Andrew JeffordAJ | Anthony Rose AR | David Williams DW
to grow on you, albeit still subtle, but with a good, authentic berry-fruit middle supported by a firmish structure combining elements of oak, tannin, and fresh acidity in a well-made, appealing, unostentatious whole. 2024–29. | 90 DW | Ripe blackcurrant coulis—richly, deeply scented; the palate is plush, deep-filled, with a slightly obtrusive oakiness (as much in the tannin as the flavor); it’s a richer style, perhaps a little too forceful for the Pinot top drawer, but the subtle sage and cherry-ish acidity lift the finish appealingly. 2024–30. | 90
Abbott Claim Abbott Claim Vineyard Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Yamhill-Carlton 2021 (13% ABV)
| 91
AJ | Dark, translucent black-red. Fresh and attractive, in the higher register, but relatively simple set against the best of its sub-AVA peers. Ample sweet-fruited charm. Just a touch sinewy, dry, and grassy at the finish, but rewarding, arrow-head Pinot through the mid-palate core, once again in the higher register: pure, bright, sustained, curranty, and pungent. 2024–28. | 90 AR | A youthful mid-ruby in color. This shows an appealing berry-fruit Pinot in aroma, not especially expressive, but Pinot nonetheless; and the berry-fruit quality that follows though when you taste it is just caught a little short and hollowed out by the somewhat drying tannins that follow in its wake; leaving you with a pleasant if not charming representation of Pinot Noir. 2024–27. | 89 DW | Coffee grains and cassis; sleek, dark, panther-like feel to the tannins and lots of coiled energy in the lipsmacking dark-berry and currant fruit: classy, stylish, lithe, long. 2024–30. | 93
Evesham Wood Vineyard Le Puits Sec (Organic) Willamette Valley Eola-Amity Hills 2021 (13% ABV)
| 91
AJ | Dark black-red. An almost lemony energy here, behind the black fruits: engaging. Herbal notes, too: complex and fine. Very tight and acidic (early pick? site?). If you like zest in your Pinot, find it here. 2024–29. | 89 AR | A youthful mid-ruby in color, this is still a tad elemental in its aromatic profile, like a bud waiting to flower, but the signs are positive; and when you taste, there’s some youthfully fresh loganberry-like fruit here; the acidity brings freshness and delicacy, not to mention a nice savoriness and tannic grip that make it a good food wine. Understated and subtle, a good wine for squirreling away a few bottles. 2024–30. | 90 DW | The initial impression is of a punnet of just- picked strawberries, with that slightly high-toned, earthy, almost gamey, wet-straw tang as well as all the juicy, sweet fruitiness; the texture, too, all softly juicy fruit; summery, warm, and gently perfumed—entirely engaging and evocative. 2024–30. | 93
Goodfellow Family Cellars Durant Vineyard Heritage No.17 Willamette Valley Dundee Hills 2021 (13% ABV)
AJ | Very light and translucent; our lightest | 91
wine so far (nearing mid-point). Lifted and graceful aromas of strawberry and woodruff (springtime, woodland, vanilla-like). Beguiling. Fresh and zesty: daringly restrained on the palate. Have we got quite enough resonance out of the vineyard here? For me, not quite. Finishes a little firmly and abruptly, though you can’t fault the freshness. Classy wine, for all that. Mouthwatering redcurrant flavors; fine length and vinosity. A debate about what place means is always worth having. 2024–29. | 91 AR | Mid-ruby, just starting to show some evolution in color. Some herb and mint in the aroma before the cherry kicks in; this is pleasantly medium-bodied in style, with some juicy cherry fruit in the middle, just a tad underpowered in fruit, with pleasing acidity and little structure, suggesting a wine for early to medium-term drinking; nothing at all wrong with it, but you might just want more fruit, more flavor. 2024–26. | 89 DW | Lucid, light, airy, with plentiful feathery melt-on-impact tannins—youthful raspberry fruit and mineral acidity; bergamot-pithiness on the finish; just perhaps missing some essential spark or extra something. 2024–30. | 91
00 Wines Hyland Willamette Valley McMinnville 2021 (13.2% ABV)
| 90
