95 Points Jeb Dunnuck
A bright ruby color, the 2023 Pinot Noir Æolian Estate is lifted and spicy. Made since 2014 from younger vines, it offers aromas of cranberry, cinnamon, crushed flowers, stony earth, and brambly herbs. Medium-bodied, it floats on the palate with ease, with a seamless texture and its spices lingering through the finish. Drink 2025-2040.
94 Points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pinot Noir Æolian comes primarily from vines planted in 2001. It’s bursting with scents of wild berries, bergamot, tea leaves, earth and violet. The medium-bodied palate delivers layer after layer of ripe, fragrant fruit. It’s structured by silky tannins and vibrant acidity and has a long, layered finish.
94 Points Decanter
Classic aromas of earth, rich violets and buoyant fresh forest berries typical of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. The Æolian has long been a wine crafted from Bethel Heights' second-generation vines, planted in 2002, with some inclusion of the Justice Vineyard in more recent years. Silky, yet with oomph on the palate, a melange of blue and black berry fruits.
93 Points Vinous
The 2023 Pinot Noir Æolian is spicy, with violet and rose tones complementing blackberries and nuances of sage. The palate is round and supple, displaying inner floral tones and juicy wild berry fruits. Structured yet not forbidding, cool-toned acidity refreshes the palate with each sip. Remarkably pretty.
Winemaker Notes
The Æolian has evolved in the eleven vintages since its inception, beginning as a means of expressing the ever-changing nature of their younger blocks, which now aren’t so young anymore, turning 22 years old in 2023. In 2023 they continued to explore the Aeolian outside of the framework of these blocks, striving to find a wine that shows the freshness of fruit we covet in their wines while also continuing to feature the propulsive energy their wines derive from their cool, marine air. It’s this fidelity to the wine's namesake that has moved the Æolian to something beyond a wine moored to a single parcel, but allowing the vintage to lead us to new frontiers.
