2014 Hyland Estates Pinot Noir Estate Willamette Valley 750 ml

45-Year-Old Hyland Estates Pinot Noir: A “Vintage of a Lifetime”

In 1971, just five years after the first Pinot Noir vines were planted in Willamette Valley, four families — the Kreimeyers, Markleys, Welches, and Trenhailes — purchased and broke ground on a breathtaking vineyard perched at 600-800 feet in the foothills of Oregon’s Coastal Range.

The original partners didn’t know it at the time, but summer days at Hyland Vineyard are cooler than the rest of the valley. More importantly, the wind picks up each evening, ushering in a cool maritime breeze off the Pacific and taking the sting out of the often-blistering summer sun. Over the last 40 years, this unique microclimate has given birth to what many believe to be the richest, most elegant, and most finely delineated Pinot Noirs in Oregon.

With just over 100 acres now planted on volcanic Jory and Nekia soils, the vineyard features several Pinot Noir clones, including the original wide-spaced Pommard clone parcel that’s now over 40 years of age — one of the oldest and most precious plantings in Willamette Valley.

For years, prized Pinot Noir grapes from the Hyland Vineyard have been sold to the highest bidders, including superstar winemakers Lynn Penner-Ash, Josh Bergström, and Maggie Harrison (Antica Terra). When proprietors John Niemeyer and Bordeaux enologist Laurent Montalieu bought the historic estate in 2007, they continued to supply Oregon’s finest winemakers, but Montalieu also started to vinify experimental barrels of Pinot Noir drawn from different clonal blocks on the property. Then, in 2009, Montalieu and Niemeyer rolled the dice, releasing their first Hyland Estates Pinot.

The inaugural release garnered lavish reviews from The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator, with Robert Parker’s publication suggesting that even in the torrid growing season of 2009, Hyland’s cool microclimate gave birth to a rich, succulent, and elegant Pinot Noir that would age gracefully for a decade!

The 2010 and 2011 Hyland Estates Pinot Noirs continued where the 2009 left off, each release finely honed and braced with low-pH backbone more typical of Volnay than Oregon. Again, Parker and the Spectator raved in the following vintages, as the 2012 catapulted Hyland Estates into the rarefied air of its clients — Bergström, Penner-Ash, and Antica Terra.

But, as we’d learn in April during the first “Willamette: The Pinot Noir Barrel Auction,” this just-released 2014 is perhaps the finest of all, with the richness and structure of 2012, but with more restraint and balance. It’s more fresh and elegant than the inaugural 2009, but every bit as powerful. “This vintage of a lifetime may be Oregon’s best harvest to date,” Montalieu told us.

2014 was a picture-perfect season, characterized by warm weather, but not too hot, with very generous yields of about 2.5 tons per acre for Montalieu’s vineyard selections. The result was tremendous natural concentration — high natural sugars across the board, with finished wines tip-toeing around 13.5 to 14% alcohol and acids sufficiently piercing to keep everything in balance. The finest are bright, velour-like in texture, and marked by a Burgundian-like cut.

Montalieu’s 2014 Hyland Estates Pinot Noir clocks in at a modest 13.8 degrees. Brilliant dark-ruby to the rim, with fresh aromas of blackberry, fresh strawberries, rose petals, and a hint of cola. Rich, juicy, and plush on the attack, slowly evolving with bright raspberry minerality, coffee, and vanilla bean. Silken in texture with a sturdy tannin mouthfeel — beautifully fresh (3.63 pH), finishing with persistence and class. Tempting to drink now, but as Parker’s publication has rightfully suggested, these Hyland Pinot Noirs will age effortlessly for a decade or more.

$40 at the winery. Released FIRST on WineAccess today for just $24. Shipping included on 4. NOT TO BE MISSED!