willamette valley vineyards estate chardonnay (willamette valley)

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The 2017 Chardonnay Estate has a pretty nose with hazelnut, honey, toast, fleshy yellow apple and pear plus a stony hint. The palate is light to medium-bodied with creamy fruits and just enough acidity on the finish. This lacks the depth and nuance of the 2016 vintage. 1,001 cases produced.

The 2016 Chardonnay Estate has a lovely open nose of dried hay, honey, Golden Delicious apples, warm earth, button mushroom, white peach and sliced pear—there are a lot of layers here. Light to medium-bodied, it fills the mouth with concentrated ripe golden fruits with accents of honey, clotted cream, earth and mushroom, with a great line of mouthwatering acidity and a long finish. How lovely! 800 cases produced.

The 2015 Chardonnay Estate features dried apricots, fresh hay and yeast extract with hints of marmite toast and allspice. Medium-bodied with ample freshness and an understated savory character, the oak pokes thorough just a tad, swamping the fruit and the finish.

Also recommended, but no tasting note given. Along with several partners, Jim Bernau founded Willamette Valley Vineyards, south of Salem, in 1983; and after boning up on winemaking at U.C. Davis and in France, he built his winery in 1989, with cellars tunneled into a volcanic hillside. A significant portion of the original WVV estate was grafted over to Dijon clones beginning in 1993, among the earliest deployment of those clones into the U.S.; the balance consists of Pommard and Wadenswil. Today, there are thousands of shareholders and Willamette Valley Vineyards (hereafter referred to as WVV) produces nearly 90,000 cases, sourcing from vineyards throughout the valley, three of which – Tualatin and Hannah, outside Forest Grove in the Willamette’s extreme northwest; and Elton in the Eola-Amity Hills – have since been absorbed into WVV. Pinot is characteristically destemmed but with high whole berry retention; there is only a short cold soak; fermentations start up spontaneously but house-specific yeast cultures are often employed; fermentative extraction is via manual punch-down; and the young wine typically completes its last bit of primary fermentation in barrel after an only overnight tank-settling. Eighteen-year estate veteran Forrest Klaffke, who became head winemaker in 2001, succumbed to cancer after putting the 2011s to barrel, and has been succeeded by his long-standing assistant Don Crank III. The array of wines here is correspondingly huge, and I tasted only Bernau’s candidates from among current or recent Pinot Noirs. He characterized vintage 2010 as “scary,” and the vintage’s vicissitudes are reflected in the heterogeneity of quality I experienced. Incidentally, Bernau speculates that relatively large berry size was responsible for the rather light color of so many 2010s, but his best are also vintage-typical in their levity, animation, and bright juiciness. Tel. (800) 344-9463

A great success in 2008, this compelling Chardonnay offers concentrated, dense fruit flavors of lemon curd and sweet pineapple, along with streaks of vanilla cookie. Nuances reveal themselves through a lingering finish; fresh herb and hints of rock. ——P.G.(3/1/2011)—— 91