Lot 531 | 2014 Willamette Valley

Vivid reddish purple, this is fairly dark Pinot by Oregon standards, but not heavily extracted and oaky. Rather, it’s a very suave, classic style of Oregon Pinot – fruit-driven with tremendous finesse. With just three months in the bottle (and under screwcap which, with red wines, takes a bit more time to open up after bottling), the nose is a bit reticent at first with sour cherry, clay/leather and rose petal notes; however, with just a few minutes of air, the bouquet quickly blossoms into a beautiful and ethereal nose of bing cherry, wild strawberry, floral pastille, leather and cinnamon. It’s juicy and expansive on the palate, rich and sappy with black cherry, boysenberry and allspice that finishes with impressive power and finesse – pastille and allspice notes linger in a long, suave finish that is just now fleshing out.

I’ve been stomping around Oregon for years now trying to come up with a dynamite Willamette Valley Pinot Noir offering. After years of searching, I’ve finally struck upon a compelling wine worthy of launching what I hope to be series of terrific Oregon Pinots. This wine was purchased already bottled (for the uninitiated, this is known as a “shiner”) from a winemaker who is, undoubtedly, one of the pioneers in the region and to this day is regarded as one of the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producers in the state. Lot 531 is directly out of this winemaker’s ’14 vintage, which retails for well over $50/bottle and we'll have to leave it at that. It’s 100% Pinot Noir, aged in about 20-25% new French oak, with fruit sourced from the best sub-appellations of the Willamette Valley – Yamhill-Carlton and Eola-Amity Hills, with smaller portions coming from both the Chehalem Mountains and the Dundee Hills.