This Pinot Noir offers a soft fruit character on the nose with accents of earth and oak. The fruit is slightly reserved, yet generous in the glass with complexity and layers of compact red fruit that finds harmony with the oak influence of vanilla, cedar, and coriander. On the palate this Pinot Noir shows tension and power. There is a structured acidity and tannin that comes from our Willamette Valley sites. The fruit flavors consist of fresh red cherry, red raspberry, and tart cranberry with wood spice providing balance and accenting the fruit profile with power and intensity.
Single Vineyard Designates
Fruit was harvested from our Delaney and Hylo vineyards both being higher elevation sites (both over 700 feet) in the South Salem Hills. Vineyard practices are the leading factor in high quality fruit, and the vineyard management follows a strict regime. Shoot thinning is performed early in the year; after fruit set, leaves are removed in the fruit zone on the east side of the vines. Later, the clusters are counted and thinned to a maximum of 28 clusters per vine. Once the grapes have achieved 75% color, a final cluster thinning is performed to remove any green or second crop clusters.
Specs
Vintage: 2017
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Appellation: Willamette Valley
Alcohol: 13.1%
What’s Included
2-bottles:
2x 2017 Duck Pond South Salem Hills Cuvée Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley Case:
12x 2017 Duck Pond South Salem Hills Cuvée Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley
Duck Pond Cellar’s mission is to preserve and uphold the beauty and legacy of Oregon’s esteemed wines and spirits brands nurtured with the same love and attention as their founders. Our vision is to blend innovation with heritage and best organic practices to produce wines and spirits that express the region in its purest, most natural form, just as mother nature intended. We do this in a way that is better for people and the planet because we believe in leaving the world in a better place than how we found it.
Award-winning winemaker, Julia Cattrall, produces our portfolio of wines in small lots with attention to detail and minimal intervention. Each wine delivers hand crafted consistency in every bottle year after year.
Certified USDA organic.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations).
2017 Duck Pond South Salem Hills Cuvée Pinot Noir = $60 = 13.33%
Alice and WineDavid must have remembered how much SWMBO loves Oregon Pinot Noir, so they tagged us as Lab Rats for the 2017 Duck Pond Pinot Noir, South Salem Hills Cuvee, Willamette Valley AVA, Oregon, from Fries Family Cellars. We appreciate the honor and opportunity!
As we always do, SWMBO and I use a Modified UC Davis Scoring System (20 points maximum).
2017 Duck Pond South Salem Hills Pinot Noir
Appearance: both 2 – brilliantly clear.
Color: both 2 – characteristic Pinot Noir color
Aroma and Bouquet: both 4 – rpm: predominately cherry, strawberry behind, a little earthiness, straightforward, not complex. SWMBO: cherry, an unattractive/overripe mushrooms?
Total Acidity: both 1 – rpm: acidity is a little too high, enough to detract from mouth feel and finish. SWMBO: no note
Sweetness: both 1 – appropriate
Body: both 1 – rpm: appropriate, on light side SWMBO: Euro-style, a little thin
Flavor: both 1 – rpm: distinctive strawberry flavor, not many other flavors, lacks complexity and richness SWMBO: strawberry, simple
Bitterness/ Astringency: both 1 for both categories. no notes, recollection is no excessive tanning or bitterness, again acid was a little high.
General Quality: both 1 – rpm: a simple wine lacking the almost Burgundian complexity we love in Oregon Pinot Noir. Not sure when originally released, but bottle note said it would develop for 3-5 years. Assuming it was released in 2019 or 2020, that would be about now. drink now, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere or have much room to grow. SWMBO: an ordinary wine that doesn’t do it for me.
Final Score: rpm: 15 a sound wine of standard quality SWMBO: 14 same
CONCLUSION: We let the wine breath for another hour or so and had a glass with our beef stew dinner. Unusually, the pairing wasn’t great – neither the wine nor the beef enhanced each other. I would be inclined to serve with charcuterie and mild cheeses with bread or good crackers.
