Compton Family Wines
Garden Series
Pinot Noir 2022
$25.00 a bottle
Enticing aromas of red cherry, red berry, and forest floor. Elegant mouth feel, with waves of dark red fruit accents and hints of cacao. Lovely lingering flavors make for a delightful mouthwatering finish.
Compton Family Wines
Garden Series
Pinot Noir 2021
$25.00 a bottle
Tasting Note
As usual, Matt’s Willamette Valley Pinot over-performs. An appealing scent of blackberry and spice is amplified in the juicy blackberry, black raspberry, pie cherry, and bing cherry flavors tinged with notes of sweet spice and black tea. Easy drinking with gentle, balanced tannins. Serve as a before dinner sipper or pair with Angus beef burgers, lamb shanks, or wood fired pizza.
Compton Family Wines
Garden Series
Pinot Noir 2018
90 Rating & Editor’s Choice
Extroverted aromas of red cherry, red berry and sandalwood. Caressing and elegant in the mouth, with intense waves of dark red fruits accents.
WINE ENTHUSIAST
TOP TEN VALUE OREGON PINOT NOIRS & EDITOR’S CHOICE
90 Rating
Wine Enthusiast says: “Previously bottled under the Spindrift Cellars label, this has been rebranded as Compton Family, with the same winemaker and ownership.
Fragrant and inviting, this has scents of pollen and flavors of ripe raspberries and sweet maraschino cherries. Though not a big wine, the concentration is sufficient and the herbs are lightly shown. All in all, quite pleasurable and a fine value.” Editors’ Choice.
WINE ENTHUSIAST ON TOP TEN VALUE OREGON PINOT NOIRS
Wines that express the particular strengths of both the grape and growing area begin with well-ripened fruit. There should be complex aromas and a good balance among the mixed flavor components, principally fruit, acid, tannin and barrel.
Look for a full spectrum of sensory inputs, from the first sniff to a lingering finish that neither quits too soon nor turns bitter, medicinal or vegetal. The best wines bring up subtle details that compound long after that first sip has been swallowed.
That’s a lot to ask of a $25 wine, but from the right vintage and a particularly good vineyard, or a winemaker with a gift for blending, it’s not impossible to find.
Vintages that produce high yields and evenly ripened grapes will generate more and better inexpensive cuvées, and Oregon vintners have seen those conditions in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. Most of the wines featured here come from the last couple of vintages. In many instances, these bargains are given the same exceptional care as their more expensive stablemates.