97 Points, Best in Show: “No one is naïve about the difficulties and challenges of growing Pinot Noir away from its home in Burgundy (even there, of course, it isn’t easy). Pinot has taken to Oregon’s Willamette Valley with remarkable success, though, and especially to the red-soiled Dundee Hills. This 2021 wine is a fine example of the charm, balance and satisfaction that fine Dundee Hills Pinot can provide. Translucent scarlet in colour, with magnetically attractive raspberry scents, once on the palate the wine is soft-contoured yet energetic, with arresting intensity of fruit. Here the raspberry shades into something more curranty and tenacious, and there are refreshing bitter notes in the
finish, too, with a hint of earthiness perhaps derived from the clays of volcanic origin in which the vines grow. The warm edge of cool climate? Perhaps – and it makes for beautiful drinking.” – Decanter World Wine Awards Panel (June 2023)
94 Points: “A dynamic, generous red, with expressive raspberry and strawberry flavors highlighted by rose petal and orange zest. Builds tension and richness toward polished tannins. Drink now through 2031.” – Tim Fish, Wine Spectator (November 2023)
94 Points: “This is bright and red-fruited with savory herbs, cocoa powder and nut shell. Medium- to full-bodied with compact, chocolaty tannins and velvety texture. It is plush, long and polished with attractive cocoa-dusted dark cherry and spicy notes to close. Drink or hold.” – JamesSuckling.com (April 2023)
FROM THE WINERY
Tasting Notes
The 2021 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir touts all the hallmarks of our storied appellation. It begins with brambleberry, ripe rainier cherry, blackberry blossoms, cocoa powder, and spice on the nose. The palate is just as lively, with fresh, juicy red fruit backed by graceful tannins and acid. Finishing with spiced oak and a mouth-coating minerality,
this wine is a case study in the magic of the Dundee Hills.
Key Facts
The world-renowned Willamette Valley has become one of the most prized winegrowing regions on earth. Oregon is unique and offers its own distinctive voice.
Dundee Hills Pinot Noir
To unpack this Pinot Noir is to dig through layer upon intriguing layer of the storied Dundee hills appellation. The appellation offers the power of plurality within a single, unique place. The immaculate growing conditions bring every detail of the five select vineyard sites to life—the varying blocks, soil types, vine ages, and clones—resulting in a wine brimming with complexity.
Vintage
Notes
2021 finished with a bang and is already considered the vintage of the century for many Willamette Valley wineries, and for good reason. But it didn’t necessarily start that way. Heat spikes and limited water were themes early on, to the tune of 116° F in some parts of the valley. Yet, thanks to water reserves in the soil itself and some timely viticultural movements, the vineyards persevered through the heat and water limitations. The dryer season accelerated picking times, making the fruit ripen a bit earlier than normal. September rewarded us with cool nights and the lower-than average yields set us up to make wines with abundant character, intensity and balance. We are so grateful for the moisture-abundant, microbially-rich and chemical-free soils that lovingly nudged our vines towards the finish line.
Viticulture & Winemaking
The fruit for this wine comes from all five of our
estate vineyards. The grapes were hand-harvested, sorted, and fermented in a combination of stainless steel, concrete, and wooden open top fermenters with 15% whole clusters in the tanks. After a 4 – 5-day cold soak, the tanks were pumped over twice a day until about halfway through fermentation, then a combination of pump over and punch down was performed once or twice a day decided upon by the winemaking team upon tasting every morning and evening. The wine was then pressed and aged in 12% new oak barrels until racking and blending in July, lightly filtered then bottled in August.
100% DUNDEE HILLS ESTATE VINEYARD
100% PINOT NOIR
PH: 3.53
TA: 5.4 g/L
ALC: 13.5%
ABOUT ARCHERY SUMMIT
Gary Andrus launched Archery Summit in 1993, infatuated by Pinot Noir and the capacity the Willamette Valley seemed to have for it. The Dundee Hills in particular caught
his eye, because it shares similar growing conditions with Burgundy, France, and some of the most acclaimed Pinot Noir vineyards on earth.
A veteran winemaker with a résumé full of award-winning Napa Valley wines, Andrus sharpened his craft at sister winery Pine Ridge Vineyards. He founded that label in 1978, going on to specialize in vineyard-designate wines, tied tightly and evocatively to the sites they pulled from.
The spirit of site-specific wine persists at Archery Summit. We have assembled an impressive family of vineyards over the years: five estate vineyards and three grower sites covering four unique American Viticultural Areas.
Because we focus on Pinot Noir—a telling variety to say the least—our commitment to terroir and the refined flavors of place has only
grown. With a quarter century of winemaking experience, we are proud to have helped bring well-deserved fame to Willamette Valley wine and are eager to take it to even higher ground.
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