2017 Hyland Estates Pinot Noir Petite Estate McMinnville Willamette Valley 750 ml

The hits from Laurent and Danielle Montalieu keep coming. You’ll recall them as the talented duo behind Oregon’s wildly popular Soléna Estate—which has not only produced Wine Spectator Top 100 Pinots, but also some of the most highly-rated Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs in our 15-year history. 

So naturally, when we sold out of the latest release of Soléna after less than a day, we immediately remembered the other Pinot that Laurent shared with us last May at the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Auction. We fell for it just as hard. As the winery’s very first release of this particular cuvée, it wasn’t yet available then—but it is now. And we locked in the exclusive.

The 2017 Hyland Estates Petite Estate Pinot Noir hails from the highly-decorated vineyard the couple own in McMinnville (more on that later). It’s from Soléna Estate’s custom crush project, which serves to nurture some of Oregon’s greatest up and coming winemakers. Hence the crazy good value, in spite of the wine’s superb pedigree.

Just like its Soléna sister, Laurent and Danielle—along with über talented young winemaker Anne Sery—ensured the 2017 Hyland Estates Petite Estate Pinot could stand tall next to serious Willamette Valley stars like Beaux Frères, Penner-Ash, Antica Terra, and Bergström. And it’s no wonder—all those decorated wineries have top-scoring wines with grapes sourced from Hyland Vineyard. Yet none of them cost $20.

The distinct, terroir-driven similarities between Hyland Estates and its vineyard cousins are palpable upon the first sip. Immediately on entry, an explosion of red and purple floral notes lead into wild summer berry and savory roasted herbs. Addictively lithe and supple, layers of concentrated Bing cherry and juicy raspberry are accented by a sophisticated core of baking spice on the lengthy finish. A Willamette Pinot with this much stamina, flavor, and racy acidity should be about three times the price. Most are.

The Hyland Vineyard might be the closest thing Oregon has to a Grand Cru site (Burgundy’s top vineyard classification). Located within the McMinnville AVA, a sub-region of the Willamette Valley and the western-most AVA in Oregon, Hyland Estates is uniquely nestled in between the Oregon Coast Range and the Cascade Mountains, protecting the vineyard from Oregon’s weather extremes. Biodynamically farmed, many of Hyland’s Pinot Noir vines are approaching 50 years old, which explains how the Old Vine version of this wine just received 94 points and an Editors' Choice designation from Wine Enthusiast.

In fact, at the 1985 Burgundy Challenge in Paris, Hyland fruit led the way in a blind tasting competition that saw panelists unable to differentiate between the Pinot Noirs from Oregon and Burgundy. To the astonishment of the wine world, three Oregon wines garnered higher point totals than the Burgundies. The common denominator among these game-changing Pinots? They all sourced their fruit from the Hyland Vineyard.

Just like every other wine this vineyard produces, 2017 Hyland Estates Petite Estate Pinot Noir manages to balance Old World elegance with a distinctly Oregon style. It’s the love child of Burgundy meets indie-rock. And we can’t get this killer tune out of our heads.