{"product_id":"eyrie-vineyards-the-eyrie-pinot-noir-2022","title":"Eyrie Vineyards The Eyrie Pinot Noir 2022","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe vineyard that started Oregon Pinot Noir is not perched on a dramatic ridge. The Eyrie sits between 260 and 410 feet on a south-facing slope of the Dundee Hills, low ground by modern Willamette Valley standards, and that was deliberate. David Lett wanted a site warm enough to ripen Pinot Noir in a cool, rainy climate, and the southerly exposure does that work. Seven acres of old vines sit on 15-million-year-old volcanic soil, only 10 to 30 inches deep before it hits basalt. Shallow soil over fractured rock keeps vines honest, and with no irrigation here, roots push down into the rock for water. The site takes its name from a red-tail hawk nest, an eyrie, and hawks still nest here every year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Eyrie Vineyards The Eyrie Pinot Noir 2022 comes from vines planted between 1966 and 1974, a field mix of Wadenswil, Pommard and the old Upright selection. Fruit was picked October 7 to 21, fermented with native yeast in an 11-hectoliter open-top fermenter, hand punched twice a day, then carried through a full native malolactic. The wine aged 14 months with 19 percent new oak and was bottled in March 2024 at 13.42 percent alcohol. Production was 293 cases. The 2022 season tested everyone: early budbreak ran into a late April freeze that killed primary and secondary buds across the valley, but the summer that followed brought the third highest heat accumulation in 26 years, loaded into the end of the season. Candied strawberry, orange peel, pink peppercorn and rose petal, then crushed pine needle, dark mineral and a savory, gamey edge, ripe tannins and a clean lift.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDavid Lett moved to Oregon in 1965 at 25 with 3,000 grape cuttings and a theory nobody in California believed, planting the Willamette Valley's first Pinot Noir and the first Pinot Gris in the United States. His first vintage was 1970. In 1979 his 1975 Reserve Pinot Noir landed in the top ten among Pinot Noirs at the Gault-Millau Wine Olympics in Paris. Robert Drouhin, unconvinced, staged a rematch at his own cellars, where the Oregon wine finished second, two-tenths of a point behind Drouhin's 1959 Chambolle-Musigny. Drouhin bought land in the Dundee Hills shortly after. Jason Lett took over in 2005 and farms the estate certified organic with no irrigation, no tillage and no herbicides, working with native yeasts and mostly used oak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a Pinot Noir for roast duck, the skin scored and rendered crisp, with a cherry or sour plum sauce that meets the red fruit head on. Grilled king salmon under a mustard and dill crust works because the acidity cuts the oily fish while the tannin stays out of the way. A mushroom and farro pilaf with thyme and shaved aged gouda picks up the pine and mineral side. Or roast chicken with crushed potatoes on a Tuesday, which is how the best bottles get drunk. If you keep one Oregon Pinot Noir in the house for the nights that matter, this is the historically literate choice.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CS Wine","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67801301680351,"sku":null,"price":108.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/PA010447.jpg?v=1790911200","url":"https:\/\/denverwinemerchant.com\/products\/eyrie-vineyards-the-eyrie-pinot-noir-2022","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}