| Country: | United States |
| Regions: | Oregon Oregon (Willamette) |
| Winery: | Archery Summit |
| Grape Type: | Pinot Noir |
| Organic: | Yes |
| Vintage: | 2021 |
| Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Archery Summit Estate Pinot Noir Dundee Hills is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Archery Summit Dundee Hills Pinot Noir touts all the hallmarks of this storied appellation. It begins with hints of ripe plum skin, ocean air, baking spices, and cocoa powder dustiness on the nose. The palate is just as expressive, with fresh, juicy red fruit backed by graceful tannins, a complex brininess, and a mouth-watering acidity. Finishing with spiced oak and a mouth-coating basalt minerality, this wine is great now and will be for years to come.
The Dundee Hills Pinot Noir touts all the hallmarks of Archery Summit's storied appellation. It begins with brambleberry, ripe rainier cherry, blackberry blossoms, cocoa powder, and spice on the nose. The palate is just as lively, with fresh, juicy red fruit backed by graceful tannins and acid. Finishing with spiced oak and a mouth-coating minerality, this wine is a case study in the magic of the Dundee Hills.
Yet, thanks to water reserves in the soil itself and some timely viticultural movements, the vineyards persevered through the heat and water limitations. The dryer season accelerated picking times, making the fruit ripen a bit earlier than normal. September rewarded us with cool nights and the lower-than average yields set us up to make wines with abundant character, intensity and balance. The winery is so grateful for the moisture-abundant, microbially-rich and chemical-free soils that lovingly nudged the vines towards the finish line.
Review:
-Erin Brooks (Robert Parker) 93 Points
-Wine Spectator 92 Points
Solomon Hills Estate Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Solomon Hills Pinot Noir is always distinctive and singular in its ability to harness the Coastal influence of Santa Maria Valley. Earth tones alongside briar bush and blueberries contrast aromas of forest floor and fired red clay. The noticeable savory elements of cracked black pepper and teriyaki beef nicely balance ripe cherries and blackberries on the palate.
Review:
-Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points
Flaunt Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
A lively pinot noir which is forward on the nose. Medium bodied with red fruits - berries currant raspberry. Savory, very slightly herbal with a medium tannins on the finish. Gains on the palate as it opens up. Good acidity, focused fruit, integrated tannins.
There is no measurable residual sugar.
Total Acidity is 6.4
pH is 3.42.
Ancien Pinot Noir is 100% Pinot Noir.
The Mink Vineyard is located next door to the winery, in the Coombsville Viticultural Area of Napa Valley. Open to the same morning fogs and afternoon breezes that cool Carneros to the west, Coombsville is consistently one of the coolest pockets in Napa. Mink sits inside a small “bowl”, allowing cooler air to settle during the evenings, and making Mink’s mesoclimate a couple degrees cooler, even, than the surrounding hills. But the real secret to Mink’s explosive flavors, smooth, mouth-coating minerality, comes from the soil. Underneath is a layer of compressed volcanic ash, called tufa. The tufa drains the topsoil, storing moisture in its porous structure. The vines are able, with some work, to grow roots into the tufa layer, accessing moisture during the long, dry growing season.
The Mink Pinot Noir exhibits bright and refreshing notes of pomegranate, cherry, and fresh herbs. It gradually opens to deeper and darker berry fruit, blueberry and plum. This vintage is on the more structured side of the spectrum and will continue to evolve over time. Its enchanting mouthwatering minerality invite sip after sip together with bite after bite. A lively wine at release but it will continue to improve over the next 4 - 7 years and can age well beyond a decade as shown by its 20+ year track record.
Review:
"Ripe in flavor and luxurious in texture, this wine is difficult to put down. It is saturated in black cherry, black currant and black fig while staying light on the palate. It's a wonderful indulgence to enjoy by itself or with a roast pheasant or duck breast. — Jim GORDON"
- Wine Enthusiast (April 1st 2024), 95 pts
-Joe Czerwinski (Robert Parker) 92 Points
Argot Pinot Noir Kanzler Vineyard is made from 100 percent Kanzler.
Pinot Noir finds its nirvana tucked away in the Goldridge soils and rolling topography of the cool and foggy Sebastopol Hills. Kanzler is one of Sonoma’s undisputed Grand Cru sites. This terroir produces deeply fruited wines with dazzling spice-box complexities, wonderful acidity and undeniable focus and freshness. A masterclass in Pinot Noir.
