winemaker notes

The 2021 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir opens with bing cherry, red raspberry, and balsamic. The palate shows a phenomenal spiciness and round volume while remaining light on its feet. Balanced and accessible, it boasts a plush profile of red fruit. This is a wine that is easy to drink and ready to enjoy now.

winemaking details

The 2021 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is the only Pinot Noir we produce that combines our two estate plantings. While this label is traditionally press fraction dominant, the 2021 vintage contains more free run than any year prior with 55% free run and 45% press fraction. We aged on lees for 11 months in 20% new oak barrels from Taransaud (French) and Kádár (Hungarian). Alcohol of 14.8%.

vintage notes

We started sampling at the end of August, hopeful and excited for what seemed to be an immensely flavorful vintage. We kicked off harvest on August 30th and wrapped up Chardonnay the first week of September. On September 7th, we began harvesting and pressing our Rosé. By mid-September, we were well into picking out our Iron Filbert Vineyard, with the last pick for our Dundee Hills estate on September 29th. This year, we incorporated a small percentage of whole clusters into the ferments. In hot, riper vintages like we are working with now, the stems are lignified enough to benefit and add beautiful complexity to the ferments. We brought in our first fruit from the Quartz Acorn Vineyard on Friday, October 1st.

wine information

We source fruit for our Willamette Valley label from our organically farmed Iron Filbert Vineyard in the Dundee Hills and Quartz Acorn Vineyard in Yamhill-Carlton. We produced 1950 cases in 2021.

reviews

2021 vintage | 93 points Wine Spectator

Sleek and gracefully layered, this red features nuanced raspberry and blueberry flavors that pick up rose petal, stony mineral and black tea accents as it glides along the silky finish. — TF

2017 vintage | 92 points Wine Enthusiast

Made with organic grapes and 15% whole cluster fermentation, this aromatic wine invites you in with scents of lavender and violets. Spiced cranberry and plum fruit flavors follow, with moderate tannins and a light touch (10%) of new oak.

2018 vintage | 93 points James Suckling

Very attractive fruit purity here with red cherries and ripe dark plums on offer, as well as a brambly and spicy thread. The palate also follows a pure thread with clarity and freshness defining the long, sleek and vibrant trail of pure, dark-cherry flavors.