Heritage No.23 Whistling Ridge Pinot Noir- MAGNUM offer

$150/1.5L offer price (very limited)

Each year we do a few large format wines, mostly for our own library. The larger bottles hold the wines beautifully for extended aging and invariably they seem to hit slightly higher highs than the 750mls. Plus, it is a very magical thing to offer a larger group of friends a toast all from the same bottle. We did a few extra cases of magnums (6 instead of 4) for this very special wine. If you would like to have one or two for your own cellar, please let us know. In the weeks since we sent out the Fall Release email to you several wine critics have published their reviews, and we were pleased to note that they seemed to like this wine as much as we do:

From Erin Brooks at the Wine Advocate: “The 2023 Pinot Noir Heritage No. 23 Whistling Ridge has intoxicating aromas of strawberry, blueberry, rosewater, mushroom and conifer. The medium-bodied palate is brimming with layer after layer of perfumed fruit. It’s structured by silky tannins and mouthwatering acidity and has a long, nuanced finish. 165 cases were made. Drink date 2028-2043. 96 points.”

From Clive Pursehouse at Decanter: “Crystalline red fruits and a delicate savoury character unfold as the wine evolves. On the nose, dazzling red florals and sea salt, crunchy red cranberries and blood orange purity come through. The palate is upright and electric. Intricate flavours of pine, freshly chopped mint and salty blood orange frame exuberant red berries. Will be far more gregarious in five years, but shows finesse in its youth. The Pinot Noirs from Goodfellow Cellars are among the most elegant and austere in the Willamette, and as such, they take their time to unwind. 97 points” Top 20 Pinot Noirs of the Vintage

From John Gilman’s View from the Cellar: "This wine tips the scale at 13.4% alcohol in this vintage and delivers a superb, young aromatic constellation of red plums, pomegranate, cherries, a nice touch of stems, raw cocoa, dark soil tones, a hint of mustard seed, peonies, and a gentle framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused, and deep at the core, with a nice hint of sappiness, superb soil signature and grip, ripe, well integrated tannins, fine balance, and a long, youthfully complex, and very promising finish. This is a proper long distance runner and is going to demand plenty of hibernation time, but it is going to be a great bottle of Pinot Noir once it is ready to drink. 2040-2080+. 94"

A New Year's Gift, Offer #1
$164 holiday offer price ($205 retail)

TEMPERANCE HILL VINEYARD BLANC de BLANCS (limited release, 3/25 disgorgement)
2013 BISHOP CREEK VINEYARD PINOT NOIR
2016 HERITAGE NO.7, WHISTLING RIDGE VINEYARD PINOT NOIR

The Temperance Hill Vineyard Blanc de Blancs is a limited release for us, disgorged this past March at two years on the lees in bottle. Sourced mostly from the 2022 vintage(80%) with 20% reserve wine from 2019 this is the most mineral driven of the Blanc de Blancs that we have produced at this stage. The Chardonnay that we get from Temperance Hill is planted on the far side of the vineyard, on an exposed saddle of thinner soils where the daily winds are especially strong and produce intense character in the wines. We were excited to have enough of it to pull a slightly earlier pick for the sparkling program, and this is our first disgorgement, 37 cases, from the vineyard. It’s non-dose (labels were printed Extra Brut before we made final-final dosage decisions), has that classic Temperance Hill drive to the wine, fine mousse, and just a wonderful balance of richness and dry, savory vinosity.

The 2013 Bishop Creek Pinot Noir is two barriques (50 cases) of older own rooted Wadensville, 100% whole cluster fermented, from clean fruit picked two weeks after the deluge of rain in 2013. While it was a beautiful enough wine that I bottled these two barrels on their own, it was a very pale/wan yet structured wine for the first decade of its existence. The aromatics began to show a few years ago, and the palate has finally caught since the last time we tasted this wine. It’s best to open this at lunch to serve with dinner (do taste it) and it will put on a good bit of weight in that time. The aromatics really blossom and the wine is a beautiful expression of red fruits; red plum, logan berry, and a touch of rhubarb, exotic spices, savory herbs, and rock dust. medium bodied in the mouth it’s more red fruit, leaning savory but juicy and bright. When we opened this wine to check in it was the one on the table that we kept coming back to and was just perfect with the chanterelle mushrooms that have been so wonderfully abundant in Oregon this Fall.

The 2016 Heritage No.7, from Whistling Ridge Vineyard has always been a very special wine. The vintage produced wonderfully charming wines from the outset, with supple fruit, very fine tannins, and lovely floral notes to the wines. When we tasted this wine, we initially had placed it firmly in the “hold” section of the library. But following it over three days it was clear that this wine has decades of life still in it, but there is plenty for enjoyment now. It opens on day one with compact red fruit, all berries and hints of roses. Over the next day it slowly expands into deeper and more complex shades of red flowers and fruits, subtle earth tones, and intoxicating spice aromatics. By day three the aromatics are slightly more subtle, still pretty red fruits, hints of chicory, lovely layering, and balance.

