2021 Benton Lane Pinot Noir Estate
2021 Benton Lane Pinot Noir Estate This 2021 wine opens with aromas of perfume and bright red fruits like cherries and cranberries with subtle notes of cinnamon red hots. The wine has a nice acidic balance and it exhibits bright red fruits of cherry and cranberry. It finishes with a hint of pepper along with toasty barrel notes.
Home of some of the planet’s most amazingly elegant and expressive Pinot noir, the Willamette Valley is a pastoral, mixed landscape of green, bucolic rolling hills, dramatic forestlands and small, independent, friendly wine growers. As a leader in environmental stewardship, the valley has some of the nation’s most protective land use policies, with two-thirds of its vineyards farmed sustainably and over half, organically. While the valley claims a cool, continental climate, and is heavily influenced by the cold, moist winds of the Pacific Ocean, its warm and dry summers allow for the steady, even ripening of Pinot noir.
A Beginning in Napa
Benton-Lane Winery founders Steve and Carol Girard grew up in California’s Bay Area, both raised by parents who loved wine. Steve and Carol are high school sweethearts and shared their passion for wine, even while Steve served in the U.S. Navy. Steve and Carol later began their journey as a married couple in Napa Valley where they learned how to care for vineyards, make fine wine and founded their first winery, Girard Winery together. Girard Winery produced sought-after wines that were enjoyed at state dinners and taken by presidents to heads of state as gifts. Julia Child even selected the winery for one of her events.
Falling in Love with Pinot Noir
It was Carol who first fell for the amazing Pinot Noir grape. She would tempt Steve with tastes of early Oregon Pinots when they attended tastings. As Carol says, “Pinot Noir is a varietal that can get under your skin. It can seduce you.” Steve soon fell for Pinot Noir as well, but the couple realized that their home state California was not the best place to produce the thin-skinned grape. This began their journey to find the perfect location for a Pinot Noir vineyard. They spent five years searching the planet including France, the central California coast and even Tasmania.