BUYING RECOMMENDATION: It would depend heavily on price and what you’re looking for. Wine Enthusiast had an (85/100) based on a $48 price and said it was front-loaded and came across as underripe, with sour green flavors dominating the finish. [NB: 85 on the 100 point scale is pretty roughly equivalent to our 15/14 score.] At a sufficiently attractive discount price ($15 or under) , the wine would be a fair value. The winery website currently has this wine listed at $60.00 per bottle; at which price it would be a hard pass.
Ok…a lot going on lately. I’ve had this wine for a few days, thanks Alice and WD, and received a casemates glass to boot…yay! and was all set to taste it Friday night, but then I’m like oh cr*p, Friday offer, we’re popping this tonight. Dinner was already set, ancho chile powder and espresso rubbed pork chops, on a bit of green stuff and avocado(more green stuff) with a little mild Mexican style rice with a little tomatillo saucey something or another. Actually turned out to be a tasty match as far as having this with food. It really liked the not so lean chops and avocado.
I know little about Duck Pond or their mothership just to mention. Went for pop and pour at 58°F. Translucent ruby in color. Expressive nose, medium red fruit, cherry. Taste, well balanced front to back, no holes. Raspberry. Earth. Acid lift for sure. Light and lean in body. Medium/low tannins/grip. Crunchy (I hate that term…ha!) You’ll enjoy this if you like some tension in your wine. Drinking fine now, will hold but not sure it will improve. We both enjoyed this but def more so with dinner. I’m thinking this will be ~$20 offer and would be worth a purchase if you like the style.
Lovely bride who hates doing this said “can’t I just say I like it?” notes upfront fruit, closed up as the night went on, raspberry, nicely balanced, wants food.
Saved a pour, just cork back in bottle and into the fridge for a nip a little later today.
Ok, just read producer notes and their descriptors are pretty accurate but didn’t get the oak/vanilla they mention for those averse to oak.
@kaolis A little late, but day two. This has improved or at least changed. It’s settled down a bit. The fruit is darker and wanting to be more prominent but still hiding in the background. The acid profile is still there but the fruit is wanting to play a bit more. When lovely bride was asked for her opinion (on phone with a friend) she said “yes, I still like it”
Serious question, especially to WD, RPM, all the other worldly wine drinkers.
Did the Willamette Valley Wine makers all get together and decide if we market it at Napa prices, and we all stay firm, eventually it will become ingrained in the consumer’s mind. We all agree!?! Yay!
You have sold some wildly awesome wines for 40 bucks a pop. Flagships of known wine makers. Why did they decide they instantly command Bordeaux prices? And are people seriously biting?
@KNmeh7 I think a lot of Oregon (and Washington for that matter) wineries have both inflated opinions of their wines and face much higher costs since the pandemic. They want to pass the costs on because the alternative is to absorb the costs and make less (lose more?) or to cut costs. Whether consumers will pay the premium for ‘local’ wines of fair to middling quality is an open question IMHO. I’m rarely willing to, I’m a QPR kind of guy…I’ll pay up for top CA , OR and WA wines, but when I can drink better French, Italian, Spanish, or other wines much cheaper, I will.
@KNmeh7@rpm I’ll agree with you there but don’t have enough experience (or trust) with the European wines, especially once we are talking the $30-60 range.
But about 20 years ago things like $100 Silver Oak we’re already a thing in California.So when I moved to the Northwest I found excellent wines from local producers, though prices were already pushing closer to CA standards. I could still go up the Columbia River and get excellent Rhône style reds from places like Syncline. And the old W site introduced me to some Walla-Walla producers like Northstar and Reininger. But that regIon quickly adopted a price premium equal or higher than Napa Valley. And in some cases whether the wine was worthy of it or not. I’d still recommend a visit though, over the California wine tourism regions. And I did get to taste the best (maybe the only) Merlot I really liked at Northstar, but wasn’t ready to pay $60 for it, 15 years ago.
