Cameron Reserve Pinot Noir 2024
We have 10 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
The Land
Oregon's Dundee Hills are often painted as one uniform slope of red dirt, but Cameron's Reserve shows how much a few hundred yards of hillside can change a wine. The fruit comes from two neighboring sites above the town of Dundee. Abbey Ridge sits at 500 to 700 feet, one of the highest vineyards in the Red Hills, where Pinot Noir is usually picked in mid-October and keeps high natural acidity. Clos Electrique, the estate vineyard beside the winery, is a dense, dry-farmed planting of more than 15 Pinot Noir clones with tiny yields. With more than 40 inches of rain a year and deep-rooted, unirrigated vines, both sites give fruit that tastes of the volcanic hillside rather than the hose.
The Wine
The Cameron Reserve Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2024 is a barrel selection: Wädenswil and Pommard clones from the South Block at Abbey Ridge, the Coury clone from the vineyard's Road Block, and barrels of Clos Electrique Rouge. Cameron ferments its reds in open-top tanks with indigenous yeast, ages them close to two years in French oak ranging from new to fully neutral, and bottles without filtration. The winery describes savory aromatics, dark fruit, a silky texture, and firm tannins built for the long haul. Expect black cherry, plum, forest floor, and violet. The 2024 vintage brought a severe January freeze, a mid-July spike past 100°F, and a cool August before a long, clear fall, and Willamette Pinot from the year tends toward lifted acidity and floral aromatics.
The People
Cameron started in 1984 in a roofless warehouse in McMinnville, founded by John Paul with his wife Teri Wadsworth and a small circle of partners. A year later the winery moved to its current perch in the hills above Dundee, where Paul planted Clos Electrique in the Burgundian manner, close-spaced and dry-farmed. The name nods to both the town and the Paul family's Scottish clan. Today the cellar is run by Tom Sivilli, winemaker since 2011, while vineyard manager Phil London, who came from Mount Eden Vineyards in California, has steered the farm toward regenerative agriculture. Production stays at roughly 3,000 to 4,000 cases a year. Cameron remains one of the Willamette Valley's most stubbornly independent voices, and the Reserve is the clearest way into its house style.
Food Pairing
The firm tannins and dark fruit want something with savor and fat. Try duck breast seared skin-side down until crisp, sliced over farro with roasted cherries; the acidity cuts the duck fat and the fruit mirrors the sauce. Wild mushroom risotto finished with thyme and a spoon of mascarpone picks up the forest-floor side of the wine. Grilled lamb loin chops with rosemary and garlic give the tannin protein to grip, and a slab of aged Gouda works after dinner. This is the bottle to open when friends who think they know Oregon Pinot come over for a slow Saturday dinner.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
The Willamette Valley, nestled in Oregon, is a region renowned for its cool-climate wines, particularly its Pinot Noir. While Pinot Noir is its most celebrated variety, the valley is also home to other cool climate varieties like Chardonnay and Riesling. The region's unique terroir, characterized by rolling hills, volcanic and sedimentary soils, and a maritime climate influence, contributes to the elegance and complexity of its wines. The wines of the Willamette Valley offer a delicate balance between fruit, acidity, and earthiness. Its increasingly growing reputation places it among the world’s top regions for Pinot Noir.
Oregon - Willamette Valley
Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned, notoriously difficult-to-grow, low-yielding grape that finds its ancestral home in Burgundy, France, where it produces some of the world's most elegant and nuanced wines. While Burgundy remains its spiritual heartland, Pinot Noir has since traveled the globe, finding success in other cooler climates, notably in California, Oregon, New Zealand, and Germany. This grape is a challenge for any grower, as it requires specific conditions to show its best, and yet the wines it produces are capable of such a captivating and singular character.
