Tasting at Winderlea

Dundee Hills
Tasted Sunday, October 9, 2016 by Nanda with 268 views

Introduction

A final winery visit and tasting prior to heading back home, and this was a very fine capstone to our trip. A beautiful contemporary tasting room situated on the picturesque Dundee Hills amongst great neighbors (Cameron, Arteberry Maresh, to a name a couple). The estate vineyard is now called Winderlea but is the former Goldshmidt vineyard which was planted in the early 1970s. The tasting room was staffed with a few folks so we received plenty of attention and Donna (one of the owners) spent time with us at the tail end of our visit. The winery was generous with the tasting, featuring several mini-verticals and horizontals to get a sense of the estate vineyards, recent vintages and Willamette Valley more broadly. Highly recommended.

Flight 1 - WHITES (2 Notes)

Flight 2 - DUNDEE HILLS NEIGHBORS (3 Notes)

  • 2013 Winderlea Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Vineyards 87 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Winery tasting. AVA wine from three sites -- Weber, Maresh, Murto. Medium nose has earthy cherries. Palate is lighter body with lighter concentration. Silky, bright and lifted. Simple but good for it's level.

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  • 2014 Winderlea Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard 92 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Winery tasting. Tasted side-by-side with the Weber (which is an adjacent vineyard). Full nose with good layering -- black cherry, earth and mushroom. Lighter body with earthy fruit. Elegant style.

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  • 2014 Winderlea Pinot Noir Weber Vineyard 93 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Winery tasting. Tasted side-by-side with the Maresh (which is an adjacent vineyard). Nose here is full with more nuance than the Maresh -- black cherry, earth, florals, spice and chalky minerals. Terrific power and intensity with loads of spice. Driving, bright acidity in the finish. Preferred this to the Maresh.

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Flight 3 - ESTATE VINEYARDS (5 Notes)

  • 2013 Winderlea Pinot Noir Winderlea Vineyard 93 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Winery tasting. Tasted side-by-side with the 2013 Imprint. Full nose is complex and layered with herbs, leather and black cherry. Great stuffing in the ethereal palate. Really enjoy the power it delivers in such an elegant, structure frame. Earth-driven tones. An ager that should improve with time.

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  • 2013 Winderlea Pinot Noir Imprint 93 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Winery tasting. Tasted side-by-side with the Winderlea Vineyard. This is made from the same site as the Winderlea but made with whole clusters. The nose is hugely aromatic with prominent stem notes of green herb, exotic spice, florals and medicinal notes. The nose reminds me of Burlotto Monvigliero, which also has a clear whole cluster signature. The palate is similarly complex and nuanced. Light-to-medium body with good driving acids in the finish. Another ager.

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  • 2012 Winderlea Pinot Noir Winderlea Vineyard 91 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Winery tasting. Tasted side-by-side with the 2011 and immediately following the 2013 for a nice vertical. Color here is more deep, rich ruby. The nose is more forward, ripe and lush. Lots of cherry and spice. The palate is round, plush and forward. Definitely the most forward and ready of the 2011, 2012 and 2013 vertical.

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  • 2011 Winderlea Pinot Noir Winderlea Vineyard 93 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Winery tasting. Tasted side-by-side with the 2012 and immediately following the 2013 for a nice vertical. Translucent ruby color. Nose is tight, with some coaxing earthy red cherry and herbs emerge. Definitely in a lighter style compared to the 2012. Less obvious with more subtlety and structure. The earth, leather and mushroom nuances are integrated with cherry. Love the complexity but this needs time. Preferred this to the 2012, and liked it as much as the 2013.

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  • 2013 Winderlea Pinot Noir Legacy 94 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Winery tasting. From the original blocks of the estate vineyard. Nose is full, dense, intense but not yet delineated -- dried black cherry and herbs. Wow, the palate has significant concentration and intensity. Sweeter red cherry. Lots of stuffing here that will require time.

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Flight 4 - OTHERS (2 Notes)

  • 2013 Winderlea Pinot Noir Meredith Mitchell Vineyard 86 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, McMinnville

    Winery tasting. The nose is higher toned with red cherry and cherry liqueur. Palate is lighter body with lower concentration and a bit watery. Didn't love this one, which was an outlier in an otherwise very good line up.

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  • 2013 Winderlea Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard 92 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton

    Winery tasting. Nose is full and expansive with sweeter black cherry and underlying earth tones. Bigger fruit and more red fruited than the Winderlea Vineyard bottlings. Quite structured and tight right now. Upside with age

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