I’m writing this to explain all the things I don’t know as well as the few I do, about Oregon PN anyway.
I have not tasted this wine.
I haven’t tasted enough “good” French PN to compare.
I really like good Oregon PN, probably my favorite of all varietals, but rarely find what I like at an affordable price.
“good” Oregon PN is much different from cheaper Oregon PN, though in most cases I still think cheap Oregon PN is better than CA PN, but that is a personal taste.
I don’t like bright cherry, “Jolly-rancher”, in-your-face fruit. For that reason in general I avoid most mid-California reds. Some RRV or Lake County have been nice, though. But for PN I’ll go to Willamette Valley OR. The hill vineyards preferably as the soil and drainage are different. See later for comments about dirt.
I like dark wet leather, mushrooms, or my favorite term of “good” Oregon PN, “you can taste the dirt it grew in”.
I’ve known Duck Pond as a fairly heavily-marketed company for mid-grade PN. Their main product used to be in the $10-15 range (purchase, not official MSRP) but I never was that impressed. That said, a lot of basic Oregon PNs can be found for $8-20. None of these will be terrible, and it would be extremely rare to find one that’s above the crowd.
I learned years ago that unless I had a very lucky find, a “good” earthy dirty Oregon PN would be $30-50. The ultra-premium stuff, which only exists in an ether I’ve never been welcomed to, often is $80+ and only for VIPs, reservations, members, etc. Maybe someday I hope to join that club, or maybe just be happy with somewhat cheaper fairly-good wines that i can actually be allowed to buy.
So what am I saying? I was concerned that I didn’t think of Duck Pond as a premium PN producer. The pricing was high, but I didn’t fully trust that this would match the expectations.
But even the tasting notes on the main page emphasized “fruit profile”, and the brief mention of oak/vanilla was not detectable in rattage. So I’m sure this isn’t terrible, but for $30-40 I will wait to find better.
and have been enjoying it. I’m not sure where I got it, as there were only 13 cases produced(?). lt must have been a single bottle at Costco. And even then, how did they get it? In any case everything about it made me think “this is one of the best PNs I’ve ever had” and where can I get more? So, yes, I’d gladly pay $30-40 for something like that one, if I am lucky enough to find it.
@pmarin ADDED Also was wondering about South Salem Hills. I don’t think it has an AVA but is part of Willamette Valley AVA. This wine is South Salem Hills Cuvée but not sure that’s a vineyard designate, just seems like a marketing name.
However, in looking around it seems you can buy a South Salem Hills wine property with vineyard for under $1M which unless I am reading it wrong seems like a good deal. though there is something about old man wants to keep living there and probably won’t shoot you, so that is kind-of weird.
@pmarin I think your observations are spot on: at its best, Oregon Pinot Noir rivals Burgundy below the Grand Cru and some Premier Cru level. Even at ordinary levels, its usually pretty good. And, often better than more expensive California Pinot Noir. I’ve been most impressed with Carneros, Russian River Valley, and Sonoma Coast AVAs for California Pinot Noir in recent years…other than the Napa side of Carneros, really good Napa Pinot Noir is rare. Tchelistcheff spent much of his career trying to make a Pinot Noir as good as his 1945 at Beaulieu and never succeeded…and Hanzell has rarely come close to its stated intention (through three families’ ownership since 1953) of making wines of Burgundy Cru quality.
@pmarin ok you got me looking around. Willamette Valley Vineyards who produced the wine you linked mentions their Estate in Salem Hills…wikipedia says:
The Salem Hills are a range of hills spanning from southern Salem, Oregon, United States, south to Jefferson, west to the Willamette River and east to Turner and Marion. They have also been called the Ankeny Hills, Chemeketa Hills, Illahee Hills, Red Clay Hills, Red Hills, and the South Salem Hills.
@pmarin Not sure if it is where you got it but the WVV Ingram was a Reverse Wine Snob offer And 13 cases is a typo, it was 13 barrels produced (probably about 325 cases). Great wine!
