2019 The Eyrie Vineyards, Estate Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills

98pts Erin Brooks The Wine Advocate The 2019 Pinot Noir The Eyrie, which includes fruit from 54-year-old vines, has alluring aromas of cranberries, blackberries, orange peel, mushroom powder and pipe tobacco with streaks of flint. The medium-bodied palate is soft and juicy yet loaded with detailed, concentrated fruit, and it finishes with a flourish of earthy, spicy accents.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Estate is expressive and transparent and offers incredible concentration for its weightless frame. Medium ruby in the glass, tones of flint, tar and burnt orange give way to a kaleidoscope of raspberries, red cherries, rose petals, pipe tobacco and forest floor. Medium-bodied, silky and seamless, it has a generous core of spicy fruit and a very long, layered finish. Streaked with flinty tones, it deserves to unwind in bottle for another 3-5 years, and it will be long-lived in the cellar.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Solomon Hills Vineyard shows how magical this site is for Pinot Noir. Blue/purplish fruit, spice, new leather, licorice and chocolate infuse the palate with tremendous depth and intensity. Time in the glass releases the layers so effortlessly. The 2019 is a heady wine, but one with very good balance.

Translucent ruby-red. Mineral-tinged black raspberry, cherry and floral scents are complemented by baking spice and succulent herb flourishes. Bright and energetic on the palate, offering sharply defined red and blue fruit, lavender and spicecake flavors braced by a spine of smoky minerality. Closes very long and precise, displaying lingering red fruit and floral qualities and well-judged, even tannins.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Clay Hills Vineyard is deep, full and brooding, and shows good color given the vintage. It has ripe plum and cherry fruit flavors as well as a tea leaf and chocolate on the satisfying finish. The richer soils of the southern valleys give a sense of weight, richness and roundness as well as mouthcoating cocoa powder-like tannins. Yet it never becomes heavy; the mouthwatering acidity gives this wine purpose and freshness. This is a Marlborough Pinot Noir that defies the stereotype that it only makes fresh, fruity and fun reds.