Torii Mor Pinot Noir Olson Vineyard 2023

The 2023 Olson Vineyard begins with a warm and sweet inviting aroma followed by dark cherries, floral notes of roses and violets, light earthy note, and a hint of black tea. The flavors are bright and sweet displaying a mixture of high tone red fruit and red and black cherries, floral notes, cocoa ending with sweet oak spiciness and peppery zest. The texture is rich, round, and sweet, the entry is bright and instantly pleasing, the tannins round and sweet and integrated providing great structure and elegance. The finish is very long, graceful, velvety, rich and spicy. It displays classic Dundee hills character with all the elegance and grace.

Olson Vineyard is Torii Mor's Estate vineyard, located in the Dundee Hills appellation, in Yamhill County, was planted in 1972 and 1983 with 1.5 acre added in 2005-2006. The volcanic Jory soil, South-Southeast slope, along with the 825-foot top elevation, produces beautifully balanced, elegant Pinot Noirs. The 9.5-acre vineyard is planted with a massale selection of Pinot noir originated from Eyrie, Erath and Coury vineyards, and later, clones of Pommard, Dijon 667 (some grafted on Chardonnay in 2000), 777 and 114, and also includes one acre of Pinot Gris and half an acre of Draper Chardonnay. Olson Vineyard is LIVE certified.

Oregon's 2023 growing season was marked by a cool start, subsequent warm temperatures a very dry summer with a small rain event in September. Early spring in Willamette Valley was wet and cool. That led to bud break being delayed 10+ days. May had some very warm periods in the high 80s to mid-90s. As a result, while bud break was late, bloom was advanced. This made for one of the shortest periods ever from bud break to bloom across most growing regions in Oregon. Throughout July, temperatures were consistently warm but not overly hot. That heat wave would arrive August 13th through the 16th which helped account for the hottest and driest August on record that propelled the growing season forward. The warm temperatures led to an early harvest starting September 18th and ending on October 2nd.

Harvested September 18th at 23.2 to 24.9 Brix, the fruit was handpicked, sorted, destemmed, then fermented without cold soak, in wood tanks and small 1.5-ton bins for 19 to 23 days, with RB2, Barolo 97, and Eden yeasts, and punched down 3 times a day. The wine was aged for 17 months, the first 10 months in 25% new French oak, the balance neutral oak. The barrels were racked in August when the blend was put together before returning to neutral barrels until bottling.

The name ‘Torii Mor’ is an integration of the Japanese the word for a gate to sacred place and the ancient Scandinavian word ‘Mor’ which means: "earth."  By integrating these two distinct languages, the metaphor of the vine as a sacred gate to the earth through which beautiful things come is formed.  Perhaps no other varietal expresses the sense of place from which it comes more elegantly than Pinot Noir, and Torrii Mor’s Pinot Noirs are carefully crafted with minimal handling and native yeast fermentation to express what the earth offers in the most nonintrusive and purest style possible.
Torii Mor views wine, especially Pinot noir, is a priceless, non-reproducible work of art created by the cooperation of people with nature and people with each other.  It is both art and a story to be enjoyed with family and friends.  We think that you will agree.