2014 Archery Summit Archery Summit Estate Pinot Noir

Archery Summit is a 115-acre estate in Dayton, Oregon. It was founded in 1993 by the late Robert Gary Andrus, a former Olympic skier who started his winemaking career in 1978 when he founded Pine Ridge in Napa Valley. Andrus sold his interest in Archery Summit in 2001 to Crimson Wine Group, a Napa-based portfolio of small, artisanal wineries. Under Andrus and now Crimson, Archery Summit has built a reputation of outstanding Pinot Noirs. Wine Spectator has written that Archery Summit’s Pinots “rival Burgundy” in quality. Harvey Steinman of Wine Spectator has called Archery Summit “the Rolls Royce of Oregon Pinot Noir.”

Willamette Valley AVA was established in 1983, and it is the oldest appellation in Oregon. Oregon’s modern wine industry began in the Willamette Valley in the 1960s when artists, vagabond winemakers, and U.C. Davis oenology graduates looking for new territory started their own, small, off-the-grid wineries. The appellation is the state’s largest, and it extends 175 miles from Columbia River on the Washington/Oregon border to just south of Eugene, near central Oregon. The Willamette River runs through the area, helping to give the appellation a mild year-round climate. There are six smaller sub-appellations within this AVA, but altogether the Willamette Valley has the largest concentration of wineries in Oregon, as well as the majority of the state’s most famous producers. Pinot Noir is king here, followed by Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Riesling. To most admirers of Oregon Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley offers the most distinctive wine choices in the state.

This red wine is relatively light and can pair with a wide variety of foods. The grape prefers cooler climates and the wine is most often associated with Burgundy, Champagne and the U.S. west coast. Regional differences make it nearly as fickle as it is flexible.