Penner-Ash Zena Crown Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017
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Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Cranberry reduction, spiced barrel, and caramelized brown sugar mix with peppered spice of whole cluster. An initial hit of sweetness with notes of black cherry and blueberry are followed with density and length, closing with a savory finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Silky and structured, with a vibrant core of acidity and polished tannins, enveloped by polished cherry and raspberry flavors and highlighted by loamy mineral and smoky spice notes.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pinot Noir Zena Crown Vineyard has a pale to medium ruby-purple color and youthfully coiled nose. With time, it offers notes of lavender, licorice, cranberries, pomegranate and blackberries with an earthy core and nuances of black tea leaves and citrus peel. Medium-bodied, silky and intense, it has fragrant fruits with a fine-grained texture and juicy freshness to lift the long, layered finish.
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James Suckling
Plentiful spices are cast across ripe dark cherries, leading to a fleshy, lithe and juicy palate that has attractive red-plum and cherry flavor in abundance.
Other Vintages
2015-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Wilfred
Wong -
James
Suckling
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.