Côte d’Or in the Willamette
Dayton, Oregon, USA
Tasted in August 2015
By Sean Overpeck
Twenty miles north of the city of Dijon in the Bourgogne Wine Region (Burgundy) is a small town called Bèze where if you follow the Bèze River upstream you come across a group of caves called the Grottes de Bèze. So, what does this little story of a cave in little town in France have to do with a wonderful winery in the Willamette Valley of Oregon called Archery Summit? Latitude and caves. The Caves at Bèze are the only groupings of caves in the Bourgogne Wine Region, and seeing the caves are one of many other wonderful tourism destinations in the region besides wine tasting. Second is latitude. Burgundy is on the same latitude lines as the Willamette, and the Archery Summit property have the only caves in the Willamette. These subterranean cellars are formed from natural volcanic rock found beneath the estate. It naturally maintains a temperature of 55°F to 59°F year round, with a humidity level below 75%. These are optimal conditions for storing wines maturing in the barrels.
Follow Wine, dine, and Play:
From vineyards home page:
At Archery Summit, we embrace traditional winemaking techniques as well as Pinot-centric technological innovations, enabling us to craft the very best wine from each vintage. Painstaking efforts, including hand-farming and harvesting, have helped us forge an international reputation for being one of the finest Pinot Noir producers in the world.
This year we celebrate over two decades of crafting estate-grown Pinot Noir, showcasing the distinct personality of our vineyards. In honor of the occasion, we introduce Archer’s Edge, our newest estate vineyard. This unique parcel represents a culmination of expertise derived from two decades of cultivating a connection with our land and an intimate knowledge of its terroir.
Main review:
My fiancé and I were on a tasting tour of the Willamette, and Archery Summit was the last stop before continuing onto McMinnville for the evening. I was home on R&R from Iraq, and it was a perfect start to the vacation drinking some great wine.
The Archery Summit tasting room and property was on a small hill, driving up to the property passing some vineyard rows, in circles working up, and a nice brick wall to one side of the road with large manicured trees leading up to the tasting room. Around the wall of trees were more vineyards as the road curved yet again, going up further to the parking area.
When we had the tasting of four wines, we did not take the tour of the natural caves, as we did not know about them until after we left, and I read about them on the webpage. Of these wines the Looney Ridge and the Archery Summit Estate Pinot Noir’s were the best quality of the tastings.
Now lets see how I and the critics rate the wines, plus give you some tasting, cost, and general winery information….
96 - 100
|
is Extraordinary
|
90 - 95
|
is Outstanding
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80 -89
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is Above the Average
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70 - 79
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is Below the Average
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60 - 69
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poor / appalling / “Cac”
|
Review basics:
Wine, Dine, & Play’s Rating
|
89
|
| Robert Parker The Wine Advocate | 90 Points on the 2012 Arcus Estate Pinot Noir |
| Wine Speculator | 91 points on the 2012 Estate Pinot Noir |
| Wine Enthusiast | 2013 Archers Edge Pinot Noir 91 Points |
| All Accolades | Archery Summit Acclaim |
| Wines Produced | Red: Pinot Noir Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Rosé |
| Grape Blends | Red: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, & Cabernet Franc Sauvignon blanc, Sémillon or Muscadelle du Bordelais |
| Regulatory | AVA: American viticulture Association |
| Barrel Types | New American oak |
Cases Produced:
Per Year:
12,000-14,000 depending on the vintage
Estate Pinot Noir
|
300-600 |
| Estate Pinot Gris | 300-600 |
| Estate Rosé | 300-600 |
These wines remind me of:
Wine tasters that work for Robert Parker, Spectator, and others base their reviews on a single wine giving it a specific point system rating. These reviews and accolades are the make and brake to a winery, as all media and most wine drinkers will look at this ratings and judge on purchasing the wine, or bypassing to a neighbor winery. The ratings given for The Wine, Dine, and Play Blog are the overall experience, not just the wine. From the tasting of the wines, prices, customer service, property, and the style of the winery such as what category it falls into, boutique or a commercial giant are a few of the items I look at when giving a rating for a review.
The 2012 Archery Summit Estate Pinot Noir was the best tasting wine of the selection, though all had very good qualities as you will see from the tasting notes below. I would compare this tasting to the Domaine Guy & Yvan Dufouleur in Bourgogne and The High Note Pinot from Misha Vineyard in the Central Otago region of New Zealand.
