If you’ve never tasted a Ken Wright Cellars Pinot Noir from Oregon, there’s still time. Just don’t delay.
Right now there is a limited shipment of the 2013 Ken Wright Cellars Willamette Valley Pinot Noir circulating throughout Massachusetts, distributed exclusively by Winebow Boston.
The Willamette Valley Pinot Noir captures all the characteristics of Wright’s many other acclaimed bottlings: perfumed on the nose, seductively fruit forward on the palate, elegantly smooth and balanced. It’s meant to be enjoyed with food, from salmon to turkey to roast lamb and beef.
On Sunday, the Wine Goddess grilled salmon to a moist perfection and glazed it with apricot sauce. The citrus and sea salt flavors were stunningly enhanced by the Pinot’s lush strawberry and cherry expressions. We’d take a forkful of food, swallow it, and then take a sip of wine, savor it, and swallow. The pairing proved exquisite. (Watch the video a lowellsun.com/winenovice).
I have tasted KWC Pinots previously, but never ran into the Willamette Valley bottling and its simple, unadorned label. (The winery’s other bottlings feature eye-grabbing, artistic labels of vineyard scenes and workers.)
Andrea DiFiore, store manager and wine expert at Andover Classic Wines, recommended it to me. She made it a new selection upon the store’s grand reopening several weeks ago.
“When I tasted it I jotted down these notes,” said DiFiore, reading to me over the phone: “Lovely cherry and strawberry aromas, beautiful fruit tones, lush texture … a winner all around.”
According to Tom Modica, general manager at Winebow Boston, the grapes used in the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir are the same that go into crafting all other Ken Wright wines. (I stand corrected. In the video, I classify it as Ken Wright’s “entry level wine.” It is not, said Modica.)
“The bottling you have is not from secondary grapes, or young vines, or purchased fruit,” he wrote in an email. “Ken’s wines are sold in the form of futures, bottled from separate sites the he either owns or has 30-year contracts on. The Willamette Valley bottling you have is wine made from what is not sold as futures.”
Modica added, “It’s a fairly new wine as (Ken) had always done only the single vineyard bottlings, then sold off what was left. He started this in 2009.”
Ken Wright’s story is fascinating and is featured in the May edition of Wine Spectator. A true pioneer, Wright started his business from scratch 30 years ago, and went on to build a globally recognized operation that prides itself on nutritious farming and unique Oregon terroir. Equal to his wine success is his oversized philanthropy in which he’s raised funds to finance healthcare for migrant workers and viticulture programs at area community colleges.
I guarantee that if you try the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, you’ll likely want to climb the Ken Wright wine ladder all the way to the top. Yet even if you decide to stay at the first step, it’ll be a beauty.
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