North Willamette Valley's 18+ Most Interesting Wines Right Now (Sept 2018)
From PDX Monthly
These 18+ bottles from around the North Valley—grouped not by rank—provide a critical snapshot of where Oregon wine stands right now.
Trisaetum
2017 Ribbon Ridge Estate Dry Riesling // Ribbon Ridge // $32
Ribbon Ridge, a subsection of the Chehalem Mountains American Viticultural Area, is proving magic for both Rieslings and pinots noirs. This crisp, peppery wine is packed with penetrating apple, fennel, and white radish flavors.
J. Christopher
2016 Sauvignon Blanc // Willamette Valley // $25
J. Christopher produces two of this varietal, which still has yet to really take hold in Oregon. This one is sharp and acidic, with fruit flavors of green apple and pink grapefruit.
Duck Pond
2017 Pinot Gris // Willamette Valley // $14
The texture and detail in this young wine vault it above the vast majority of others in its price range. A pleasing mix of grapefruit, melon, and nectarine finishes with highlights of lemon zest and zippy acidity.
Elk Cove
2017 Estate Pinot Blanc // Willamette Valley // $19
Pinot blanc, when done this well, offers a sophisticated alternative to chardonnay and pinot gris. This young Elk Cove release shines with bright, focused flavors of apple, melon and white peach—a fresh, stylish wine at an affordable price.
King Estate
2016 Gewürztraminer //Willamette Valley // $28
This versatile wine from a winery once dedicated exclusively to pinot gris deemphasizes baby powder aromatics while retaining the grape’s typicity. Flavors show lemon pith and rind along with tangy citrus fruits.
Bethel Heights
2017 Estate Pinot Gris // Eola-Amity Hills // $24
This wine starts with ripe fruit flavors of peach, apricot, and papaya, along with a touch of honey: it’s a pinot gris as rich as the richest chardonnays.
Anne Amie
2014 Prismé Pinot Noir Blanc // Yamhill-Carlton // $45
This is not pinot blanc, but rather a blush wine produced from red pinot noir grapes. It’s dry and barrel-fermented, using free-run (unpressed) juice. Flavors of papaya, plum, and melon combine in a softly fruity and open style, ready to drink.
Lingua Franca
2016 Avni Chardonnay // Willamette Valley // $35
This high-profile new winery hits a home run with a creamy, oaky, toasty young wine. With bright acidity and fresh fruit flavors of crisp apple and white melon, it’s a wine to enjoy young, or tuck away.
Bergström
2016 Old Stones Chardonnay // Willamette Valley // $37
Bergström’s Sigrid is one of the state’s best chardonnays. But the Old Stones cuvée, at less than half the price, comes mighty close, weaving a lovely mesh of citrus, peach, and pineapple, supported with clean, refreshing acidity.
Bergström 2016 Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir (Eola-Amity Hills); $70. 94 points.
Full bodied and complex, this mixes raspberries and cherries with flavors of light herbs, bouillon and savory mushroom. Sophisticated and detailed, this wine offers plenty of length and development.
Big Table Farm
2016 Chardonnay // Willamette Valley // $45
Any list of Oregon’s best chardonnays must include this gorgeous, barrel-fermented (in 10 percent new French oak) effort. Here are pinpoint flavors of Meyer lemon and stone fruits, subtly highlighted with seams of butterscotch and toast.
Sokol Blosser
2017 Estate Cuvée Rosé of Pinot Noir // Dundee Hills // $25
In the midst of the national rosé boom, Oregon’s pinot noir rosés remain under the radar. We’re lucky to have wines like this fragrant, spicy, organic, estate-grown gem, packed with flavors of fresh strawberries, pink grapefruit, and blood orange.
Soter
2013 Mineral Springs Vineyard Brut Rosé // Yamhill-Carlton // $65
Soter’s sparkling wines—such as this brut rosé—can rival the finest Champagnes. This shows fine bubbles and seductive aromas of cherry and cocoa. It’s elegant and sophisticated, its tart cherry fruit elevated with bracing minerality.
Anne Amie
2015 Twelve Oaks Estate Gamay Noir // Chehalem Mountains // $25
There’s not a lot of gamay noir planted in Oregon, but the grape, widely enjoyed in the Beaujolais wines of France, would seem to be a natural fit here. This example brings a mouthful of jammy blueberry, with light tannins and hints of breakfast tea.
The Eyrie Vineyards
2016 Trousseau // Dundee Hills // $35
Eyrie’s Jason Lett continues the pioneering spirit of his parents, who founded the Willamette Valley wine industry. This red (not gris) trousseau—principally grown in Portugal and France, where it’s known as “bastardo”—is rare in this country. There’s a musky, animal note to the aromas, with tightly wound, wild fruit flavors of cranberry and raspberry.
