I’ve been on something of a Virginia Pinot kick of late. I recently emceed an industry roundtable on Virginia Pinot Noir, which later inspired an article discussing the evolution of Virginia Pinot.

To summarize my findings; Pinot Noir struggles in the warm-weather sites that characterize much of Virginia. The reputation of locally grown Pinot was so bad that when wine-legend Jancis Robinson tasted an Ankida Ridge Pinot in 2011 that she exclaimed in the most back-handed compliment ever; “It tastes like Pinot!”.

For my event I picked what I felt are the best 4 Pinot growers Virginia has to offer. These vineyards succeed in growing Pinot where previous ones had failed by planting at relatively high elevations: 12 Ridges (3,300 ft), Ankida Ridge (1,800 ft.), Cave Ridge (1,200 ft), and Hazy Mountain (1,600 ft). All are located in the Shenandoah Valley or the adjoining Blue Ridge Mountains, areas that have strong track records for growing cool weather varieties.

My group picked 4 Oregon Pinots to pair them against. I recently attended a wine dinner with Evesham Wood, so I had 2 wines from this quality producer. Other guests brought two more wines; a low-cost Pinot from Argyle, and a high-quality wine from Résonance.

I honestly had no idea how Virginia would fare here. Oregon has a great reputation for Pinot Noir, so I would have been happy if Virginia simply showed well against a heavy hitter in this category.

Tasting & Scoring Methodology

We did 4 rounds of 2 wines, consisting of a Virginia and Oregon Pinot Noir side-by-side, served blind. After we finished all 8 wines, we voted which were our Top 2 of the day. The Top 2 were set aside and revisited during a ‘Finalist” round.

The advantage of revisiting these wines is this gave the Top 2 more time to open up. The introduction of food changed our palates, adding another dimension to the event. After re-tasting them, we declared an overall winner.

The 4 flights were generally arranged lowest-to-highest in terms of price point.

The Contenders:

1. 2022 Evesham “Eola-Amity Hills Cuvée” (Oregon; $34)
2. 2021 Hazy Mountain (Virginia; $38)
3. 2023 Argyle (Oregon; $28)
4. 2023 Cave Ridge (Virginia; pricing TBD)
5. 2021 Evesham Wood Le Puits Sec (Oregon; $55)
6. 2021 12 Ridges (Virginia; $60? Currently not for sale)
7. 2021 Résonance Founders Blocks (Oregon; ~$75)
8. 2021 Ankida Ridge Reserve (Virginia; $95)

Flight #1

• Bottle #1: 2022 Evesham “Eola-Amity Hills Cuvée” (Oregon; 7 votes; round winner)
• Bottle #2: 2021 Hazy Mountain (Virginia; 1 vote).

Admittedly this was not our favorite round; not surprisingly as I started with the lower-priced wines and worked my way up.

This round ended with Oregon as the favorite by a wide margin. While this particular Oregon wine isn’t this producer’s top-tier wine, it did have all the rich fruit qualities you’d want from a mid-$30 Oregon Pinot Noir.

Bottle #1 / 2022 Evesham “Eola-Amity Hills Cuvée”. Overall we felt this wine showcased fresh fruit, with some earthiness. Most attendees felt this was the Oregon bottle, although not everyone felt confident enough to vote.

Bottle #2 / 2021 Hazy Mountain. This wine was more expressive on the nose; maybe with some notes of oak. On the palate several guests detected notes of earth and allspice.

Votes:

• Annie: Voted #1
• Chris: Voted #1
• Larry: Voted #2, since he preferred the more earthy, ‘aged’ qualities of this wine.
• Matt: Voted #1
• Kathy: Voted #1. Noted #1 was fresher, while #2 had notes of forest floor but seemed too cooked.
• Stacy: Voted #1
• Patti: Voted #1. Enjoyed #1 for its richer body; could tell it was Oregon. Felt #2 was too tart.
• Rob: Voted #1. Likewise felt #2 was too tart. 

Flight #2

• Bottle #3: 2023 Argyle (Oregon; 1 Vote)
• Bottle #4: 2023 Cave Ridge Vineyards (Virginia; 7 Votes; round winner)

In retrospect I should have paired #1 vs #4, since the #3/Argyle was arguably our least favorite wine of the day. But since Cave Ridge’s Pinot isn’t yet priced, I wasn’t sure which wine to pair against it.

That said, I think Cave Ridge was the surprise of the night. 8 out of 8 attendees felt this wine was from Oregon, which I’ll take as a compliment for this wine.

Bottle #3 / 2023 Argyle. We could tell this wine was mass produced. It had too much of an effervescent ‘cherry coke’ quality to it, or maybe candy notes.

Bottle #4 / 2023 Cave Ridge. Lots of compliments regarding the fruit notes in this wine. Others noted it had notes of almond or marzipan. Multiple people (including myself) really enjoyed the initial ‘attack’ on our first sip.

Votes:

• Matt: Voted #4
• Annie: Voted #4
• Chris: Voted #4
• Larry: Voted #3.
• Kathy: Voted #4
• Stacy: Voted #4
• Patti: Voted #4
• Rob: Voted #4

Flight #3

• Bottle #5: 2021 Evesham Woods Le Puits Sec (Oregon; 7 votes; round winner)
• Bottle #6: 2021 12 Ridges Vineyard (Virginia; 1 vote)

Now we’re talking! At 3,300’, 12 Ridges is the 2nd highest-elevation vineyard on the east coast. Evesham’s Le Puits Sec was also an excellent wine.

