2022 Solena Estate Pinot Noir Grande Cuvée Willamette Valley 750 ml

Winemaker Laurent Montalieu’s custom cuvées have fetched $200+ at the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Auction, and he tapped some of the same vineyards that go into his top bottlings for this 2022 Grande Cuvée. It flaunts the fruit vibrancy that has landed its predecessors in Wine Spectator’s Top-100.

Grande Cuvée is the Pinot that led us to rethink the term “quality-to-price ratio” and start saying “quality-to-price disparity” instead. The 2022, from a fantastic year, has it all: balance, deep red and black fruit, cleansing acidity, and a personality that makes it hard to put that cork back in.

Montalieu’s uncanny ability to consistently deliver Pinot greatness owes much to his access to prime Willamette Valley fruit. Over his three decades in Oregon, he’s put together an impressive collection of vineyards, including the 80-acre Soléna estate, Domaine Danielle Laurent in Yamhill-Carlton, and the Hyland Vineyard in McMinnville. These sources guarantee that grapes that could compose expensive vineyard-designate Pinots instead find their way into the Grande Cuvée.

When it comes to “quality, complexity, and price, there is no finer value in the world,” Laurent once told us. He was talking about Willamette Pinot Noir in general, but we think his words describe the Grande Cuvée quite nicely. He ages the wine for six months in just 15% new French oak, adding a kiss of spice while maintaining fruit purity.