I love Pinot Noir! It's my grape of choice when looking for a red to pop, and even more so when it's a hot day during the summer. Pinots are light on their feet but have enough complexity to keep you interested. I'm always looking for new ones try and although I prefer Burgundy, my wallet says otherwise.
Many of you know by now that the Oregon region is an excellent place to find great Pinots that won't break the bank. I also find that the terroir in Oregon produces wines closer to those of Burgundy, as opposed to say ones from California. We just checked some new releases into stock from Cristom, which is a producer that I've heard great things about, but haven't had a chance to try yet. It was purchased in 1992 by a Pittsburgh based engineer by the name of Paul Gerrie. He hired one of the top wine makers from California, Steve Doerner, to craft his wines. Steve previously spent 14 years at Calera winery in California, and before that studied under Jacques Seysses, owner and winemaker at Domaine Dujac in Burgundy. After having established himself as winemaker at Cristom, Doerner was eventually
made a partner in the business.
Cristom has eight estate owned vineyards, with an area of 65 hectares and is located in the Eola-Amity Hills wine region within the Willamette Valley. They are best known for their single vineyard Pinot Noir based wines, and they currently produce four single vineyard Pinots, all named after family matriarchs- Marjorie, Louise, Jessie and Eileen.
Production is low on these single vineyards so we were only able to land 24 bottles of each for our inventory. Recently, I had the pleasure of tasting the Eileen vineyard, and I've included my notes below.
2009 Cristom Pinot Noir Eileen Vineyard: Big, bright red fruit and dark berries with hints of cherries as well. Plenty of spice gives way to a full bodied silky Pinot with underlying earthy tones. The finish lasts for minutes - reminds me of a top Nuits St. George.
Pricing on these single vineyards ranges from $44-$57, & in Stephen Tanzer's latest publication he gave all of them raving reviews. Three received 93 points and one 94 points. I'd like to say these wines are still somewhat under the radar, but I don't think that's going to last very long! With that being said if you are Pinot Noir lover like myself or a Burgundy lover, than I definitely recommend you give these a try today.