Why did we fire the 2020 Willamette Valley Vineyard Pinot Noir? Because it’s a very disappointing wine and “fire” has a lot to do with it.
We seldom write critical reviews and only when we feel that we must warn our fans and readers about a questionable wine.
Fire Story
2020 was marked by disastrous Oregon wildfires, and the worst part for the wine industry was that fires picked at the harvest time at the beginning of September.
Some of the fires happened in the middle of the wine country. Heavy smoke covered most of the Willamette Valley for over a week.
As we predicted in the September 2020 article Oregon Wildfires: Smoke, Grapes, and Vineyards, many wineries couldn’t produce any wine because of the smoke-tainted grapes. Some wineries have forgone harvest; others took a risk making wine and, in the end, dumped ready wine or turned it into spirit or hand sanitizer.
You can read more about how smoke affects the grapes and what happens with the wine from tainted grapes in the previously mentioned article.
Still, some wineries were able to produce sound and even highly-rated 2020 vintage wines from the Willamette Valley fruit. We feel that Barrell Select maybe not be one of them. Why?
2020 Willamette Valley Vineyard Pinot Noir Barrell Select
Fire in the Glass
The cherry-driven aromas are what we would expect from an average entry-level Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. On the other hand, the flavors tell a different story. While wine starts with black cherry, the aftertaste gets more bitter every second it lingers on the palate. It reminded us of burned toast or stale walnut, which makes you want to wash off the aftertaste with something sweet.
From a sommelier’s point of view, it’s a faulty wine, and we dumped it. Still, some may find it drinkable and may not realize that the bitter aftertaste they feel comes from wine.
How did it happen? Was it intentional?
Willamette Valley Vineyard is a reputable winery and among the top producers by volume in Oregon. They make lots of wine, and they need lots of fruit.
In 2020 every winemaker wanted to taste their grapes for smoke taint before turning them into wine.
It would have been logistically impossible for high-volume producers to test grapes from every plot of land they get the fruit from. So it’s conceivable, considering the quantity of wine they produce, that some of the smoke-tainted grapes made it into wine.
The effects of smoke taint can be mitigated during production but cannot be eliminated completely.
We let you be the judge whether it’s an accidental, incidental, or Hail Mary thing. Still, it’s up to a producer to control the quality and maintain the reputation by taking a loss sometimes, as some other Willamette Valley wineries did in 2020.
Is it sellable wine? Yes.
Is it drinkable wine? Yes.
Is it enjoyable? Depends on your senses and sensibilities. For us, the lingering charred bitter aftertaste was impossible to ignore.
There’s Hope for 2020 Willamette Valley Vintage
As we stated initially, some producers were able to produce enjoyable and highly-rated 2020 vintage wines, and some are worthy of your palates with some caveats.
First, white wines are less likely to be affected by smoke because of how they are made. The smoke taint comes from the skins of the grapes, and typically there’s little contact with skins in white wine production.
Red wines depend on prolonged contact with skins for their color and most of the aromas and flavors. If you’d like to taste 2020 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, we suggest buying wines from a single vineyard or individual AVAs (Dundee, Eola-Amity, etc.)
They were produced from smaller plots of land, making it easier to test for smoke impact and allowing more consistent quality control.
Still, if the 2020 red wine smells and tastes good, we suggest drinking those wines sooner rather than later and avoiding cellaring them. Probably, they are as good as they are going to get.
Final Thoughts and Alternatives
We tasted a few 2020 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir from three different producers and Rosé from Southern Oregon. All showed the impact of smoke taint to some degree, confirming our worries regarding the vintage and that it’s not an isolated issue. Noticing that at entry-level Pinot Noir, we are iffy about spending $50-100 on a bottle to test the theory confirmed so far.
Besides, there are many great Oregon Pinot Noirs to Drink Now in our collection which are still available in stores.
We empathize with Oregon winemakers. Many Oregon wineries rely on direct sales from their tasting room as a primary source of income, which took a hit because of quarantines and restrictions due to the pandemic. Fires during harvest made it worse.
Still, many forgone making wine in 2020 or significantly reduced the quantity to maintain its reputation and show respect to its sophisticated fan base. We take our hats off and raise a glass to those winemakers.
What is your experience with 2020 Willamette Valley and Oregon wines? Please share your thoughts and wine suggestions below.