2014 Pinot Noir (Yamhill-Carlton)

In Brian O'Donnell's opinion, the 2014 Pinots that will ultimately be the most successful "are the ones that came from high-altitude vineyards" that enjoyed overall cooler conditions during the hot growing season, "which helped to preserve their natural acidity and will keep them in balance." It's an impressive vintage, for sure, he added, with the minor caveat that "the key question is, will the ripe ones – and there are a lot – develop over time or will they be better on the young side for their opulence?" The Belle Pente style has always favored freshness and a light touch and, for a ripe vintage, these are notably lively and red-fruited in character, which was also the case with O'Donnell's 2012s, another uncommonly warm vintage.

The 2013 vintage plays smoothly into the vibrant, graceful expression of Pinot Noir for which this impressively consistent winery is known. Established by Jill and Brian O’Donnell in 1994, the enviably situated estate vineyard now encompasses 70 hillside and hilltop acres that surround the O’Donnells’ home and stripped-down, highly efficient winery. New oak is used very carefully here and extraction during winemaking is gentle, it should go without saying, since Brian wants his wines to “to put the emphasis on purity, not power and makeup.” He’s not afraid to hold his wines back from distribution to allow them the chance to harmonize after bottling, and he believes (and has proven to me countless times) that his Pinots are built for the long haul “based on balance, not richness.” Here’s another producer whose wines should please even the most died-in-the-wool Burgundy fanatic; the 2013s would be a fine introduction to the house style. The Murto bottling here has an especially strong track record for aging, by the way, and, in fact, I have never had an over-the-hill version of that wine, including examples that are now 15 years old.