Pinot Noir
With cool, wet winters, warm dry summers and the marine influence from the west, the coastal Willamette Valley of Oregon is perfect for growing pinot noir grapes.

Dr. Loosen’s Oregon Wine Adventure
The Loosen Family wine estate in Germany is famous for it’s rieslings. Closer to home, Ernst Loosen – one of the rock stars of wine making, currently partners with Chateau St. Michelle in Washington state, to produce the famous Eroica riesling we all love. One of the best food-friendly wines that we always keep on hand.

Now Ernst Loosen wants to make great pinot noir, so he is partnering with Oregon based winemaker, Jay Somers, of J. Christopher Wines, in a new venture, Loosen Christopher Wines LLC.

Currently Somers and Loosen have crafted two pinot noirs:

2006 Appassionata
A finely selected, limited-production Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. To assemble the wine, Ernst and Jay taste through all of the barrels in the J. Christopher cellars and select a distinctive combination of clones, terroirs and cooperages to produce an elegant pinot noir with powerful Oregon fruit and fine Old World structure.

Under the new Loosen Christopher Wines venture, Appassionata will continue to be a top of the line special bottling, eventually coming primarily from estate-grown grapes after the vines on the new vineyard are established. Very New World with a dark purple color. Rich, deep black cherry scents leading to substantial dark fruit intensity, extended tannins and a long, dry finish. Only 99 cases produced, so this is definitely a collector’s item. The vintage will be released for the first time this March and will retail for $75.

2006 Two Worlds
A value-priced Pinot Noir. Originally a blend of German and Oregon grapes, this label will be 100 percent Oregon going forward. Currently, the Two Worlds Pinot Noir is 90% fruit from the sunny Pfalz – contributing purity of fruit and structure – and 10% is a selection from the Oregon cellars of J. Christopher – lending deeper fruit, stronger tannins and a firmer backbone. Two Worlds has a deliciously pure, bright cherry fruit melding with the darker, sturdier structure that often characterizes Oregon Pinot Noir. Two Worlds retails for $16. (Because of all the hype about the wine, the cheapest I could find it was at K & L for $18.)

Check out the J. Christopher website.