2021 Lemelson Vineyards Pinot Noir Thea's Selection Willamette Valley 750 ml

Thea’s Selection is sourced from five of Lemelson’s estate vineyards, but the key to this wine is that most of it comes from their holdings in the Yamhill-Carlton District. Home to luminaries like Soter, Shea, and Ken Wright, Yamhill-Carlton is the AVA that produces the Willamette Valley’s most black-fruited, dense, and ripe Pinot Noirs. Lemelson’s perfectly manicured vines have been farmed organically since inception, a practice in keeping with founder Eric Lemelson’s overarching philosophy of sustainability. 

Lemelson, who moved to Oregon in the late ‘70s, was an environmental lawyer before falling in love with Pinot Noir and planting his first vineyard in 1995. He built and continues to improve his gravity-flow winery, which processed its first harvest in 1999, using the most environmentally sound methods and materials available. 

While costly, the result of Lemelson’s powerful and comprehensive winemaking vision shines in the glass through striking, terroir-driven purity and transparency—the kind found in bottles twice the price. This is what Oregon tastes like at its truest and most focused. 

With its dry conditions and low yields, 2021 was a landmark year for Willamette Valley wines, with one veteran winemaker saying, “It will certainly rank as one of our top five vintages. It’s certainly a great vintage in the making and I don’t say that lightly.” 

At the end of the day, this is another show stopping Pinot Noir from one of the Willamette Valley’s finest. We locked in every case we could, and we highly recommend following suit.