The Holiday Table, Offer #2: Durant Vineyard
$164 holiday offer price ($205 retail)

DURANT VINEYARD BLANC de BLANCS (12/24 disgorgement)
2016 DURANT VINEYARD PINOT NOIR
2017 HERITAGE NO.9, DURANT VINEYARD PINOT NOIR

The second disgorgement of the Durant Vineyard Blanc de Blancs is in a wonderful spot right now. opened this last week for our UK importer, it was a perfect follow up to the Temperance Hill BdB. The mineral cut and drive of the Temperance Hill perfectly set up the softer, textural fruit of the Durant BdB. The Durant shows wonderful notes of pear (blossom and fruit), hints of cardamom, smokey hazelnuts, and brioche. The mousse is fine and this feels luxurious and yet light on its feet at the same time.

The 2016 Durant Pinot Noir shows a similar compactness of fruit to the Heritage No. 7 but opens up much more quickly. within an hour it’s showing a wonderful combination of boysenberry and black raspberry fruits with savory spice notes keeping the fruit interesting and refreshing. This is a perfect mid-weight but textural Pinot Noir and reminds me of very nice Savigny-Les-Beaune back in the 90s. Duck, morels, and lamb are the first three thoughts this wine evokes. The tannins are very fine, the acidity is nicely refreshing, perfect for balancing a dish with a bit of fat in it. If you lose the wine in your cellar, there is little worry as it will age for another 12-20 years.

While the Heritage No.9 has decades of life ahead of it, we thought it would be a perfect fit for this package. It carries a lovely textural resemblance to cool vintage Volnay at the moment, ever so silky with compactly sweet red fruits and fine tannins that will hold the wine but are unintrusive and enjoyable. The nose is densely red fruited plums and just ripe strawberries, spiced red apples, alongside hints of anise and clove.

Tale of Two Vintages, Offer #3: the 2019s 
$144 holiday offer price ($180 retail)

2019 WHISTLING RIDGE VINEYARD PINOT NOIR
2019 FIR CREST VINEYARD PINOT NOIR
2019 ORACLE VINEYARD PINOT NOIR

The 2019 Whistling Ridge Pinot Noir reminds me of Ravel’s Bolero at the moment. in the beginning it is ephemeral, pretty, softly played but as time passes it gains volume and impact. It is a study in weightlessness and class that builds throughout the hours being open, a rouge veil at first, becoming a red silk scarf, and adding layers. There is a wonderful minty note that comes up with the ripe strawberry and bright cherry. This play of vibrancy and freshness combined with an ever more tranquil texture yielded a point where simply smelling the wine was a captivating experience. One of my favorite wines of the group we opened, and best of all, enough volume to keep aside enough cases to look to a future

The 2019 Oracle Pinot Noir is a combination of Dijon clones in both the deeper Jory soils common to the Dundee hills and also the shallower Nekia series fermented 100% whole cluster. The wine opens with beautiful red fruits, cranberry, pomegranate, the bright strawberry notes I always associate with the Abbey Ridge bottling from Westrey. There’s a nice mid-weight density with a slight chalkiness to the tannins that resolves with time open. As it becomes more expansive with air, notes of red plums and kitchen herbs layer into the wine along with a charming tone of dry loamy earth. I can’t help but feel that this would be fantastic with a slow cooked pork sugo over papardelle.

The 2019 Fir Crest carries the dark fruited power of the site even in a restrained vintage like 2019. This is charming from the outset but definitely opens up over an evening. The fruit tones are the typical blueberry, blackberry, just ripe purple plums, with violets for florals, cardamom, clove, white pepper, and a lovely brightness to the nose. It's impactful in the attack but brighter and juicier due to the vintage than the previous four vintages, very refreshing, just the right amount of bright and savory with excellent length.

Tale of Two Vintages, Offer #4: the 2015s 
$164 holiday offer price ($205 retail)

2015 WHISTLING RIDGE VINEYARD PINOT NOIR
2015 BISHOP CREEK VINEYARD PINOT NOIR
2015 HERITAGE NO.6, FIR CREST VINEYARD PINOT NOIR

It's almost a truism that life for Goodfellow Pinot Noirs begins at 10 years. Almost. There's often a nice window early in the wine's life and it's not unusual for the wines to show nicely at 7, 8, or 9 years in bottle. But at 10 years the wines really seem to begin their evolution into maturity. Generally speaking, they've sorted themselves out from their "adolescence" and are generally show their true selves with some time in a decanter. They are not old by any means but rather have simply reached the age where they express themselves well. The 2015s are definitely in such a place. A robust vintage, these wines are all a little broader through the shoulders than many later vintages, but they show a lovely complexity in drinking them and are the perfect wines for Winter meals or hanging out with friends. They'll easily live another decade but are solidly in the open whenever you like phase.

The 2015 Whistling Ridge Pinot Noir is in a great spot right now. Of the warm vintages, there was always something special about 2015. It had a density to the skins as the fruit came in,