Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2023 - Lonesome Rock Wines

2023 The Estate Pinot Noir

Willamette Valley Pinot Noir from Every Block of Our High-Elevation Estate

A seamless portrait of our remote hillside vineyard, where clone, soil, and exposure converge in a Pinot Noir of aromatic lift, silken texture, and quiet, lingering minerality.

Each year, The Estate Pinot Noir reflects the full breadth of the Lonesome Rock Vineyard—its windswept slopes, fractured volcanic soils, and shifting light across varied exposures. Fruit from every Pinot Noir block is brought together in this cuvée, including clones 667, 777, Wadenswil, and PN50, planted in 2007 and 2015, to form a singular and complete expression of the estate.

After a cool, delayed start to 2023 and very dry summer, overall warm, dry conditions and a compressed harvest yielded elegant, vibrant Pinot Noir with good ripeness and balanced acidity.

The 2023 Estate Pinot Noir is the love child of our 2021 and 2022 vintages—capturing the best of both in a seamless, expressive, and utterly captivating wine. With striking aromatic purity, this Willamette Valley Pinot Noir bursts from the glass with a core of black cherry, red plum, blood orange, and violets, accented by a touch of root beer spice. The palate is a masterful balance of concentration and ripeness, lifted by a racy freshness that keeps it lively and precise. Silky, powder-fine tannins weave seamlessly into the wine’s open-knit, supple texture, making this vintage irresistibly drinkable from the start.
Bringing together the unique clonal mix, soil types, and exposures that tell the story of each vintage, “The Estate” Pinot Noir is the blend that expresses the unique soul of the Lonesome Rock Vineyard. With 3 separate picks on between 9/23 and 10/7, the fruit was harvested by hand into tiny bins to ensure uncrushed fruit arrives at the winery. Meticulously hand-sorted and 100% destemmed berries are cold-macerated for 4-5 days, fermented with ambient yeast, and hand-punched down during fermentation. Transferred to 100% French oak (20% new) and aged in cold cellar for 11 months before a light filtration at bottling.
Vintage: Third
Cases Produced: 912 (750ml); 15 (1.5L Magnums)
Years Planted: 2007, 2015
Harvest Dates: 9/23-10/7
Clones: 667, 777, Wadenswil, PN50
Cropload: 2.1 tons/acre
Élévage: 11 months in French oak (20% new)
Alcohol: 13.8%
Winemaker: Isabelle Dutartre
Release Date: 3/10/2025
The 2023 Growing Season
The season began on a promising note, with a warmer April than the frosty start of 2022, setting the stage for bloom under clear, sunny skies. From the outset, it was clear the crop would be small, but quality looked exceptional.
Summer unfolded in textbook fashion—warm, consistently sunny, and remarkably dry, with hardly a drop of rain. This steady weather gave us one of our most relaxed harvests to date. We began with Chardonnay on a cool morning, September 17th, under ideal conditions. The extraordinary early-October forecast then allowed us the luxury of choosing perfect days to bring in our diverse Pinot Noir blocks—on September 23rd, October 4th, and October 7th.