Domaine Drouhin Dundee Hills Pinot Noir

This is the wine that started it all for Domaine Drouhin Oregon - the estate Pinot Noir first made in 1988, when a Burgundy family with thirteenth-century cellars under Beaune set out to prove the Dundee Hills could rival the great vineyards of France. Decades on, it remains the foundation of everything they do here. The fruit comes entirely from the family's Dundee Hills estate, rooted in the red volcanic Jory soils that give the wines their signature lift. Picking is by hand into small totes, then hand-sorted and gently de-stemmed through a four-level gravity-flow winery. The wine rests in barrels custom-made in Burgundy from French oak, used with restraint so the site and vintage come through rather than the wood. The result is Pinot Noir built on elegance rather than weight - tart cherry and red berries, dried violets and a roast-coffee edge, carried by bright acidity and fine, polished tannins. Serve lightly cool, around 14-16°C.