INSIDER'S PICK: 2022 KELLEY FOX WINES 'NERTHUS' WILLAMETTE VALLEY $26.99 (Vinous 93points)

For the last 10+ years the team at Kelley Fox Wines has been growing a reputation as one of the dynamic, thoughtful and exciting newer producers in Oregon, cut from the same cloth as favorites like Patricia Green Cellars of a generation before. The talent of the winemaking has opened the doors to access some of the great vineyards of the region to make not only their acclaimed Pinot Noirs but for their more experimental wines like this. Living somewhere in between an 'orange wine' and a Rose, this is unique not only for the combination of grapes but the remarkable sources for some of the varieties. The blend of Early Muscat, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Riesling is whole cluster pressed and the slight tint of color comes from the Pinot Gris getting extra skin contact. All the fruit comes from sites well known for their Pinot Noir production, some older than 30 years and two particular ones from blocks in the 1980s planted franc de pied (on their own rootstock, unusual since the phylloxera blight in the late 1800s). The aromas are perfumed and intensely exotic, loaded with wildflowers, peach stone, orange zest, Asian tea and several other fragrances of your own imagination. Just a lot going on here, and it changes with each swirl of the glass. The palate is juicy and quenching yet completely dry and showing off the texture from all the skin contact, getting more of the pithy side of the fruit than the pulp and a dusty mineral note to the finish that lingers as long as the aromas do.  ​

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