The Magical 2024s: Historic Balance, Everyday Value

With one wine, we thought it might be a fluke. A second wine brought a glimmer. Then the third, and fourth, and fifth...by now we were staring at the obvious, impossible-to-ignore truth.

We're on the cusp of a special—scratch that—remarkable vintage for Willamette Valley wine. That's the truth, evidenced by tasting the 2024 vintage of the five wines below. In each tasting note you'll read about remarkable, magical balance—each 2024 Pinot Noir below is the most beguilingly balanced vintage we have tasted. Oregon's most famous winemaker, Ken Wright, wrote that the '24s are the most naturally balanced wines he's experienced since the beginning of his career in 1978. So now we're talking historic.

Each of these 2024 Pinots is outstanding enough to have its own feature, and each will over the coming weeks. And we will continue tasting and bringing you more magically balanced '24s. That this remarkable handful comes to us between $15-$35 is almost unfair to the competition. Get ready for the magical 2024 Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs, starting today!

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Evesham Wood Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2024
from $ 21.95
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Ayres Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2024
from $ 22.95
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St. Innocent Villages Cuvee Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2024
from $ 26.95
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Walter Scott La Combe Verte Pinot Noir 2024
from $ 32.95
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Elk Cove La Sirene Pinot Noir 2024
from $ 14.95
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Drinking Barolo with friends = priceless.

September marked a major milestone for me—twenty one years with Avalon! The one thing I'm proudest of over the two decades: integrating Italian wines into a portfolio that used to be exclusively from Oregon and Washington. I won't sugarcoat it—it was hard in the early years and came at significant personal time and expense (like footing the bill for my first Italian wine trip in 2007). But now, when I see web orders filled with Italian wines, or I'm asked for advice on a visit to Piedmont, it's like the credit card commercial says: priceless.

Fittingly, the wine that started it all is the king of wines: Barolo. Barolo's meaning in the wine-world is complicated; I've been told more times than bottles of Barolo I've drunk (and that's a lot)—Barolo is untouchable in its youth, it demands decades of aging. Over the years, as I've grown in experience, I've done my part to challenge the Barolo-is-only-for-aging discourse, partly by talking and partly by drinking them myself. Today, I have a little extra help from Giuseppe Vajra for a little Barolo myth-busting!

Myth: Barolo is so big and structured it must be aged to be enjoyed.

Truth: "Barolo is not a bodybuilding contest; drinkability has always been important," says Giuseppe Vajra. Barolo is so much more than stashing away wine for a decade or more. When you visit Barolo, you drink young Barolo for lunch and dinner—you don't just go from cellar to cellar, restaurant to restaurant drinking 20-30 year-old wines. If it's good enough for the Piemontese, it's good enough for me. As a wine and food person, it is one of life's pure joys to drink Barolo, young and old, and I co-founded a Barolo drinking group for that reason (drinking group, not tasting group).

Each and every Barolo below is a delight to drink now; naturally they are better with food. If you prefer Barolo with age, all of them will provide at least a couple decades of enjoyment and I'll be the first in line to add them to my own cellar (I age them, too).

Begin making plans to share one or two with fellow Barolofriends or like me, all five of them with my Barolo drinking group! Drinking great Barolo with friends = priceless.

It's okay to drink these...now!

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G.D. Vajra Barolo Bricco delle Viole 2021
from $ 99.95
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Luigi Baudana Barolo Cerretta 2021
from $ 96.95
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G.D. Vajra Barolo Albe 2021
from $ 38.95
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G.D. Vajra Barolo Ravera 2021
from $ 96.95
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Luigi Baudana Barolo Baudana 2021
from $ 96.95
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G.D. Vajra Barolo Coste di Rose 2021
from $ 79.95

My perfect Pinot.

Hope Well Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir 2023

Flash back to mid-May: I tasted a Pinot and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. The first tasting prompted the kind of reaction that makes me doubt myself–it made me ask, "was it really that good?" So I tasted it again. Then a third time. That's when I knew.

I had just come from the Willamette Valley Auction, where I tasted dozens of ultra-fancy 2023 Pinots from top wineries. This was better. I flashed-back to a heavy-hitter

Burgundy tasting in April, where the top wines were from Echezeaux and Richebourg. Those Grand Cru Burgs wished they were this good.

Hope Well 2023 is the best Pinot Noir I've tasted this year and I'm honestly not sure what will be able to beat it by year's end (as of early December, nothing has). If you've enjoyed my Pinot recommendations over the years, I urge you not to miss this.

It is perfect. So beautifully detailed with quiet intensity, it emanates brightness yet is achingly deep. It's not about flavors of this, that, and the others–it is about impact: supreme elegance yet haunting persistence, the kind that's kept my attention the entire year. 

Mimi Casteel's Hope Well Pinot harnesses the interconnectedness with which she approaches farming—which seems too simple a term for how she nurtures the land above and below ground, the plants and micro-organisms that thrive under her watch.

Mimi's also an excellent writer and I love her notes on my perfect Pinot: "2023 was a perfect year to see what tantalizing potential we have found in our new home, with graceful long autumn days that welcomed dry and beautiful picking conditions under no pressure to rush. The 2023 Hope Well Pinot Noir reveals the power of the Eola Hills with an outline of graceful restraint. The curve of the fruit is defined by the cut of her bright tone, a dizzying mélange of juxtapositions that unveil a complete and harmonious whole."


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Hope Well Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir 2023

Be adventurous!