Bouquet & Palette Notes:
Wine & Grape:
|
Nose (Bouquet):
|
Palette Experience:
|
2013 Archer’s Edge Estate Pinot Noir
|
Winemaker: Explosive aromatics of wild berries, potpourri and tarragon, highlighted by floral notes of lilac and hyacinth. |
Winemaker: The palate expresses hints of red hard candy and crushed blueberries, intermingling with subtle touches of baking spice and rose hips that lead into a long, smooth finish of blackberry liquor, supported by silky tannins and rounded acidity. |
2012 Looney Vineyard Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir
|
Winemaker: opens expansively and expressively with lifted aromas of fresh blueberry, crushed mulberry, grenadine, citrusy Satsuma mandarin and a hint of crushed stone. |
Winemaker: The bouquet is echoed in the palate, entering with wild strawberry, ground oats and blueberry syrup. Crisp acidity gives the wine a vibrant, refreshing quality as citrus notes emerge, joined by hits of bramble and clove, and lingering through the lasting, round finish. |
2012 Red Hills Estate, Dundee Hills Pinot Noir
|
Winemaker: leads with layers of black cherries and hibiscus tea, blood orange peel and citrus flowers. |
Winemaker: The broad, juicy palate of pomegranate is spiced with cinnamon bark, cardamom and hints of vanilla with a savory undertone. The fleshy finish is framed with balanced acidity and offers notes of fine cocoa and wild raspberry as it lingers and evolves. |
2012 Archery Summit Estate Dundee Hills Pinot Noir
|
Winemaker: enticing aromas of dark fruits, Chinese star anise, dark chocolate and black cherries. |
Winemaker: The palate melds seamlessly with the bouquet, presenting polished flavors of lilac, lavender, walnut meat, molasses and brown sugar that highlight the unmistakable Dundee Hills core of dark red cherry. The wine develops on the palate with exuberant acidity and closes with a sumptuous, velvety texture on the finish. |
Bottle Prices
(excluding taxes)
$£€¥ - Under 50.00
$£€¥ x 2 - 51.00- 99.00
$£€¥ x 3 - Over 100.00
$£€¥ x 4 - Over 200.00
$£€¥ x 5 - Over 400.00
**Currencies chosen reflect the world’s major travelers and restaurant connoisseur’s**
Wine Selction:
|
Currency in the top wine producing countries: | Price Chart : |
2013 Archer’s Edge Estate Pinot Noir (750 ml)
|
||
$85.00
|
United States Dollar (USD)
|
$$
|
£60.22
|
Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBP)
|
£££££
|
€76.00
|
European Union (EUR)
|
€€
|
$113.00
|
Canadian Dollar (CAN)
|
$$$
|
¥554.00
|
Chinese Yuan (CNY)
|
¥¥¥¥¥
|
$113.00
|
Australian Dollar (AUS)
|
$$$
|
R1312.00
|
South African Rand (ZAR)
|
R
|
$127.00
|
New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
|
$$$
|
2012 Looney Vineyard Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir & Red Hills Estate Pinot (750 ml)
|
||
85.00
|
United States Dollar (USD)
|
$$
|
£60.22
|
Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBP)
|
££
|
€76.00
|
European Union (EUR)
|
€€
|
2012 Archery Summit Estate Dundee Hills Pinot Noir (750 ml)
|
||
$150.00
|
United States Dollar (USD)
|
$$$
|
£106.00
|
Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBP)
|
£££
|
€134.00
|
European Union (EUR)
|
€€€
|
Cost of wine tasting in USD (p/p):
Signature Flight:
|
$20.00 |
| Wine Tour & Tasting: | $40.00 |
| Estate Tasting: | $25.00 |
| Estate Tasting: | $50.00 |
| Barrel Tasting: | $75.00 |
Château or Vineyard Owner:
Chris Mazepink
Vineyard &Tasting Room address:
18599 NE Archery Summit Road
Dayton, Oregon 97114
GPS Coordinates:
45.259669
-123.037241
Tasting Room Information:
Hours:
|
Monday - Sunday: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm |
Tasting room:
|
503-864-4300 or 800-732-8822 |
| Fax: | 503-864-4038 |
| Website: | Archery Summit |
| Email: | Contact Winery |
| Social Media: |
Facebook Link |
| Twitter @ArcherySummit | |
Review by:
Sean Overpeck (CFE)
I am based out of St. Petersburg, Florida working in the food service industry for the past twenty years, and am currently with the American Embassy as the Executive Chef in Basra, Iraq. Formally I have worked with groups contracting in Afghanistan, Dubai, and Antarctica, also working in restaurants in and around Atlanta prior to the wars. I have also owned a catering company and served proudly in the United States Army food service program. The idea for the Wine, Dine, and Play Blog started in late 2012 after a trip to Jordan, when I was asked by others to write down the experiences from a few Jordanian restaurants, plus the wine from the region that I tasted, and locations of interest such as Petra, and the culture. Since that time, nearly 200 articles have been written on restaurants, including fifteen from the worlds top 100 lists of San Pellegrino and the Elite Travelers Guide; exotic world locations such as Dubai, Petra, and African Safari’s; food recipes & Grand Food Dictionaries; country cuisines such as Afghan and Peruvian; and of course wine from vineyards in California, Oregon, the Carolina’s, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia
Who is John Galt?
“I like cooking with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food.”
TTFN
