Willamette Valley 2023

An idiosyncratic growing season has produced a collection of expressive Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs of consistently high quality. Our US Editor, who is based in Oregon himself, tasted some 400 wines in all, and here presents 40 top picks – including Decanter's first 100-point wine from the region

- REPORT CLIVE PURSEHOUSE

The wines that were made from the 2023 vintage in Oregon's Willamette Valley are beautiful. They readily offer the elegance and delicacy for which cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are known throughout the wine world.

These are remarkable wines. The results of a growing season that started cool and slow, and ended rapidly, there's a grace and refinement stamped across them, from their aromatics to their polished finishes. And there's a precocious nature to them, too: perfect for those without patience.

The past three Willamette Valley vintages, 2021 to 2023, feel like a payback of sorts for the disastrous 2020. The 2021s showed a readiness that allowed for prompt release to make up for the lost inventories created by the 2020 wildfires, while the long, cool 2022 vintage showcased the true beauty of the Willamette Valley. It's a properly cool climate, with prime growing conditions extending late into October, which in 2023 meant the wines could be picked at perfection, particularly for those of us who love the cooler years, such as 2019, 2011, 2010 and 2007.

Perhaps 2023 has trumped both 2021 and 2022 – almost a perfect blend of the two, offering the elegance and refinement for which the region is known, coupled with generosity and early availability.

'The velocity of the vintage was the theme for 2023,' says Ken Pahlow, owner and winemaker at Walter Scott. Willamette Valley experienced its shortest period from bud break to bloom, which typically takes about 60 days; in 2023, it was reduced to about 40. The cool spring was then moved along quickly by very warm May weather.

Onésimo 'Ony' Mora and his brothers farm more than 20ha in the Willamette Valley. 'I wouldn't describe 2023 as a hot vintage, but it was definitely on the dry side,' Mora explains. 'When bud break started in April, things seemed pretty "normal" by recent Willamette standards.

Rapid ripening