2010 De Ponte Cellars, Pinot Noir Dundee Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon.
Wow, this 2010 De Ponte Dundee Hills is stellar and is pleasure filled start to finish with perfume, lovely balance, pretty fruit and a lengthy finish. For drinking now, there might not be a better Pinot than this and coming on the heels of tasting the Beaux Freres just makes this wine that much more impressive, in fact while the BFV might be a tad better and more age worthy this 2010 De Ponte is half the price and only a fraction of the total quality, so I would highly recommend getting this beautiful Pinot from the red soils of Dundee. The nose starts with roses, violets, mineral spices and raspberry notes leading to a full mouth of expressive fruits that include black cherry, plum, pomegranate, currant and mountain berry along with dusty earth, anise and saline touches. The clear flavors are heighten by low alcohol, good acidity, refined tannin and wonderful focus and subtle oak, showing gentile and talented winemaking at it’s best.
($38 Est.) 94+ Points, grapelive