@reversewinesnob Thanks, bet that explains where I got it. Good thing is that means that I probably got at least 4 or 6 bottles, whatever the order batch was, so once I get to organizing things (sorely needed but unlikely to happen soon), I might find more in a box.
2017 Duck Pond South Salem Hills Cuvée Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley
Gold/90 Points, 18th Annual Critics Challenge International Wine & Spirits Competition
Tasting Notes
Single Vineyard Designates
Specs
What’s Included
2-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$720.00/Case for 12x 2017 Duck Pond South Salem Hills Cuvée Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley at Duck Pond Cellars
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Jul 3 - Thursday, Jul 6
2017 Duck Pond Cuvée Pinot Noir
2 bottles for $79.99 $40/bottle + $4/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $389.99 $32.50/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations).
2017 Duck Pond South Salem Hills Cuvée Pinot Noir = $60 = 13.33%
Alice and WineDavid must have remembered how much SWMBO loves Oregon Pinot Noir, so they tagged us as Lab Rats for the 2017 Duck Pond Pinot Noir, South Salem Hills Cuvee, Willamette Valley AVA, Oregon, from Fries Family Cellars. We appreciate the honor and opportunity!
As we always do, SWMBO and I use a Modified UC Davis Scoring System (20 points maximum).
2017 Duck Pond South Salem Hills Pinot Noir
Appearance: both 2 – brilliantly clear.
Color: both 2 – characteristic Pinot Noir color
Aroma and Bouquet: both 4 – rpm: predominately cherry, strawberry behind, a little earthiness, straightforward, not complex. SWMBO: cherry, an unattractive/overripe mushrooms?
Total Acidity: both 1 – rpm: acidity is a little too high, enough to detract from mouth feel and finish. SWMBO: no note
Sweetness: both 1 – appropriate
Body: both 1 – rpm: appropriate, on light side SWMBO: Euro-style, a little thin
Flavor: both 1 – rpm: distinctive strawberry flavor, not many other flavors, lacks complexity and richness SWMBO: strawberry, simple
Bitterness/ Astringency: both 1 for both categories. no notes, recollection is no excessive tanning or bitterness, again acid was a little high.
General Quality: both 1 – rpm: a simple wine lacking the almost Burgundian complexity we love in Oregon Pinot Noir. Not sure when originally released, but bottle note said it would develop for 3-5 years. Assuming it was released in 2019 or 2020, that would be about now. drink now, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere or have much room to grow. SWMBO: an ordinary wine that doesn’t do it for me.
Final Score: rpm: 15 a sound wine of standard quality SWMBO: 14 same
CONCLUSION: We let the wine breath for another hour or so and had a glass with our beef stew dinner. Unusually, the pairing wasn’t great – neither the wine nor the beef enhanced each other. I would be inclined to serve with charcuterie and mild cheeses with bread or good crackers.
BUYING RECOMMENDATION: It would depend heavily on price and what you’re looking for. Wine Enthusiast had an (85/100) based on a $48 price and said it was front-loaded and came across as underripe, with sour green flavors dominating the finish. [NB: 85 on the 100 point scale is pretty roughly equivalent to our 15/14 score.] At a sufficiently attractive discount price ($15 or under) , the wine would be a fair value. The winery website currently has this wine listed at $60.00 per bottle; at which price it would be a hard pass.
Ok…a lot going on lately. I’ve had this wine for a few days, thanks Alice and WD, and received a casemates glass to boot…yay! and was all set to taste it Friday night, but then I’m like oh cr*p, Friday offer, we’re popping this tonight. Dinner was already set, ancho chile powder and espresso rubbed pork chops, on a bit of green stuff and avocado(more green stuff) with a little mild Mexican style rice with a little tomatillo saucey something or another. Actually turned out to be a tasty match as far as having this with food. It really liked the not so lean chops and avocado.
