2021 Ernest Vineyards Pinot Noir Edaphos Giving Tree Vineyard Oregon 750 ml

Freedom Hill is one of Oregon’s Grand Cru sites, producing powerful wines that regularly earn 97- and 98-point scores from major critics. These bottles command some of the highest prices in the state, with many of them cresting $150.

But just a few minutes down the road, the Giving Tree Vineyard boasts nearly identical Bellpine soils. The elevation matches Freedom Hill nearly foot by foot—yet it remains an insider secret.

It’s precisely what Ernest Vineyards was after when they looked to the Willamette Valley to produce a Pinot Noir for their Edaphos line, which was named for the Greek word for “soil” or “ground.” Because of the label’s focus on place, Giving Tree was an ideal fit: The site is on the 45th parallel, the same latitude as Burgundy.

This is a perfect place to ripen Pinot Noir, with cool breezes coming off the Pacific and shallow marine-sedimentary soils promoting the deep root penetration that spawns exquisite concentration and complexity. In the nearly perfect 2021 growing season, winemaker Joseph Ryan was treated to brilliant ripeness in the grapes, with thick skins that have created a powerful, structured wine with amazing complexity for the price.

Showing perfumed, lifted aromatics and freshness earned through whole-cluster fermentation—a technique often used in great Burgundies—this Pinot shows off the low-intervention, site-focused style that’s made Ernest a darling of the sommelier crowd. Ernest Vineyards wines have been featured on the wine lists of starry restaurants like The French Laundry, Danny Meyer’s The Modern, and NoMad in Los Angeles.