Medium ruby color; raspberry, blackberry, cherry, forest floor on the nose; raspberry, plum, black cherry, vanilla on the palate.
Dry; light body; gentle tannins; good acidity (3.53 pH). Well-done oak, it is there as complement not leading role; fermented in 65% French oak and 35% stainless steel; aged 19 months in 70% new French oak and 30% neutral French oak; 13.3% ABV.
Soft, velvety in the mouth. Truffle Hill is home to four acres of European Black Truffle-inoculated hazelnut trees, shrub roses, holly oaks, and five acres of Swiss Wädenswil clone pinot noir grapes; this effort is 100% Swiss Wädenswil clone.
Suzanne and Robert Pfaff purchased bucolic acreage in 2003 with a vision is establishing a winery committed to quality, sustainable farming, and attention to producing wine that reflected the terroir of the Willamette Valley. Then they brought it in lead viticulturist and general manager Luke McCollum from Napa Valley, then winemaker Joe Wright. It has worked out well.
With an estate of 350 acres, 150 acres under vine, Left Coast Cellars Estate is one of the largest contiguous vineyards in the Willamette Valley. The cellar’s website notes: “There is not one terroir at Left Coast Cellars but many, allowing our wines to showcase multiple personalities of Willamette Valley wines, bound together through the thoughtful work of Luke McCollum in the vineyard and Joe Wright in the cellar. Left Coast Cellars is known for its cooler micro-climate, owing to its location at the head of the Van Duzer Corridor, an east-west valley that creates a break in the coast range of mountains that shields most of the Willamette Valley from the Pacific Ocean.”
The winery is LIVE (Low Impact Viticulture and Enology) and Salmon Safe certified. It participates in the Salud program that guarantees basic healthcare to seasonal field workers. The winery and vineyard are 90% solar powered, the second-largest agricultural solar operation in Oregon.
Left Coast Cellars Truffle Hill Pinot Noir 2015 is classic Willamette Valley pinot noir, with signature finesse and lightness. Good, if somewhat restrained, fruit. Well done oak. Excellent Willamette winery. Pair with salmon; roasted pork tenderloin with cranberry glaze; bacon-stuffed mushrooms; duck and goose; coq au vin; honey-basted quail; risotto with stewed tomatoes and taleggio cheese. $38-45
