2019 Chad Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 750 ml

For the past half-dozen years, CHAD Pinot Noir has wowed NYC’s top sommeliers, earning feature placements at the city’s hottest spots, including Bar Boulud and The Odeon. When the restaurant business is booming, the vast majority of the small annual production of the most exquisite bargain Pinot Noir in America is ticketed for Manhattan’s finest.

But now, nothing is as it was in the Big Apple. Many restaurants haven’t opened since shutting their doors in March. Others limit indoor seating to a fraction of capacity. As a result, on the eve of this absolutely gorgeous, beautifully delineated 2019 CHAD Pinot Noir’s release, much of the Manhattan allocation was left untouched.  

Chad’s first call was to Wine Access and we secured as much as we could.

The 2019 growing season in the Willamette Valley was magnificent, culminating in a pristine harvest of smaller berry clusters, arguably more akin to Volnay or Pommard than the Dundee Hills. Bright ruby to the edge, infused with mouth-watering aromas of black raspberry, black cherry, and anise, this wine is rich and high-toned in the mid-palate, finishing with great tension and precision. 

From 2014 to 2018, Oregon’s Willamette Valley enjoyed record hot summers that led to early harvests of extreme concentration. Growers were challenged, the most astute of which tailored their vines accordingly, managing leaf canopies to protect bunches, stretching out the growing season as long as possible to allow flavors, seeds, and tannins to ripen before natural sugar readings became excessive.  

Finally, growers were given a respite in a far more classical growing season, which led to a bevy of beautifully crafted, elegant Pinot Noirs with great balance and class.

A fairly mild December of 2018 was followed by a cold January and February. There was plenty of rain during the spring months, but temperatures were somewhat warmer than the norm. The crop load was lighter than previous vintages going into July, and then—in somewhat of a grower’s dream, particularly after the extreme heat of previous years—Yamhill-Carlton, Ribbon Ridge, and Dundee Hills were treated to two months of wonderfully cool days, allowing extra hang-time for the tight-fisted bunches. Beautifully formed, small-berry clusters ripened slowly with no sign whatsoever of desiccation. Growers kicked up their feet and waited until the last weeks of September, even into early October, before giving the call to harvest. 

If the brilliant 2019 CHAD Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is an indication of the general quality of the vintage, consider today’s offer a 2019 Buyer’s Alert. It has a gorgeous, bright ruby color to the edge with precise high-toned aromas of crushed red fruits, cherry pit, and black cherry. Rich and elegant on the attack, it’s supple and energetic in the mid-palate, finishing with a classic Burgundian cut.