While we definitely liked the 12 Ridges, it just didn’t compare well to an excellent vineyard-specific Oregon wine.

Bottle #5 / 2021 Evesham Woods Le Puits Sec. We generally identified this as the Oregon wine, although not universally. This was very well-enjoyed with lots of great descriptors, ranging from “Fresh and well-integrated”, “delicate”, and “balanced”. A few picked up on notes of baking spice, maybe dark cherry. Harissa was mentioned by one guest. I detected a lot of mushroom on the nose.

I felt this particular wine had, hands down, the best nose of any wine enjoyed that evening.

Bottle #6 / 2021 12 Ridges. This was definitely a higher-acid wine, which in retrospect makes sense since it was grown at 3,300 ft’.

Our tasting notes were all over the place. One guest mentioned notes of salted caramel; another said they got notes of sea salt. Yet another mentioned smoke or sour cherry. I didn’t get a lot on the nose, but I did feel it had nice complexity.

Votes:

• Annie: Voted #5
• Chris: Voted #5
• Kathy: Voted #5
• Larry: Voted #6 (still the outlier!)
• Matt: Voted #5
• Patti: Voted #5; her ‘happy place’ since she’s a big Oregon pinot fan
• Rob: Voted #5
• Stacy: Voted #5

Flight #4

• Bottle #7: 2021 Résonance Founders Blocks (4 votes; tied)
• Bottle #8: 2021 Ankida Ridge Pinot Noir Reserve (4 votes; tied)

This was by far our favorite pairing of the night. Not everyone voted to identify the region, although most of the guesses were accurate. It was very much a competition between ‘grace (#7)’ vs ‘power (#8)’. We were evenly divided on which we preferred, so it was a tie.

The #7 was rounder and more balanced. #8 was a ‘big’, but in a good way. Someone said it was “ready to party”, if you will. Both had great complexity, and opinions differed on which was heavier.

Bottle #7 / 2021 Résonance Founders Block. Notes of sour cherries and mushrooms. It had a perceived sweetness; not from sugar levels but had a ‘fruit sweet’ quality to it.

Bottle #8 / 2021 Ankida Ridge Pinot Noir Reserve. “Grabby” was my favorite descriptor. Several mentioned notes of sour cherry. The wine was lighter than I expected, although conversely it was still a ‘big’ win in terms of tannin. Kathy mentioned it was ‘layered, had complexity, and notes of forest floor’.

Of all the wines we tasted that evening, #8/Ankida was the most capable of standing up to heavier foods, especially a dish like steak. It was very drinkable now but could still use more time. I later learned the tannin came from the heavy use of stem inclusion.

Votes:

• Annie: Voted #7
• Chris: Voted #7
• Kathy: Voted #8
• Larry: Voted #8
• Matt: Voted #8
• Patti: Voted #7
• Rob: Voted #7
• Stacy: Voted #8

Finalist Flight

After the last round we did a poll to pick two wines from any flight to go into the finalist round. 7 votes went to wine #7/Résonance, 5 votes went to wine #8/Ankida, and 3 votes went to wine #5/Evesham Woods Le Puits Sec. #4/Cave Ridge was generally considered the #4 wine of the evening.

With the votes in, #7 and #8 went to the finalist round, and we enjoyed dinner drinking the remaining wines.

This food break worked to our favor as #7 and #8 opened up. The complexity of both improved, with the Ankida especially becoming more graceful. An Ox Eye Blanc de Noir accompanied our beef bourguignon.

We voted a second time…and for the second time in a row, it was again a tie. Ironically, 2 people from each ‘team’ switched sides.

• Bottle #7: 2021 Résonance Founders Blocks (4 votes; tied)
• Bottle #8: 2021 Ankida Ridge Pinot Noir Reserve (4 votes; tied)

Lessons Learned:

Virginia represented very well; far better than I could have hoped for. It’s fair to say that the state has very few high-quality examples to pull from, but the top ones we used were well received.

I should note that most of the attendees didn’t have pre-conceived notions of what Pinot should taste like. Our self-described Oregon wine aficionado almost always went for the Oregon wine (the Cave Ridge being the exception), but overall the attendees simply wanted something tasty.

1. Round #1: 2022 Eola-Amity Hills Cuvée (Oregon)
2. Round #2: 2023 Cave Ridge (Virginia)
3. Round #3: 2021 Evesham Wood Le Puits Sec (Oregon)
4. Round #4: Tie; 2021 Résonance Founders Blocks and 2021 Ankida Pinot Noir Reserve
5. Winners round: Our “Top 2” wines were the Résonance and Ankida…and they tied again.

PS – the 2021 Ankida Reserve and 2023 Cave Ridge were both gifted to me for this event (thank you Christine and Randy!). While the Reserve is Ankida’s ‘top’ wine currently being sold, their 2022 Pinot is also getting headlines of its own.

For Virginia to tie Oregon as the evening’s ‘best’ wine is remarkable. Ankida Ridge should be very happy with that result.

I still say that the 2023 Cave Ridge Pinot Noir was the surprise of the evening. It was only recently bottled, so it has time to go. Yet it could easily have fared well against an Oregon wine in the mid-$30 price range.