Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - 91

Year's Best US Pinot Noirs
92 | Winderlea

$55

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Crawford Beck
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ This wine is from a
shallow-soiled property on the northern
end of the Eola Hills. It's leafy and bright in
its aromas, holding an herbal note beneath
red-cherry and red-plum scents. The flavors
are lightly drawn and touched by oak, but
display a pronounced mineral underpinning
that grounds the wine and bolsters its acidity.
It's built to age. -P.J.C. (250 cases) §
521417

91 | Bethel Heights

$75

2018 Eola-Amity Hills Casteel Pinot Noir ^
This leads with a pretty alpine-meadow scent,
light and a bit smoky, before surprising you
with its intensity: Its heady blue fruit carries a
firm, spicy Luxardo-cherry opulence. Decant
this for duck. -P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 240 cases) §
522936

91 | Bryn Mawr Vineyards

$50

2018 Eola-Amity Hills Krista's Block
Pinot Noir ^ A shallow-soiled, high-elevation
block planted in 2001, Krista's produces a
wine that is considerably leaner and more
focused than its counterpart from Jeffrey's
(also reviewed here). This has a dark redcherry cast to its fruit and tremendous concentration, gathered by oak and fruit-skin
tannins. It needs time to settle. Cellar before
pouring for a pork chop. -P.J.C. (100 cases) §
521465

91 | Cristom

$75

2018 Eola-Amity Hills Marjorie Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Marjorie is one of Cristom's oldest vineyards. Named for Paul Gerrie's mother, this wine smells of bright cherry
and cinnamon, the flavors full and firm, the
whole-cluster elements and the oak combining for a guided, wood-driven finish. -P.J.C.
(W&S 10/20; 504 cases) §
521471

91 | Evening Land

$100

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Anden Seven
Springs Estate Pinot Noir ^ Intensely smoky,
as sharp as the scent of mezcal, this hides
notes of red fruit and dark berries beneath
the haze of smoke. With air, it gains composure, rendering the wine cool and elegant,
a marriage of caramel, smoke, purple plum
and vinous, barky elements, before the cluster spice renders a mildly bitter finish. Cellar.
-P.J.C. (W&S 10/20; 321 cases) §
520122

91 | Kate Arnold

$40

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Daffodil Hill Pinot
Noir ^ From a vineyard on the southern end of
the Eola Hills, near Eola Springs, this wine is
as fruity as a good Beaujolais, and grounded
too, with a savory base of violet and olive supporting juicy red-berry fruit. The flavors are

at once focused and creamy, with an herbal
bite. -P.J.C. (W&S 6/20; 176 cases) §
523038

91 | Ken Wright Cellars

$63

2018 Eola-Amity Hills Canary Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Ken and Karen Wright purchased this vineyard on the southwest end of
the Eola-Amity Hills in 2006, having worked
with the fruit since 1987. There's a Jory dustiness grounding this wine, a granular breadth
adorning its plum, black-cherry and mildly
sanguine flavors. That minerality supports
the wine's ripeness with ease. For the cellar.
-P.J.C. (511 cases) §
520024

91 | Lumos

$48

2017 Eola-Amity Hills North Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ This cool
wine from a cool site is reserved, the notes
of clove, anise and dried dark plum held at a
distance. The linear trajectory of the tannins
suggests this is a long way from peak expression. Cellar. -P.J.C. (W&S 6/20; 96 cases) §
521416

90 | Bethel Heights

$50

2018 Eola-Amity Hills Aeolian Pinot Noir ^
Tense and a bit floral when first poured, this
wine smells of violets and red berries, with
a touch of green that firms up the finish. It
needs a little time to come together, before a
meal built around roast quail. -P.J.C. (W&S
10/20; 398 cases) §

MCMINNVILLE
520217

93 | Cristom

$45

2017 McMinnville Meredith Mitchell
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ From Cristom's new
line of wines from non-estate vineyard
sources, this comes from a warm, mid-elevation vineyard planted in the early 1990s,
mostly to Pommard clone. It's currently
demonstrative in its whole-cluster spice, with
bright, generous fruit beneath it. -P.J.C.
(W&S 6/20; 138 cases) §
522862

92 | 00 Wines

92 | Fullerton

$65

91 | Brittan

$60

91 | Coeur de Terre

$38

88 | Yamhill Valley Vyds.

$26

2018 McMinnville Momtazi Vineyard
Pinot Noir ^ From the biodynamic Momtazi
vineyard, this savory pinot offers composure
from the start. It leads with scents of tobacco
leaf and dark brown spices, like sassafras and
cinnamon. The flavors are exuberant, a burst
of dark red cherry delivered with a suave
intensity. -P.J.C. (275 cases) §
522925
2017 McMinnville Basalt Block Pinot Noir ^
A wine that possesses both high and low
tones, its aromas have a maraschino sweetness and dark, violet-tinged spice. The flavors
are generous but also meticulously framed,
the tannins a bit overly firm at the moment,
needing time to settle and knit. -P.J.C. (343
cases) §
522959
2017 McMinnville Héritage Reserve
Estate Pinot Noir (Best Buy) ^ Lively for a
2017, this has a woodsy scent and dark composed fruit. The flavors are sharply etched
and finely wrought, dark cherry with a hint
of smoke that lends the wine complexity and
contour. -P.J.C. (457 cases) §
523215
2016 McMinnville Estate Pinot Noir (Best
Buy) ^ A lean, translucent red, this leads with
scents of seawater and cranberries. The flavors are a bit diffuse, but with air it develops
into a fine pour for charcuterie. § -P.J.C.

RIBBON RIDGE

$95

2018 McMinnville 00 Hyland Pinot Noir ^
Exotically spicy with scents of black plum,
balsamic, pfefferneuse cookies and spruce,
this wine sets up to be a savory treat, only
to pivot to a dark, deep and extravagant
style, with flavors of beef bones, cinnamon
and plums. Louche and luxurious, it's kind
of Sine Qua Non wolf in an Oregon sheep's
clothing. A pour for lamb stew. -P.J.C. §
520216

92 | Cristom

strably different from Cristom's estate offerings, with less structure but plenty of flavor,
heady and dark, with scents of roasted nuts
and spiced plum, and a toothsome, leathery
texture. -P.J.C. (W&S 6/20; 180 cases) §
523227

$45

2017 McMinnville Hyland Vineyard Pinot
Noir ^ This comes from a Willakenzie site
with vines going back to 1971. It's demon-

523192

94 | Trisaetum

$55

2018 Ribbon Ridge Estate Pinot Noir ^
Off the cooler western flank of the Ribbon
Ridge hills, this plays like a dancer, its grace
belying a firm, tensile strength. The initial
WINE & SPIRITS

APRIL 2021

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Wine & Spirits - April 2021

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