The usual course of action in Oregon’s wine country has been for some of Burgundy’s most renowned winemakers to pick up and put down stakes in the (now) famous Willamette Valley. Take for example the Drouhin family and their 1980s move to the Dundee Hills to augment their production in Beaune which had been established in 1880.
In April 2015 however, the situation was reversed when Domaine Serene owners Ken and Grace Evenstad looked to the Burgundy and picked up a neat 10 ha of vineyards, 40% of which are premiers crus in seven different villages.
We visited their Dundee Hills winery in August 2012 and opened this bottle in May 2015. I wish now we’d purchased a couple of cases.
A lovely shade of garnet, the Two Barns Vineyard Pinot Noir has an intense nose of cherry, cooked strawberry and boysenberry with clove and pine needle herbaceousness. There’s some mint, moss and cedar as well, alongside the dried fern-forest floor development.
The palate is dry with refreshing acidity and velvety tannins and features red plum and strawberry with pomegranate and deep black cherry. Tobacco leaf, clove and red licorice twizzler round out the flavours with more sous bois, mint and dry leaf.
WSET Outstanding and drinking beautifully – it can also be laid down for 2-3 years more. A balanced, complex, layered and lovely version of a New World Pinot Noir. I can’t wait to see how their ‘new’ Old World product compares.
