2014 Day Wines Pinot Noir Johan Vineyard 750 ml

A new Day in the Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley is experiencing twin peaks of popularity AND quality that are feeding each other in a virtuous circle. The historic run of great vintages keeps attracting more talent to the region while pioneers expand their production, and the overall excellence of their Pinot Noirs keeps knocking critics to their knees.

One of the best aspects of this virtuous circle is that there’s enough interest and investment money sloshing around to provide talented winemakers like Brianne Day with the capital to start making wines their way, under their own labels.

An Oregon native, Brianne caught the wine bug during a trip to Italy when she was 19. She went to the far side of the world for her first harvest, though, at the Murdoch James Estate in Martinborough, New Zealand. Day’s passion and persistence helped her land positions at some of the finest wineries in Oregon (Willamette pioneer David Lett’s Eyrie), Argentina (Cepas Elegidas), and Burgundy (Domaine Huber-Verdereau). All the while, Day was developing her craft, setting herself up to return to the Willamette Valley and start her own winery.

In just five years, Day’s reputation has grown as more tastemakers taste her wines. Rounding up “16 Tempting Oregon Pinot Noirs,” Wine Spectator counted Brianne Day among “a handful of emerging producers to watch” in Oregon’s “booming” Willamette Valley wine scene. In a convention hall full of “natural” wines, Day’s “pure Willamette Valley pinot noirs” impressed Eric Asimov of The New York Times.

One of Day’s favorite sources for Pinot Noir is Johan Vineyard, about 85 acres of gently rolling slopes just a few miles northwest of Salem in the heart of the Willamette Valley. The vines at Johan enjoy the same consistently high temperatures as the rest of Willamette, and benefit from cooling ocean breezes funnelling in through the Van Duzer Corridor — slowing the ripening process while preserving fresh acidity in the grapes.

In 2014, Willamette Valley’s remarkable growing season earned 96 points from Wine Spectator, and many of us believe it tops even the landmark 2012 vintage. Near perfect conditions paved the way for uniform ripening and grapes bursting with intensity. No surprise then that the Spectator was impressed by the “generosity and depth” of Day’s 2014 Johan Vineyard bottling.  

This stunning 2014 Pinot Noir is a deep crimson in the glass. Beautifully aromatic, offering up cranberry, sandalwood, and lofty herbaceous notes of wild thyme. Bright and juicy on the attack, packed with fresh bramble fruits and supported by gentle but assertive tannins, this is one to pop open the minute it hits your doorstep. Drink now through 2025.

92 points from Antonio Galloni’s Vinous, which loved its “sexy, spice-accented aromas” and “silky” and “very long” finish. A matching 92 from Wine Spectator, which raved about this “broad, deep and generous” wine all the way through a finish that “dances and lingers with presence.”