Cristom Mt. Jefferson Cuvee Pinot Noir 2021

Pretty notes of mulberries, spiced cherries, cloves and tea leaves. Some mushroom. It’s so silky, supple and delicious with very fine tannins. I like the savory tightness and minerality. Some rusty hints, too. Tight finish. 43% whole cluster. Drink from 2024.

Warm and generous, Mt. Jeff is Cristom’s appellation wine, drawing largely from estate sources. This 2021 feels precocious, with scents of plum skin and foresty black cherries, a dark clove-like note, and flavors that feel lifted and succulent.

The caliber of the 2019 Mt. Jefferson Cuvée Pinot Noir, Cristom's largest-production SKU, is impressive this vintage. Medium ruby-purple, it features savory cranberry sauce, orange peel and tar aromas with tones of dried flowers and spice. The medium-bodied palate offers the pleasing, gently grippy tannins and bright freshness characteristic of Cristom's generous whole-cluster inclusion, and it finishes with intense, layered fruits and floral accents. Daniel Estrin joined the team as winemaker and vineyard manager in 2019 after several years at Littorai in Sonoma County. "I was trepidatious about the amount of stems, after using only about 30% at Littorai," he says, "but I leaned into it, and it does a lot for Oregon Pinot, which can be very fruity." (EB) (12/2021)

Offers a dynamic core of lively tannin and acidity framed by raspberry and pomegranate flavors that take on black tea and dark spice accents. Drink now.

This is the non-estate, value-priced Pinot from Cristom, and it is always a fine value. The winery style is much in evidence, with minimal intervention, native yeast and a percentage of whole clusters in the ferment. It’s a tight, herbal, steely wine with compact cranberry and wild raspberry fruit at the core. Youthful and fresh, it has a peppery character and green tea highlights in the finishing tannins. Drink now and over the rest of this decade.

Vibrant red currant, boysenberry and cherry aromas are complicated by suggestions of vanilla, candied flowers and baking spices. Juicy and expansive on the palate, offering sappy red and dark berry, bitter cherry and spicecake flavors that deepen and turn sweeter through the midpalate. Delivers solid closing thrust and finishes on a repeating cherry note, with gentle, nicely integrated tannins that add subtle grip. (JR) (8/2020)