Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019 - 46

Top 100 Wineries

Walter Scott

W.T. Vintners

OREGON | WILLAMETTE VALLEY
Drilling down on the terroirs of the Eola-Amity Hills and its
environs, Ken Pahlow creates wines of exceptional vineyard
character and winemaking restraint.

WASHINGTON | WOODINVILLE
W.T. Vintners reflects a sommelier's sensibility-terroir-driven,
low alcohol, detailed wines with savor and succulence.

KEN PAHLOW AND ERICA LANDON founded Walter Scott Winery in 2008 with a well-rounded
set of skills and experience. Pahlow had assisted
in winemaking at Patricia Green Cellars and St.
Innocent, under Mark Vlossak; at Evening Land,
he managed sales and assisted during harvests,
working with Dominique Lafon, among others.
Landon had excelled as a sommelier, working at
Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and Ten 01 Bistro in Portland, both known for their depth of
Oregon selections. At Walter Scott, the couple
focus on capturing the diversity of soils, aspect
and clonal selections in the Eola-Amity Hills
through their many bottlings; Pahlow has been
known to lease portions of vineyards that don't
always correspond to squared-off blocks; rather,
they capture a range of the vineyard's physical
differences and clonal diversity. That vineyard
snapshot they massage lightly with gentle pumpovers, gentle punch-downs and the occasional
post-fermentation maceration; minimal handling and maximal site expression. -P.J.C.

KEN
PAHLOW

JEFF
LINDSAY-THORSEN

2016 Walla Walla Valley Damavian Blocks 30 &
31 Les Collines Syrah ($49, 96 points) For Lindsay-Thorsen, Les Collines represents the pinnacle of
cool-climate fruit expression in Walla Walla. A cool
site in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, the vineyard gives wines that are spicy and ethereal. The
2016, which Lindsay-Thorsen buoyed with 100-percent whole-cluster fermentation, is hauntingly savory,
with a seemingly boundless array of scents-smoke,
creosote, violets, sage, peppermint, iodine, sassafras, rosemary and lavender. With its brisk, windswept feel, this is an exceptionally elegant incarnation of Walla Walla syrah.

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Sojourner Vineyard Pinot
Noir ($55, 94 points) From shallow soils at this volcanic site, planted in the 1970s on the southwest
edge of the Eola Hills, this has an old-vine feel in its
aromas and flavors, a scent of soil and tamarind
accenting dark cherry flavors. It's packed with flavor,
but those flavors are held firm by tight chocolatescented tannins. It's a complex wine for complex
dishes.
2017 Willamette Valley Freedom Hill Vineyard
Chardonnay ($55, 94 points) Freedom Hill lies just
south of the Eola-Amity Hills, in the Coast Range, but
protected by the Van Duzer corridor winds. Unlike
most Willamette Valley sites, this one has been
devoted to chardonnay since the 1980s. A slightly
warmer microclimate than the Eola-Amity Hills, this
gives wines that are slightly more forward, leesy,
more Meyer lemon than lemon. The attack is pure,
unabashed and generous, but with a mineral tension
that gives the wine some nerve and flair.
FOUNDED:

2008

OWNERS:

Erica Landon,
Ken Pahlow
WINEMAKER:

Ken Pahlow
ACRES OWNED:

None
CASES PRODUCED:

6,000
46

2015 Walla Walla Valley Stoney Vine Vineyard
Syrah ($48, 92 points) Stoney Vine is a collaborative vineyard project in the Rocks of Milton-Freewater
on the southern end of the Walla Walla Valley. The
place is not normally associated with restrained
wines, but Lindsay-Thorsen's Rocks version is smoky
and spiced, like an anise cookie on a rotisserie, with
sweet, sleek notes of fig compote.
FOUNDED :

2017 Willamette Valley Cuvée Anne Chardonnay
($40, 94 points) Named for Erica Landon's mother,
Cuvée Anne is sourced from five older vineyards. It is
the sort of wine to taste over several days (if you can
resist finishing it): It starts off nutty and bright, shedding a whiff of matchstick to reveal its citrusy and
mineral side, with a tropical, white peach breadth
that gathers with air. The wine feels focused and balanced, with the brightness and nerve for seafood.

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2020

JEFFREY LINDSAY-THORSEN STARTED THIS BRAND
with longtime friend George White in 2007. A
sommelier at RN74 in Seattle, Lindsay-Thorsen
has the chance to taste hundreds of wines from
all over the state of Washington, an advantage
when assessing vineyard sources to choose those
that allow him to achieve a style of wine that
privileges restraint. His career also affords him
access to many thoughtful and voluble vignerons
in Burgundy and the Rhône Valley, whom he
can ask for advice. The best of them, he says,
have responded with a similar line: "They didn't
always use the same words, but the message was
always the same, some version of 'Stop doing so
much.'" It's become a prevailing theme for W.T.,
which is focused on, but not limited to, Rhône
varieties, and which boasts a great collection
of wines from Washington's older vineyards, to
whose character Lindsay-Thorsen always defers.
-P.J.C.

2007
Jeff
Lindsay-Thorsen,
George White
WINEMAKER: Jeff
Lindsay-Thorsen
OWNERS:

ACRES OWNED:

None
CASES PRODUCED:

2,000

2016 Yakima Valley Boushey Vineyard ($48,
92 points) Boushey, planted in the mid-1990s for
Rhône-variety pioneer Doug McCrea of McCrea Cellars, is one of the first sites in eastern Washington
where Rhône varieties excelled. Lindsay-Thorsen
shows a deft hand in this blend, roughly equal parts
grenache, syrah, and mourvedre, the wine's wholecluster spice lining dark, elegant plum and carob
fruit. It's mildly smoky, vinous and saturated, with the
grip and depth for morcilla sausages.

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019

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