Nicolas Jay L'Ensemble Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2022 750ml

Expert Review - Vintage 2022

Michael Alberty of the Wine Enthusiast writes 93 Points |  This best barrel selection from prime Willamette Valley vineyards invites you in with aromas of rose petals, red cherries, sweet pea flowers and lemon. Crisp acidity awakens the palate to fresh flavors of boysenberries, rosemary and orange zest. L'Ensemble's tannins are as silky as its texture. To quote the Fine Young Cannibals, the L'Ensemble is a "Good Thing.

Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points | The 2022 Pinot Noir L'Ensemble is a top 100 Wines of the Year contender. Sporting a reflective medium ruby hue in the glass, its pretty and inviting on opening, with pure notes of wild berries, delicate spices, crushed stones, and fresh roses. Medium-bodied on the palate, its refreshing and light on its feet, with fine tannins, a clean feel all the way through, and a tapered, mouthwatering finish. Seamless and pure, this is a fantastic appellation wine to enjoy over the next 10-12 years. I would snatch up a case or two to enjoy more frequently.

Vinous 92 Points | The 2022 Pinot Noir L'Ensemble is a total pleasure to take in, mixing wild blueberries and cherries with sweet spice and hints of cola. This is fruit-forward yet refined, with juicy acidity and bitter tinges of clove and citrus that add contrast throughout. It tapers off with medium length, leaving a tart cranberry crunchiness and a pleasantly chewy sensation that persists.

Winemaker Description 

A bright raspberry hued color along the edges, a dark core, and a certain viscosity as the wine swirls slowly around the glass that leans medium+. Aromas do not hesitate and seem to pour upward from the glass even before fully immersing yourself into the stemware. A sweet bark and earth aroma is layered with a prickly raspberry liqueur, a freshly cut straw dynamic and brown sugar rolled oats. There's an exotic edible red flower aroma and some crushed white pepper, toasted rosemary and an extremely sweet vine picked hood river cherry that is almost overwhelming to process all at once. Signature Jean-Nicolas Méo texture as this wine shifts and widens its stance across your palate. its racy out of the gate with tight granular tannins, white peach and tangerine flavors. As the texture broadens further a brigade of red and blue fruits emerge and push the structure ever further. It's exhilarating in its freshness but combines a raw juiciness that's simply exquisite. Jean-Nicolas' 4th iteration of this super blend of hand-chosen barrels may very well be his best version yet. Although approachable in the short-term, it's certainly a wine that will improve in your cellar for years to come.

Vintage | The 2022 vintage was one of the most unique harvests in recent memory. Typical rainfall and winter temperatures kicked off the vintage, but winter was not yet over as temperatures plummeted in April. Bloom resumed, but with this delayed budbreak we found most of our sites not suitably ripe until October had already arrived. But this prolonged hangtime and extended cool evenings of September and October generated compelling and unique acid structures and textures. Pinot Noir shows classic, cool-climate aromatics reminiscent of vintages long ago. A delicate and ethereal structure shows elegance on the front end, but a generous complexity develops in the mid-palate with waves of citrus fruit acidity intermingling with a dark blackberry liqueur and minerality essence. Lifted and upright from start to finish with an unrelenting precision and energy throughout.