Evesham Wood Willamette Valley Pinot Noir DNR
Pairs with: Herb-roasted chicken lathered in garlic and butter, pan-seared wild salmon, duck ragù tossed with fresh pappardelle, a rustic wild mushroom risotto, or a comforting platter of semi-hard cheeses like Gruyère and young Gouda.
Good for: Experiencing the absolute gold standard of affordable, cool-climate Oregon Pinot Noir; showing a red Burgundy devotee how beautifully the New World can handle old-school restraint; or keeping a highly versatile, elegant red on hand that outperforms bottles double its price.
Grape: 100% Pinot Noir.
I am from: Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA (A masterfully curated assemblage of top, dry-farmed, and sustainably grown vineyard sites spread across the valley, including legendary plots like Illahe, Mahonia, and their own estate vines in the Eola-Amity Hills).
The Story: Evesham Wood is a quiet, towering giant of the Oregon wine landscape—a true legacy estate that has been defining what authentic Willamette Valley Pinot Noir should taste like since 1986. The winery was founded by Russ Raney, a visionary who moved to Oregon with a singular obsession: to craft a style of Pinot Noir that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the benchmark, low-intervention red Burgundies of France. Russ was a fierce pioneer of organic viticulture long before it became a fashionable marketing term, famously co-founding the Deep Roots Coalition to champion non-irrigated, dry-farming practices. He firmly believed that pumping artificial water into a vineyard eliminates a wine's true expression of place.
That uncompromising dedication to authenticity is what made the winery's transition in 2010 so uniquely seamless. Instead of selling to a corporate conglomerate, Russ handed the keys to Erin Nuccio, a talented winemaker who had spent years working side-by-side with Russ in the cellar. Their philosophies on organic farming and non-interventionist winemaking were virtually identical. Today, Erin continues to guard this magnificent legacy with absolute reverence.
While the Willamette Valley bottling is the estate’s most approachable and widely available wine, Erin treats it with the exact same boutique care as his top single-vineyard cuvées. The fruit is meticulously sourced from a network of trusted, non-irrigated vineyards that the winery has partnered with for decades. In the cellar, the grapes are fermented in small lots using indigenous yeasts. To ensure the delicate voice of the valley is never muffled, the wine is aged for a full year in mostly neutral French oak barrels before being bottled unfined and unfiltered, delivering a nakedly pure snapshot of the vintage.
Why You'll Love Me: It is ethereal, highly perfumed, and texturally silken—a light-to-medium-bodied Pinot Noir that completely skips heavy, jammy, or sweet oak extraction in favor of absolute clarity and athletic energy. In the glass, it pours a beautiful, translucent pale ruby color. The nose is an incredibly welcoming and atmospheric playground, instantly launching into a fragrant bouquet of tart red cherries, cranberries, and wild strawberries, seamlessly layered with complex undertones of fresh violet petals, blood orange peel, damp forest floor, and a light dusting of white pepper. On the palate, it delivers a gorgeous structural surprise; it glides across the tongue with a deceptive weightlessness and a polished, silky mouthfeel. Yet, it remains beautifully focused and alive—a driving beam of crisp, mouthwatering acidity perfectly cuts through the delicate fruit, carrying notes of pomegranate seed and savory field herbs into a long, beautifully dry finish highlighted by a refreshing, salty mineral snap and a fine, powdery tannin grip.
