Full Pull Pinot Deal

Hello friends. I had to make a quick go/no-go decision recently. The deal was: we commit to a certain quantity of a certain Oregon Pinot, and in exchange, we get extremely competitive pricing on said Pinot. When you see which Oregon Pinot we’re discussing, I think you’ll see why it was an easy “go”:

2013 Crowley Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

We’ve offered both the 2011 and 2012 vintages of this wine at 27.99 (24.99 TPU), and I always felt like it was one of the best Oregon Pinot values we offered, even at that price structure. At 21.99, I suspect we’ll be able to move enough bottles to fulfill our volume commitment. And if not, maybe I’ll just drink the remainder myself!

I’m only half-joking. Crowley is one of a handful of Oregon producers that dot my personal cellar. Tyson Crowley’s wines are pure and beautiful, often well out-punching their price points. Tyson arrived in the Willamette Valley in the mid ’90s and settled into a long-term position at Erath, spending seven years “soaking up Oregon” with that classic producer. Then, after a brief stint in New Zealand (another spot producing distinctive new-world versions of Pinot Noir), he returned to Oregon with stints at Brick House, Archery Summit, and Cameron, three more stars in the Oregon firmament.

It was only in 2007, after more than a dozen years, that Tyson started his namesake winery. The man has paid his dues. In the early years, he stayed mostly under-the-radar outside of Oregon, but that all went out the window in 2010 when Jay Miller got his hands on three of the Pinot Noirs for Wine Advocate:[TEXT WITHHELD]

While this bottling gets the more generic Willamette Valley label, it actually comes entirely from a trio of Dundee Hills Vineyards: La Colina, Tuckwilla, and Gehrts. Aged for 16 months in mostly neutral French oak, it clocks in at 13% listed alc. From the looks of things, it is already sold out at the winery, so we’re lucky to have access to this stash, especially at this price point. It begins with an honest Dundee nose of bright red fruits (pomegranate and red cherry) paired with fresh resinous piney forest floor notes so evocative of this part of Oregon. Notes of blood orange ramp up the complexity even further. And what a live wire in the mouth! The energy, the tension: palpable. And marvelous. It’s a bridge wine, connecting Oregon’s delicious fruit character to Burgundy’s nervy, minerally charm. Classy, delicious, and above all else balanced, this offers way more charisma than we have any right to expect at this price point.

Please limit order requests to 12 bottles, and we’ll do our best to fulfill all requests. The wine should arrive in a week or two, at which point it will be ready for pickup or shipping during the next temperature-appropriate shipping window.