2021 Maison Noir Wines O.P.P. Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 750 ml

A sommelier at a MICHELIN-starred restaurant might pour a $16,000 bottle of 1961 Latour while on the floor. But off the clock, the sprightly, fresh, ultra-modern 2021 Maison Noir O.P.P. Pinot Noir is what they’re pulling out of the wine fridge at home or ordering by the glass at the bistro down the street.

That’s because it’s one of those extremely rare bottles that delivers Willamette Valley tension, taut acidity, and floral-tinged mineral essence for a weeknight price, and it’s made by a former top sommelier who managed the wine list at New York’s MICHELIN-three-star Per Se.

Maison Noir founder and winemaker André Hueston Mack knows how professional wine buyers think, because he was one—one of the best, in fact.  

Though working with the best chefs and pouring the most expensive bottles in existence, he always kept in mind the people who support all that aspirational, fine-dining beauty: the dishwashers, the delivery drivers, the barbacks, the gardes mangers. Setting out on his own, he decided to make wine those people would love—and could afford.

Mack had also long been obsessed with Burgundy. The light-footed elegance, vibrant acidity, and slight rusticity of the Pinots coming out of Oregon’s Willamette Valley—often from organic farms—reminded him of the classic Beaune style. “I felt like they were my people,” he told us. “Back then it wasn’t commercialized. They were hippies who decided to make wine.”

Those connections helped him gain access to several vineyards that he’s been using for this bottling since 2013. It’s a brilliant, no-fuss bargain that’s easily one of the best examples of Willamette Valley Pinot you’ll find at this price point.