2016 Whole Cluster Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

We began making wine tasting trips to Oregon in the mid 1990’s. One of the coastal wineries produced a “Whole Cluster” Pinot Noir. The wine maker took entire clusters of grapes, along with some grape leaf, and left each bunch uncrushed. As a result, whole cluster becomes another fine Pinot Noir presentation. Of course, each yield is different from the previous year. I’m writing more about W.V.V.’s whole cluster because it is my wife’s favorite everyday wine. She, also, feels it has some heath benefits - - consumed normally. It has become a mandate that our supply never falls below one case. Amazingly through 2 decades, we have never been disappointed in this Pinot Noir fermentation; each vintage differing from the previous year. The 2016 whole cluster does not have the traditional Pinot Noir barnyard nose. It is heavy black cherry. Its color is so deep red that it’s almost black. At first taste Oregon’s Lambert Cherry jumps to the fore; a cocoa smooth finish rating: 90