Wine & Spirits - April 2020 - 89

YEAR'S BEST US PINOT NOIRS
the southwest ridge of the Eola Hills. In 2017,
it grew a wine with an old-vine feel, a scent
of soil and tamarind adorning maceratedcherry flavors. It's firm, with tight tannins,
dusted with chocolate mole and minerals-a
complex wine for a complex dish, like mole
poblano. (W&S 10/19; 445 cases) -P.J.C.

517487

93 | Bryn Mawr

$65

2016 Eola-Amity Hills Reserve Pinot Noir ^
Like the other Bryn Mawr pinots reviewed
here, this feels bright and lifted, even as its
texture is substantial. Flavors of pomegranate and strawberry lead the way, dusted with
herbes de Provence; it's tightly wound but the
tannins are plush, the wine light enough to
pair with fish. (W&S 10/19; 125 cases) -P.J.C.

ness, the savory elements as compelling as
the fruit. Direct the tannins at roast duck.
(W&S 10/19) -P.J.C.
518171

93 | Cristom

$70

93 | Keeler Estate

$28

93 | Lingua Franca

$90

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Marjorie Vineyard
Pinot Noir ^ This wine starts out aromatically
wild, with scents of crushed, dried violet petals and smoke. After a day it becomes elegant, with flavors of crushed plums infused
with soft oak spice, lasting with a fine savor.
(W&S 12/19; 384 cases) -P.J.C.
519440
2017 Eola-Amity Hills Heart Pinot Noir
(Best Buy) ^ With scents of clove and mulled
spices, this delivers its flavors in waves of
richness, the dark, sumptuous fruit pulsing
and precise, notes of ripe cherry, blueberry
and olive drawing to a savory finish with bay
laurel-scented tannins. Impressive for the
price. (426 cases) -P.J.C.
518178
2017 Eola-Amity Hills Mimi's Mind
Pinot Noir ^ Everything about this wine feels
delicate and precise. Sourced from Mimi
Casteel's meticulously farmed site near Lingua Franca, its scents reflect whole-cluster
spice-black tea and bergamot-while the
flavors are limpid strawberry-rhubarb and
cherry, with a grip that reflects the shallow
soils of the eastern Eola Hills. Decant it for
roast trout. (W&S 10/19; 356 cases) -P.J.C.
518180

93 | Lingua Franca

517490

93 | Bryn Mawr

$50

2016 Eola-Amity Hills Jeffrey's Block
Pinot Noir ^ From the estate's oldest blocks,
planted from 1994 to 1997, this has a heady
richness to its plum-and-black-cherry flavors,
and a healthy rasher of oak. By day two, the
wine's exuberance has settled a bit, replaced
by an assertive fruit presence, vibrant and
juicy, leavened by the site's mineral signature. (W&S 10/19; 125 cases) -P.J.C.
517740

$60

2017 Eola-Amity Hills La Bete Pinot Noir ^
With a formidable build, this seems made for
aging, but it's already compelling, with scents
of beef consommé, black tea and clove over
flavors of plum and cherry, and sumptuous
oak molding the contours of the fruit. Cellar.
(W&S 10/19; 175 cases) -P.J.C.
520023

93 | Lumos

$48

$62

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Upper Bench Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ This
leads with scents of mineral dust and caramelly oak. With air it fills out, with a pure
driving black-cherry flavor, grippy minerals
and what seems like the cool side of perfect
ripeness, dark and cinnamony, with a basaltic, mineral close. (69 cases) -P.J.C.
519603

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Pelos Sandberg
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Big Table has been
purchasing fruit from the same blocks of
Pelos Sandberg since 2010, and it's often
our top-scoring wine from the winery. The
2017 lines its core of dark cherry flavor with
dusty rose scents and a mild tanbark earthi-

2016 Eola-Amity Hills Poco Vineyard
Pinot Noir ^ Poco is a slightly cool north-facing site in the northern reaches of the Eola
Hills. This wine is plush but balanced, its
scents of hibiscus and cinnamon complementing concentrated dark-fruit flavors,

93 | Big Table Farm

93 | Matzinger-Davies

$50

with dry and suede like tannins that lend
tension and grip. (25 cases) -P.J.C.

517954

93 | Rose & Arrow

$120

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Gathered Stones
Hopewell Hills Pinot Noir ^ From the east
side of the Eola Hills, this sturdy pinot is
derived from a complex mélange of basaltbased soils. It's exotic and spicy, with a mineral tinge and an almost saline tang. Texturally it's focused and bright, holding flavors of
succulent fruit and wild mushrooms. Cellar
it for a year before pouring with swordfish.
(W&S 10/19; 244 cases) -P.J.C.
517412

93 | Walter Scott

$65

92 | Adelsheim

$85

92 | Bergström

$70

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Temperance Hill
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Gorgeous from the
get-go, this wine, from the high north block
of this fabled vineyard, issues a light-beam
of red cherry fruit simultaneous to its herbal
elements of tobacco, bergamot and black
pepper. It's elegant and poised, even as it
feels like it will burst from all the freshness
it's emitting. This is likely to reward years of
cellar time. (W&S 10/19; 100 cases) -P.J.C.
518070
2015 Eola-Amity Hills Zenith Vineyard
Pinot Noir ^ Elegant and a bit reticent, this
wine from the Hills' windy west side feels
earthy and savory, with scents of olive,
tobacco and cherry skin. The flavors are
vibrant and succulent, with an invigorating
red-cherry/cranberry tartness, and firm tannins on the finish. (W&S 10/19) -P.J.C.
517827
2017 Eola-Amity Hills Temperance Hill
Vineyard Pinot Noir ^ Wildly spiced, with
scents of sage, rosemary, pipe tobacco and
that peculiar smoky cherry scent that seems a
signature impression from Temperance Hill,
this has a mouthfilling succulence. Give it
time in the cellar to gather in that mineral
intensity, before serving with chicken and
mushrooms. (W&S 10/19; 350 cases) -P.J.C.
518167

WINE & SPIRITS

APRIL 2020

https://shop.rosearrowestate.com/Wines/Rose-Arrow# https://brynmawrvineyards.orderport.net/product-details/0066/2016-Reserve-Pinot-Noir https://brynmawrvineyards.orderport.net/product-details/0064/2016-Jeffreys-Block-Pinot-Noir

Wine & Spirits - April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - April 2020