The 2007 Pinot Noir La Source Seven Springs Vineyard was aged in a larger percentage of new oak. It exhibits a similar bouquet but greater structure and sweeter fruit on the palate. Ripe, concentrated, and with a masculine personality, it will benefit from 2-3 years of additional cellaring and offer prime drinking from 2011 to 2019. Evening Land Vineyards is a group headed by movie magnate Mark Tarlov that also owns Pinot vineyards in the Sonoma Coast and Santa Rita Hills. They gained control of one of the Willamette Valley’s prized properties, Seven Springs Vineyard, and created an immediate sensation by signing on Dominique Lafon of Comte Lafon in Burgundy as consulting winemaker. The good news is that the Evening Land group is making a major effort to restore the health and vitality of Seven Springs; the bad news is that several wineries that made terrific wine from Seven Springs fruit will no longer have access. 2007 was a superb year for Willamette Valley white wines because of the vibrant natural acidity provided by the cool vintage conditionswww.eveninglandsvineyards.com

Dominique Lafon consults on these wines, sourced from a vineyard now almost 30 years old. Evening Land is among the wineries who sense an opportunity to make refined, elegant wines from the terroir of this little-known region. Lovely aromas, complex scents and flavors, pine and herb, cranberry and raspberry, earth and seafoam—lots of nuances here. ——P.G.(6/1/2010)—— 93