Patricia Green Cellars
2016 Freedom Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir // Willamette Valley // $37
The winery produces a dizzying array of pinots noirs, but this one stands out as relatively low-priced. It displays the same detail-oriented polish as its stablemates, with bright and nuanced raspberry fruit integrated with barrel notes of chocolate and coffee.
Patricia Green Cellars 2016 Estate Vineyard Bonshaw Block Pinot Noir (Ribbon Ridge); $60, 100 points.
This 100% Pommard clone wine from a 1990 planting is immensely deep, dark and textural, with complex aromas that instantly draw one in. Its compact berry, plum jam and baking spice scents come with underlying mineral and earth notes. It hits the palate with a powerfully woven matrix of lush flavors: blueberry, plum, cherry, chocolate, butterscotch and toasted coconut. It’s thick, supple and lingering—an ethereal and extraordinary wine. Editors’ Choice.
Maison Roy
2015 Incline Pinot Noir // Dundee Hills // $60
A new project from second-generation Beaux Frères founders Jared Etzel and Marc-André Roy, this is a dark, dense wine, packed with black fruit flavors, the signature of the Dundee Hills AVA. Subtle streaks of iron ore, coffee grounds, tar, and tobacco bring added complexity and length.
Domaine Serene
2015 Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir // Willamette Valley // $75 94 points.
This winery produces a stunning array of single-vineyard pinots, but it labels this reserve “the defining standard” for them all. This reserve is an excellent representation of the 2015 vintage. Firm, supple and loaded with brambly purple fruit, it carries a pleasing touch of fruit sweetness. It rolls gracefully into a tight finish, with layers of herb, earth, blueberry, black cherry and brown spice notes. Editors’ Choice.
Wine Spectator Top 10 of 2016: No. 2 -- Domaine Serene Chardonnay Dundee Hills Evanstad Reserve // Willamette Valley // $55
Oregon’s Willamette Valley is now known for world-class Chardonnay. With the excellent 2014 vintage, this leader of this grape was recognized for making Wine Spectator's 10 most exciting wines of that year. Get the details on their picks, along with the full tasting notes HERE.
Domaine Divio
2016 Pinot Noir (Ribbon Ridge); $48, 94 points.
A bright aroma of raspberry jam underscores a core of wet rock. There’s a light saline note of oyster shell on the palate, with well-rounded flavors of rich cherry and chocolate that extend through the finish. Though it may sound like an odd mix, this is flat-out delicious. Editors’ Choice.
2017 Ribbon Ridge Estate Dry Riesling // Ribbon Ridge // $32
Ribbon Ridge, a subsection of the Chehalem Mountains American Viticultural Area, is proving magic for both Rieslings and pinots noirs. This crisp, peppery wine is packed with penetrating apple, fennel, and white radish flavors.
J. Christopher
2016 Sauvignon Blanc // Willamette Valley // $25
J. Christopher produces two of this varietal, which still has yet to really take hold in Oregon. This one is sharp and acidic, with fruit flavors of green apple and pink grapefruit.
Duck Pond
2017 Pinot Gris // Willamette Valley // $14
The texture and detail in this young wine vault it above the vast majority of others in its price range. A pleasing mix of grapefruit, melon, and nectarine finishes with highlights of lemon zest and zippy acidity.
Elk Cove
2017 Estate Pinot Blanc // Willamette Valley // $19
Pinot blanc, when done this well, offers a sophisticated alternative to chardonnay and pinot gris. This young Elk Cove release shines with bright, focused flavors of apple, melon and white peach—a fresh, stylish wine at an affordable price.
King Estate
2016 Gewürztraminer //Willamette Valley // $28
This versatile wine from a winery once dedicated exclusively to pinot gris deemphasizes baby powder aromatics while retaining the grape’s typicity. Flavors show lemon pith and rind along with tangy citrus fruits.
Bethel Heights
2017 Estate Pinot Gris // Eola-Amity Hills // $24
This wine starts with ripe fruit flavors of peach, apricot, and papaya, along with a touch of honey: it’s a pinot gris as rich as the richest chardonnays.
Anne Amie
2014 Prismé Pinot Noir Blanc // Yamhill-Carlton // $45
This is not pinot blanc, but rather a blush wine produced from red pinot noir grapes. It’s dry and barrel-fermented, using free-run (unpressed) juice. Flavors of papaya, plum, and melon combine in a softly fruity and open style, ready to drink.
Lingua Franca
2016 Avni Chardonnay // Willamette Valley // $35
This high-profile new winery hits a home run with a creamy, oaky, toasty young wine. With bright acidity and fresh fruit flavors of crisp apple and white melon, it’s a wine to enjoy young, or tuck away.
