91pts Vinous Media
Zests of lemon, wildflowers and hints of gingery spice waft up from the 2023 Riesling Whistling Ridge. This mixes savory and sweet with an abundance of tension as mineral-drenched sour melon and lime settle on the senses. It leaves a pretty inner sweetness and a mouthwatering quality, tapering off with medium length. Drinking Window: 2024 - 2028

At Goodfellow Family Cellars, the spring frost of 2022 reduced quantities, yet Marcus Goodfellow style still comes through in spades, with restraint, lower alcohol and high acidity. Compared to 2021, the 2022 Goodfellow Pinots are more lifted and classic in feel, and as usual with this producer, I recommend cellaring to fully explore their potential. The sparkling line-up, tasted for the first time this year, are made from Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and small amounts of Pinot Noir, with dosages from low to zero. I’ve seen many successful sparklers from Oregon, but typically, the dosage on those wines is much higher, placing them more in the Brut category. Tasting these wines at Goodfellow was a highlight of my trip.

Vintage notes from Vineyard:
While most wines are still in barrel, the 2023 vintage shows tremendous promise, and the early release wines are thus far proving out the quality of the year and the vineyards we source from. After three short vintages we finally had a good fruit set in 2023. Flowering was a bit later than average, but after that the vineyards double-timed it right through to harvest about 2 weeks ahead of expected pick dates. Acid maturity was fantastic with lower malics in almost all the fruit, sugars stayed remarkably modest, skin tannins were very good, stems lignified quickly, and flavors developed quickly. We picked with a pace and have been happy with everything so far. Pinot Noirs will lean old-world and the whites are nervy and delicious. Somewhat reminiscent of 2019.

Aromatic whites released so far include theTsai vineyard Pinot Blanc, bright, refreshing, and juicy at 11.1% alcohol. Pinot Blanc naturally has a lovely textural element and this allows us to have such a low abv but the body to be enjoyable. Very refreshing now. The 2023 Whistling Ridge Riesling is very close ot a Trocken style, 2.8 g/l residual sugar and a pH of 2.97, the nose is full of quicksilver and woodland herbs. Hints of tangerine and Meyer lemon give the wine a very long finish. This is early in development and should be held for a few years.