2023 Norris Estate Pinot Noir Black Barn Norris McKinley Vineyard Ribbon Ridge 750 ml

The Ribbon Ridge AVA rises like an island 600 feet above the Chehalem Valley floor. It’s a magical strip of land—just three-and-a-half miles long and less than two miles wide—that’s home to some of the state’s highest-scoring wineries, including Beaux Frères, Brick House, and Penner-Ash.

As surprising as it is for most wine buyers to find this much vinicultural star power stacked in Oregon’s tiniest AVA, it’s even more surprising to Robert McKinley.

He spent much of his youth on the western edge of the Chehalem Mountains, watching his parents gradually transform a hazelnut farm into a vineyard. As his nascent interest in wine took shape, he could hardly have imagined that one day a winery just half a mile away from the family property, Beaux Frères, would be the #9 bottle on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list…even if it did count critic Robert Parker as a co-owner! 

Norris winemaker Robert McKinley has a feel for this coveted terroir is second to none. His parents planted the Norris McKinley Vineyard, where this bottle hails from, in 2007. He practically grew up on the 12-acre plot, then honed his craft at renowned estates like Williams Selyem and WillaKenzie as well as Torbreck in Australia’s Barossa Valley.

In recent vintages, Ribbon Ridge wines have netted Wine Advocate’s highest scores across all the AVAs in Oregon.

The reason is simple: Like Burgundy, this tiny plot of land is phenomenally well-suited to cultivating high-end Pinot Noir. Topographically set apart from its surroundings, it boasts a unique microclimate: Hillside sites soak up the sun, fog falls on the valley floor below, and clouds settle on the surrounding ridges that protect the AVA’s cherished vineyards.

A paragon of complexity, the Norris McKinley Vineyard features six different types of prized Willakenzie soils, a mix of oceanic sand and siltstone that promotes drainage but requires zero irrigation. Combined with McKinley’s organic farming practices, the resulting wines offer masterclasses in expressing Ribbon Ridge terroir.