From their 15-acre estate vineyard, the deep ruby-purple 2021 Pinot Noir Estate Vineyard is forward with aromas of graphite, black cherry liqueur, and dark spices of anise. Full-bodied but not weighed down, it retains its pure dark fruit through the palate, with ripe tannins and a savory edge that’s quite attractive. It is another wine where its primary fruit makes it quite appealing now, but it will have a solid 5-6 years of prime drinking ahead.

A rich golden straw color, the 2020 Chardonnay Dropstone is a barrel selection from the two top blocks of the estate vineyard. Its ripe perfume of tangerine, vanilla custard, ripe apple, and frangipane is followed on the palate by a medium to full-bodied white with a nice balance of richness between its fresh texture of orange pith and light, savory touch of saline. It’s in a good place now for fresh early drinking, although it will become more yellow-fruited and savory over the next 6-7 years.

Dark and mountainous in its personality, the 2021 Pinot Noir Upland is darker red and offers notes of scorched earth, blackberry, lavender, and toasted sage. Full-bodied without being heavy, it is forward with ripe fruit and is deceiving in its approachability, with generous fruit balancing more ripe, meaty tannins and a rocky texture on the finish. It offers the darkest, most brooding profile in the range and will do well to age another year or two before drinking 2025-2035.

Savory and ripe, the 2021 Chardonnay Upland is a deep golden-straw hue and offers up umami richness in its aromas of brothy saline, golden peach, and chamomile. Medium-bodied, the palate opens to juicy ripe orchard fruit, with a kiss of candied citrus and a pithy texture on the finish. Drink this over the next 5-6 years.

Pouring a transparent red hue, the 2021 Pinot Noir Elevee Vineyard is ripe and red-fruited, with well-balanced spice and floral aromas, preserved raspberry, and baking spices. Juicy and medium-bodied, with a silky texture and its more primary fruit filling the palate, it offers fine tannins and loads of sweet mixed berries. It’s approachable and drinking well now and should continue to drink well over the next 4-6 years.

A darker ruby hue, the 2021 Pinot Noir Bella Vida Vineyard takes on dark fruit of black raspberry, gravelly earth, and black licorice candy. Medium to full-bodied, with ripe tannins, it displays a darker savory profile, with notes of turned earth and tea leaf on the finish. It’s also rather approachable now but will continue to drink well over the coming 5-6 years.

Pouring a bright, youthful yellow hue, the 2020 Chardonnay Yamhill-Carlton takes on a pure and fresh style, with notes of quince, pear, lemon curd, and a hint of baking spice. Medium-bodied, with a wonderful soft, stony texture, an elegant mouthfeel, and a clean finish, it’s a very pretty wine to enjoy over the next 5-7 years.

Taking on a nearly opaque red color, the 2021 Pinot Noir Clairiere is packed with a brooding, almost Syrah-like savory character, with black pepper, wet stone, olive, and sunbaked black cherry notes. Meaty and full-bodied, with ripe fruit, sweet tannins, and a good freshness of acidity underneath (but certainly not pronounced), it also offers toasted notes of smoky cedar on the finish. Drink it over the next 5-7 years.

The 2021 Chardonnay Estate Cuvee pours a bright yellow-silver hue and offers toasty aromas of incense, lime leaf, and white peach. Full-bodied, with good underlying freshness, it has a cleansing lift of citrus and white flowers on the finish. It’s an attractive style of white to drink over the next 4-5 years.

The deep yellow 2021 Chardonnay Willamette Valley is ripe with aromas of wet stone, fresh pineapple, and lemon rind. Lush, rounded, and full-bodied, with a creamy texture and hints of almond nuttiness and honeycomb on the palate, it’s in a good spot now and should hold up well over the next 4-5 years.

With 80% of the wine coming from the 2019 vintage (48% Pinot Noir, 48% Chardonnay, and a splash of Pinot Meunier), the NV Brut Rosé is a medium salmon hue and reveals aromas of ripe peach, wild strawberry, and sunbaked hay. Dry and medium-bodied, with a nice balance of ripe fruit and fresh acidity, a creamy mouthfeel, and a lively yet fine mousse. It’s drinking well now and will drink well over the next 5-7 years. Disgorged in April 2023, with 5 grams per liter dosage.

A ripe and dark fruited style that pours a deep but transparent red, the 2021 Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton is sunny and ripe with notes of baked black cherry, red plum, potting soil, and cedar. Medium to full-bodied, it’s ripe through the palate, with meaty cherry fruit, although it cleans off the palate nicely, and it has a bit of toasty incense on the finish. Drink it over the next few years.

The 2021 Pinot Noir Kiana feels more cohesive in its aromatics, with spicy notes of black raspberry preserve, anise, mocha, and candied violets. Full-bodied with more structure, ripe tannins, and notes of cocoa and turned soil on the finish, despite its ripeness, it’s holding onto more freshness and structure and will drink well over the next several years.

From 30-year-old vines on the Willakenzie Estate, the 2021 Gamay Noir Flavorscape pours a medium ruby hue and needs a little air on opening before revealing ripe mixed red and blue berries, red flowers, and a hint of cracked pepper. Bright and medium-bodied, it offers a silky mineral texture, with a clean finish, and is fresh with poppy fruit throughout. It’s refreshing and perfect for youthful drinking with a light chill.

The 2021 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley pours a dark but transparent hue and is ripe and forward with blackberry fruit, turned earth, and purple flowers. Medium-bodied, with ripe fruit and a modest finish, it lifts cleanly off the palate with a bit of earthy texture on the finish. Drink 2023-2028.

