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MIND-BOGGLING COMPLEXITY!

A couple of years ago, Cameron Hughes fan “Michael” left this comment about a Pinot Noir that is very similar to today’s Lot 945 2021 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir: “This was my first pinot from Chehalem Mountains…Loved it! I will be looking for more from this appellation.” Well, Michael, today is your — and every Pinot lover’s — lucky day.

The source winery basks in the shadow of the Chehalem Mountains of Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley — the epicenter of world-class Pinot Noir. Their family-owned 45-acre estate vineyard is farmed to the strictest of biodynamic standards, and the vines are teeming with life and vibrancy. It’s no wonder top critics regularly give their wines 90-94 points scores!   

The Lot 945 2021 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir comes from Decanter magazine’s “cellar-worthy vintage,” which produced “brilliant” wines. Lot 945 is its own brilliant compilation of eight different Pinot Noir grape clones (for complexity) aged in expensive Taransaud, Ermitage, and Francois Freres oak barrels for impressive structure. It is a mind-boggling Pinot Noir that is so complex even the wine thinks it’s really a Grand Cru from Burgundy. 

At $20 a bottle, get ready for a fireworks display: A beautiful lucid ruby-red color opens with ripe, black cherry and tart cranberry notes laced with black tea leaves, dried flowers, and sumptuous earth notes. This medium-bodied Pinot envelops the palate with satiny red-berry fruit wrapped in velvety tannins, while rich baking spices, cedarwood, and black truffle cream add intrigue. Expressive acidity keeps everything fresh and balanced. 

Watch as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes, and Nicole Muscari, your pocket wine advisor, walk us through a tasting and discuss this exciting Black Label release.

Video Highlights:
00:00 Intro
00:18 Willamette Valley / Oregon
01:13 In the Glass
01:30 The Nose
02:15 The Taste
03:08 Pairing
04:37 Where in the Cellar?

Tasting Video Transcript:

Chris Lafleur says
Hi, Everyone. Welcome back to the CH Wine tasting room. I’m Chris Lafleur your super sommelier, and I’m here with Nicole Muscari your pocket wine advisor. Nicole, what have we got today?

Nicole Muscari says
Today, I’m super excited because we have a wine from Willamette Valley. This is a Pinot Noir Lot 945, and Oregon is one of my favorite states that produces Pinot noir.

Chris
Oh, yeah.

Nicole
We have to get into this.

Chris
We certainly do. But when I think about Pinot Noir, like, one of my interest to it was tasting some burgundy. And the more you dig into Burgundy, the more expensive it gets. But I don’t know that I always get as much satisfaction out of those wines. The more I pay every time. But what I love about Willamette Valley is that almost always I’m getting I know what I’m getting.

Chris
I’m getting a nice expression of Pinot noir that’s kind of between the Burgundy and California.

Nicole
I agree. I find the exact same thing with Willamette Valley. You can get that really kind of undergrowth, that earthiness, that savory characteristic that you find a lot in Burgundy. But then you also have this really fruit forward, bright red, juicy fruit that you find here in the United States that I absolutely love. So it kind of combines the best of both worlds.

Chris
Yeah.

Nicole
All right. Lot 945. What do we have?

Chris
Well, I think looking at this, you know, it’s fairly clear it’s not opaque or anything like that. So we’ve got traditional Pinot Noir, not really thick skins, nice slight expression. And I’m not seeing a lot of staining in the glass either. So Absolutely. From there onto the nose. Nicole?

Nicole
Yes, I would expect this to be very fresh and very juicy. Let’s see.

Chris
Some.

Nicole
Ooo, those bright red cherries just right off the bat.

Chris
Mm hmm. Yeah. Sleeping out with fruit and love, the little cranberry undertones, too. And I’m liking that. There’s there’s still a subtle note of, like, sous bois, that dark earth, but it’s. It’s still really fruit driven.

Nicole
Yes. This kind of reminds me of Fall in a Glass, in a way. You know, those changing leaves, the reds, the yellows, the golds. I’m finding all of that in here.

Chris
It’s like you’re getting to, like, walk through a nature trail when all the leaves are falling down.

