…reminded me of early fall and a little heart string pull for New England
After a trip last October to the Willamette (pronounced Will-Am-It) Valley, I have a new found appreciation for Pinot Noir, a wine I have always struggled with.
Our first day wine tour started at the welcoming boutique winery and vineyard called Winderlea, a winery I highly recommend you visit if you ever find yourself on the Pinot Noir tasting trails.
Our breathtakingly crisp and sunny morning tasting started with their Chardonnay and moved quickly on to their famed Pinot Noirs. Every taste brought something new and special not only in the tasting itself with our friendly host, but also an education into this precarious varietal, which now helps me understand a little more why I struggle with it. The Pinot Noir is a very special grape, which craves the perfect cooler growing climate.
This review focuses on the Winderlea Bryan Creak Pinot 2015. To start, I may have opened this wine a little too early and should have waited another year or 2. That said, I am a fan of this bright, lusciously fruity wine. It has a medium body with a spicy, tickly and mild oaky aroma that reminded me of early fall and a little heart string pull for New England, which I miss every day. A dry, nicely balanced wine with tastes of freshly picked before ripe cherries, black tea and an easy earthiness of white mushrooms. Sounds odd but works brilliantly well. This may be my new favorite Pinot Noir!
The Pinot Noir is a very versatile wine for food pairing from Duck to Chicken and earthy vegetarian dishes such as mushroom risotto.
My rating
