Winemaker Notes
This Whole Cluster Pinot Noir was fermented from uncrushed Pinot Noir grape clusters. This technique retains the fresh fruit quality of the varietal and creates a wine which is delicious and accessible upon its release.
This wine is an excellent companion with barbecued meats and vegetables, grilled fish, pizza, sushi, and spicy Asian cuisine.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Fruity and forward, this bursts forth with candied cherries, marionberry jam and blueberry compote. Behind that wall of fruit are light acidity and just enough phenolic punch to keep the flavors ringing through the finish.
Editors' Choice -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2020 Willamette Valley Vineyards Whole Cluster Pinot Noir is smooth and layered. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers pleasing aromas and flavors of ripe red and black fruits. Enjoy it with a mint-accented, roast leg of lamb. (Tasted: April 18, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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.