I know little about Duck Pond or their mothership just to mention. Went for pop and pour at 58°F. Translucent ruby in color. Expressive nose, medium red fruit, cherry. Taste, well balanced front to back, no holes. Raspberry. Earth. Acid lift for sure. Light and lean in body. Medium/low tannins/grip. Crunchy (I hate that term…ha!) You’ll enjoy this if you like some tension in your wine. Drinking fine now, will hold but not sure it will improve. We both enjoyed this but def more so with dinner. I’m thinking this will be ~$20 offer and would be worth a purchase if you like the style.
Lovely bride who hates doing this said “can’t I just say I like it?” notes upfront fruit, closed up as the night went on, raspberry, nicely balanced, wants food.
Saved a pour, just cork back in bottle and into the fridge for a nip a little later today.
Ok, just read producer notes and their descriptors are pretty accurate but didn’t get the oak/vanilla they mention for those averse to oak.
Cheers!.. and happy Friday…it is Friday right?
@kaolis A little late, but day two. This has improved or at least changed. It’s settled down a bit. The fruit is darker and wanting to be more prominent but still hiding in the background. The acid profile is still there but the fruit is wanting to play a bit more. When lovely bride was asked for her opinion (on phone with a friend) she said “yes, I still like it”
Serious question, especially to WD, RPM, all the other worldly wine drinkers.
Did the Willamette Valley Wine makers all get together and decide if we market it at Napa prices, and we all stay firm, eventually it will become ingrained in the consumer’s mind. We all agree!?! Yay!
You have sold some wildly awesome wines for 40 bucks a pop. Flagships of known wine makers. Why did they decide they instantly command Bordeaux prices? And are people seriously biting?
MEALS! DEALS! EELS! AWESOME!
@KNmeh7 not WD not rpm… personally I’m finding more value in Bordeaux and Italy these days. Probably Spain too but never really explored enough.
@KNmeh7 I think a lot of Oregon (and Washington for that matter) wineries have both inflated opinions of their wines and face much higher costs since the pandemic. They want to pass the costs on because the alternative is to absorb the costs and make less (lose more?) or to cut costs. Whether consumers will pay the premium for ‘local’ wines of fair to middling quality is an open question IMHO. I’m rarely willing to, I’m a QPR kind of guy…I’ll pay up for top CA , OR and WA wines, but when I can drink better French, Italian, Spanish, or other wines much cheaper, I will.
@KNmeh7 @rpm I’ll agree with you there but don’t have enough experience (or trust) with the European wines, especially once we are talking the $30-60 range.
But about 20 years ago things like $100 Silver Oak we’re already a thing in California.So when I moved to the Northwest I found excellent wines from local producers, though prices were already pushing closer to CA standards. I could still go up the Columbia River and get excellent Rhône style reds from places like Syncline. And the old W site introduced me to some Walla-Walla producers like Northstar and Reininger. But that regIon quickly adopted a price premium equal or higher than Napa Valley. And in some cases whether the wine was worthy of it or not. I’d still recommend a visit though, over the California wine tourism regions. And I did get to taste the best (maybe the only) Merlot I really liked at Northstar, but wasn’t ready to pay $60 for it, 15 years ago.
@KNmeh7 @pmarin @rpm humble opinion…lots of good value in Bordeaux and Italy at $30-$60. Side note enjoyed the Northstar merlots as well
I also find a $60 MSRP with no production numbers and no winery participation off-putting.
@KNmeh7 I believe new ownership here in 2018 jacked up prices across the board…
One rat thought $15 and another thought $20 would be a fair price. I don’t recall another offering with such a wild over-pricing from the winery.
I’m writing this to explain all the things I don’t know as well as the few I do, about Oregon PN anyway.
I have not tasted this wine.
I haven’t tasted enough “good” French PN to compare.
I really like good Oregon PN, probably my favorite of all varietals, but rarely find what I like at an affordable price.
“good” Oregon PN is much different from cheaper Oregon PN, though in most cases I still think cheap Oregon PN is better than CA PN, but that is a personal taste.
