Winemaker Notes
This vintage was a winemaker's dream come true; beautiful, ripe fruit making gorgeous rich, supple, and intense wine. Aromatics of black currant, tobacco, and mushroom lead into notes of fennel, plum, violet, blackberry fruit leather, and earth on the palate. Pair with smoked meats and hard cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of plum, cherry, mushroom and vanilla with cedar undertones. Medium-bodied with plush tannins and fresh acidity. Spicy and vibrant with juicy, slightly sweet character on the palate. Supple finish. Drink now.
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Wine & Spirits
A selection of estate blocks, “Domaine” often reflects the estate’s cool coastal proximity. The 2016 starts off quiet and mannered, with scents of cinnamon, mocha and Christmas spice. The flavors are sleek and fleshy at once, the rich cherry core edged in smoky orange-peel notes.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Stretching southwest from the city of McMinnville, the AVA with the same name covers about 40,000 acres across 20 miles until it meets the Van Duzer Corridor. This corridor is the only break in the Coast Range whose gap allows the cool Pacific Ocean air to flow eastward into the Willamette Valley.
The Pacific's moderating winds hit McMinnville’s south and southeast facing slopes where cool-climate varieties—namely Pinot noir and Pinot blanc thrive on ridges at between 200 to 1,000 feet in elevation.
Soils here are primarily uplifted marine sedimentary loam and silt, with alluvial formations; McMinnville receives less rainfall than its neighbors to the east because it is situated in the rain shadow of the Coast Range.