The color is dark ruby shading to a transparent magenta rim; it’s a pinot noir of blazing purity and intensity, featuring spiced and macerated black cherries, currants and plums permeated by cloves and ground cumin, hints of sandalwood and sassafras and a touch of pomegranate; the super-satiny texture drapes the tongue in a dense, almost chewy enfolding, though kept dynamic through elemental bright acidity; the wine becomes increasingly loamy and foresty through the intense and concentrated finish. 13.7 percent alcohol. One of the best pinot noirs I tasted this year. Exceptional.

50 Great Wines of 2017 Exceptional

Pine Wine: Oregon and its wine regions This wonderful, exceptionally well made wine features highly pleasing fruit but develops much more in the mouth and finishes with great beauty and length.

Harmonious and bold with layered spice, tobacco and dark chocolate notes. Intense and persistent finish with good acidity and refined tannins. A delightful beauty that pairs with so many great foods, from mushrooms to lamb, duck, and chicken.

Wines With Character For Mother's Day Rich fruit begins a compelling personality featuring beautifully soft but expressive tannins, excellent complexity, refined integration and a wonderfully powerful, prolonged finish. "Pas de Nom?" I'd name it "wonderful."

Favorite Oregon Pinot Noir Bottles from Jackson Family Wines This great wine came from a “bad” vintage, or so winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash thought. It has since become a favorite wine representing six different vineyards with its chocolate nose and hints of caramelized fruit. Their 2011 Estate Dussin Vineyard Pinot Noir was another one of our favorites. So well balanced, this wine plays with green peppercorn notes that translate to overall herbal and vegetal hints paired with fresh, tart berries. It’s a bit different and it is so good. While it is sold out on their site, you might be able to find it in restaurants in bottle shops. Also consider their 2016 Palmer Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir. It’s a vibrant, people-pleaser Pinot.

Lynn Penner-Ash’s stylishly “no name” Pinot Noir continues to stand out within the lexicon of Oregon Pinot Noir, and this latest expression stays true to its core three vineyards – Bella Vida (30%) in the Dundee Hills, historic Shea Vineyard (25%) and the estate vineyard (17%). There’s magnificence to the nose presented by 10 months in French oak, with 40% of those barrels new, offering hints of cocoa powder, cardamom, allspice and pencil shavings alongside Bing cherry and smoky plum. Enjoyable fine-grained tannins are ushered out by Marionberry juice. And thanks to the investment by Jackson Family Wines, production of Pas De Nom increased by 20 percent from the prior vintage. Outstanding.

Limpid medium ruby hue; black and red cherries and currants, notes of cranberry and cloves, sandalwood and sassafras; expressive and eloquent, generous, even dignified; large-framed, succulent and satiny; layers of forest and meadow elements, briers and brambles, wild flowers, hints of wild raspberry and blueberry; a vibrant and resonant pinot noir, both ethereal and consequential. Excellent.

Wine of the Week: Annual Thanksgiving Day wine pairings Cranberries are a staple at our house, and they usually have a touch of cinnamon and orange rind in the recipe, so I like to mimic those flavors in the wine as well. The 2015 Penner Ash Estate Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley of Oregon is a fantastic choice. This wine is a bold-styled pinot noir, with a vibrant nose teeming with scents of dried cherry and black tea. The fruit-forward flavors of cherry, red berry and red plum are on the brighter side and lead to a soft, round finish in which notes of orange cloves and cinnamon linger on the back of the tongue.

Blackberry, dark plum, spice and black pepper flavors lead to a soft, pure finish. Texturally pleasing vanilla and spice notes finish long and strong. I paired this with a cherry almond glazed pork tenderloin. Excellent!

The Great State of Oregon Wine The 2015 has a gorgeous nose of blackberry and strawberry fruit, bright flowers and spice. The fruit is pure with lots of structure and length. This wine will open more with a year or two bottle aging. Drink this wine with planked salmon, grilled tuna, duck, quail, pork chops, sausage, and triple cream cheese.

Wine Women of the World, Part Two: A Vinitaly International Preview I first tasted Lynn Penner-Ash's wines very early in my work as a writer. My palate certainly wasn't developed enough then to fully appreciate them, but her narrative caught my ear and stayed there, and I've been following her all this time. Penner-Ash was doing all the things right that a young winemaker needs to do. She had gone the UC Davis route of studying viticulture and enology, and she'd worked at some of Napa's most prestigious wineries. And then she saw the writing on the wall: Her growth in Napa would be limited, and she'd be able to advance in that environment only so far. It wasn't far enough. So Penner-Ash left Napa and its secure, if limited, future. She went to Oregon which was, then, still a fairly unknown proposition in itself. (2017 is Penner-Ash's 38th vintage, and her 30th in Oregon.) In 1988 became the first female winemaker hired in Oregon, at Rex Hill Vineyards, where she also served as President and COO. In 1998 she and her husband Ron started Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, to which she focused full time in 2001. The Penner-Ash Estate Pinot Noir comes from an iconic 11-acre vineyard planted 100% to pinot noir in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. The vineyard site was originally covered in poison oak, which was considered an omen for great pinot noir.

