,500 feet. Yamhill-Carlton is actually surrounded by mountains on three sides: Chehalem Mountains to the north, the Dundee Hills to the east and the western Coast Range to its west, which, when it lets Pacific air through, serves to cool the region.
Vineyards grow on the ridges surrounding the two small communities of Yamhill and Carlton and cover about 1,200 acres of this 60,000 acre region, which roughly makes a horse-shoe shape on a map.