White Walnut Estate Worden Hill Road Pinot Noir 2023 Red Wine

White Walnut Estate Worden Hill Road Pinot Noir 2023 

Willamette Valley, OR

750 ml

96 pts. James Suckling:

"Great tension and acidity accompany effusive red fruit like raspberries and cherries in this beautifully balanced wine. Aromas of cinnamon, cloves and orange zest open up on the palate and expand to dark plums and black cherries. Great vibrant acidity and moderate tannins envelop the juicy, open fruit notes. Drink now or hold."

94-96 pts. Wine Advocate:

"Still in barrel, the 2023 Pinot Noir Worden Hill Road is youthfully coiled at this stage but becomes dramatically more detailed and expressive as it opens in the glass. Scents of boysenberry and blood orange unfold to nuances of allspice, aniseed and tea leaves. The medium-bodied palate offers concentrated, latent flavors. It’s structured by chalky tannins and bright acidity and has a long, floral finish."

White Walnut is a relatively new winery in the Dundee Hills AVA of the Willamette Valley, OR. Winemaker Chris Mazepink, formerly of Shea Vineyards and Archery Summit, is hitting it out of the park with his new venture! The Worden Hill Road Estate Pinot Noir is deeply flavorful, and bold for a Willamette Valley wine, in our opinion. We taste pomegranate up front, followed by the essence of freshly tilled, rich soil, finishing with a wonderful baking spiciness that goes on and on. It would pair especially well with salmon. With a production of just 175 cases, this is one of those rare "boutique wines" we were lucky to discover and excited to offer to our customers! Decant this wine for maximum pleasure. - Wine Factor

FROM THE WINERY

White Walnut Estate is a USDA Certified Organic & Demeter Certified Biodynamic vineyard rooted in the epicenter of Oregon’s heralded Dundee Hills. Formerly a walnut orchard, the property had been unattended for several generations and was completely overgrown with bramble when Chris Mazepink purchased the site in 2013. Chris sensed the potential of the property to become one of Oregon’s premier vineyard sites—- after all, the site abuts the estate vineyards of legendary Oregon wineries Domaine Drouhin and Archery Summit.

Chris and his sons, Archer and Charles, cleared the land, by hand, in the summer of 2014 and then planted it to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in 2015 and 2016. They preserved the remaining walnut trees on the property that continue to produce fruit and are now well over 70 years old, standing stoic amongst the vines. At 6.3 planted acres of vineyard, the flavors expressed in the first three harvests are remarkably complex in aroma, flavor and texture while also pulsing with energy. It’s this energy, this life force of both vine and land, that winemaker Chris Mazepink strives to cultivate in the farm, the winery and then deliver to your table.

FARMING: ORGANIC & BIODYNAMIC

SOIL: JORY

EXPOSURE: EAST, SOUTH

BLOCKS: 2A, 2E, 3, 3B, 5, 6B

WINEMAKER: CHRIS MAZEPINK

PRUNING: UNI LATERAL & BI LATERAL

HARVESTED: SEPTEMBER 14, 16, 2023

BOTTLED: OCTOBER 30, 2024

ALCOHOL: 14.39%

pH: 3.57

TA: 5.4 G/L

PRODUCTION: 175 CASES