Tasting Notes: I recently discovered this wine at a very fancy tasting I attended in Manhattan. I was drawn to the wine by the passion of the young man who was presenting the wine to the tasters. He was so proud of the wine and he was confident. He knew his wines were good and he was correct. The young man was Josh Nadel, owner of Gothic and his 2010 Gothic Pinot noir was absolutely spot on. This is one of the finest Oregon Pinot Noirs I have tasted for the money. The wine’s screaming with red berries, alive in your mouth, almost danced on the palate and was gloriously long. The wine invited you in and I could not wait to try some more. The Pinot Noir is sourced from three vineyards, in three of the Willamette’s sub-AVA’s: Monk’s Gate, (Yamhill-Carlton) Hyland, (McMinnville), and Willakia (Eola-Amity Hills). After hand-sorting, the fruit is gently de-stemmed, and all wines are vinified and aged individually prior to blending. The wine is aged for 12 months in French oak, of which 30 percent is new. A slow, natural malolactic fermentation completed in early spring. This Pinot is ripe but balanced, superbly pure. Gothic is a classic Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Red cherries, rose petals, mushrooms and sweet spice greet the nose and the palate.

Pinot Noir fascinates and entices winemakers despite being thin-skinned, temperamental and exuberantly expressive – the diva of grape varieties. It resists industrialization and rewards small yields and traditional techniques. Pinot Noir produces wine that is unmistakably specific in its geography; sample wines from a variety of regions, you will have no trouble distinguishing New Zealand’s Central Otago Pinot from Burgundy from Russian River Pinot. Because Pinot Noir from the cool, relatively wet climate of Burgundy is traditionally the most renowned, farmers and winemakers search for and argue about which regions most closely emulate Burgundian qualities. Oregon, and specifically the Willamette Valley, a rich, 170-mile-long stretch only 30 miles from Portland, makes a strong case.