2014 Panther Creek Cellars Pinot Noir De Ponte Vineyard Dundee Hills 750 ml

Dundee Hills Shine in Oregon’s Spectacular 94-97pt 2014 Vintage

Since 1965, when David Lett founded Eyrie Vineyards and put Oregon’s Dundee Hills on the map, the AVA has been responsible for a profusion of the greatest Pinot Noirs in Willamette Valley.

In 2014, a spectacular vintage that pulled down a 94-97 rating from Wine Spectator, the Dundee Hills performed magnificently. The picture-perfect season was very warm overall, but not too hot. Berries had tremendous natural concentration — high natural sugars across the board, with finished wines tip-toeing around 14% alcohol and acids sufficiently piercing to keep everything in balance. The wines are red and dark-fruited, bright, velour-like in texture, and marked by a Burgundian-like cut.

Local heavy hitters Alexana (92 points from Wine Spectator, $125), Winderlea (94pts/$105), Archery Summit (94/$125), Bergström (92/$90) all put out winners.

But the Dundee Hills bargain of the year was winemaker Tony Rynders’ masterful Pinot Noir, drawn off the 30- to 40-year-old vines of De Ponte Cellars’ hilly fields. Situated in the heart of the AVA, De Ponte is home to some of the oldest vineyards in the Willamette Valley. Formed over 15 million years ago by lava flow, the region is packed with basalt-rich Jory volcanic soils that lend Panther Creek’s Pinot Noir its delicate minerality and luscious red-fruit profile. Warmer and drier than surrounding AVAs, Dundee Hills provided the gentle slopes of De Ponte with a textbook growing season for attaining superb ripeness and wild concentration.

Rynders, who oversaw a decade-long magic run of high-scoring wines at Domaine Serene, has been putting on a clinic at Panther Creek. Robert Parker has noticed, singling out Panther Creek for releasing “the most concentrated and age-worthy wines now being made in Oregon.” Wine Spectator was floored by Panther Creek’s 2014 effort, pouring on 93 points for this indisputable star of the vintage.

The 2014 Panther Creek Pinot Noir De Ponte Vineyard Dundee Hills was barrel-aged for eight months in 40% French new oak. Vivid ruby to the rim, infused with mouthwatering aromas of black raspberry, blood orange, and sweet spice. Bright, juicy, and extravagantly concentrated on the attack, filled with crushed-red-fruit jam and a splash of framboise, finishing with excellent tension and persistence. Drink now through 2024.

If your Pinot Noir preference is for dark, black raspberry concentration and New World opulence buttressed by Old World structure, it’s unlikely that you’ll find another under-$35 Pinot Noir that holds a candle to the monumental 2014 Panther Creek De Ponte. $45 on release. $29.99 only from WineAccess. If these 600 bottles don’t disappear today, we lose an office bet … and we’re not worried.