Review:
-Wine Palate 95 Points
The 2021 Shafer Hillside Select is crafted exclusively from grapes grown on Shafer's rugged hillside vineyards, where steep, rocky soils push the vines to produce low yields of intensely concentrated fruit. The unique terroir, combined with Napa Valley's hallmark climate of warm, sunny days and cool nights, contributed to a vintage with exceptional structure, lush tannins, and deep, vibrant color. The 2021 growing season exemplified these conditions, allowing the grapes to mature beautifully by early September, resulting in a wine with refined, pure aromas and flavors that reflect the richness and elegance of the vineyard.
“Such a beautifully balanced wine with tremendous staying power and expressive Stags Leap ironstone minerality with heady sagebrush and conifer notes with white pepper and walnut husk. The wine has an impressive depth of red-toned fruit on the mid-palate framed by tannins that practically dance across the palate, exuding length, tension, and power. Huckleberry and black cherry fruits, black truffle, dried violets, graphite, and salted dark chocolate are all framed by racy acidity, which keeps everything fresh and lifted. The 2021 releases mark Elias Fernandez's 38th vintage as Shafer's winemaker. He was hired by John Shafer in 1984, two weeks out of UC Davis.”
-Decanter, 99 Points
“The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select was tasted as a barrel sample. Deep garnet-purple in color, it charges out with powerful notes of creme de cassis, plum preserves, and juicy blueberries giving way to an undercurrent of tar, candied violets, and star anise. The full-bodied palate is concentrated and impactful, delivering a firm, grainy texture and well-knit freshness to support the generous black and blue fruits, finishing long with loads of mineral and exotic spices sparks. This is impressive!”
-The Wine Independent, 98-100 Points
“As always, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that will spend 28 months in new barrels. Its deep purple hue gives way to a behemoth of a wine that has incredible cassis, black raspberry, and even blue fruits to go with loads of camphor, minty herbs, graphite, and darker chocolate. It's full-bodied, concentrated, yet pure, flawlessly balanced, and has a great finish.”
-Jeb Dunnuck, 97-99 Points
Review:
-The Wine Independent 100 Points
-Decanter 99 Points
-Joe Czerwinski (Robert Parker) 99 Points
-Decanter World Wine Awards 99 Points
Archery Summit Estate Pinot Noir Dundee Hills is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
To unpack this Pinot Noir is to dig through layer upon intriguing layer of the storied Dundee Hills appellation. 2021 finished with a bang and is already considered the vintage of the century for many Willamette Valley wineries, and for good reason. But it didn’t necessarily start that way. Heat spikes and limited water were themes early on, to the tune of 116° F in some parts of the valley.
The 2021 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir touts all the hallmarks of Archery Summit's storied appellation. It begins with brambleberry, ripe rainier cherry, blackberry blossoms, cocoa powder, and spice on the nose. The palate is just as lively, with fresh, juicy red fruit backed by graceful tannins and acid. Finishing with spiced oak and a mouth-coating minerality, this wine is a case study in the magic of the Dundee Hills.
Yet, thanks to water reserves in the soil itself and some timely viticultural movements, the vineyards persevered through the heat and water limitations. The dryer season accelerated picking times, making the fruit ripen a bit earlier than normal. September rewarded us with cool nights and the lower-than average yields set us up to make wines with abundant character, intensity and balance. The winery is so grateful for the moisture-abundant, microbially-rich and chemical-free soils that lovingly nudged the vines towards the finish line.
Review:
No one is naïve about the difficulties and challenges of growing Pinot Noir away from its home in Burgundy (even there, of course, it isn’t easy). Pinot has taken to Oregon’s Willamette Valley with remarkable success, though, and especially to the red-soiled Dundee Hills. This 2021 wine is a fine example of the charm, balance and satisfaction that fine Dundee Hills Pinot can provide. Translucent scarlet in colour, with magnetically attractive raspberry scents, once on the palate the wine is soft-contoured yet energetic, with arresting intensity of fruit. Here the raspberry shades into something more curranty and tenacious, and there are refreshing bitter notes in the finish, too, with a hint of earthiness perhaps derived from the clays of volcanic origin in which the vines grow. The warm edge of cool climate? Perhaps – and it makes for beautiful drinking.
-Decanter 97 Points
Gary Andrus launched Archery Summit in 1993, infatuated by Pinot Noir and the capacity the Willamette Valley seemed to have for it. The Dundee Hills in particular caught his eye, because it shares similar growing conditions with Burgundy, France, and some of the most acclaimed Pinot Noir vineyards on earth.
A veteran winemaker with a résumé full of award-winning Napa Valley wines, Andrus sharpened his craft at sister winery Pine Ridge Vineyards. He founded that label in 1978, going on to specialize in vineyard-designate wines, tied tightly and evocatively to the sites they pulled from.
