Penner Ash Pinot Noir Oregon Willamette Valley 2016

"In 2016 we had access to vineyard sites that came with the purchase by Jackson Family Wines," Lynn Penner-Ash explains. "Those sites brought some freshness to the wines. They are fresher and livelier than what we saw from the other warm vintages." She also notes that the oak usage dropped quite a bit in 2016, down to about 19%-23% from 20%-40%. Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2016 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley opens with just the slightest touch of gunflint-like reduction on the nose, giving way to red cherries, cranberries and warm raspberry with underlying suggestions of pink peppercorn and flowers. Light to medium-bodied, it gives up great layers of warm red and blue fruits with earthy accents of forest floor, wet earth and bark. It's structured by fine-grained tannins and great juicy acidity carrying the long fruit-forward finish. This is youthfully coiled but should blossom beautifully. 10,000 cases produced.

In 2016 Penner-Ash was purchased by Jackson Family Wines. Winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash says it will allow the winery access to more top vineyard sites like Gran Moraine and Zena Crown to use in their Willamette Valley blend and the brand's single-designate Pinot Noirs. "We built our reputation on small-lot vineyard designates," she explains. "These vineyard designates show what we're doing with the different AVAs and how they work themselves into the blends for our Willamette Valley wines. We will take more fruit from the designates to add to the Willamette blend because we want it to be consistent. It's our flagship bottling and our largest blend." Winemaking is adjusted each year to suit the particular vintage. "Our formula is purely based on vintage. For example, our barrel usage transitions from 19% to 40%. There's no real formula. We are just trying to make the best wine we can from a particular vintage."