I don’t like bright cherry, “Jolly-rancher”, in-your-face fruit. For that reason in general I avoid most mid-California reds. Some RRV or Lake County have been nice, though. But for PN I’ll go to Willamette Valley OR. The hill vineyards preferably as the soil and drainage are different. See later for comments about dirt.
I like dark wet leather, mushrooms, or my favorite term of “good” Oregon PN, “you can taste the dirt it grew in”.
I’ve known Duck Pond as a fairly heavily-marketed company for mid-grade PN. Their main product used to be in the $10-15 range (purchase, not official MSRP) but I never was that impressed. That said, a lot of basic Oregon PNs can be found for $8-20. None of these will be terrible, and it would be extremely rare to find one that’s above the crowd.
I learned years ago that unless I had a very lucky find, a “good” earthy dirty Oregon PN would be $30-50. The ultra-premium stuff, which only exists in an ether I’ve never been welcomed to, often is $80+ and only for VIPs, reservations, members, etc. Maybe someday I hope to join that club, or maybe just be happy with somewhat cheaper fairly-good wines that i can actually be allowed to buy.
So what am I saying? I was concerned that I didn’t think of Duck Pond as a premium PN producer. The pricing was high, but I didn’t fully trust that this would match the expectations.
But even the tasting notes on the main page emphasized “fruit profile”, and the brief mention of oak/vanilla was not detectable in rattage. So I’m sure this isn’t terrible, but for $30-40 I will wait to find better.
Speaking of, I found a bottle of this:
https://www.wvv.com/assets/client/File/Factsheets/WVV_POS_Landscape-Factsheet_2017-Ingram-Estate-Pinot-Noir_FLY2.pdf
and have been enjoying it. I’m not sure where I got it, as there were only 13 cases produced(?). lt must have been a single bottle at Costco. And even then, how did they get it? In any case everything about it made me think “this is one of the best PNs I’ve ever had” and where can I get more? So, yes, I’d gladly pay $30-40 for something like that one, if I am lucky enough to find it.
@pmarin ADDED Also was wondering about South Salem Hills. I don’t think it has an AVA but is part of Willamette Valley AVA. This wine is South Salem Hills Cuvée but not sure that’s a vineyard designate, just seems like a marketing name.
However, in looking around it seems you can buy a South Salem Hills wine property with vineyard for under $1M which unless I am reading it wrong seems like a good deal. though there is something about old man wants to keep living there and probably won’t shoot you, so that is kind-of weird.
@pmarin I think your observations are spot on: at its best, Oregon Pinot Noir rivals Burgundy below the Grand Cru and some Premier Cru level. Even at ordinary levels, its usually pretty good. And, often better than more expensive California Pinot Noir. I’ve been most impressed with Carneros, Russian River Valley, and Sonoma Coast AVAs for California Pinot Noir in recent years…other than the Napa side of Carneros, really good Napa Pinot Noir is rare. Tchelistcheff spent much of his career trying to make a Pinot Noir as good as his 1945 at Beaulieu and never succeeded…and Hanzell has rarely come close to its stated intention (through three families’ ownership since 1953) of making wines of Burgundy Cru quality.
@pmarin ok you got me looking around. Willamette Valley Vineyards who produced the wine you linked mentions their Estate in Salem Hills…wikipedia says:
The Salem Hills are a range of hills spanning from southern Salem, Oregon, United States, south to Jefferson, west to the Willamette River and east to Turner and Marion. They have also been called the Ankeny Hills, Chemeketa Hills, Illahee Hills, Red Clay Hills, Red Hills, and the South Salem Hills.
@pmarin Not sure if it is where you got it but the WVV Ingram was a Reverse Wine Snob offer
And 13 cases is a typo, it was 13 barrels produced (probably about 325 cases). Great wine!
@reversewinesnob Thanks, bet that explains where I got it. Good thing is that means that I probably got at least 4 or 6 bottles, whatever the order batch was, so once I get to organizing things (sorely needed but unlikely to happen soon), I might find more in a box.