2022 Cristom 'Paul Gerrie Vineyard' Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills

Few American wineries have earned the kind of quiet, lasting reverence that Cristom commands. Founded in 1992 by Paul and Eileen Gerrie on a stretch of volcanic hillside in Oregon's Eola-Amity Hills, the family-owned estate has spent three decades doing one thing exceptionally well — growing Pinot Noir from sites that rival Burgundy's greatest addresses in complexity and soul. Wine & Spirits has named Cristom the #1 Restaurant Pinot Noir producer in the country, not once, but consistently, because the sommeliers and chefs who know wine best keep coming back.

The Paul Gerrie Vineyard is the estate's newest and most dramatic site, planted in 2014 on the windswept northern edge of the property between 200 and 275 meters, and named in honor of the winery's founder. Winemaker Diana Snowden Seysses (and longtime cellar hand Daniel Estrin's signature style) fermented this 2022 with roughly 50% whole cluster and aged it in just 17% new French oak, a deliberate step down that lets the vineyard's raw, mineral-driven character speak for itself. The result is a Pinot unlike any other in the Cristom lineup — angular, savory, and built with the kind of structure normally associated with Barolo, not Oregon.

Critics have taken notice in a big way. Jeb Dunnuck awarded this wine a staggering 98 points, calling out its lifted, savory aromatics and "almost Nebbiolo-like structure." Decanter followed with 96 points, praising its dusty minerality and salted blood orange fruit, while James Suckling also landed at 96. Vinous scored it 94+, noting that the reduced new-oak regimen "works wonders" and predicting the wine will only climb higher with time in bottle. This is critical consensus rarely seen outside of Burgundy's grand cru slopes.

For the Pinot lover who wants the real thing — the kind of wine that makes Burgundy so alluring — Paul Gerrie delivers that experience at a fraction of the sticker shock a comparable Côte de Nuits bottle would demand. Silky yet coiled, structured yet alive, this is single-vineyard Oregon Pinot Noir at its most serious and most authentic.