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Sitting Pretty: Oregon's New Release Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Beyond

featured, United States: Oregon

Eric Guido, Jan 2024

Producers in Oregon have made a remarkable comeback following the nearly non-existent 2020s, with two vintages that are stylistically yin and yang, yet are sure to win the hearts of long-time collectors.

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Cellar Favorite: 2010 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir The Beaux Frères Vineyard

cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, United States: Oregon

Eric Guido, Oct 2023

The 2010 Pinot Noir The Beaux Frères Vineyard is a perfect example of how maturity can propel a wine of humble beginnings beyond expectations. The 2010s are the product of a cool and classic vintage that made producers question when the wines would peak. Today, the wines are in the sweet spot.

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Oregon’s 2019 Pinot Noirs - A Return to Classicism

featured, United States: Oregon

Josh Raynolds, Feb 2022

The Willamette Valley’s winning streak, which has seldom been interrupted for almost the past two decades, continued through 2019, a year that has produced some epic Pinot Noirs of noteworthy elegance and energy. This is truly a golden age for high-quality Pinot Noirs from across Oregon. One could convincingly argue that the last six vintages, from 2014 through 2019, produced many of the greatest wines to ever emerge from the state.

Some of oregon's finest and most graceful chardonnays are grown in the compact ribbon ridge ava  which lies within the chehalem mountains appellationcopy

Oregon Outside the Pinot Noir Box

featured, United States: Oregon

Josh Raynolds, Sep 2020

For many wine lovers, Oregon, and especially the Willamette Valley, is all Pinot Noir, all the time. Perhaps no other region in the New World is so closely associated with a single variety. And yet there’s so much more happening here, especially with Chardonnay. White wine and reds not made from Pinot Noir are approaching almost half of our annual Oregon coverage, which is a remarkable development over the last decade.

Brian and jill o'donnell's belle pente vineyard  in yamhill carlton  has produced some of the willamette vallley's most graceful pinot noirs since 1996.covervopy

Oregon Pinot Noir: The Winning Streak Continues

featured, United States: Oregon

Josh Raynolds, Jul 2020

Oregon’s unprecedented run of outstanding vintages which began in 2014, has been extended yet again with 2018. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2011 and 2007 to find years that were truly challenging, and both of those vintages actually produced a large number of outstanding wines.

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Winemaking and Wine Marketing in a Plague Year

Italy, Argentina, New Zealand, France, featured, Australia, General Interest, United States: Oregon, United States: California

Stephen Tanzer, May 2020

In just the past couple of months, the novel coronavirus has profoundly changed the production and sale of wine around the globe. In this roundtable interview, 35 producers get specific about the challenges they are facing.

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Oregon: An Embarrassment of Riches and Richness

featured, United States: Oregon

Josh Raynolds, Jun 2019

Two thousand sixteen is yet another link in an unprecedented chain of outstanding vintages in the Willamette Valley that began in 2014 and has now extended to 2018. Compared to the ‘14s and ‘15s, the ‘16s, while on the rich side for Pinot Noir, show more freshness than wines of the previous years at a similar stage.

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Oregon’s Expanding Palette of Wines

featured, United States: Oregon

Josh Raynolds, Feb 2018

Fueled by steadily increasing production of first-class Rieslings and Chardonnays, Oregon’s wineries are proving that they can do much more than just make great Pinot Noir.

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Oregon Pushes the Quality Needle for Pinot

featured, United States: Oregon

Josh Raynolds, Jan 2018

The 2015 vintage for Oregon Pinot Noir is an all-around winner in terms of quality and quantity. The 2015 Pinots, the main focus of this year’s report, are already commanding intense demand in the market and what ‘14s are still out there, including many of the late releases covered here, are also hot commodities.

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Oregon: Beyond Pinot Noir

featured, United States: Oregon

Josh Raynolds, Jan 2017

Pinot Noir dominates Oregon’s wine production to the point where wine lovers are often totally unaware of the rising quality of many of the State’s other varieties. Most of these wines are produced in small quantities, but in many cases a search of the market is more than worth the effort, and pricing is often favorable as well.