Wild black raspberry, forest floor, dark cherry pit. Blueberry skin, ground coriander, black licorice. An impressively deep and dense fruit core highlighted by dark plum, strawberry, and black currant writhes with beautifully brooding intensity within a display coursing with gorgeous natural tones of tree bark, bramble, and pine. Notes of smoldering tobacco, charcoal, and iron emphatically emerge to provide a range of delightful rugged charms as wafts of roses and potpourri impart radiant waves of floral perfume. A dusting of cinnamon, anise, and vanilla softly contributes pretty layers of spice that playfully intertwine with inviting impressions of roasted coffee bean, bitter cacao, and oversteeped black tea. Notably bold, powerful, and tightly-wound on the palate while remaining wonderfully expressive and complex; exhibiting a serious and age-worthy presentation that combines excellent depth and extraction with significant pent-up energy. Full bodied with pronounced yet approachable tannin backed by nicely elevated acidity. This 2019 "Joie" Anahata Vineyard Pinot Noir by Aubaine Wine is a tense and concentrated red from Oregon's Eola-Amity Hills.

Although known as the home of some of North America's most restrained and Burgundian expressions of Pinot Noir, the Willamette Valley also has the potential to produce muscular and powerful wines that still remain nicely balanced and bright. This bottling, crafted by Aubaine Wine using Pinot Noir sourced from the Joie block of the Anahata Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills, is an impressive example of Oregon Pinot shaped in a rich and robust style. This wine booms with a bold dark-fruited core layered with intriguing brambly herbal character, lifted spices, iron-rich earthiness, and smoky savory charms. This is enjoyable today for those who crave tension and youthful exuberance, but it will be at its best with another 5-10 years of bottle age to allow it to further mellow and integrate. Excellent.