Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Founder’s Reserve Willamette Valley 2018 750 ML

Spicy cranberry fruit has a sharp tone and some phenolic bite. It’s young and tight, with focused blueberry fruit wrapped in a frame of earthy skin flavors. Aged nine months in one-quarter new French oak, this should benefit from another year or two of bottle age.

Producer Information
Willamette Valley Vineyards is a well-regarded wine estate based in Turner, Oregon, just south of Salem in the southern Willamette Valley AVA. It is known for its varietal Pinot Noir wines and other cool-climate grape varieties. The estate was founded in 1983 by Oregon native and UC Davis-trained winemaker Jim Bernau. To help fund new vineyards and winery ventures, Bernau conducted the first crowd-funding campaign in the US in 1988, selling shares of the business to the community. Willamette Valley Vineyards now has more than 7000 shareholders. The estate vineyard has 21 hectares (53 acres) of vines in volcanic, iron-rich soils. It is planted primarily to Pinot Noir, with a portion planted to Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. Willamette Valley Vineyards’ most esteemed site, Tualatin Vineyard in the Tualatin Hills AVA, is one of the oldest vineyards in the region, and was acquired through a merger in 1997. This vineyard is planted to almost 46 hectares (110 acres) of Pinot Noir, six hectares (15 acres) of Chardonnay and 12 hectares (29 acres) of Riesling, along with smaller amounts of Gewürztraminer, Muscat and Pinot Blanc. The winery produces a range of single-vineyard and AVA-specific Pinot Noir Wines from Willamette Valley subregions including Chehalem Mountains, Dundee Hills, McMinnville and Yamhill-Carlton. Willamette Valley Vineyards also produces a range of varietal white wines including Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Muscat and Gewürztraminer. Willamette Valley Vineyards also produces red and white wines from the Rogue Valley in southern Oregon, under the name Griffin Creek. It also boasts an additional cellar door facility in McMinnville.