Dyson DeMara and Scott Kelley regularly release three expressions of Pinot Noir — one that sources from throughout Oregon, one from their home region in the Umpqua Valley and this labeled as Willamette Valley. For this bottling, they could have used the Chehalem Mountains American Viticultural Area on the bottle. That North Willamette Valley AVA was home to all of this fruit, and primarily from Pommard and Dijon 777 clones. There’s a dustiness to the dark purple tones of this effort as the aromatics feature Marionberry and blueberry, a whiff of saddle leather and some toast and allspice from the 10-month program with 25% new French oak. Inside, it’s quite delicious with those fruit, picking up a bite of elderberry. The structure is lively and juicy, finishing with a squirt of lime. The following for this tier in their downtown Roseburg tasting room explains why DeMara and Kelley have nearly doubled its production since the 2018 v Suggested pairings include pan-seared duck breast or mushroom risotto.
Rating: 91 points — Excellent
Production: 1,131 cases
Alcohol: 13.5%
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