Click the link to read about this month’s club!

2021 Broadley Vineyards Gamay Noir

Willamette Valley, Oregon

Grape Varietal

• Gamay Noir

Location
Willamette Valley AVA
Oregon

Cellar Window
Drink now through approximately 2028

Tasting Notes
This is a bright, energetic Oregon interpretation of Gamay, built around fresh red fruit, lively acidity and savory complexity rather than weight or heavy tannin. Expect raspberry, cranberry, red cherry and wild strawberry, accompanied by violet, dried herbs, black tea, subtle pepper and an earthy or stony undertone. With several years of bottle development, the freshest berry notes may now be beginning to take on more savory tones of dried cranberry, tea leaf, forest floor and spice. Broadley also uses whole clusters when stem ripeness allows and favors restrained oak treatment to preserve vineyard character.

Food Pairings
The combination of bright acidity, red fruit and relatively gentle tannins makes Gamay an exceptionally versatile food wine. Pair this with roast chicken, duck, pork tenderloin, grilled sausages, salmon, mushroom risotto, mushroom pasta or roasted vegetables. It is particularly good with dishes incorporating earthy or herbal flavors—thyme, sage, rosemary, mushrooms or lentils will draw out the wine’s savory side. Gamay’s freshness also works very well with charcuterie, pâté and moderately rich cheeses such as Gruyère, Comté or aged Gouda. This would also be an excellent Thanksgiving-style red because it has enough acidity for cranberry sauce and richer side dishes without overwhelming turkey.

About the Producer
Broadley Vineyards is a family-owned winery founded by Craig and Claudia Broadley, who moved to Oregon from California with the goal of establishing their own vineyard. They began planting their Monroe property in 1981, and Broadley’s first commercial vintage followed in 1986. Today the winery is operated by the second generation: their son Morgan Broadley serves as principal winemaker and vineyard manager, while his wife Jessica Broadley manages winery operations, direct sales, events and the wine club. Broadley has built its reputation primarily around Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, including its celebrated Claudia’s Choice bottling, while more recently expanding its work with Gamay Noir and Chardonnay.

Broadley’s philosophy begins in the vineyard. Its 33-acre estate is dry farmed, herbicides are avoided, organic materials are used to encourage vine health, and the winemaking is deliberately low intervention. Wooden fermenters and whole-cluster fermentation are used when appropriate, with the goal of producing wines that reflect the vineyard rather than cellar manipulation.

---

2021 Patricia Green Cellars “Marine Sedimentary” Pinot Noir

Chehalem Mountains, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Grape Varietal

• 100% Pinot Noir

The 2021 is a multi-vineyard, multi-clone Pinot Noir assembled specifically to demonstrate the character of marine sedimentary soils rather than the character of one individual vineyard. Clonal material in this vintage includes Wädenswil, Dijon 114, Coury Clone, Mariafeld and Pommard.

Location
Chehalem Mountains AVA
Willamette Valley, Oregon
Willakenzie-series marine sedimentary soils

The 2021 was assembled from six vineyards concentrated within a remarkably small area of the northern Willamette Valley:

• Estate Vineyard — Wädenswil and Dijon 114
• Corrine Vineyard — Wädenswil and Coury Clone
• Lia’s Vineyard — Mariafeld
• Chehalem Mountain Vineyard — Dijon 114
• Wind Ridge Vineyard — Pommard
• Ridgecrest Vineyard — old-vine Pommard planted in 1982

These sites lie in and immediately around Ribbon Ridge and the Chehalem Mountains and are all within roughly four miles of one another. The defining feature is the Willakenzie-series marine sedimentary soil: dry, fine-textured soils sitting over sandstone that drain extremely quickly. Patricia Green uses this bottling to explore what those soils contribute to Pinot Noir regardless of individual vineyard or clone. Only 618 cases of the 2021 were bottled.

Cellar Window
Drink now through approximately 2036

The 2021 vintage produced particularly structured, concentrated and age-worthy Pinot Noir at Patricia Green, and this Marine Sedimentary bottling was especially taut when young. Jeb Dunnuck’s Audrey Frick awarded the wine 93 points and gave it a 2026–2036 drinking window, noting that it still needed time to fully unwind.

Tasting Notes
This is a fascinating counterpoint to the lighter, fruit-driven image people sometimes associate with Oregon Pinot Noir. Patricia Green describes the Marine Sedimentary bottling as naturally dark, savory, mineral and structured, while the 2021 vintage adds an unusually bright, high-toned quality. Expect dark cherry, raspberry and grenadine alongside cranberry and red currant, with fresh flowers, crushed stone, white pepper and earthy notes of mushroom and damp forest soil. The palate is focused and linear, driven by mouthwatering acidity and fine tannins rather than richness or sweetness. The mineral quality is especially pronounced and gives the wine a darker, more savory personality than Pinot Noir grown on the area’s volcanic soils.

Winemaking was deliberately tailored to the individual vineyard lots. Some parcels were completely destemmed, while the Ridgecrest Pommard and Estate Wädenswil were fermented with 50% whole clusters. Fermentations involved gentle pumpovers and pigeage, followed by 16–20 days from fermentation through pressing. The wine remained on its full lees until final blending and was bottled without fining or filtration. Almost the entire 25-barrel blend matured in neutral barrels, minimizing oak flavor and keeping the focus squarely on soil, fruit and structure.

Food Pairings
The earthy, mineral and savory personality of this Pinot Noir makes it particularly good with foods that have similarly earthy flavors. Pair it with duck breast, roast chicken, pork tenderloin, grilled salmon, mushroom risotto, wild mushroom pasta, truffle dishes or roasted root vegetables. The wine’s bright acidity will cut through richer dishes, while its darker cherry and savory qualities pair beautifully with duck accompanied by cherries or cranberries. Mushroom dishes are especially successful because they reinforce the wine’s forest-floor and earthy qualities without overpowering its delicate Pinot Noir fruit. For cheese, consider Brie, Camembert, Gruyère, Comté or an earthy washed-rind cheese.

About the Producer
Patricia Green Cellars was founded in 2000 by Patty Green and Jim Anderson after the pair had worked together for several years at Torii Mor. They acquired a winery and vineyard in what would later become the Ribbon Ridge AVA and built Patricia Green Cellars around a very specific idea: Oregon’s best vineyards could produce strikingly individual wines when farming and winemaking were tailored to the character of each site. Over time, that evolved into one of the most extensive explorations of Pinot Noir vineyard, clone and soil differences in Oregon. In 2021 alone, the winery bottled 36 individual Pinot Noirs.

Patty Green died in 2017, but the winery continues under longtime partner and owner/winemaker Jim Anderson as both a continuation of their shared work and a tribute to her influence on Oregon wine. Patricia Green places particular emphasis on historic Oregon vineyard sites, dry farming, organic or high-level sustainable viticulture, restrained cellar intervention and preserving differences among sites rather than creating a uniform house style. The Marine Sedimentary and Volcanic bottlings are especially illustrative of that philosophy: instead of comparing individual vineyards, they allow drinkers to explore how Oregon’s two major Pinot Noir soil families can influence the character of a finished wine.