Audeant Luminous Hills Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley OR 2019

VINTAGE : 2019

COUNTRY : USA

REGION/APPELLATION : Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton

VARIETALS : Pinot Noir

WINEMAKER, ANDREW RIECHERS

After moving from Eugene, Oregon where he grew up, Andrew learned to love cellar work in Santa Barbara assisting in the production of bulk wines in a large facility. He quickly realized that there was much more connected and lovely work out there in the wine world, and he was hired as the cellar master at Summerland Winery. He then moved along to be the first employee at Sanguis, where his idealistic bent toward the craft of winemaking was cultivated. After four years in California, Oregon called him home where he assisted Jim Prosser at JK Carriere Wines for two years. The following year was divided between Ted Lemon’s project in New Zealand, Burn Cottage, and Burgundy in the Haute Cote working for Claire Naudin at Domaine Naudin Ferrand. Finally, he spent five years as the assistant winemaker at Antica Terra and Lillian with Maggie Harrison prior to joining and founding Audeant Wines with Proprietor, Teal Walker, in 2016. 2022 is his twentieth harvest, and fourteenth in Oregon.

We farm two blocks at this dramatic vineyard, planted high in the foothills of Oregon’s Coast range. One a steep east facing slope of 667 clone planted on decomposed volcanic material, and the other a gentle bench facing South South-East planted on ancient marine sediment, with a thin transitional layer of volcanic material.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Luminous Hills Vineyard has a medium ruby-purple color and intense aromas of cranberries and blueberries, Angostura bitters, tea leaves, earth and woodsmoke. The palate is uplifted and silky, with intense, perfumed flavors and an ethereal finish. It offers power, structure and broody fruits in a very approachable frame. Erin Brooks 94 points