In the mid-1980s, a Maryland lawyer with a crack palate and big dreams had the chance to invest in a Newberg, Oregon farm with his brother in law—for the purpose of raising wine.

Of course now it seems like a no-brainer, buying land and planting Pinot Noir in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. But back then, the wine biz was still nascent in the area. Success, then as now, was far from a foregone conclusion.

It was a tough decision, but after tasting an absolutely striking Oregon Pinot, the lawyer was convinced. He decided to take the plunge.

The lawyer was titanic critic Robert Parker. The wine was Ponzi’s Reserve Pinot Noir.

Our last trip to the Willamette Valley took us to Ponzi’s breathtaking modern tasting room, where we swirled and sipped this sleek and serious 2021 while overlooking the gently sloping Avellana Vineyard, one of the sources of the Reserve. The wine is a medium ruby color, highlighted by a beautifully complex nose of ripe berries, matched with baking spice, savory herbs, and purple florals. The palate is silken, with strawberry preserves, cola, and turned earth that come to life followed by hard spices and crushed stone.

The Burgundian elegance Luisa coaxes from Pinot Noir is explained by her training: She apprenticed in Beaune at the legendary Domaine Georges Roumier. Armed with that experience, Luisa has continued to elevate the estate founded by her pioneering parents Dick and Nancy Ponzi, who started with a small 20-acre farm that has now flourished into one of the Willamette Valley’s marquee estates. Wine Spectator wrote that “all Oregon Pinot Noirs are measured against the Ponzi yardstick.”

Ponzi sourced the 2021 Reserve from the very best barrels of estate vineyards Aurora, Abetina, Madrona and Avellana vineyards. The concentrated core of the wine comes from own-rooted vines planted in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 2021 vintage, midsummer heat thickened the skins of the grapes before a moderate autumn preserved acidity and tension, producing the kind of Pinot that has always gotten our members excited about Oregon. It’s also the initial year this wine was made under the auspices of legendary Champagne house Bollinger, who chose Ponzi as the first winery they acquired outside France. Luisa was so thrilled with the quality of the fruit that she raised this wine in 35% new French oak.

Before we left Oregon we enjoyed one of Luisa’s father’s bottles, a 1990 Anniversary Reserve, with burgers and roasted cabbage slicked with seaweed-butter at the James Beard–nominated OK Omens in Portland, and it was a thrilling match to both. We wouldn’t hesitate to serve this 2021 with the same menu, or to declare that Luisa’s wines are—and will be—just as timeless.

About Ponzi Vineyards