2017 Averæn Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 750 ml

When Averaen in the up-and-coming AVA town of Carlton got Adam Smith, they got one of the hottest young winemakers in Oregon—one of the original winemakers at Banshee, Smith had since moved up to Oregon where he had made wines for the Domaine Nicolas Jay, the Oregon outpost of Burgundy’s renowned Méo-Camuzet, as well as Domaine Serene and Shea Wine Cellars. For good measure, his resume also includes a stint at world-class Craggy Range in New Zealand.

Coupled with Smith’s talents, Averaen has some stellar fruit contracts. Boasting Pinot Noir from Momtazi, Meredith Mitchell, and other vineyard-designate-worthy sites, Averaen’s 2017 Willamette Valley Pinot is a stunning red from the vintners behind Wine & Spirits magazine Top 100 winery Banshee. It delivers a stunning cross section of the Willamette Valley in a $20 bottle. Small-lot fermented with native yeast and given a touch of first-class spice with ten months in 35% new French oak, this is textbook Willamette Valley that punches way above its weight for the price. 

As we were standing in the renowned Meredith Mitchell vineyard in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, a blast of wind came through the Van Duzer Corridor, making it impossible to hear what Averaen’s Director of Winemaking Rob Fischer was saying about their vineyard sites. When the gust had passed, he said with a smile: “That kind of makes my point better than I could.”

That blustery site—subjected to the Pacific winds coming through Oregon’s Coast Range—is just one source for the 2017 Averaen Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, and they all make for what Vinous calls a “plush and seamless” texture, and a long, spicy finish with floral notes. We absolutely love its scents of mushroom, wet stone, and cardamom. It’s sleek and cut on the palate with raspberry, tart strawberry fruit, and hint of salinity to give it an extra dimension. 

Little wonder that Averaen graces the by-the-glass list at places like Union Larder in San Francisco, which was named best wine bar in the country by Imbibe magazine. 

Headquartered in the Pinot Noir epicenter of California’s Sonoma Coast, the guys from Banshee were representing their wines at the International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville when the idea for Averaen hit. It was their “first real” trip to Oregon, and the first time they saw the parallels between the stellar sites they tapped on the Sonoma Coast—vineyards like Charles Heintz and Gap’s Crown—and the Willamette Valley. With Smith at the helm, they’ve got a stronghold on Pinot from Sonoma to Willamette, and our advice is to get in now before it’s too late.