2021 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir The Plow Eola-Amity Hills 750 ml

Lingua Franca makes some of the best examples of Pinot Noir from anywhere in the world. 

With a Burgundy-influenced winemaking style latching onto uniquely Willamette fruit and silk, they combine top-tier estate vineyards and impeccable farming with the expertise of legendary winemaker Dominique Lafon, who’s best known for making $4,000 bottles at his family’s domaine in Burgundy. And the star Pinot of their lineup is 2021 The Plow, an estate-grown stunner grown in a modern-classic vintage and boasting a 98-point score from Jeb Dunnuck. 

When we visited the winery a few weeks ago, winemaker Thomas Savre said something that stopped us in our tracks: The winemaking in Oregon might be better than its counterpart in Burgundy. 

If anyone was going to make that claim, Thomas would be the man to do it. Born in France, and with experience at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Dujac, he became Dominique Lafon’s right-hand man—first at Evening Land, then here at Lingua Franca. As if to back up his bold statement, he even noted Lafon’s wineries in Burgundy were starting to implement ideas that originated in Oregon.

The Plow comes from the upper blocks of the Lingua Franca estate vineyard, which boasts coveted Jory soils—similar to what made Dundee’s red hills so famous—and a massale selection based on the 777 Dijon clone. These volcanic soils are beloved by Willamette winemakers for the floral tones and seductive dark-cherry fruit they bring, which marry perfectly to the depth and structure typical of the Eola-Amity Hills.