Ken Wright Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

Ken Wright Cellars Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

WHY WE LOVE IT

  • Shaped by millions of years of plate subduction and volcanic activity, Oregon’s Willamette Valley is one of the premier Pinot noir producing areas in the world.
  • The Ken Wright Cellars Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a representation of many of their single vineyard Pinot Noir sites in one bottle.
  • All of the vineyards for this wine are located in the sub-AVA’s of the Northern Willamette Valley AVA.
  • Sustainable, nutrition-based farming, and organic certified.

Varietal Composition: 100% Pinot Noir

Elaboration: Five day cold soak took place in small, one ton fermentation batches of this premium Pinot Noir. Selected yeasts were used and extended aging took place in French oak barrels for 10 months. Fined and filtered at the winery prior to bottling.

Tasting Notes: Ripe rainier cherry, red plum and blackberry are nestled between notes of rose petal, cedar and turned earth. The wine is vibrant and lively on the palate with a generous finish.

PRESS

2022 – 91 Wine Spectator

2019 – 90 Decanter

2017 – 91 Wine Enthusiast “Editors’ Choice”

2016 – 91 Wine Enthusiast “Editors’ Choice”

2015 – 90 Wine Spectator

PRODUCER BACKGROUND

The seed for a career in wine was planted squarely in Bourbon country of Lexington, Kentucky. While waiting tables to put himself through school, Ken was exposed to fine wines from regions around the world. The passion became avocation when Ken left the Bluegrass State to attend enology and viticulture classes at UC-Davis. Eight years were spent winemaking for Ventana Vineyards, Chalone and Talbott Vineyards in Monterey County of California’s central coast.

Friends from the Willamette Valley piqued Ken’s interest in the region when they would visit, and a trip to the Dundee Hills in 1976 convinced him that this was where the finest Pinot noir in North America was being grown. In 1986, with family, belongings and 10 barrels in tow, Ken moved to McMinnville and started Panther Creek Cellars.

His concept of focusing on vineyard-designate bottling began during those years at Panther Creek and was cemented as a core philosophy in 1994 when Ken Wright Cellars was founded in historic downtown Carlton. Ken now makes a single vineyard bottling from 13 vineyard sites in the Northern Willamette Valley. Given his appreciation of sense of place, it was a given that Ken would contribute to the locations and industry near and dear to his heart. Instrumental in organizing the six new American Viticultural Area (AVA)’s in the Northern Willamette Valley that define in detail the distinct growing areas within the region, he wrote the proposition for the Yamhill-Carlton AVA and served as the association’s first President.

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Print Rated Shelf Talker (2022 – 91 Wine Spectator)