The spirit of site-specific wine persists at Archery Summit. We have assembled an impressive family of vineyards over the years: five estate vineyards and three grower sites covering four unique American Viticultural Areas.
Because we focus on Pinot Noir—a telling variety to say the least—our commitment to terroir and the refined flavors of place has only grown. With a quarter century of winemaking experience, we are proud to have helped bring well-deserved fame to Willamette Valley wine and are eager to take it to even higher ground.
The world-renowned Willamette Valley stretches roughly 100 miles from Oregon’s largest city, Portland, south to Eugene. This fertile and photogenic expanse of land, named after the mighty river that runs along its spine, has become one of the most prized winegrowing regions on earth.
Within the valley are several appellations, each offering its own geographical and viticultural distinctions. One of the oldest and most respected of them, the Dundee Hills, rests in the core of the valley amid rich volcanic soils and high-elevation terrain perfectly suited for Pinot Noir.
The Dundee Hills American Viticultural Area (AVA) was established in 2005, but the appellation’s promise was recognized much earlier. The first post-Prohibition commercial wine grapes planted here date back to 1965, located just down the road from Archery Summit. Of the Willamette Valley’s seven subappellations, this one has the oldest vines and most prestige.
Pioneering producers have long been attracted to the AVA’s soils, climate, elevation, and orientation. Commonly referred to as the Red Hills because of its iron-rich Jory soils, this rolling appellation runs north to south, parallel to the Willamette River, allowing for an optimal ripening schedule.
To walk the dramatic rows of estates like Arcus Vineyard and Summit Vineyard is to set foot on the fertile byproduct of ancient and cataclysmic events. Valley-carving volcanic flows and subterranean rifts molded the Dundee Hills over the course of millions of years. When the Missoula Floods submerged the Willamette Valley in water some 15,000 years ago—depositing sedimentary soils along the way—the Dundee Hills were untouched, perched above the flood line and able to retain their volcanic pedigree.
Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris adore the well-draining soils and insulated climate secured by the Coast Range to the west and the Cascades to the east.
Archery Summit is based in the heart of the AVA, with all of its five vineyards rooted within its boundaries. The Dundee Hills AVA is known for producing Pinot Noir on par with that of Burgundy, the birthplace of the variety.
Shibumi Knoll Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir, 20 percent in new French Oak.
Review:
-Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points
This limited release wine is created from the fusion of two exceptional parcels of 70% Shiraz and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. This classic blend is matured in the finest oak crafting an intriguing unison that captures the essence of the vineyard and highlights its unique varietal expression.
Vintage Overview
2013 was a very good season with predominantly mild, dry days. Yields were generally low and this did result in some excellent parcels of fruit being harvested. Vine-balance was carefully monitored, resulting in fruit that demonstrates the vibrancy and fruit-derived characters that we strive for in our wines. By all accounts it was a textbook vintage.
Tasting Notes
Deep inky purple in color. Aromas of blackberry, mocha, mint and spices. Lush, ripe palate dominated by black fruits, cherry and chocolate. An expansive palate with black fruits and nicely balanced by oak.
Made with the greatest dedication and care, select parcels were matured in new and seasoned French and American oak for up to 20 months prior to being selected for this blend. Individual barrels from our family estate that best demonstrate the intensity of our fruit, balanced by integrated oak were selected for the final blend, which was then bottled with minimal filtration.
Pairs well with venison, ribeye steak, lamb.
Review:
70% Shiraz and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fruit and oak combine here to produce a powerful, full-bodied red with coffee, toast, blackberry and rick plum flavours pouring through the palate. Tannin taps gently at the brakes: peppercorn and pine notes add lift: creaminess to the texture keeps everything running smoothly. Screwcap. 14.5% alc.
Halliday Wine Companion 2020 94 Points
Gran Moraine Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Aromas of brambly black fruit, cranberry sauce, and blue raspberry Tootsie Rolls. On the palate, bright punchy red licorice, navel orange zest, and white coffee beans.
Reviews:
Precise and elegantly generous, this red shows detailed flavors of cherry and raspberry laced with rose petal, black tea and stony mineral notes as it builds richness and tension toward refined tannins.
-Wine Spectator 93 Points
This is a delicious wine with a lot of character. Dark and red fruit with hints of crushed stone and toffee on the nose. Fresh and crisp fruit with a tangy character. Smooth tannins with a crisp finish. Vines are on sandy soils at 400 to 500 feet altitude.
