Description
Chehalem (Chuh-hay-lum) is a local American Indian word best translated as “gentle land” or “valley of flowers,” which captures a long-standing, almost religious reverence for the land. Chehalem’s first vineyard was planted by Harry Peterson-Nedry in 1980 at Ridgecrest Vineyard on Ribbon Ridge Road, northwest of Newberg, Oregon. Once established, the grapes were sold to others, while Harry studied his craft. Chehalem’s first commercial wine was its 1990 Ridgecrest Pinot Noir. Friends Bill and Cathy Stoller joined Peterson-Nedry in the winery in 1993, providing grapes and much more from their Stoller Family Vineyard and winery, a densly planted 125 acres at the southern tip of the Dundee Hills. In February 2018, Bill Stoller acquired Peterson-Nedry’s share of equity in Chehalem.
Equally well-known for red and white wine quality, Chehalem carries a passion and focus for cool climate varieties that reflect both site and climate in complex, structured and intensely fruited wines. The Chehalem wines are known for their purity of fruit flavors and their authentic Burgundian style.
From the winery about this wine: “The Three Vineyard Pinot Noir is always Chehalem’s initial view of, and an accurate summary for any given vintage of Pinot Noir coming out of our cellars.
The 2015 vintage was slightly different in early growing season timing from 2014, but the final effect was the same, big heat, big crop and big expectations. The acids are down, the alcohols are hovering around 14% and the work we did to minimize overextraction resulted in more elegant wines than a hot vintage deserves. Similar to 2014, the fruit was impeccably clean and devoid of disease. We focused on restraint in 2015, and it rewarded us with incredible Pinot Noirs with density but not heaviness, nicely polished velour-like tannins and reasonable acidity. Four progressively warmer vintages, we will just learn to count higher—more heat, more fruit, more, more!
This special blend shows the full capacity of the vintage from a perspective of all three of our Estate vineyards which include different elevations, soil types and clones. Impeccable, not only in balance and texture, but length, oak exposure, fruit and complexity. Look for accents of chocolate, violets, five-spice and dark juicy cherries.
Moderately-deep in intensity of structure and tannin, but produced with restraint for perfect acid structure and elegance.”
90 points, Josh Reynolds, Vinous Media “(19% new French oak) Vivid red. Spice-accented raspberry and candied flowers on the incisive nose. Silky and aromatic on the palate, offering energetic flavors of mineral-tinged red berries and blood orange. Finishes spicy and long, featuring a repeating note of subtly sweet red fruit and gentle tannins.”
RRP $63 Our Price $54.99 – Last bottles
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