The 2021 Pinot Noir Estate Cuvee pours a deep ruby-purple hue and offers aromas of ripe red and black berries, dusty earth, and pine. Generous and rounded in its fruit, it’s medium to full-bodied, with a supple texture, sweet tannins, and notes of mocha on the finish. It is a nice lens into the estate's ripe style to enjoy over the next few years.

The dark ruby 2021 Pinot Noir Aliette takes on toasty and ripe aromas of wet asphalt, toasted baking spices, black cherry pie, and purple flowers. Full-bodied and loaded with ripe, sweet black and blue fruit, as well as ripe tannins, it has modest acidity but nice lift on the finish, although a touch of sweet fruit edges just shy of cloying. Drink it over the next 5-6 years.

Pouring a ripe yellow hue, the ripe and juicy 2021 Chardonnay Willamette Valley is forward with aromas of honeysuckle, ripe pear, and lemon custard. Full-bodied and generous, with a creamy texture and notes of vanilla oak spices lasting on the finish, it’s a seductive style to drink over the next few years.

Pouring a deep but bright ruby hue, the 2021 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley is forward with fruit and spice in its notes of ripe red cherry, cinnamon, and toasted cedar. Ripe and medium-bodied, the palate expands with sunbaked red plum fruit, ripe tannins, and modest acidity. It’s prime for youthful drinking to retain the ripe fruit while it’s still on the fresh side.

There are hay and cedarwood characters here, which help give the flavour profile some spread, but essentially the fruit here has soaked up its oak in the best of ways. This is an impressive 10-year-old wine. It tastes of fresh boysenberry, blackcurrant, decayed leaves, blonde tobacco and an array of secondary characters, leather and tangerine, earth and game. What’s really noticeable about this wine is the way it opens up in the glass; it starts off well, but it really blossoms as it breathes in the most wondrous of ways. It’s a gem of a wine, without question.

Every cherry is singing at the top of its lungs in this super delicious, full-of-energy Pinot from Zena Crown. And the waves of very pure, rich fruit flavors keep coming: cool raspberries, pomegranates, blackberries, and plums—all laced with grenadine. Languorously supple texture. Vivid and long.

Opens with captivating sandalwood and incense aromas, then moves into a wine with fresh, lively flavors of cherries, blueberries, lavender, and earth ending with a whoosh of minerals and a salty/peppery “bite.” Very structured. Very nice balance.

The 2020 High Sands Grenache speaks of raspberry
leaf tea, matcha dust, cut fennel, star anise, cherry
seed and blood plum skin. This is the more classically
styled Grenache of the Ovitelli and the High Sands, and
it is classy to its very core. As the two wines hail from
the same vineyard, albeit different blocks (and within
that, there are differences), the density and gravitas
that is afforded this wine has to, at some point, be
attributed to the foudre component. It balances the
febrile, delicate Grenache fruit and weights it. Now,
whether that is your "thing" or not is up for discussion,
but it is clear that there is a style difference between
the Ovitelli and the High Sands. This is unerringly
elegant and svelte, polished, expressive and effortless.
It sails through the mouth. It is sensational. The
tannins are absolutely the highlight, finely milled and
poudre-like in texture. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under
screw cap. The High Sands vineyard is a beautiful,
"open-to-the-sky" bush vine vineyard that was planted
in 1946. The Block 31 section, which is where the fruit
for this wine is sourced from, is 1.7 hectares and sits
on the cap of the gentle hill upon which the vines are
planted. This is where the deepest deposit of sandy
soil is. Handpicked and sorted on the fancy table in
the winery, 50% whole berries were fermented in open
fermenters, and it was on the skins for a minimum of
21 days. It had a wild ferment and no pressings in the
final wine. It matured on the lees in a combination of
large, old French foudres and ceramic eggs.

The 2021 Ovitelli Grenache is sourced from Block 30—
a two-hectare adjacent to the High Sands block,
planted in 1946. Sorted on the fancy sorting table at
Yangarra and fully destemmed, it fermented in
ceramic egg and spent 133 days on the skins. It
matured exclusively in ceramic egg (13 months'
elevage, no pressings in the final wine), so we know
the texture and structure inherent in this glass is
vineyard- and berry-derived rather than from the
vessel. Already, we are in cool territory. On the nose,
there is fresh tobacco leaf, graphite, raspberry leaf,
lavender, turmeric/saffron, matcha, licorice and a hint
of dehydrated orange peel (moving onto the
negroni/Camari end of the spectrum here). In the
mouth, the tannins are super fine, milled into
compressed powder that plumes through the fruit, like
blood in the water. This is mineral, detailed, exciting,
febrile, ethereal and lacy, even. Wowee. Strong
statement about McLaren Vale Grenache here. 14.5%
alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The 2021 Hickinbotham Grenache has that lovely,
skinsy, ashy quality that comes from extended time on
skins in amphora (69% of the blend remained on skins
in amphora for 198 days). There are notes of
dehydrated orange rind, dried thyme,
lavender/potpourri, crushed shells and sand, fresh
tobacco leaf and layers of very fine, pluming tannins in
the mouth. The aftertaste is where the tannins assert
themselves; after a mouthful of chalky, fine, gritty
texture that prompts a little chew and squish, they
leave a trace of flavor that brings us back to the
aromatics. It's a gorgeous thing, this wine. It's shape is
circular, and it's graceful, like watching a lava lamp.
14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. This was
made with 100% destemmed fruit, crushed and tipped
into cocciopesto stone egg-shaped amphoras. No
pressings were used in this wine. It matured
exclusively in this format for 13 months.