The color of the Penner-Ash Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015, Yamhill-Carlton District, is very dark ruby shading to a transparent rim; it’s a wine formidable in size and dimension, starting with its potent elements of loam and graphite minerality, its heady and intense aromas of lilacs and rose petals, its deeply spicy scents and flavors of black and red cherry and currant compote; dense, chewy and succulent, it’s a powerful and muscular expression of the grape, its texture equal parts talc and flint, its electric acid strain seemingly chiseled from granite. Excellent.

Dark ruby hue shading to a transparent rim; smoke and loam, penetrating minerality, deep, rooty, luscious; tobacco and cigarette paper; slightly roasted black currants and cherries, with a touch of rhubarb and cranberry; vibrant acidity cuts a swath; a fathomless strain of dust and graphite, bolstered by an intense core of lavender, licorice and bittersweet chocolate. Quite a performance. Excellent.

If you're looking to celebrate with something special, try this wonderful offering from Oregon. Aromas of strawberry, anise and tea spice with flavors of fresh raspberry, plums and a hint of cedar. Will pair magically with ham and will work with the bird.

Wine of the Week We’re often inclined to pop open a bottle of something pink or fizzy when the weather is a little warmer, but there is more to summer than pale hues. With that in mind, few reds are more suitable for warmer times than Oregon Pinot, especially this example by Lynn and Ron Penner-Ash from the Willamette – whose eponymous winery was bought by the Jackson family in 2016. This particular Pinot comprises a blend of wines from the estate’s single vineyard expressions, and wowed the tasters for its “vibrant” fruit, “creamy wood” and “spice” on the nose, along with its “pure red berry flavours”, “definition and persistency”, according to Patricia Stefanowicz MW, who was on the panel last year. Another judge, David Round MW, found the Willamette Pinot lively with wood and spice, and “pently of ripe fruit”. Knowing the wine would benefit from some time in the cellar, the Penner-Ash team waited until last year to enter this 2014 vintage expression into our Global Pinot Noir competition, and just as well, as our panel gave it the highest accolade, a Master.

Pinot Noir Masters 2018 Master

Hyland Vineyard is one of Oregon’s largest and oldest vineyards. The winery was founded in 1988 by husband and wife team Ron and Lynn Penner-Ash. Penner-Ash Wine Cellars embodies the spirit and passion of a boutique producer specializing in Pinot Noir. This was an exceptional wine that is vibrant and focused with notes of red currant and cranberries.

Black cherry with a zing that had dried herbs and a rich body that finished with a floral lift. Only 190 cases made. Founded in 1998 by wife-and-husband team Lynn and Ron Penner-Ash specializing in Pinot Noir, Syrah and Riesling from the northern Willamette Valley.

Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Auction 2019 Bright acidity, silky tannins, red cherry and pomegranate fruit and long finish.

Favorite Oregon Pinot Noir Bottles from Jackson Family Wines This great wine came from a “bad” vintage, or so winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash thought. It has since become a favorite wine representing six different vineyards with its chocolate nose and hints of caramelized fruit. Their 2011 Estate Dussin Vineyard Pinot Noir was another one of our favorites. So well balanced, this wine plays with green peppercorn notes that translate to overall herbal and vegetal hints paired with fresh, tart berries. It’s a bit different and it is so good. While it is sold out on their site, you might be able to find it in restaurants in bottle shops. Also consider their 2016 Palmer Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir. It’s a vibrant, people-pleaser Pinot."

We concluded the tasting with the 2016 Syrah, which yielded a deep purple color along with ample dark fruit flavors and hints of oak. Medium-bodied with good balance and weight that carries it to a long, smooth finish.

A delicious Oregon Syrah with flavors of blackberry, dark plum and spice. The finish has finesse and good depth, leading to delicious spicy undertones with lively tannins and acidity. I really enjoyed this wine with a good old fashioned burger.

Lynn Penner-Ash blazed the trail in Oregon for women winemakers, and while she earned fame for her work with Pinot Noir, there’s also an obvious passion for Rhone varieties, too. Six vineyards throughout the state factored into this blend dominated by Rogue Valley sites Lakeside, RoxyAnn and Crater View, and the 17-month French oak program included six new barrels. It offers seemingly something for everyone, starting with hints of brownie mix and blackberry, backed by whiffs of gaminess, moist earth and funk. Inside, it’s rich and flavorful as blackberry jam and blueberry hang among the high-riding, fine-grained tannins. Pomegranate acidity gives it a long fruity finish capped by a pinch of white pepper. Outstanding.