AJ | Dark black-red. Super Pinot classicism here: the perfect wine for any blind-tasting exam. Locked on to that raspberry-with-beetroot undertow like a limpet. And sweet and charming withal: super aromatics. This is exactly what you get on the palate: a great bowling hoop of pure, purissimo Pinot fruit, wheeling it over your tongue. Little to detain; little not to delight. This Is Pinot. 2024–28. | 90 AR | Medium-ruby in color. This is showing some somewhat premature gamey notes in the aroma, while tasting the wine brings an immediate sweetness of cherry fruit, with oak in the background playing no obvious part, while the tannins come in rather sooner than you might have liked, rendering the enterprise quite savory and dry overall, and just a tad underpowered on the fruit side. 2024–26. | 88 DW | A slick pool of macerated cherry, bergamot, sage, and thyme; plump, mouthwateringly succulent, but fleet-footed and refreshingly bitter-tangy; long, fruit-filled finish, with snap and savor; a really complete, immediately appealing but ageworthy Pinot Noir, full of character. 2024–30. | 93
YOUTHFULLY FRESH LOGANBERRY-LIKE FRUIT; THE ACIDITY BRINGS FRESHNESS AND DELICACY; A NICE SAVORINESS AND TANNIC GRIP THAT MAKE IT A GOOD FOOD WINE
Cristom Mr Jefferson Cuvée Willamette Valley Eola-Amity Hills 2022 (13.5% ABV)
| 90
AJ | Dark black-red. Ample, sweet warmth and tender charm. Rounded and enticing. Sappy, vivid, and energetic, with more acidic strike and energy (and brisker tannins) than I expected from the nose. This is an excitingly multi-dimensioned wine that actually needs a year or two to settle down (unusual here, when most are so lovely from the get-go). Grand purity and drive: an exciting, zesty, sappy, thrusting prospect, though much less primary and sweet than its peers. An even higher score beckons if it acquires more aromatic finesse. 2024–30.| 92 AR | This is medium-ruby in color and starting to show some evolution in the glass despite its young age. It’s a tad muted in aroma, and the fruit, while still youthful, is just a little on the rustic side, with some bitter tannins and marked, salty acidity scooping out the mid-palate and creating a slight hollow where you would hope that the fruit would be. 2024–26.| 87 DW | Very pure Oregon Pinot nose—you’d be happy to get this in a blind-tasting exam; lovely fruit ripeness, just-off-the-bush ripe; immaculate and flowing with youthful, fruity energy through to the entirely refreshing, sappy-tangy, cherry- and-raspberry-filled, long finish. 2024–30. | 92
Bethel Heights Vineyard Aeolian Willamette Valley Eola-Amity Hills 2022 (13.4% ABV)
| 90
AJ | Dark black-red; translucent scarlet. Less richly expressed fruit than the best of its peers (though we only have four 2022s). Sweet, grainy, and enticing Pinot nonetheless, with some Cologne-spice finishing finesse. Juicy, pure, fragrant Pinot, with lots of those Cologne spices and dried fruit peels. Beautiful wine built on a winning fruit core. It has a bit less grunt and push than [the Cristom Mr Jefferson Cuvée 2022], but the aesthetics here at this early stage are hard to beat: aromatic arabesques, lacy textures, seduction from the off. 2024–30. | 93 AR | Mid-ruby, a tad wan in color or maybe it’s just pinot but it is quite evolved for its apparent youth, there’s some pleasant cherry fragrance , reprised in the fruit to which is pleasantly juicy and ripe, nicely underpinned by a nip of refreshing acidity without any over oak and finishing on a dry, mouthwateringly savory note that demands food. 2024–27. | 89 DW | Slightly stewed and jammy fruit, and a touch candied and sweet on the palate, leavened by some sparks of red-cherry acidity; straightforwardly easy-drinking, if not quite with the detail and energy of others in this flight. 2024–30. | 89
Martin Woods Winery Jessie James Vineyard Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Eola-Amity Hills 2021 (13.5% ABV)
| 90
AJ | Dark but clear, bright and limpid scarlet-red. Soft, zesty, and lively: spot-on. All the delicacy and tenderness of lovely Pinot on fruited show. Effortlessly on message in graceful style. That’s exactly what you’ll find on the palate, too:
THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025 | 213
SAVOR: OREGON PINOT NOIR
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