New Zealand vintner Philip Jones launched this lineup of kosher wines, touted as the first produced in the Pacific Northwest, in 2010. While the 25-acre estate planting is on Washington’s Underwood Mountain along the Columbia Gorge, Oregon is the focus for its Pinot Noir program, which stretches across the Columbia River to Phelps Creek Vineyard in Hood River and includes Ankeny Vineyard near Salem. This bottling shows dark strawberry and cherry tones, along with notes of moist forest floor and earthiness of porcini mushroom. He picked up a silver medal at the fall Columbia Gorge Wine Competition. Distribution of these kosher wines includes the East Coast, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Rating: Excellent
Production: 1,100 cases

Great Northwest Wines Feb 2015