#68 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2008 The powerful nose displays a complex array of blackberry, boysenberry, ripe blueberry, wild strawberry, caramel, pipe tobacco, black tea, and dried flowers. The rich and structured front palate show ripe blackberry, bing cherry, plum, cola, oak spice, and vanilla and fine-grained tannins and excellent length. Lithe in texture, with a distinctive range of red cherry, black cherry, cinnamon and mocha flavors that ride smoothly over a graceful frame, lingering nice...

Very nicely focused red cherry fruit scents make the early going here, and that ripe, extracted, almost juicy quality is joined by ample oak and a hint of sarsaparilla. A fairly full-bodied wine on the palate, but blessed with good balance, this wine shows well from front to back and has the potential to get better with age.

Community Tasting Notes (average 91 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 84 notes)

Rating for United States-Oregon: 85 (slightly worse than average year)<br/><br/>Drinkability: too young, let it sit<br/>

WSJ top Oregon Pinot noir pick<br/>Wine Spectator top 100; highest ranking Oregon Pinot Noir

In Birmingham with Cooney and company.