Benoni Pinot Noir Red Hill Douglas County 2023

More than a decade ago, I was introduced to Benoni’s wines on a trip out west. While their few hundred cases each year are snapped up by top restaurants from Seattle to Santa Barbara (and plenty in NYC), they’ve managed to stay deliciously under the radar for most wine lovers.

But this new project is something entirely different – and I mean that in the best possible way.
Laurent Montalieu, the pioneering French winemaker who helped build Oregon’s wine industry (when he arrived, there were fewer than 80 wineries; today there are over 850), just pulled off what I’d call the wine equivalent of finding a gold mine. He purchased an entire 400-acre vineyard in Southern Oregon’s Umpqua region that’s so special, it was just granted its own AVA. That makes it a monopole – a single vineyard that comprises an entire appellation.

Think about that for a second. This isn’t just any plot of land. We’re talking about iron-rich volcanic soils similar to the famous Dundee Hills, but at a higher elevation and with more Pacific influence. It’s cooler and windier than the Willamette Valley – exactly what you want for Pinot Noir in our warming world.