-James Suckling 93 Points
"Raised for 10 months in 50% new 228-liter barriques, the ruby/magenta-colored 2021 Pinot Noir Cascade is expressive and spicy on opening, offering notes of toasted cedar, sassafras, pine, and black cherries. Medium-bodied, silky, and polished, its decadent oak spice offers a lot of perfume on the nose and through the palate. It has a good deal of length and is going to drink well over the next 12-15 years. Shane Moore makes world-class winemaking look easy, with zero pretension. Want some killer, textural, yet pure Chardonnay? You got it. How about a serious contender for Oregon sparkling wines? Done. Looking for Pinot Noir? Sure, he’s got some of that here at Gran Moraine as well as more over at Zena Crown. Hell, do you like natural wines and playful, zippy wines for picnics? He's got those, too, but with just a hint of a wild edge. Winemaking is hard work, but you would never sense it meeting with Shane. He’s packed with knowledge and insight, with a seemingly endless supply of joy and wonder. The wines for this report were tasted at the estate in Yamhill-Carlton and are worth seeking out within each category and style preference."
-Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
Copain Wines Pinot Noir Anderson Valley is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Les Voisins, or "the neighbors" is sourced from some of the best vineyards in Anderson Valley to create a wine that displays the region's unique terroir. A myriad of fresh fruits beam from the glass including blueberry compote, kirsch, blackberry and red cherry. Underlying notes of graphite, conifer, fresh flowers, orange peel and wet sandstone add to its complexity. Bright and fresh, this Pinot Noir will take you on an adventure to one of California's most remote winemaking regions.
Review:
-Jeb Dunnuck 93 Points
Hartford Court Sevens Bench Vineyard Chardonnay is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
True to its Carneros roots, the 2018 Sevens Bench Chardonnay carries the hallmark of the region – fruit intensity balanced by and good acidity. The aromas are driven by classic lemon drop, Meyer lemon, and lemongrass. That fruit style follows in the flavors, with the citrus focus carrying through with candied lemon drop balanced by the mineral and flint characters inherent to the region and the clonal selections. Barrel fermentation notes in the background add even more complexity to this elegant wine.
Review:
-Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
The nose leads with a bright pop of red fruit, including cherry and raspberry, followed by hints of cola and baking spices and a light herbal note. The palate shows darker fruit including blueberry and plum, and has a round mouth feel with firm, mouthwatering tannins. The finish brings a dark chocolate note and a long, lingering finish.
Review:
-James Suckling 93 Points
The Grade Cabernet Sauvignon Serpent's Back Napa Valley is made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.
Review:
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Serpent's Back shows a more aromatic, high-toned side of this site. Bright red/purplish berry fruit, pomegranate, cinnamon and sweet floral accents are all laced together. The Serpent's Back is the most refined of these three Cabernets, but it has plenty of Calistoga punch.
-- Antonio Galloni 95 Points
Pago de los Capellanes El Picon is made from 100% Tempranillo.
There are afternoons with indigo skies when we approach one of the oldest plots of the estate. Our stroll from the winery follows a line of cypress trees to the corner of a path, and this angle gives its name to our most exceptional vineyard. El Picón is the great symbol and the most profound reality — the sum of enigmas in a beautiful, pure fruit.
The grapes come from the El Picón plot, one of the oldest at the Pago de los Capellanes estate in Pedrosa de Duero: 1.6 hectares of clay-loam soil with surface gravel, very poor fertility and very low yields. The wine is aged 22 months in 225-litre, extra-fine-grain French oak barrels dried over 60 months.
Review:
Built in a classical long-aging style, the 2021 Parcela El Picón is 100% Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, aged 22 months in 225-liter extra-fine grain French oak barrels. Oak dominates the aromatic profile, emphasizing balsamic herbs such as bay leaf and menthol, vermouth-like tones and black fruit. Concentrated yet not tight on the palate, it combines flexible tannins, chalky texture and juicy freshness. Still very young, it promises greater nuance with time. Best approached no earlier than five years from now.
- Vinous (Joaquín Hidalgo) 96 Points
Really seductive, elegant nose with parma violet and almond blossom mingling among sage, cherry leaf and potpourri. Extremely well built, with a firm yet juicy core of plum, cherry, red apple and pomegranate. Cherry leaf poached in tea with smoky allure. Very persistent, with a long, beautiful tail of oregano, thyme, tarragon and saffron.
- Decanter 95 Points
Fresh blackberries with plums, a touch of graphite and fig undertones. The palate is focused, medium- to full-bodied, with fine-grained tannins and a clean thread of fruit to complement it. Drink or hold.
- James Suckling 94 Points