2017 Winter's Hill Watershed Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Willamette Valley Oregon 750 ml

With its stellar terroir and perfect positioning in one of the Willamette Valley’s most prestigious neighborhoods, Winter’s Hill has just about everything its world-class neighbors like Archery Summit, Domaine Serene, and Domaine Drouhin do. Except the lofty price tag. 

In an era when finding any Willamette Valley Pinot for under $25 is a coup, this estate-grown wine from one of Oregon’s top-scoring zip codes is the definition of a must-buy. Exuding aromas of black cherries, cedar, and tea spice, the 2017 Watershed shows juicy Bing cherry notes on entry, leading to a mid-palate of cherry compote, baking spice, and hints of crushed red flowers. Gorgeous tea-scented fruit tannins are buttressed by mouthwatering acidity, which cleanses the palate sip after sip. 

As we swirled our glasses and looked out from the Winter’s Hill property over the high-priced Pinot vineyards below, one member of our Wine Team let an idle thought slip: “Man, with this terroir, with this quality, if they hired a hotshot winemaker just to slap a big name on their wine—they could easily get $50 per bottle.” We knocked on wood as soon as we walked back into the winery. 

That’s why every release from Winter’s Hill is hotly anticipated by Wine Access members, who take them home by the case without fail. Pinot fans have lavished four- and five-star reviews on previous vintages, and this one is sure to please them just as much—especially at just $20.00 per bottle.

In a region where prices around and over triple digits no longer turn heads, one might wonder how the Gladhart family manages to pull off a Pinot like this at a price this low. It’s simple. The family has owned the estate for three generations, and instead of hiking up prices so they can afford distribution trips across the country, they invest their time and energy in farming their lands, then they pass the value on to in-the-know customers in Oregon… and at Wine Access. 

Winter’s Hill has absolutely everything in place, and if they wanted to grab for bigger money they surely could. But they already have an expert winemaker in Russell Gladhart, from the third generation of the family behind Winter’s Hill. 

Russell’s grandparents John and Lena Winter settled the estate in 1961, and his parents Peter and Emily Gladhart planted their first 20 acres of grapes in 1990. Now the estate consists of 35 acres of vines in a location that would be the envy of any grower. “At 500-750 feet of elevation, we’re at a sweet spot for Pinot Noir,” Russell told us, as we surveyed the land below. “We’re sloped to the south, on the western side of the AVA, so we get a little more of the ocean breeze. That makes it a slightly cooler site, which is a real benefit, especially in warmer vintages.” 

That coolness, plus the red, volcanic Jory soil that is prized for producing the most delicate and ethereal Pinots in the country, pays off in a Winter’s Hill wine that struts the kind of grace that made Dundee Hills ground zero for Burgundian Pinot in the U.S. Plus, those stellar vineyard qualities give Russell little reason to look beyond his family’s 35 acres of vines. “What’s special about us is that we are 100% estate,” Russell said. “As a winemaker, it allows me to learn from the vineyard year after year. You get more comfortable with the vines, how they react to different vintages.”

This kind of all-estate quality at this price is all but unheard of. Claim a case for your cellar, and get in on one of the best-kept secrets in the Willamette Valley.