tasting / savor / Oregon Pinot Noir
Walter Scott Koosah Vineyard Willamette Valley Eola-Amit Hills 2021 (13.5% ABV)
| 93
AJ | Dark black-red. Sweet, warm, rounded, and complete: very enticing aromas here. Sweet fruits and truffley depths. A touch of struck match for the hipsters. Sound, long, pure, brightly lit: classic, down-the-line Eola-Amity, with wonderful drive, swish, and follow-through—some older vines here? Commanding wine in pure, flute-note style. 2024–30. | 92 AR | Vivid, youthful ruby. Lovely, complex perfume, mingling just a hint of (stylish) oak-spice with the dark fruits—dark cherry, loganberry—of ripe but not overripe Pinot Noir; a perfume that’s confirmed by the taste and the texture, both of which are extremely well-rendered here, the flavors of dark fruits shining through despite a crafty veneer of stylish oak, which helps to round out and yet bring grip to the textural quality of a truly stylish wine. Despite its youth, this is approachable now but could benefit from cellaring for a good five years yet. 2024–32. | 95 DW | Gorgeously fragrant, detailed nose—black and red cherries punctuated with darker, earthier notes. Seamless, harmoniously silky palate of very fine, ripe, polished tannins and perky acidity, then a long finish of cherries, herbs, and subtle mushroom savoriness. Stylish. 2024–30. | 93
Walter Scott Sojeau Vineyard Willamette Valley Eola-Amity Hills 2021 (13.5% ABV)
| 93
AJ | Dark black-red. Fresh, lively, with that wonderful Eola-Amity cologne fragrance of citrus peels and gentian root as well as the sweet cherry: a glorious nose that I don’t see Central Otago matching any time soon. Stupendo: bravo. Magnificent aromatic complexity. And then this is a wine with terrific, resounding depth of fruit, booming out across the palate. It drives and searches and powers through. There isn’t a great deal of tannic structure to shape it, so the athletic acids do all the structuring and shaping work; nor, as yet, does it have the same level of aromatic finesse as is evident on the nose. Very commanding and authoritative for all that, and a wine to watch as the years drop away. 2024–34. | 93 AR | A youthful medium-ruby hue, this is fresh and attractively perfumed in red-berry mold, a veneer of oak vanilla sitting just underneath the fruit; the fruit is delicately textured, with
SOUND, LONG, PURE, BRIGHTLY LIT: CLASSIC EOLA-AMITY, WITH WONDERFUL DRIVE, SWISH, AND FOLLOW-THROUGH. COMMANDING WINE IN PURE, FLUTE-NOTE STYLE
210 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025
a ripe cherryish sweetness mitigated by an energetic freshness in which the firm, demanding acidity brings a savory twist to the delicacy of the red-fruit flavors, while the tannins, although quite present, add something to the overall textural quality of the fruit in a seriously accomplished red that has yet to fulfil its potential. 2024–32. | 93 DW | Immaculate, mouthfilling succulence of cooked and super-fresh cherry; grilled and freshly squeezed orange citrus, too; racy and energetic, with mouthwatering, ripe, polished tannins and a very long finish, with delectable herbal contrast and citrus bite. Immediately appealing. 2024–30. | 94
Brick House Evelyn’s Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Ribbon Ridge 2021 (13% ABV)
| 93
AJ | Translucent, dark black-red. Fresh, almost leafy nose—a cooler site? Or an earlier pick, a new wave? So, a kind of aromatic urgency here, and you expect a more slender palate... and indeed that’s what you get. Not quite green, but the definition of “ripeness” here is rather different from the Willamette norm… it may, as I first wondered, reflect site. It’s a good wine, very pure, lively, nimble, gastronomic, palate-cleansing, and stylistically exciting. I was going to reference Hautes-Côtes, but actually it is much better than that (as a norm), with a much firmer, riper, and finer fruit core. Valid. 2024–29. | 92 AR | Mid-ruby, now evolving and shading to garnet at the rim, this is attractively perfumed, mingling as it does both cherry and raspberry fruit aromas with distinct herbal notes of thyme and oregano, all underpinned by an additional spicy note from the oak interplay; the dark berry fruit spliced with herb and light spicy oak is underpinned in an elegantly textured red by a refreshingly juicy acidity whose savory finish makes it one of the most food-friendly styles I’ve yet encountered. 2024–31. | 94 DW | Concentrated but polished, this is a smartly tailored and elegant Pinot, with a lovely seam of fresh, almost mineral, acidity that brings so much energy and glide. I suspect this will age beautifully, but the finely judged tannins and that racy-raspberry quality make it very appealing and refreshing now. 2024–32. | 93
