Few wineries are as deeply intertwined with their region’s history as Arterberry Maresh. Loie and Jim (Sr.) Maresh moved to the Willamette in 1959, at the time just looking for a pretty piece of land to live on. It wasn’t until 1970 that their neighbor Dick Erath convinced them to plant some Pinot. It’s now the fifth-oldest vineyard in the entire Willamette Valley. And it was the very first on Worden Hill Road, considered by many to be the epicenter of great viticultural land in the Dundee Hills subregion.

While the home vineyard has been consistently cultivated for close to 60 years, the winemaking history at the address is a little more spotty. The Maresh family have always been grape growers first. During the 1980s, Loie and Jim’s son-in-law Fred Arterberry made wine under his name, but when he passed in 1990, the winery was shuttered. In 2005, Fred’s son, Jim (Jr.) combined the two family names and opened Arterberry-Maresh. Jim Jr. knows Maresh Vineyard as intimately as is possible: he was raised running through its rows and has lived on the property all his life. It’s to some degree not surprising, then, that he produces one of the Valley’s most magisterial wines from one of its most important sites.

Why You’ll Love It

• If any vineyard in the Willamette Valley could be granted Grand Cru status, Maresh would certainly get it. Planted on the famous Jory soils, a volcanic, well-drained earth that produces ethereal Pinot.

• The fifty-year-old vines at Maresh are own-rooted, lending the wines an incredible sense of concentration.

• Jim Jr.’s winemaking is strictly minimal intervention, allowing the signature of Maresh vineyard to come through. Fruit is entirely destemmed, then spontaneously fermented. The Pinot is very gently handled throughout the process, so as to emphasize elegance over extraction.

• At seven years old, the 2018 is an absolute aromatic stunner. Huge fruit and floral notes – sweet red cherry, red plums, pomegranate, orange zest, and rose petals – merge with mushroom savor, leather, and dried sage. 

• On the palate, it’s juicy and concentrated, with an incredible sense of elegance and purity. Medium-bodied and plush with red fruit and tobacco, it’s focused with a vibrant throughline of acidity and just-there tannin. The finish is minutes long, echoing the more age-derived notes.

How To Serve It

• Revel in the glory of this bottle now, but also set a bottle or two aside for a few years. In three years’ time, this will be even more impressive!

• You’ll definitely want to use a Burgundy bowl here so as to be able to fully experience the incredible spectrum of aromas.

• Enjoy just above cellar temp, around 60 degrees.

• Serve alongside something equally refined, such as duck breast with morel mushrooms (or Oregon truffles!).