Winemaker Notes
This wine exemplifies the classic "Willamette Valley style" with complex aromas of red and bramble fruits including cherry, raspberry and blackberry accented by notes of florals and anise spice to create an alluring nose. On the palate, the wine is round and full-bodied with a silky mouthfeel and flavors of dark fruit, cedar, baking spice and signature earth. Exceptionally balanced with seamlessly integrated tannins, balancing acidity and a lingering finish.
This wine will pair beautifully with traditional Pinot Noir dishes including cinnamon-rubbed Oregon lamb lollipops, duck breast with fruit compote, herb-crusted pork tenderloin, cedar plank grilled salmon, mushroom risottos and aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir has it all together in a neat and beautiful package. TASTING NOTES: This wine shines with aromas and flavors of ripe red fruit, savory spices, and earth. Pair it with wood-smoked salmon fillets. (Tasted: December 5, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
Very vibrant cherries with some herbal accents and spicy nuances, too. The palate has a sleek delivery of tannin that is fine-grained and beds in with fresh acidity to drive a vibrant, fresh red-cherry finish.
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Wine Spectator
Crisp and lively avors of raspberry and pomegranate pair with orangeblossom and spiced cinnamon notes that nish with re ned tannins. Best from 2022through 2028.
A combination of determination and extraordinary people has brought Willamette Valley Vineyards from a bold idea to one of the region's leading wineries, earning the title "One of America's Great Pinot Noir Producers," from Wine Enthusiast Magazine.
The “budwood” of Willamette Valley Vineyards began long before its founding in 1983 by vintner Jim Bernau. His Dad was hired by a California winemaker to secure the first winery license in Oregon since Prohibition. Jim’s Dad allowed him small tastes of Richard Sommer’s wine, lighting a path that led Jim from home winemaking to studies at UC Davis and eventually Beaune, France.
In 1983, Jim cleared away an old pioneer plum orchard in the Salem Hills and hand-watered his first plantings using 17 lengths of 75’ garden hose.
Jim's vision of organizing the support of wine enthusiasts to build a winery that would produce world-class wines through shared ownership has resulted in more than 16,000 owners. The winery's Common (WVVI) and Preferred (WVVIP) are traded on the NASDAQ.
The winery sources all of its barrel-aged Pinot Noir from its estate vineyards and practices environmentally sustainable farming. All of the vineyards have been certified sustainable through LIVE (Low Impact Viticulture and Enology) and Salmon-Safe programs since 1997.
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.