2014 Cardwell Hill Estate Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 750 ml

Dan Chapel’s Journey from One Barrel to Wine Spectator Top 100

You might expect someone like Dan Chapel, a chemical engineer fresh off a very successful career, to throw a wheelbarrow full of cash at a turnkey winery, then put his feet up and watch the harvests roll by.

But those seeking a cushy entrée into the wine business don’t buy abandoned vineyards. Or tear out 14 acres of vines. Or spearhead every aspect of their operation, as Dan and Nancy Chapel do at Cardwell Hill Cellars. Only those on a single-minded mission to make great wine do.

After the initial purge, all that remained at Cardwell Hill were 3,600 vines of the Swiss Pinot Noir clone Wädensvil, planted from 1983 to 1985. Dan eked out just one barrel of Pinot in the 2001 harvest. He got five in 2002, then 23 in 2003. Finally in 2004, with the new winery up and running and the Dijon and Pommard clones the Chapels had planted giving off worthy fruit, Cardwell Hill hit its stride. The inarguably remarkable turnaround was complete when Dan’s 2006 Estate Pinot Noir cracked the Wine Spectator Top 100 in 2008.

The Chapels quite deliberately chose this site, only 40 miles from the Pacific in one of the coolest sites in Willamette Valley, and their meticulous treatment of it reflects their reverence for the land. Dry-farming the vineyard minimizes erosion and enhances vine stress and quality, and Cardwell Hill easily surpasses the most stringent programs designed minimize and manage environmental impact and promote sustainability.

Temperature swings from the mid-80s in the afternoon to the low 50s at night allow the Chapels’ Pinot Noir to achieve ripeness while retaining the generous and lively acidic cut that marks Burgundian Pinot Noir. The warm and heat-spike-free 2014 spoiled Willamette Valley growers, recalling the superb 2008 and 2012s in quality. But unlike those small-crop years, 2014 saw a bountiful harvest. This means that the Chapels, who don’t buy or sell grapes and whose production increases only when their yield does, were able to make enough wine to share with WineAccess members.

The 2014 Cardwell Hill Estate is bright ruby with a magenta rim, and bursts with strawberry jam, raspberry, and hints of clove and black tea. A supple mouthfeel shows perfectly ripe fruit, which eases into a lengthy finish of tart cherry, bookended by very fine tannin. Drink now through 2021.

Elsewhere: $30. A Willamette Pinot so meticulously raised and fashioned in the finest Burgundian cut is a real rarity at this price: $19.99/bottle. Shipping included on 6.