Cristom Louise Vineyard Pinot Noir (375ML half-bottle) 2016
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Planted in 1993, Louise Vineyard was named for Cristom winegrower &
owner Tom Gerrie’s great-grandmother, Louise Dinkelspiel.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This delivers an ethereal and fragrant impression on the nose with a bright, red-fruit theme that is framed in sweet spices and flowers. The palate has a strong array of ripe red cherries with sappy complexity and crisply defined tannins. Impressive tension here.
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Wine Spectator
Deeply structured, yet elegant and precise, with rose petal and dark cherry aromas, layered with wet stone and spiced tea flavors that build toward broad-shouldered tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is the original block at the estate vineyard, and the wine remains tight and a bit astringent at the moment. Wild berries, orange peel and a touch of meat stock all combine, with stiff, chewy tannins. It has all the hallmarks of a wine that needs another couple of years to pull itself together. It should drink well through the 2020s.
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Wine & Spirits
The 2016 Louise is at once earthier and more fruit-driven than the 2016 Jessie Vineyard (also recommended in this issue). Leading with floral notes, it’s deeply flavored yet precise, the tannins holding the wine in a demonstrative grip, lasting with a sous bois scent.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby, the 2016 Pinot Noir Louise Vineyard opens with classic aromas of black and red cherries, cola, dried earth and autumn leaves over a peppery, spicy background. It's medium-bodied and silky in the mouth with lovely red and black fruit layers accented by licorice, earth and black tea. It's framed with firm tannins and mouthwatering acidity, finishing long and lively.
Rating: 92(+?)
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Wine
Cristom Vineyards is a family-owned and operated winery that has established itself as a top producer of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Eola-Amity Hills district of Oregon's Willamette Valley. Second-generation proprietor Tom Gerrie leads the production team, which includes long time winemaker Steve Doerner and recently arrived vineyard manager & winemaker Daniel Estrin. Each bring experience from working at top Pinot/Chardonnay producers in California: Doerner from Calera and Estrin from Littorai. Tom’s parents, Paul and Eileen Gerrie, founded the winery in 1992.
The estate is divided into five single vineyards: Jessie, Eileen, Marjorie, and Louise (all named for Matriarchs in the Gerrie family); and the newly added Paul Gerrie vineyard, acquired in 2012. There are 95 acres on vine throughout the 240-acre property. The majority vineyards are planted at a high density of around 2,300 vines per acre and heavily cropped to produce about 2 tons of fruit per acre.
Cristom farms its estate vineyards according to the biodynamic practices originated by Rudolph Steiner. In 2017 Tom began to implement biodynamic principles to bring the true expression of the vineyard into its wines. Cristom has been a leader in natural winemaking practices, including native yeast and an early pioneer of whole-cluster fermentation in the US. The vineyards and winery are Certified Sustainable by the Oregon LIVE program (Low Input Viticulture and Enology).
Vintage after vintage, Cristom produces top-quality wines, no matter how easy or challenging the elements make it. This consistency is a testament to the deep knowledge of the vineyard, the respect for the land, and a light touch in the cellar. Recognized globally as a leading producer in the beloved Willamette Valley, their wines continue to be a unique blend of tradition, modernity and finesse.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.