Bergström
2016 Old Stones Chardonnay // Willamette Valley // $37
Bergström’s Sigrid is one of the state’s best chardonnays. But the Old Stones cuvée, at less than half the price, comes mighty close, weaving a lovely mesh of citrus, peach, and pineapple, supported with clean, refreshing acidity.
Bergström 2016 Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir (Eola-Amity Hills); $70. 94 points.
Full bodied and complex, this mixes raspberries and cherries with flavors of light herbs, bouillon and savory mushroom. Sophisticated and detailed, this wine offers plenty of length and development.
Big Table Farm
2016 Chardonnay // Willamette Valley // $45
Any list of Oregon’s best chardonnays must include this gorgeous, barrel-fermented (in 10 percent new French oak) effort. Here are pinpoint flavors of Meyer lemon and stone fruits, subtly highlighted with seams of butterscotch and toast.
Sokol Blosser
2017 Estate Cuvée Rosé of Pinot Noir // Dundee Hills // $25
In the midst of the national rosé boom, Oregon’s pinot noir rosés remain under the radar. We’re lucky to have wines like this fragrant, spicy, organic, estate-grown gem, packed with flavors of fresh strawberries, pink grapefruit, and blood orange.
Soter
2013 Mineral Springs Vineyard Brut Rosé // Yamhill-Carlton // $65
Soter’s sparkling wines—such as this brut rosé—can rival the finest Champagnes. This shows fine bubbles and seductive aromas of cherry and cocoa. It’s elegant and sophisticated, its tart cherry fruit elevated with bracing minerality.
Anne Amie
2015 Twelve Oaks Estate Gamay Noir // Chehalem Mountains // $25
There’s not a lot of gamay noir planted in Oregon, but the grape, widely enjoyed in the Beaujolais wines of France, would seem to be a natural fit here. This example brings a mouthful of jammy blueberry, with light tannins and hints of breakfast tea.
The Eyrie Vineyards
2016 Trousseau // Dundee Hills // $35
Eyrie’s Jason Lett continues the pioneering spirit of his parents, who founded the Willamette Valley wine industry. This red (not gris) trousseau—principally grown in Portugal and France, where it’s known as “bastardo”—is rare in this country. There’s a musky, animal note to the aromas, with tightly wound, wild fruit flavors of cranberry and raspberry.
Patricia Green Cellars
2016 Freedom Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir // Willamette Valley // $37
The winery produces a dizzying array of pinots noirs, but this one stands out as relatively low-priced. It displays the same detail-oriented polish as its stablemates, with bright and nuanced raspberry fruit integrated with barrel notes of chocolate and coffee.
Patricia Green Cellars 2016 Estate Vineyard Bonshaw Block Pinot Noir (Ribbon Ridge); $60, 100 points.
This 100% Pommard clone wine from a 1990 planting is immensely deep, dark and textural, with complex aromas that instantly draw one in. Its compact berry, plum jam and baking spice scents come with underlying mineral and earth notes. It hits the palate with a powerfully woven matrix of lush flavors: blueberry, plum, cherry, chocolate, butterscotch and toasted coconut. It’s thick, supple and lingering—an ethereal and extraordinary wine. Editors’ Choice.
Maison Roy
2015 Incline Pinot Noir // Dundee Hills // $60
A new project from second-generation Beaux Frères founders Jared Etzel and Marc-André Roy, this is a dark, dense wine, packed with black fruit flavors, the signature of the Dundee Hills AVA. Subtle streaks of iron ore, coffee grounds, tar, and tobacco bring added complexity and length.
Domaine Serene
2015 Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir // Willamette Valley // $75 94 points.
This winery produces a stunning array of single-vineyard pinots, but it labels this reserve “the defining standard” for them all. This reserve is an excellent representation of the 2015 vintage. Firm, supple and loaded with brambly purple fruit, it carries a pleasing touch of fruit sweetness. It rolls gracefully into a tight finish, with layers of herb, earth, blueberry, black cherry and brown spice notes. Editors’ Choice.
Wine Spectator Top 10 of 2016: No. 2 -- Domaine Serene Chardonnay Dundee Hills Evanstad Reserve // Willamette Valley // $55
Oregon’s Willamette Valley is now known for world-class Chardonnay. With the excellent 2014 vintage, this leader of this grape was recognized for making Wine Spectator's 10 most exciting wines of that year. Get the details on their picks, along with the full tasting notes HERE.
Domaine Divio
2016 Pinot Noir (Ribbon Ridge); $48, 94 points.
A bright aroma of raspberry jam underscores a core of wet rock. There’s a light saline note of oyster shell on the palate, with well-rounded flavors of rich cherry and chocolate that extend through the finish. Though it may sound like an odd mix, this is flat-out delicious. Editors’ Choice.