2014 Cristom Pinot Noir Louise Vineyard Willamette Valley

Cristom Vineyards is as close to a sure thing as there is in the wine world. The flagship Willamette Valley winery made the Wine & Spirits Top 100 list eight out of the last ten years, and claimed TWO spots among our top five highest-rated wines of 2020 (4.8 out of 5 stars!). One Pinot lover commented: “Had to immediately buy more after tasting this wine.”  

Our close relationship with Cristom has earned us a share of a Pinot that even Cristom’s mailing list can’t get their hands on: the 2014 Cristom Louise Vineyard Pinot Noir, which Josh Raynolds of Vinous called “the richest wine of my tasting,” when he reviewed it on release. He also dubbed it “a solid cellar candidate”—and we’d love to pour him a sip now. 

At six years of age, the 2014 Louise Pinot is showing garnet overtones, with aromas of Bing cherry, crushed raspberry, and hibiscus accented by wild herbs, flowers, and an attractive forest floor note. With plenty of energy and purpose on the palate, its elegance, poise, and transparency shine through, finishing with fine tea-like tannins. Drinking like a dream now, it will turn ten years old in fine form. 

We can’t think of a better way to spend your Pinot Noir dollar. Coming from a top terroir and one of Oregon’s all-time great vintages, this is a rare allocation of an Oregon Grand Cru. 

Cristom is the winery that defines their slice of the Willamette Valley—the cool, wind-blown Eola-Amity Hills sub-AVA—and the plaudits they’ve earned in a quarter-century could fill a book. Decanter has crowned them “Top Oregon Pinot,” and in its annual restaurant poll, Wine & Spirits magazine found that Cristom was the “#1 Pinot Noir on restaurant wine lists in America.” 

Louise Vineyard was the first site Cristom began planting in 1993. Named after founder Paul Gerrie’s maternal grandmother, the plot is shaded by a tree line right above the winery, which gives its grapes a longer hang time than nearby plots, by up to three weeks. The site is also distinguished by varied elevations and soils: “Upper” Louise is planted in very deep Jory soil (Willamette Valley’s defining dirt), while “Lower” Louise is dominated by deposits from the Missoula Flood and sedimentary rock. 

The result is an incredibly balanced wine, and since it features the darkest fruit profile and firmest structure of all Cristom single-vineyard Pinots, Louise is a lock for a solid stint in the cellar—exactly what Vinous pointed out five years ago, and exactly what is evident in the glass now. 

We and our Pinot-loving members jump for joy any time a bottle of Cristom comes our way, but this one is something special from the cellar. We can’t imagine a more exquisite bottling from the Willamette Valley. 

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 13.50%
• 15 mins
• Drink Up
• % Pinot Noir
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork