The 2018 vintage is the third in a trio of great Willamette Valley vintages. The wines are defined by a layered, complex nature, with ripe fruit flavors, great acidity, modest alcohols, fine tannins, and a precise expression of terroir. Tasting through the 2018s, we have consistently been struck by the clear delineations between the vineyards, the old-world elegance and light-footed nature of the wines. A vintage with magnificent cellaring potential.
With high quality across the board, the 2018 Pinot Noirs and white wines are a tantalizing lot. Some will be better served by putting directly into the deep cellar though. For current near term enjoyment, look to the Willamette Valley bottling as an over achiever. Also the Durant vineyard and Lewman vineyard designates offer a great early window, as well as excellent cellaring potential. The Fir Crest and Whistling Ridge are both available with air, and worth an early look. If you are already familiar with our wines, then leaving these two and the Temperance Hill to sleep until at least 2023 seems a wise choice. For the micro-lots and Heritage wines, the Block 8 from Fir Crest is available with air, and the Old Vine Pommard from Lewman is in a beautiful place. While cellaring these two is worthy, it may be hard to resist opening them. The Heritage No. 11 Durant and Heritage No. 14 Lewman are also in a beautiful early window now. That said, I feel they will also have an extraordinary mature window around 2027-2030.
For the Whistling Ridge and Temperance Hill microdots, I would advise patience. Can you force a good experience out of these wines? Absolutely. Especially the Long Acre, with Beloved Acre and House Block also showing well when open overnight. The Heritage No. 12 Whistling Ridge and Pumphouse Block Temperance Hill are structured enough to be obvious agers. But all of these are really wines that speak to me of Grand Cru and seeing them from 2028 on into the 30s. They are absolutely some of the best wines I have produced and the cellar that has these will be well rewarded for the care and time invested in them.
For Chardonnays, the 2018 Durant is in a wonderful place right now, but should drink well for the rest of the decade. The Whistling Ridge and Richard’s are just a bit quieter right now(as one would expect), but drink very well with time open. However, I feel like they will continue to improve for at least 5-10 years. Both AVA bottlings are drinking very well, but seem to me that they will improve over the next few years as well.
The Willamette Valley Chardonnay is in an excellent window and should drink well for another 5-7 years. QPR here and in the AVA bottlings is off the charts.
The Whistling Ridge Blanc should drink very well from now until at least 2028.