2017 Anderson Family Vineyard Pinot Noir Dundee Hills 750 ml

Ask Oregon winemakers their favorite insider-secret wineries, you’ll hear the Anderson Family Vineyard name come up over and over.

Their terroir inspires envy even among the most privileged in the Willamette Valley: In the late 80s, Cliff and Allison Anderson found a steep hillside in the far northeastern Dundee Hills. With its slope, good drainage was a given. The ground was as rocky as they’d ever seen in the area—it would require a veritable chisel to plant grapevines in there.

Though the conventional wisdom at the time was that the site was too difficult to plant and work, the Andersons forged ahead. They put Pinot into the ground in 1992, and their reputation grew as the vines did. 

But Anderson has never become nationally famous because there’s never been that much wine to go around. The entire site—which also includes Pinot Gris and Chardonnay—is only 20 acres, and they’ve long sold grapes to prestigious local producers like Bergström, JK Carriere, Patricia Green, and White Rose. Their in-house production is tiny.

Yet anyone lucky enough to get a pour won’t forget the quality in the bottle. They spare no expense in production: Anderson Family only uses gravity-flow to move wine through their winery, and native yeasts for fermentation. They absolutely nailed the 2017 vintage, which we love as a classic year that shows beautiful dark cherry, orange peel, and spice notes—exactly what made us fall in love with Oregon Pinot in the first place.

Now, nearly eight years from harvest, this wine has come into its own. An incredible opportunity for Pinotphiles.