Winery - Kings Ridge
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Widely available, Kings Ridge delivers strong flavors for the price. Cherry candy fruit with an earthy edge is set within sharp, potent tannins. This is a steak-worthy Pinot Noir.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
From cooler Willamette Valley vineyards, this pleasing Pinot Gris keeps a juicy mix of fresh fruit flavors right up front. Pear, pineapple and grapefruit do a little Snoopy dance in your mouth, buoyed with balanced acidity and a hint of residual sugar. Round and full, it’s a generous and quite appealing style. 500 cases were made.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is the second label of Rex Hill, and it’s a fine, engaging, Beaujolais-like wine, fruity and forward. Lightly spicy, with zippy acids and lively fruit, it’s the perfect quaffing wine while waiting for the Rex Hill single-vineyard wines to evolve. There are very few Oregon Pinots of this quality at this price. Best Buy. —P.G.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is a mix of grapes from Willamette and Umpqua Valley vineyards. Light and earthy, it has a classic style that echoes a village Burgundy, only with the distinctive hint of tomato leaf that typifies less expensive Oregon Pinots. There’s tart raspberry fruit as well, whiffs of plum and cherry, and overall it packs a lot of interest into its moderately-priced frame.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A little sweaty in the nose, this moves ahead with pineapple and grapefruit flavors, finishing with slightly bitter citrus rind flavors. It’s more of a food wine than a sipping wine.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
With alcohol just 12.5%, this high-toned, fruit-driven Riesling has some residual sugar, but does not taste all that sweet. The extra ripe fruit suggests tropical candy—pineapple, papaya and lemon sours.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This Riesling is right on the borderline of dry/off-dry (just under 1% RS). The fruit, from cooler Willamette Valley vineyard sites, has been fermented in stainless steel and aged on its lees, yielding a wine that is thick, almost meaty. It’s as sappy as a fresh peach, and finishes with crisp peach-skin phenolics. All-in-all this is a surprising wine, neither simple nor plain, but full-flavored in the comforting style that seems almost to have vanished from the Northwest.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Kings Ridge is one of a handful of volume producers offering soundly made Oregon Pinot Noir below $20. This fine effort mixes spicy red fruits, suggestions of root beer and black cherry cola, and lightly herbal tannins, but does not load in the sweet vanilla flavors that are often used to mask off-flavors. Quite dry, balanced and clean, it’s a fine go-to everyday domestic Pinot.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A widely available, screwcapped wine, totally fruit-driven, with forward and immediately accessible bright cherry candy flavors. Though it settles into a one-dimensional structure, the fruit carries it along nicely, and it has much the same appeal as a good Beaujolais-Villages.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This spicy and aromatic Riesling is sourced from a vineyard planted 40 years ago by Dick Erath. Stainless-steel fermented and finished off-dry, it’s tart and juicy enough to work with most Riesling-friendly foods. It’s the spice that dominates, not the sugar. This is a wonderful bottle, with classic Oregon scents that run from flower to fruit to stone. Concentrated and yet delicate, it is an amazing value.
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