Pinot for the People
Arterberry Maresh
Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2016
&
Dundee Hills Pinot Noir “Old Vines” 2016
Willamette Valley, Oregon
Whopping 93 & 96 pts Wine Advocate for a steal!
We don’t have much, so if you want any please act fast! ORDER: Pinot for the People - Oregon Edition
The Willamette Valley, also known as America’s Burgundy, is a paradise to grow this most fickle of grapes. With over 40 years of experimenting, the wines from the Willamette have never been better and are the source for many of America’s greatest Pinot Noir wines. While there is a lot of average Pinot made in Oregon, these guys take their craft seriously and look to draw from Burgundy for inspiration, but in the context of the ancient Joly soils of the Dundee Hills.
Arterberry Maresh is one of the best producers in the Willamette, with the fruit for both of the wines in this offer coming from select old-vine parcels in the Dundee Hills AVA sub-region. The winemaker, Jim Maresh is the 3rd generation Maresh in Willamette making Pinot Noir.
2016 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir
Arterberry Maresh
Dundee Hills AVA, Willamette Valley, OR
- No new oak on this wine, only used French oak barrels for aging
- All old vine material, many some of the oldest in America.
- 3rd generation family making the wines and tending the vineyards
Every year winemaker Jim Maresh blends various barrels of wine together to make this affordable value wine, and every year it is fantastic. And why wouldn’t it be? It is a blend of fruit from old-vine vineyards located in the sweet spot of the Dundee Hills, perhaps Oregon’s most esteemed AVA, and includes fruit from his family’s own famed Maresh Vineyard, a source for some of Oregon’s best pinot noirs of all time.
93 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Pale to medium ruby-purple, the 2016 Pinot Noir Dundee Hills has a lovely open nose of warm cinnamon stick, cranberry and baked red cherry pie with black tea leaf and potpourri spice. Light to medium-bodied, it fills the mouth with warm red fruit and layers of baking spice, earth and mineral—dried leaves, oolong tea, warm earth—with a good frame of fine-grained tannins and plenty of juicy acidity, finishing long and spicy. The 2016 Pinot Noirs from Arterberry Maresh offer amazing layers of sweet, precise fruits, exotic spices and earth—everything you want from great Pinot Noir. They’re concentrated and jam-packed with flavor while still maintaining excellent grainy tannic structure and very juicy acidity, not to mention they age beautifully.
**$26.99 net (limited supply)
ORDER: Pinot for the People - Oregon Edition**
2016 ‘Old Vines’ Pinot Noir
Arterberry Maresh
Dundee Hills AVA, Willamette Valley, OR
- Again, no new oak here, only used French oak barrels for aging
- 42 year-old- Low alcohol, high
average ages vines from only Maresh and Weber vineyards. densityand total purity this may be the best Pinot made in America under $50
Clocking in at an amazing 12.8% alcohol, it is balanced, fresh and pure. Remember NO new oak is used at this address, the focus is solely on site and fruit. This is the first rendition of this bottling and boy is it a winner. Brilliant and talented 27-year-old, 3rd generation winemaker Jim Maresh only blends fruit from only TWO sites, the Maresh and Weber Vineyards which come with an average vine age of 42 years. Perfumed and succulent, voluminous yet ethereal, it’s the kind of wine I love to drink and love to share. Exquisitely fresh and silky, with a pulsing persistence from a fine bean of pure density, this is kind of irresistible.
96 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
This is the first non-vineyard designate made by Jim Maresh. Pale to medium ruby in color, the 2016 Pinot Noir Old Vines has a lovely pure nose of pink peppercorn, dried black tea leaves, red and black licorice and violets with dried cranberries, red cherries and layers and layers of spice. Medium to full-bodied, it has amazing concentration of flavor in the mouth, blossoming out to pure red fruits and spicy layers, with cinnamon and autumn leaves accents, very fine-grained tannins and juicy acidity, finishing very, very long with tons of earth-laced fruit. Wow! 1,040 cases produced.
$42.99 net (limited supply)
ORDER: Pinot for the People - Oregon Edition
About Arterberry & Maresh
The Maresh family has had a long and memorable presence in the Dundee Hills. In 1980 Jim and Loie’s daughter, Martha, married Fred Arterberry, Jr. who was one of the first winemakers in Oregon to have a degree in fermentation science from the University of California at Davis. Fred Arterberry was one of the early pioneer winemakers the 1970’s and produced many highly acclaimed wines from the Maresh Vineyard. In 1983 Martha and Fred had a son, Jim Arterberry Maresh. His father’s winery label — Arterberry — closed upon Fred’s death in 1990. Beginning in 2005 Jim founded his own winery, Arterberry Maresh, and is the first in Oregon to represent a third generation in Oregon’s wine industry.
Raised on his family’s farm since he was born has given Jim a strong connection to and appreciation of the Red Hills of Dundee. He knows the vineyards, the neighbors and the various seasons and vintages that challenge and reward each grape grower and winemaker. His is a deep history of family, farming and winemaking. His wines reflect that heritage and the experience of three generations farming since 1959.
VINEYARDS
The Jory soils are the real ground floor of the winery and Arterberry Maresh. A result of thousands of years of volcanic uplift, flood and erosion, the Dundee Hills are a beautiful landscape of southeastern facing ridges. Slightly warmer and drier than surrounding microclimates, these balanced volcanic, silty-clay-loam soils both retain moisture and drain well. It is amongst this background that Jim Maresh has selected sites of predominantly old-vine, own-rooted and non-irrigated Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines, which are farmed for Arterberry Maresh.
MARESH VINEYARD
The Maresh family farms Pommard and Wädenswil Pinot Noir from 1970, and 1974 plantings and own-rooted Chardonnay from the 1983 plantings. Ranging from 500’ to 800’ elevation, these high elevation vines experience a long hang-time and are the last to ripen. The vineyard is managed by Jim Maresh Sr., Martha Maresh, and Steve Mikami.
Maresh Vineyard is Jim’s reference point for Dundee Hills Pinot Noir. It is the most complex and layered Pinot Noir. It tends towards pure flavors of concentrated red berries, black tea, sandalwood, floral tones, stony spice, and berry bramble. The silken tannins and long, intricate mouth feel speak to the truly elegant profile of this wine, which always benefits from ample air upon opening.
The Chardonnay from Maresh Vineyard is full, bright and complex with aromatics and flavors of fresh lemon curd, ginger spice, mineral richness of wet stones and honeycomb. This is a long evolving wine full of tension.
WEBER VINEYARD
Since 2010, Arterberry Maresh has contracted 1976 and 1983 planted, own-rooted Pommard clone Pinot Noir from Weber Vineyard. The true east-facing site is located southeast of Winderlea and gets limited afternoon sun, though tends to ripen early at 350’-450’ elevation. Since debuting in 2010, Weber has shown to be forward, deep and vibrantly perfumed. Sweet notes of juicy currant, blackcap raspberry, dark cherry, maple, earth and a resinous poppy seed note. The structure is refined and acidity taut, but Weber speaks in noble, forward tones.
There is a scant amount of 1983-planted Chardonnay at Weber, which is blended with Maresh and bottled as Dundee Hills Chardonnay. Andy Humphrey manages Weber Vineyard.
