2015 Ponzi Vineyards Classico Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 750 ml

This is Oregon Pinot Noir at its finest, a screenshot of one of America’s premier growing areas, from a first family of Willamette Valley winemaking. Wine Enthusiast wraps it up like this: “Ponzi wines are considered some of the most elegant wines in the world, and certainly have helped put Oregon on the wine map.”

Wine Spectator says “all Oregon Pinot Noirs are measured against the Ponzi yardstick.” This is a Pinot Noir that appeals to everyone from novices to connoisseurs. Pure and direct, pulsing with red fruit and layers of savory spice, the acidity and tannins dance together from first blush through a long, satisfying finish. It leaves nothing to want but another sip or two.

Wine Enthusiast called the 2015 Ponzi Vineyards Pinot Noir Classico a “compact and juicy” bottle from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and pinned on an “Editors’ Choice.” This is the publication’s way of saying pay attention to this one. This level of balance is a fingerprint of the dedication of Willamette Valley pioneers Dick and Nancy Ponzi, who relocated to Oregon in the late 1960s. With French sensibilities massaged into place during many a research trip to Burgundy, their small 20-acre farm flourished into the legacy that is now Ponzi Vineyards.

In the 1990s, the family’s second generation winemaker Luisa Ponzi began linking the first wave of Oregon success to the next, cultivating the classic texture and finesse of Burgundy with the fruit and richness evocative of the Willamette Valley. An apprenticeship in Beaune with Christophe Roumier at the legendary Domaine Georges Roumier offered Luisa perspective which accompanied her home to the Willamette Valley in 1993.