2012 White Rose Estate Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 750 ml

Oregon’s “100pt Vintage”: Private Tasting at White Rose Estate
… You May Never Go Home Again

After reports of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were published in the early 1800s, pioneers flocked to Oregon’s Willamette Valley, following trails that had been cut by fur traders and mountain men. They discovered a beautiful 150-mile swath of land surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges — the Oregon Coast Range to the west, the often-snowcapped Cascades to the east, and the Calapooya Mountains to the south.

The valley was remarkably fertile, thanks to a series of massive ice-age floods that flowed from Lake Missoula in Montana and across Eastern Washington, sweeping topsoil down the Columbia River Gorge. Geologists speculate that the inundation backed up and filled the valley with water — 300-400 feet above sea level. The lake gradually drained, leaving behind fine layers of sedimentary soils.

As we learned during an absolutely riveting five-day stay in Willamette Valley last month, those sedimentary soils give birth to the most exquisite Pinot Noir this side of Vosne-Romanée — few richer, more muscular, and more Burgundian in makeup than the 2012 White Rose Estate.

If you’ve never visited Oregon, plan a trip for next summer. Book three nights at The Allison Spa and Hotel above Newberg, one of the most beautifully appointed vineyard getaways anywhere on the coast. Spend your days winery-hopping, tasting luscious Pinot Noirs from the ultra-ripe 2012 and 2014 vintages in tasting rooms that, as in Burgundy, are often manned by the same family members who tend to the vines and the cellar.

For the splashiest setting, head to the Dundee Hills and Domaine Serene. For the sheer beauty of Oregon’s rolling hills, don’t miss Bernie Lacroute’s Willakenzie Estate. And if you’re on the lookout for what the critics believe to be the Willamette Valley’s most exquisite old-vine Pinot Noir, do NOT miss the beautiful tasting room at White Rose Estate. You may never go home again.

In the summer of 2000, Greg Sanders knocked on the door of an old farmhouse perched at the top of the Dundee Hills, just up the road from Domaine Serene. A small vineyard, planted to wide spacing and self-rooted in 1980, surrounded that farmhouse. The Pinot Noir off the vineyard was known for its deep color, concentration, and muscled structure, and had been bottled in superb vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs by Panther Creek, St. Innocent, and Torii Mor. It wouldn’t be long before Sanders purchased the vineyard and farmhouse and began pouring a small fortune into White Rose Estate.

The 2012 harvest may never be forgotten in the Dundee Hills. Described by critics as “Oregon’s first 100-point vintage,” the warm, dry summer made for an early harvest of small-berry clusters of Russian River-like concentration, still buttressed by textbook Burgundian backbone. The 32-year-old vines at White Rose Estate performed like never before, making for one of the top three Pinot Noirs — at ANY price — of our five-day stay in the valley.

91 points from Stephen Tanzer, both the stingiest and most revered Pinot Noir critic in the world. Elsewhere: $48. Today: $30. Now for the BEST PART.

WineAccess Experience: All buyers of 6 bottles or more will receive a personal invitation from General Manager Gavin Joll for a vineyard and cellar tour and a private tasting of current releases and library wines, along with select local cheeses and charcuterie — valued at $75 per person. Invitations will be mailed from Oregon 2-3 weeks after purchase.