The windfall is the price

That Cellar Selection is about as good as ratings get from Wine Enthusiast when it comes to Pinot Noir.

Joie is an Oregon "Grand Cru" Pinot Noir vineyard. If you love top-level Burgundian Pinot Noirs, buckle up as this is your jam right here.

"Pure Pinot Bliss...bottled and ready to rip."

The producer crafts other single vineyards, but this is the most expensive wine they make, from their home estate, where they baby the fruit from start to finish and then give it the max cellar treatment. Joie Pinot Noir is sourced from their estate vineyard, Anahata, planted to Pommard and Dijon 777.

Pinot lovers, do not miss this one.

Aubaine is the French word for windfall, said O-bane. Andy Lytle started it in 2019 with Isabelle Meunier, and Joie is the pinot from Anahata, the estate vines around the retreat in the Eola-Amity Hills. The green wave on the label is those hills. The blue wave is the wind through the Van Duzer Corridor. What does the Joie pinot from Anahata taste like when a spring frost took part of the crop and October still finished the fruit?

Wine Enthusiast scored this 2022 a 94 and named it a Cellar Selection in the December 1, 2024 issue. Michael Alberty found that a swirl opens black cherry, honeysuckle, and white chocolate, then tart pie cherry, strawberry, and clove, with balsa behind it. He wrote to drink it now with a decant, or to hold it through 2036. That note is the reason to trust the bottle. The winery price is $95. Here it is $39.

A hay farm that learned pinot

Anahata sits at about 500 feet on Zena Road, 24 acres planted in 2015 on what had been a hay farm. The name is Sanskrit for the heart chakra, and the blocks are named for words that mean joy. Joie is this one. Warm days, then the ocean breeze off the Van Duzer Corridor. That is the Eola-Amity Hills doing the work.

Spring 2022 opened with a frost and a cold, wet June, and part of the crop was lost. July, August, and September turned clear, and they picked Anahata by hand from October 4 through October 15. The winery compared that long cool finish with 2012: lower yields, fresh acid, tannin that came in fine. Anahata and the second estate, Windfall, are both LIVE certified. Windfall is 117 acres on the west side of the hills, and its first fruit came in 2024. That fruit is not in this bottle.

Field strawberry, then the spice

The fruit fermented on the yeast that came in with the grapes. The wine then rested in French oak, 30 percent of it new, and they bottled 341 cases on February 13, 2024. Two blocks went into the bottle, clone 777 and Pommard, and the blend is all Pinot Noir. Wine Enthusiast lists the alcohol at 13.4 percent.

The color is a deep purple. Field strawberry, dusty rose, lavender, and bergamot open the glass. A swirl brings peony, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, and peach. The tannin is silky, and the finish carries bramble, baking spice, and an earthy mineral line. This is the pinot the winery prices at $95. The bottle is $39.

Isabelle Meunier, and the vines around the retreat

Isabelle Meunier makes the still wine. She trained in Dijon and in New Zealand, then worked with Pascal Marchand at Domaine de la Vougeraie, Blair Walter at Felton Road, and Dominique Lafon. She came to the Willamette Valley in 2007, later started Lavinea, and joined Andy Lytle on Aubaine in 2019.

The bottle in front of you is the 2022 Joie, from the vines around the retreat. Windfall waits for later releases. These bottles are from that cellar, and the price is the part that should stop you. This pinot is $39 against the winery price of $95.

Roast chicken, and mushroom risotto

The winery sends this pinot toward roast chicken and mushroom risotto, and toward semi-soft cheeses such as Gruyere, Comte, Emmenthal, and Gouda. Field strawberry and baking spice are already looking for the browned skin of a chicken.

The earthy mineral line is the mushroom. Lemon and thyme keep the plate bright, and the risotto lets that silky tannin stay in the same key. Pour it while the bottle is $39.