Gran Moraine Gran Moraine Willamette Valley Yamhill-Carlton 2021 (13.8% ABV)
| 93
AJ | Very dark black-red: dense scarlet-black. Sweet, warm, subtle but invasive—seductive, even: superfine raspberry, with an inviting pheromone sheen. Wonderful work here. Lithe and energetic, very much majoring on the wine’s pristine fruit qualities, which we celebrate. Raspberry, plum, orange, rose petal: complex fruits, shaped by soft tannins and understated acidity. Breath-freshening, despite the intrinsic richness: a super mouthful here, zesty and athletic. 2024–30. | 93 AR | Youthfully vivid in color. The aromas of this Pinot Noir are attractively complex, combining stylish oak spice with vivid dark-berry fruit characters; there’s plenty of juicy-textured, ripe loganberry and dark-cherry flavor here, and while there’s lots of immediate appeal,
there’s a slight element of chewy extraction that catches the breath… But thanks to its complexity and concentration, it makes for a fine savory red that cries out for food. 2024–30. | 94 DW | High-toned succulence: a mass of ripe, dark fruits of the forest and creamy oak; focus and spark, too, on the palate: a lovely seam of fresh-cherry raciness to penetrate the richness, then a beetroot-earthiness and tang on the long, engaging finish. 2024–30. | 92
Lingua Franca Wines The Plow Willamette Valley Eola-Amity Hills 2019 (13% ABV)
| 93
AJ | Dark, purposeful black-red. This is very good: warm, settled, rounded, built on a splendid core of fruit that has now modulated toward secondary resonance. Harmonious, glowing, enticing... though relatively warm, in truth. Perhaps that accounts for its swift passage toward full secondary characteristics. Grand wealth of fruit here, and fine structure, too. Open, glowing, and accessible; there may be developments ahead but it has achieved its full articulacy for me. The affable tannins are holding it in place; the fruit is open, ripe, structured, and long, but thoroughly scrutable. Fine Pinot, with a broad beam to roll around in the mouth and linger with at table. Splendid tannins. 2024–28. | 94 AR | Youthful ruby for its age, slightly shading to garnet now. There’s some initial raspberryish sweetness on the mid-palate, and while the aromas are now quite evolved (in a good way), the fruit, too, is quite juicy in dark berry fruit vein, with sub-threshold oak bringing a suppleness of texture and a nice overall balance to a wine that’s ready for drinking now but, with its incisive freshness, should continue to drink well for another three to five years. 2024–29. | 90 DW | Wonderful, shimmering but focused concentration of raspberry, cherry, and dark currants; upright and serious, but with plenty of crunch and sap and vigor; the tannins are plentiful but fine and polished, the acidity is refined and enlivening—crushed-rock minerals on a cool, composed, long finish that is sensitively, perfectly seasoned with salt and pepper. Elegance, built to last. 2024–38. | 95
Ponzi Vineyards Pinot Noir Willamette Valley The Laurelwood District AVA 2021 (13.4% ABV)
| 93
AJ | Dark black-red; the darkest of its Laurelwood cohort. Sweet, warm, bright, and engaging: raspberry coulis, with some deeper notes of forest and undergrowth behind. Excellent aromatics here, balanced and complete. Sweet, warm, tender, expressive, and vinified with great restraint (invisible oak). What a lovely wine! It has just a little nuance or two of forest darkness but you barely notice—just there to add chiaroscuro; the raspberry (and cherry) are pure as dawn. It fills the mouth but leaves it unexhausted, spring-heeled, wanting a turn or two more on the dance floor. Bravo. 2024–31. | 95 AR | An almost brooding, vivid, dark ruby shows a degree of energy in the glass, confirmed by vividly fresh aromatics, distinctly Pinot Noir, with a really nice amalgam of floral and dark-berry
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