The 2022 Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyard Mt. Jefferson Cuvee is gorgeous out of the gate, offering a floral and fresh profile revealing notes of incense and ripe wild raspberries. Medium-bodied and elegant but structured, it has a mouth-filling, rich texture, with ripe tannins and great energy. The acidity is even and ripe, but there’s still vibrant energy to it.
94 points, Audrey Frick, Jeb Dunnuck (Aug 2024)
A lively, precise and well-composed pinot with notes of sour cherries, red currants, crushed roses and mild spices on the nose, followed through to a medium body with bright acidity. It’s crisp and spot-on, with succulent wild berries at the center and verve throughout. Drink or hold.
94 points, James Suckling (Apr 2024)
Wildly exotic, the 2022 Pinot Noir Mt. Jefferson Cuvée captivates with its seductive blend of dried flowers, incense, rosemary and dried strawberries. This is wonderfully fresh, nearly crunchy in feel, with stimulating acidity offsetting its tart red fruits and hints of sour citrus that pucker the cheeks. The 2022 finishes with youthful tension, lightly structured yet cooling and fresh, leaving suggestions of tart raspberry. About 52% whole cluster fermentation.
93 points, Eric Guido, Vinous (Jan 2024)
2022 was off to a cool start with a frost in April, and the folks at Cristom largely dodged it with a little bit of Pommard in the Louise Vineyard suffering a little bit. Spring rolled on into a cool summer with a delay, and then summer moved along slowly. The fruit was still going through veraison in September. With warm temperatures and no rain in September and October, there wasn't much time between veraison and ripening, so there was a concern about tannin. Winemaker Daniel Estrin backed off the extraction because of the number of seeds. He saw as many as 5 seeds per berry, which he had never seen before. The late ripening and quality of the stems meant Daniel really pushed the whole cluster across the red wines at 55%. This is the most estate fruit ever in Mt Jefferson, with 73% of the rest coming from like-minded growers in the Eola-Amity Hills. Estrin likes the fruit they get from Witness Tree and RPG Vineyard. Wonderfully savoury, fresh mint, gravel dust and fresh wild strawberries. Country berries offer an elegant rusticity to the front palate, savoury herbs and white pepper, a new height for Mt Jefferson.
93 points, Clive Pursehouse, Decanter (Jul 2024)