1789 Wines 2007 Pinot Noir
Single Vineyard Chehalem Mountains
Supple textures, bright red-cherry scents, powerfully fruity yet restrained.
Made by Isabelle Dutartre, perhaps Oregon’s least-known top-echelon winemaker.
A French native (note the wine’s French Revolutionary name),
Dutartre shuttles between the Willamette Valley and Burgundy,
working for some of the best winemakers in each.
This is her first wine under her own label, and it has a finesse to match her talent and experience.
Rating: 2 Points: 93
[ Portland Monthly - September 2009 ]
An attractively complex and perfumed nose combines both upper and lower register fruit
and earth aromas that include cranberry, raspberry, briar and earth notes that merge into delicious,
round and generous medium-bodied flavors that retain a fine sense of detail and very good length.
This is admirably well-balanced, understated and has more than enough depth and length to be interesting,
plus it could easily be enjoyed now or held for a few years first.
In a word, lovely.
90/2013+
[ Burghound ]
A new effort from winemaker Isabelle Dutartre, who also oversees winemaking at De Ponte Cellars.
This first release from her own 1789 label brings the stamp of Chehalem Mountains terroir into crisp focus.
The fruit is wild and brambly, the acids are sharp, the wine spicy with a peppery cast.
Persistent and concentrated, with a hint of Dr. Pepper streaking through it.
91 Points (P.G.)
[ Wine Enthusiast - April 2010 ]