dkeage wrote:2014 Raptor Ridge Pinot Noir
Our favorite Pinot winery. About 30 years ago the wife and I were in the Willamette Valley on a wine tasting vacation. One of the places we stopped told us that his neighbors about a mile away had just started making wine and it was some of the best he had tasted. He gave us a map and we pulled up to a wooden garage. Turns out this couple got tired of the silicon valley rat race and decided to do what they always wanted and become wine makers.
They didn't grow any vines yet but bought grapes from their neighbors and did all the work themselves in the barn. This was their 1st vintage and he and his wife brought us into the barrel room and thieved wine from each barrel for us to taste. They had not bottled any of the wine yet but were happy to know what we thought. We probably stayed about one hour discussing and drinking and giving our impressions of each Pinot from 4 different vineyards. We thought all 4 were really good and among the best we had tasted at the established wineries we had visited.
About a year later they were on the cover of Wine Spectator mag.