2012 Raptor Ridge Winery Pinot Noir Reserve Willamette Valley 750 ml

One of the Most Respected Estates in the Willamette Valley

As soon as the 2012 Oregon Pinot Noirs hit the market, the top single-vineyard wines from the Willamette Valley’s most revered cellars were wildly over-solicited. If you weren’t already on the mailing lists of Bergström, Beaux Frères, Penner-Ash, and Cristom, you were out of luck. Early on, Vinous’ Stephen Tanzer called 2012 “a vintage for the record books,” and so it has played out. For instance, a 2012 Domaine Serene beat out a Grand Cru and a pair of Premier Cru wines from Burgundy for top honors at the 2016 Decanter World Wine Awards. The market was so immediately hot. And though familiar cellar doors were slammed in our faces — a new one returned our calls. Albeit one of the most respected estates in the entire Willamette Valley: Raptor Ridge. After intense negotiations, we secured 56 cases of Scott Shull’s magnificent 2012 Raptor Ridge Reserve — at our price it is one of Vinous’s highest-rated under-$36 Pinot Noirs of the monumental 2012 vintage in Oregon. Those cases flew. A year later, a handful of cases remain at the winery — in mint condition — showing the brilliance of the historic vintage. We have 35 cases just in time for the holidays. Released at $50, just $35 per bottle — they will astound.

The spring of 2012 was unusually cold, making for a small and uneven set. In retrospect, it was the “misfortune” of March and April that would later contribute to the harvest celebration. After a mild June, July turned hot, filled with blue-sky days and cool nights. That pattern continued for almost 12 weeks. Barely a drop of rain fell on Shea, Olenik, and Goodrich vineyards from July 1st to early October, yet the deep-rooted plants showed little sign of hydric stress. At harvest, the crop level was minuscule — less than 2 tons of small-berry Pinot Noir per acre. Sugars were sky-high, yet those cool nights helped retain excellent acidic vibrancy. The tiny crop size made for a quick harvest under extraordinary conditions in early October.

After one of the most protracted negotiations of our Wine Access careers, we strongly recommend locking into as much of this Reserve Pinot as you can, because give the extraordinary string of Oregon vintages, this could be your last shot at a Raptor Ridge at this price point.