2021 The Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir, Willamette Oregon

The medium ruby 2021 Pinot Noir Estate is fresh with aromas of wild strawberries, fresh roses, and beet root. Medium-bodied and elegant, it floats across the palate with fine tannins and a delicately earthy finish. It’s a killer value and a great snapshot of what Eyrie is all about. It is hands down one of the best entry level Pinot Noir with a clear vision of what you can expect further in the range.

93 points, jebdunnuck.com

The estate Pinot Noir combines fruit from Eyrie’s five estate vineyards: Sisters, Outcrop, Roland Green, The Eyrie and Daphne. All five sites are in the Dundee Hills AVA at various elevations, ranging from Sisters at 67 metres to Daphne at 260 metres. As you go higher, three things change: the soils get less sedimentary and more volcanic, it gets colder and it gets windier. So, the Estate Pinot Noir from Eyrie is a great representation of the Dundee Hills AVA through the delicate, perfumed Eyrie lens.

All five sites are farmed organically. The team practices no-till farming and uses no insecticides, herbicides, fertilisers, cover crops or composts. It has been done this way since David Lett established Eyrie Vineyards in 1965, and little (if anything) has changed. The result is some of the state's healthiest, most diverse and organically rich soils.

Handpicked fruit was destemmed and fermented spontaneously in small fermenters ranging from one-tonne bins to five-tonne wooden cuves. Ferments were hand-plunged twice daily before being lightly pressed and aged in primarily old oak (just 8% was new) for 15 months.