2016 Cristom Vineyards Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills Willamette Valley 750 ml

Medium ruby colored, the 2016 Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyard is a touch reticent on the nose, opening to broody scents of black cherries and licorice with notes of herbs, bergamot and grated baking spice with earthy touches of soil and wet leaves. Medium to full-bodied and wonderfully silky in the mouth, it's packed with layers of ripe fruit, spice and earth. It gives fine, firm tannins and mouthwatering acidity, finishing very long and very layered. This is wonderfully complex with loads of layers—give it some time in bottle to show its best.

Deep bright-hued red. Intense red berry, cherry pit, blood orange and exotic spice aromas show excellent clarity and pick up a suave floral quality with aeration. Stains the palate with vibrant raspberry, bitter cherry, allspice and rose pastille flavor that show a compelling blend of power and delicacy. Fine-grained tannins build slowly on the impressively long, lively finish, which emphatically repeats the floral and spice notes.

There’s a sense of resolve from the get-go here with very pure red and darker cherries making a youthful impression. The palate has a succulent and finely detailed array of well-judged tannins that frame the finish very neatly. Good depth and detail here. Drink or hold.