2014 Cristom Vineyards Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyards Eola-Amity Hills 750 ml

Decanter’s Top Oregon Pinot, a Stellar Season, & Burgundian Winemaking

Last year, we scored an allocation of the 2015 Cristom Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyards Eola-Amity Hills—a top wine not only from one of Oregon’s most storied producers, but from one of the most spectacular vintages in memory. The prompt sell-out earned us a rare privilege: selecting a library vintage from the Cristom cellar.

How far back did we have to go to find something spectacular? Not very. We hand-picked Cristom’s Jessie Vineyard Pinot from the top-scoring 2014 season—Willamette Valley’s other “vintage of the decade.” Cristom’s 2nd generation winegrower-owner & co-winemaker Tom Gerrie (who has made wine in Meursault, Alsace and Australia with Decanter’s Man of the Year Brian Crozer) combined his talents with winemaker Steve Doerner in this fantastic release, and their decades of experience are taste-able.

The wine impressed Vinous just as much as its 94-point successor. They praised the 2014’s “concentrated red and dark berry and cherry liqueur flavors,” “building spiciness,” and “rich but decidedly vibrant style” in their glowing review.

Now after a few years in the bottle, this medium-to-full-bodied Pinot tells the story of a stunning Willamette Valley vintage with its silky texture and nicely woven tannic grip. Crack a bottle on arrival, then enjoy the rest over the next five years.

The plaudits achieved by Cristom Vineyards could fill a book. Decanter has crowned them “Top Oregon Pinot,” and Cristom wines have made five appearances on the Wine Spectator Top 100 in the last decade. In its annual restaurant poll, Wine & Spirits found that Cristom was the “#1 Pinot Noir on restaurant wine lists in America.” Demand is off the charts for the wines from what many consider to be Oregon’s all-time greatest Pinot house, and the Jessie Vineyard competes with top-end Burgundy for elegance and finesse.

Gerrie, the owner and winegrower of Cristom Vineyards, was raised on the Willamette Valley estate from the age of 8, and from that young age, he worked the land and absorbed the lessons of his father, Paul. When the elder Gerrie purchased the property in 1992, one particular site caught his eye: an 11-acre plot situated on a steep, wooded hillside, reaching up to 550 feet in elevation. He began planting the Pommard and Dijon clones of Pinot Noir there in 1994, naming the site after his paternal grandmother, Jessie Summers. Today, the Jessie Vineyard Pinot Noir is among the brightest lights in Cristom’s all-star line-up, characterized by rich purple and blue floral aromas, stony minerality, and a dark, velvety texture.

A number of variables align to make this site so special. High vine density forces roots to spider deep into the shallow, Columbia River basalt soils at the top of the hill, making for smaller clusters whose berries are packed with concentration. The climate is a study in moderation, with warm days balanced by cool nights, and gusting 25 mph Pacific Ocean winds helping to even out hotter summer temperatures, resulting in fruit with bright acidity and superb structure and length.

The 2014 Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs roared into the history books as what seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime vintage—little did Oregonians and wine lovers know that it would be the first vintage in the Valley’s most potent one-two punch ever. The lucky Wine Access members who claimed our allocation of the 2015 Jessie Vineyard have already glimpsed the glory of what this special site can put forth in a great vintage. We suspect they’ll be first in line for 2014s, so don’t delay.