Nicole
Absolutely. I can even hear the crunching of the leaves. And I think actually the fruit itself on the palate might feel a little crunchy.

Chris
Oh, well, speaking of let’s crunch that fruit.

Nicole
Let’s crunch it.

Chris
Mm hmm.

Nicole
That is juicy.

Chris
As usual for these black labels. It’s really hard to spit these wines. We’ve totally issued that aspect of it. I know you guys like to see us spit out the wine. You like to do it at home as well today. Just dig in.

Nicole
This. Great. I find some really beautiful dried floral notes on here as well, with maybe a little dried peony like pink flower. But definitely those bright red fruits that we were talking about, a little bit crunchy and juicy. But again, with all of that beautiful undertone of a little bit of undergrowth, mushiness maybe. Yeah, but Earth.

Chris
I like that you called out the dried flowers, the dried floral note here, because it does kind of remind me of a touch of potpourri, but not overpowering. There’s still like a nice balance of fruit and a nice balance of floral delight and lift.

Nicole
What are you going to pair this with?

Chris
What am I going to pair this with? Oh, man, Just everything. A nice cozy night on the couch for sure.

Nicole
Absolutely.

Chris
But, you know, when I think about what goes with Pinot Noir, I usually think about duck because it’s always a good excuse to have duck in the house. So I would definitely think about duck with maybe like, like a reduced balsamic or something. It’s going to bring all those flavors together. What about yourself?

Nicole
I love mushrooms with Pinot Noir. I find once you save a piano after a while you can kind of get truffle mushroom tones once the wine goes a little tertiary. So I like to play with that, even though they’re not quite here yet. Sometimes if you do like a mushroom risotto or something like that, to kind of pull that complexity out of the wine.

Nicole
So for me, I’m going mushroom risotto, maybe a little truffle on it. Not too crazy not to overpower it.

Chris
We don’t need to go. But we can.

Nicole
We can go a indulge. Let’s indulge.

Chris
But I also like it and like wild with the mushrooms, too. Like, let’s throw some pan of the woods in there. Let’s get some chanterelles. Let’s. Let’s get crazy. Let’s really see what these mushrooms can smell like. And see which one we find in the glass.

Nicole
Absolutely. And another great thing about Pinot Noir, and especially this one, is that you could have this with like a fatty fish or you could do a grilled white meat as well if you wanted to, because it won’t overpower those things. Some people think you absolutely could never pair fish with a red wine, but that’s not true.

Chris
I’m thinking now with like a like a roast pig, like a whole pig, like the crackling skin. With this perfect together.

Nicole
Aging wise, where does this fit in everyone’s cellar?

Chris
Well, one of the things I like about it, and I noticed, as I’m sure you did, too, like on the palate, there’s really bright, fresh acidity. And that’s usually one of the hallmarks for me that this is going to last a little while. Because when you open this after a couple of years, you want it to taste fresh.

Chris
And that acidity is going to do that. Also, I think the fruit is pretty dense. So when you finally do get this open, it’s not going to taste like an old boot. You’ve got a bunch of fruit coming out alongside that lively character.

Nicole
Absolutely.

Chris
So where would you like this down when you get a case?

Nicole
So like you said, this has that great foundation. Know if you like that bright red, juicy breadfruit. Now, this is great. The tendons are really fine grained and I think you could enjoy this wine now, but I also think you could age this up to five years at least if you wanted to.

Chris
Yeah, I think five years. And this is going to be singing. Yeah. I don’t know that I’d go too much further because like we said, the tannins are really fine, which, which is, you know, you need those there too for really long term aging to reduce micro oxidation, which we love to talk about in the tasting room. But I think five years is great sweet spot.

Chris
It’s going to be singing after that.

Nicole
I totally agree. Hopefully there’ll be some cases left after I get my hands on this because this is delicious.

Chris
And now we’re going to go finish this bottle. And I think by the end we’ll be singing. To hell with that. We’ll see you at the next glass.

Nicole
Cheers.

SHOP OREGON WINES

DECODED: CHEHALEM MOUNTAINS