2017 WT Vintners, Seven Springs Pinot Noir, $55.00

Winery Info: Woodinville-based WT Vintners was founded in 2007 by Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen.          

Jeff is an award-winning sommelier who has worked with a number of top Seattle restaurants, most recently as wine director at RN 74. He also worked harvests in Burgundy and New Zealand before starting WT. His focus is on limited production, terroir-driven wines sourced from top vineyard sites in the northwest. Wine Enthusiast Magazine included Jeff in their Top 40 Under-40 Tastemakers in America and W.T. Vintners was listed as a Top 100 Winery in the World two years in a row by Wine and Spirits Magazine.

Winemaker: Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen

Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir, from a variety of Dijon clones, intermixed in the vineyard to mimic the diversity found in Burgundy.

Vineyard: Sourced from two blocks on the eastern side of Seven Springs Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. The vineyard is biodynamically farmed on iron-rich Jory soil. Considered one of the top vineyards in the Willamette Valley, Seven Springs is now owned by Raj Parr and Sashi Moorman, of Evening Land. They sell their fruit to only a very few select other winemakers and Jeff is honored to be one of them.

Flavor Profile: Grown on the eastern side of the Eola Hills ridge, the fruit for this wine ripens a bit later developing excellent acidity and focused dark fruit flavors. This wine is beautifully elegant and smooth, with flavors of red fruit, a nice hint of forest floor, and perfectly balanced richness.

Availability: 284 cases made. The distributor still has a bit of this vintage left.

Drinking Window: Enjoy now or anytime over the next few years.

Food Pairing: This is a good Pinot to pair with duck or lamb.

2017 Day Wines, Hawk and Deuce, $29.75

Winery Info: Northwest native Brianne Day spent several years visiting wine regions throughout the world and worked at wineries in Burgundy, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand. Upon returning to Oregon, she did further work at a number of wineries before founding her own in 2012. Today she produces minimal intervention wines using fruit sourced exclusively from farmer-owned, biodynamic and organic vineyards. And her work has gotten plenty of acclaim. She was named a Top 40 Under-40 Tastemaker by Wine Enthusiast Magazine, was a semi-finalist for the 2020 James Beard Award of Excellence, and hers is one of only seven American wineries noted in Isabelle Legeron’s book, Natural Wine.

Winemaker: Brianne Day

Grapes: 85% Syrah, 15% Viognier, fermented together and aged 22 months in neutral French oak.

Vineyard: From Mae’s Vineyard in the Applegate Valley.

Flavor Profile: Being mostly Syrah, co-fermented with Viognier, it is a nod to the style of a Côte Rôtie from the northern Rhône. The Viognier (in a higher percentage than is typical in the Rhône) tempers the Syrah and adds softness and floral undertones to the flavors of red fruit and white pepper. It is savory and balanced, with sleek tannins that soften as it opens up. They call this “a marriage of brawn and beauty.”

Availability: There are just a few more cases of this vintage left.

Drinking Window: Ready to drink now, or over the next year or two.

Food Pairing: Try it with Pork or mushroom-based dishes, or other earthy foods with umami flavors.