Shake up your Oregon wine game! Step outside of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to explore these thrilling new wines—two Albariños, a Mencia, and Sangiovese. If you listen closely, you can hear a buzzing...that's not bees, it's the excitement in the Portland market for Sacred Shore.

Sacred Shore's adventure began when two friends with a love of Galician grapes (see: two Albariños and a debut Mencia) looked to do something different. Exploration landed them a tiny but brilliant plot of Sangiovese. It could be novelty if not for the serious credentials and wine experience involved—winemaker Andrew Riechers learned in the cellars of Oregon's JK Carriere, New Zealand's Burn Cottage, Burgundy's Naudin Ferrand, then back to Oregon for 5 years as Antica Terra's assistant winemaker before co-founding the buzzy up-and-coming Audeant. He's joined by John Soares, expert palate and wineman-about-town.

We're proud to be two of the busiest bees urging you to take a page from Sacred Shore's book: be adventurous, and try all four of these delicious new wines!

The wines!

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Sacred Shore Albariño Treos Vineyard Willamette Valley 2023
from $ 35.95
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Sacred Shore Oregon Albariño 2023
from $ 24.95
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Sacred Shore Classico Sangiovese 2021
from $ 49.95
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Sacred Shore Mencia Three Mile Vineyard Columbia Gorge 2023
from $ 35.95

Walter Scott 2023s = Pure Excitement

Of the hundreds of Willamette Valley wineries, only one has its own week at Avalon. A benchmark Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producer for the Willamette Valley, for all of American wine, and we'll argue for beyond, we are talking about the incomparable Walter Scott—it is Walter Scott Week!

Technically, it's a two-week celebration for us since all of last week we spent tasting, re-tasting, comparing, reflecting, and getting stoked(!) in preparation for a week of offers. We are fully confident—sure—about what we're tasting in Walter Scott's 2023 vintage: they are pure excitement. Each single vintage Pinot Noir and Chardonnay shows incredible definition and delineation, character and generous deliciousness. The 2023s are a step up from the fantastic 2022s—this we know to be true. Few things in life are guaranteed but we're pretty sure you are going to find the same pure excitement in these wines that we do. Now go get them!

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Walter Scott Sojeau Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023
from $ 72.00
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Walter Scott Freedom Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023
from $ 72.00
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Walter Scott Witness Tree Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023
from $ 72.00
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Walter Scott Cuvée Anne Chardonnay 2023
from $ 45.00
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Walter Scott Witness Tree Vineyard Chardonnay 2023
from $ 72.00
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Walter Scott La Combe Verte Pinot Noir 2024
from $ 32.95
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Walter Scott La Combe Verte Chardonnay 2024
from $ 32.95
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Walter Scott Justice Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023
from $ 72.00
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Walter Scott Justice Vineyard Chardonnay 2023
from $ 72.00
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Walter Scott Fir Crest Vineyard Blanc 2024
from $ 26.95
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Unimaginable in Napa, Real in Washington

Imagine for a moment that Napa's most famous Cabernet vineyard produced a Cab from one of Napa's most celebrated wineries for less than $40...actually, it's unimaginable.

But in Washington, that unimaginable combination is very real. The most famous and celebrated Cabernet vineyard in Washington, source of multiple 100-point Quilceda Creek Cabs and amazing Andrew Will Sorellas (including the 99-point 2019), is the one and only Champoux. Andrew Will's Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 is real and real-ly delicious—we know because we've tasted it. Get it while you can!

Andrew Will Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Andrew Will Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

$ 44.95
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Imagine for a moment that Napa's most famous Cabernet vineyard produced a Cab from one of Napa's most celebrated wineries for less than $40...actually, it's unimaginable.

But in Washington, that unimaginable combination is very real. The most famous and celebrated Cabernet vineyard in Washington, source of multiple 100-point Quilceda Creek Cabs and amazing Andrew Will Sorellas (including the 99-point 2019), is the one and only Champoux. Andrew Will's Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 is real and real-ly delicious—we know because we've tasted it. Get it while you can!

2019 was an exceptional vintage in the Andrew Will cellar and particularly for Champoux vineyard. We've tasted the 2019 Champoux blend and Sorella and this apple didn't fall far from those trees, if you catch our drift. The hallmark of Champoux Cabernet is its unstoppable fruit purity—black cherry, black raspberry, and cassis shine together here—and its plushness. This is super-supple-smooth, carrying that delicious Champoux fruit plus accents of nutmeg and tobacco through the building finish.

Also 94+ points from Wine Advocate and "Bravo!" if you're keeping score.

My first Andrew Will wines, the 2002s, totally rocked me. They were unlike anything I had ever tasted and the pinnacle for me was 2002 Champoux. 

As much as I love Andrew Will’s Champoux Vineyard blend, since the early 2000s it has transitioned to a Merlot/Cab Franc-based wine instead of a Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine. Not mincing words, I prefer Cab as the backbone of Washington reds and I especially love Champoux Cab. 

It was right around then that the winery announced they’d stop making variety-based wines and instead make only vineyard-based wines. For more than a decade, that’s what they stuck with.

Then they reincorporated single-variety wines at a lower price tier: Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, and Merlot, all labeled as Columbia Valley. The best of them, while still labeled as “Columbia Valley,” were 100% Champoux Vineyard, perhaps THE greatest/most well-known Cabernet vineyard in the state. It wasn’t a secret–we certainly wrote about the impeccable fruit source–and finally the winery seems to have acknowledged that it makes a hell of a lot of sense to put Champoux on the label!

 

 

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