Westmount Willamette Valley Pinot Gris 2021
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James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Aromas of Asian pear, baking spices, and white flowers. The palate is vibrant and balanced. There are notes of white peach, mandarin orange, honey, and a subtle hint of pineapple with an expressive finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is really beautiful, with dried apple, pear, aniseed and some gun powder. It’s medium-bodied and tight with steely fruit and a dried-apple finish. Dry and spicy at the end.
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Wine Enthusiast
A quick release—harvested late September and released early in 2022—this is as fresh as an ocean breeze, a mountain creek or unskiied powder. All of the above comes across during the first sip of this crisp, clean and generous young wine. Sliced pear, yellow apple, green pineapple and wet stone flavors are tinged with a touch of lemon rind. The balance is spot on.
Other Vintages
2020-
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
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Wine
Enthusiast
Located in the heart of the Willamette Valley, Westmount’s namesake vineyard has over 100 planted acres and over 110,000 vines. Westmount’s vineyard team focuses on sustainability and quality made in the vineyard.
"The Westmount winemaking philosophy is to maintain the personality of the vineyard while allowing the grapes to develop into the wine they were meant to be." – Winemaker, Anne Sery
Westmount Wine Co. began in 2015 offering Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Rose and Pinot Noir from its estate-grown vineyards in the Willamette Valley AVA. This brand showcases serious winemaking skills and lighthearted branding at an affordable price point. The team at NW Wine Co created the Westmount brand to showcase the adventure and beauty that Oregon possesses. Like so many trailblazers that came before in search of a grander life, most of the team migrated "West over the Mountains," to settle in the Willamette Valley.
Westmount Wine Co. beckons to those with an adventurous spirit to take a journey with its wines and enjoy the scenery along the way with those you love. These wines are an incredible value from the NW Wine Co. family of Oregon brands.
Showing a unique rosy, purplish hue upon full ripeness, this “white” variety is actually born out of a mutation of Pinot Noir. The grape boasts two versions of its name, as well as two generally distinct styles. In Italy, Pinot Grigio achieves most success in the mountainous regions of Trentino and Alto Adige as well as in the neighboring Friuli—all in Italy’s northeast. France's Alsace and Oregon's Willamette Valley produce some of the world's most well-regarded Pinot Gris wine. California produces both styles with success.
Where Does Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio Come From?
Pinot Gris is originally from France, and it is technically not a variety but a clone of Pinot Noir. In Italy it’s called Pinot Grigio (Italian for gray), and it is widely planted in northern and NE Italy. Pinot Gris is also grown around the globe, most notably in Oregon, California, and New Zealand. No matter where it’s made or what it’s called, Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio produces many exciting styles.
Tasting Notes for Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio is a dry, white wine naturally low in acidity. Pinot Grigio wines showcase signature flavors and aromas of stone fruit, citrus, honeysuckle, pear and almond. Alsatian styles are refreshing, expressive, aromatic (think rose and honey), smooth, full-bodied and richly textured and sometimes relatively higher in alcohol compared to their Italian counterpart. As Pinot Grigio in Italy, the style is often light and charming. The focus here is usually to produce a crisp, refreshing, lighter style of wine. While there are regional differences of Pinot Grigio, the typical profile includes lemon, lime and subtle minerality.
Pinot Grigio Food Pairings
The viscosity of a typical Alsatian Pinot Gris allows it to fit in harmoniously with the region's rich foods like pork, charcuterie and foie gras. Pinot Grigio, on the other hand, with its citrusy freshness, works well as an aperitif wine or with seafood and subtle chicken dishes.
Sommelier Secrets
Given the pinkish color of its berries and aromatic potential if cared for to fully ripen, the Pinot Grigio variety is actually one that is commonly used to make "orange wines." An orange wine is a white wine made in the red wine method, i.e. with fermentation on its skins. This process leads to a wine with more ephemeral aromas, complexity on the palate and a pleasant, light orange hue.
One of Pinot Noir's most successful New World outposts, the Willamette Valley is the largest and most important AVA in Oregon. With a continental climate moderated by the influence of the Pacific Ocean, it is perfect for cool-climate viticulture and the production of elegant wines.
Mountain ranges bordering three sides of the valley, particularly the Chehalem Mountains, provide the option for higher-elevation vineyard sites.
The valley's three prominent soil types (volcanic, sedimentary and silty, loess) make it unique and create significant differences in wine styles among its vineyards and sub-AVAs. The iron-rich, basalt-based, Jory volcanic soils found commonly in the Dundee Hills are rich in clay and hold water well; the chalky, sedimentary soils of Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton and McMinnville encourage complex root systems as vines struggle to search for water and minerals. In the most southern stretch of the Willamette, the Eola-Amity Hills sub-AVA soils are mixed, shallow and well-drained. The Hills' close proximity to the Van Duzer Corridor (which became its own appellation as of 2019) also creates grapes with great concentration and firm acidity, leading to wines that perfectly express both power and grace.
Though Pinot noir enjoys the limelight here, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay also thrive in the Willamette. Increasing curiosity has risen recently in the potential of others like Grüner Veltliner, Chenin Blanc and Gamay.