2021 Ponzi Vineyards Pinot Noir Reserve Chehalem Mountains Willamette Valley 750 ml

In the mid-1980s, a Maryland lawyer with a crack palate and big dreams had the chance to invest in a Newberg, Oregon farm with his brother in law—for the purpose of raising wine. At the time, the wine biz was still nascent in the area. Success, then as now, was far from a foregone conclusion.

It was a tough decision, but after tasting an absolutely striking Oregon Pinot, the lawyer was convinced. He decided to take the plunge. 

The lawyer was titanic critic Robert Parker. The wine was Ponzi’s Reserve Pinot Noir. 

Luisa Ponzi apprenticed in Beaune at the legendary Domaine Georges Roumier. Armed with that experience, she has continued to elevate the estate founded by her pioneering parents Dick and Nancy Ponzi, who started with a small 20-acre farm that has now flourished into one of the Willamette Valley’s marquee estates. Wine Spectator wrote that “all Oregon Pinot Noirs are measured against the Ponzi yardstick.” 

Ponzi sourced the 2021 Reserve from the very best barrels of estate vineyards Aurora, Abetina, Madrona and Avellana vineyards. The concentrated core of the wine comes from own-rooted vines planted in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 2021 vintage, midsummer heat thickened the skins of the grapes before a moderate autumn preserved acidity and tension, producing the kind of Pinot that has always gotten our members excited about Oregon. It’s also the initial year this wine was made under the auspices of legendary Champagne house Bollinger, who chose Ponzi as the first winery they acquired outside France. Luisa was so thrilled with the quality of the fruit that she raised this wine in 35% new French oak.