PINOT NOIR

The first wine that caught our attention from this Oregon stage producer was their Mueller-Thurgau; a white variety that is not often planted. That wine is so clean and refreshing, we had to see what else was in their bag of tricks. Happily, we found their Willamette Valley Pinot Noir to be delicous, too! Anne Amie's estate and all vineyards they get fruit from are Salmon Safe and LIVE certified, which means they are dedicated to restoring and maintaining healthy watersheds for minimal impact on aquifers and wildlife.

This Pinot Noir displays red cherry, strawberry, sassafras, cardamom, and fig, along with flavors that are reminiscent of red cherry, clove baking spice, fig, cassis, and cola. This wine ends with a long, rich finish with smooth tannins and nicely placed acidity.

The Dundee Hills and Eola-Amity Hills are home to our Reserve Pinot Noir, both based in volcanic red soils, providing spicy elegance and texture. Perfumed, floral, and red cherry weave with delicate mocha and five spice. The tannins are firm, but rounded, an underlying minerality which drives the mid-palate through the long finish. While delving for pure fruit flavors and juicy acidity, we hang our phenolic hat on our trademark silky texture, which has been enhanced through cold soaking and fermenting in small, 1.5-ton fermentations.

WINE SPECTATOR 91 POINTS - "Precise and well-structured, with raspberry, dusky spice and black tea flavors that persist toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2024. 5,000 cases made."

This wine is very expressive of smoky espresso, cacao, raspberry, pomegranate, rose petals, and graham cracker. The fruit on the palate is juicy in a refreshing kind of way with playful dusty tannins. There is an easiness to the way the wine drinks that is soothing and comfortable like the way your favorite old pair of leather boots feel on your feet.

ANTONIO GALLONI'S VINOUS MEDIA 93 POINTS - "Vivid red. Expansive aromas of ripe red berries, candied flowers and baking spices, with a smoky mineral topnote that gains strength as the wine opens up. Coats the palate with appealing sweet raspberry and cherry liqueur flavors that tighten up and become spicier on the back half. Shows excellent clarity and floral lift on an impressively long finish that's shaped by fine-grained, even tannins."

Mount Richmond sits at 300-500 feet elevation, lower than the vineyards planted at the winery, which allows for earlier ripening. Planted in a high-density format (2100 vines/acre), similar to Roosevelt, Mount Richmond sits in rolling hills just outside the town of Yamhill just East of the Coast Range Mountains. In addition to the old vine pommard selection, planted from select cuttings off of Roosevelt Vineyard, the blend now also includes equal parts of Dijon clones 115 and 777.

Fruit from Mount Richmond is fermented in small, temperature controlled steel tanks, hand punched down twice daily, and barreled in 50% new french oak barrels. After 10 months of aging in barrels, only the barrels that are most representative of the Mount Richmond profile are carefully blended to create a big, luscious Oregon Pinot Noir

WINE SPECTATOR 93 POINTS - "Offers grace and presence, with layered cherry and pomegranate flavors, accented by sassafras tea and spice notes, building tension toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2028. 1,007 cases made."

A multi-faceted nose of cherry, tobacco, violets and pastry introduces a wine with great purity of fruit. Its fresh, rounded notes of plums, currants and fresh candied cherries give way to finely balanced tannins in this elegant, bright wine.

All of Elk Cove's Pinot Noir fruit undergoes the same meticulous vineyard management and gentle handling through a gravity flow system, thus achieving the elegance, texture and luscious quality that are the hallmarks of exquisite Pinot Noirs. From the early pioneering days to now, their Willamette Valley Pinot Noir has remained the foundation of Elk Cove Vineyards. This Pinot Noir is blended from several select vineyard sites comprised of Pommard and Dijon plant material and shows the softest, most approachable drinking style Elk Cove makes.

A multi-faceted nose of cherry, tobacco, violets and pastry introduces a wine with great purity of fruit. Its fresh, rounded notes of plums, currants and fresh candied cherries give way to finely balanced tannins in this elegant, bright wine.

Seven Springs Vineyard was planted in 1984 by Al MacDonald on an east-facing slope, in the iron-rich and rocky, volcanic soils of the Eola-Amity Hills. Al planted what would become one of Oregon's most recognized vineyards who sold fruit to many benchmark Oregon producers. The vineyard's position opposite of the windy Van Duzer Corridor mitigates hot, sunny afternoons in the Willamette Valley with cool winds from the Pacific. As valley temperatures increase throughout the day, warm air rises, replaced by cooling winds flooding in from the Pacific through the Van Duzer gap and across the vineyard providing extended hang time at harvest. The vineyard has always been dry farmed, it's certified LIVE and was converted to biodynamic viticulture in 2007.

