2014 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Villages Cuvee Willamette Valley 750 ml

Winemaker Mark Vlossak’s “Earth-Shattering” 2014 Pinot Noirs

In August 2015, we traveled to Willamette Valley and tasted Oregon’s 2014 Pinot Noirs just before they went into bottle. We listened to one grower after another describe a miracle growing season that was sensational both qualitatively and quantitatively. Before we flew home, we made a gigantic bet on the 2014 vintage, one of the most prescient gambles in the history of WineAccess.

The underlying economics of our wager on Oregon’s 2014 Pinot Noirs was irrefutable. Still, we endured too many sleepless nights as we waited to see if the critics saw the vintage as we had. Three months ago, Wine Spectator calmed our nerves all at once, publishing a 94-to-97-point vintage rating, promising an avalanche of high scores to follow.

What was so remarkable about 2014? Why were even the greatest names in Willamette Valley, like Mark Vlossak’s St. Innocent, anxious to sell off a few hundred cases of the finest Pinot Noirs they’d ever made at “friends and family” prices?

As Vlossak explained during an earth-shattering 2014 Pinot Noir tasting at St. Innocent, a dry and mild spring led to a “perfect fruit set” in Eola-Amity Hills. The summer was glorious, featuring an unprecedented 25 days where high temperatures topped 90 degrees. Even so, and most importantly, not a single day topped 100. The vines took full advantage, feasting on brilliant sunshine and pushing out a bumper crop, but without any risk of dehydration or blistering.

Often, when there are so many clusters per plant, ripening is uneven, requiring a rigorous selection process at harvest, both in the vines and on the sorting table. But in 2014, as in 1978 in Burgundy, despite record-breaking potential yields, clusters ripened evenly without any sign of millerandage, or what the French call “the chicken and the hens.”

Vlossak, who works with many of the most sought-after Pinot Noir vineyards in Oregon, including Shea, Freedom Hill, and Temperance Hill, made the first call to harvest in mid-September. St. Innocent would harvest over 4 tons per acre — almost twice the norm! — of perfectly formed Pinot Noir bunches. Still, despite the extraordinarily high yields, sugars were the equivalent of 2012, as acids remained firm.

The 2014 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Villages Cuvée is drawn from St. Innocent’s Zenith Vineyard (23%), Vitae Springs Vineyard (35%), Temperance Hill (14%), Freedom Hill Vineyard (14%), Momtazi Vineyard (8%), and Shea Vineyard (8%). Deep, dark ruby to the rim. Lavish aromas of crushed black raspberry, wild strawberry, black cherry, and kirsch. Ultra-concentrated, rich and juicy on the attack yet still beautifully focused and delineated. Filled with crushed-red-fruit preserves, black cherry jam, a hint of violet. Finishing with superb tension and persistence. Drink now-2022.

With production levels all over Willamette Valley as much as twice the average, and despite the sensational quality of the harvest, even wineries like St. Innocent were obliged to “lighten up.”

We’ll make this one easy for you: At $19.99/bottle, pile the 2014 St. Innocent into your cellar by the case. You’ll be sending us “Thank You” notes well into the 2020s!