Eyrie Vineyards, Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon 2008

What’s in the bottle? Translucent garnet color with blue highlights. Raspberry, candied black cherry, balsam fir, sassafras and rhubarb on the nose. The palate is consistent with the nose adding a touch of incense and saw dust. The tannins are very low giving way to nice clean acidity and balanced alcohol. An extremely well made wine by the pioneer of Pinot in the Willamette Valley in possibly the best vintage to date.

Knowledge: The Willamette Valley is certainly Oregon’s premier growing region for Pinot Noir. The Valley has six sub-appellations that you are starting to see more and more on wine labels. The sub-appellation names are Dundee Hills (as seen here), Eola-Amity Hills, Chehalem Mountains, McMinnville, Ribbon Ridge, and Yamhill-Carlton District. All six of these lie within the boundaries of the greater Willamette Valley Appellation. Many critics are calling the 2008 vintage the best EVER in Oregon, so if you are a fan you should stock up.

Service: Serve in a Burgundy or balloon shaped glass at about 60⁰. This is a light bodied red wine, and generally the lighter the wine the cooler you should drink it.

What to eat? Hold off on pulling the cork until May when the fishing season opens for Wild Alaska King and Sockeye Salmon from Copper River. Throw that beautiful fish on the grill.

Retail Price: $34.99

Found it @:

Mora’s Fine Wine & Spirits
280 Route 25A
East Setauket, NY 11733
(631)941-4458

For the Geeks like Me: David Lett the owner of Eyrie (EYE-ree) Vineyards put Oregon on the wine making map in more ways than one. Back in 1965 he was the first person to plant Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley. The results were very good because at a French wine competition in Paris in 1979 (again in Beaune in 1980) his 1975 South Block Reserve came in second place beating Burgundy’s Maison Joseph Drouhin’s 1961 Grand Cru Chambertin - Clos de Beze. The Drouhin’s quickly rushed to Oregon to see what the competition was all about and ending up buying property in the Dundee Hills of Willamette Valley in 1987 next to the Eyrie Vineyards. The rest as they say is history.