2003 Soter Beacon Hill Pinot Noir

Soter Vineyards was started by Tony and Michelle Soter in the late 1990s. For both of them it was a return home. Tony and Michelle were raised in Portland, but the couple spent 20 years in Napa Valley where Tony Soter was a much-admired winemaking consultant for such producers as Araujo, Dalle Valle, Shafter and Viader. He started his own Etude Wines label in 1982 and sold it to Beringer Blass in 2000 to concentrate on his Oregon venture. Soter Vineyards is located at Mineral Spring Ranch in the Yamhill-Carlton appellation. It includes 30 acres of Pinot Noir and two acres of Chardonnay. Wine Advocate wrote that “Tony Soter has been making wine in his native state for long enough now that this iconic figure of California wine history can be said to have achieved a similar status in Oregon.”

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.