Penner-Ash Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017

Decanter’s #1 Rated Wine Oregon Pinot of 2017 and The Winery’s Highest Score Ever For their Estate Pinot

After working for some of Napa’s premier wineries and Rex Hill Vineyards in Oregon, winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash and her husband, Ron, started Penner-Ash Wine Cellars in 1998. They picked arguably the most beautiful location in the valley (an absolute must-visit if you’re in the Willamette Valley) on top of a hill in the revered Yamhill Carlton AVA. Seriously, just look at some of these pictures for a taste of what paradise looks like.

In the winery, the focus is on small-lot indigenous yeast fermentation with extended cold soaks to extract a rich, fruit-focused, textured mouth feel. The wines are always lights out, but especially in cooler vintages, where their ideal sun exposure mixed with the cool ocean breeze coming off the Van Duzer Corridor help shape some of the most beautiful, age-worthy Pinots in the States.

This is a gorgeous wine from Oregon’s top female winemaker, Lynn Penner-Ash and her winemaking team. In what was a cooler 2017 vintage, this Yamhill-Carlton based high-altitude really shines with incredibly beautiful and vibrant fruit. Bright, clean notes of red and blue fruits shine through, cherries, cranberries, blueberries and raspberry notes. There’s a seamless balance to this wine with a lot of poise and depth and absolutely no rough edges at all. This silky smooth Pinot represents some of the very best Oregon has to offer. It’s why it was the only 96-point score that Decanter gave in 2017 for an American Pinot. Total class.