For his “Other People’s Pinot,” winemaker André Hueston Mack sources grapes from a medley of Willamette Valley vineyards. He treats the fruit to a seven-day cold soak, then ferments in stainless steel and ages the wine in French oak, one-third new, for ten months.
The technique evidently coaxes a pop of color and robust texture while preserving the wine’s fruit-freshness. It’s a shiny ruby hue with a clear rim, youthful looking, and yields a wildly floral perfume of beach roses, potpourri, rhubarb, and strawberries. The palate gets down to earth with a sense of forest floor and iron, firm acidity, and more tannin than I generally expect in Willamette Pinot noir.
It’s a cleansing wine, the finish like wintergreen and resinous herbs, making it a great foil for rosy pork, roasted poultry, medium-aged cow’s milk cheeses, and other dishes flavored with rosemary, mint, or thyme.
2019 Maison Noir Pinot Noir Other People’s Pinot Willamette Valley
13.9% ABV | $22