At the helm of Seven Springs is Rajat Parr, world renowned wine sommelier and Sashi Moorman, known for his passion for winemaking and viticulture. Together, these two bring an insurmountable amount of knowledge leading Seven Springs into its 4th decade producing outstanding wines at an affordable price point!

WINE SPECTATOR 91 POINTS - "Refined and elegantly layered, with floral apple, spiced lees and mineral notes that glide along a structured finish. Drink now through 2021. 1,500 cases made."

Seven Springs Vineyard was planted in 1984 by Al MacDonald on an east-facing slope, in the iron-rich and rocky, volcanic soils of the Eola-Amity Hills. Al planted what would become one of Oregon's most recognized vineyards who sold fruit to many benchmark Oregon producers. The vineyard's position opposite of the windy Van Duzer Corridor mitigates hot, sunny afternoons in the Willamette Valley with cool winds from the Pacific. As valley temperatures increase throughout the day, warm air rises, replaced by cooling winds flooding in from the Pacific through the Van Duzer gap and across the vineyard providing extended hang time at harvest. The vineyard has always been dry farmed, it's certified LIVE and was converted to biodynamic viticulture in 2007.

At the helm of Seven Springs is Rajat Parr, world renowned wine sommelier and Sashi Moorman, known for his passion for winemaking and viticulture. Together, these two bring an insurmountable amount of knowledge leading Seven Springs into its 4th decade producing outstanding wines at an affordable price point!

ANTONIO GALLONI 92 POINTS - "Failla's 2017 Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard is powerful and deep on the palate, with tremendous resonance that carries through to the super-expressive finish. Succulent dark red fruit, hard candy, leather and exotic spice notes build in this potent, beautifully textured Pinot, with a dollop of whole clusters perfume that adds nuance. The Seven Springs is a wine of real distinction."

JAMES SUCKLING 93 POINTS - "There’s an impressive sense of ripe, dense dark cherries on this Estate Vineyard bottling, delivering a very attractive nose and plenty of deep flavors on the palate. Smooth, fluid and even-paced, this has good potential. Best from 2022."

Pike Road Pinot Noir is made from 100% Willamette Valley fruit. Primarily sourced from six estate vineyard sites, Pike Road also include smaller lots of Pinot Noir fruit grown by trusted partners here in the Willamette Valley. By integrating fruit from multiple locations, Pike Road gains in complexity. The wine is barrel aged in 100% French oak barrels for 10 months.

Ruby red in color with aromas of ripe cherry, cola and sarparilla, this medium-bodied and fruity wine is inviting on the palate. Lush black cherry and raspberry fruit are complemented by notes of grilled bread, dusty cocoa and green pepper. Rustic with smooth tannins that round out the finish.

Since their first commercial release of their Pinot Noir in 1974, Nancy & Dick Ponzi have garnered international acclaim for their limited production wines! Always looking for ways to make their stuff better, they have recently moved to gravity-flow technology for more gentle handling of the grapes and juice, and they've been going green longer than most. The Tavola bottling is the new kid on the block, and it's produced from Ponzi's LIVE Certified Sustainable Avellana Vineyard as well as other sustainably-grown vineyards in the Chehalem Mountains, Yamhill-Carlton and Eola-Amity Hills AVAs.

Beautiful aromatics of blackberry, cinnamon stick, dried cranberry and cedar jump from the glass. The mouth is supple with strawberry, balsamic reduction, lavender, thyme and cocoa powder finishing with soft tannins laced with black licorice.

Winery's Tasting Notes: "The 2017 Rex Hill Willamette Valley Pinot Noir greets with scents of rich, dark berries, pomegranate, rhubarb, caramel, mulling spices, and tobacco with secondary hints of balsa wood, flint, slate, and graphite. The palate is expansive and energetic with moderate tannins, balanced acidity, and integrated, approachable oak. The wine is true to the Willamette Valley's cooler climate fruit and promises age worthiness."

Stoller's 2017 Reserve Pinot Noir is a blend of our older Pinot Noir vines, with Pommard being the dominant clone. They fermented this wine with native yeast in stainless steel tanks and their oak fermenter. It spent 12-months in French oak barrels during which it saw full malolactic conversion. After blending, the wine is put back in stainless steel tanks for another six months to gain extended time on lees and marry before bottling.

ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE 91 POINTS - "The 2017 Reserve Pinot Noir is shy on the nose, offering earthy nuances over a core of red and black berries with citrus peel and floral sparks emerging with some air. It's medium-bodied, concentrated and silky, with a long, fresh finish. Give it another year or two in bottle. 8,000 cases were made."