Burgundy is still considered the world’s Pinot Noir mountaintop, but the Willamette Valley has been nipping at its heels—even eclipsing it from time to time—for years now. And when you consider how much more recent Oregon’s wine history is, it’s even more impressive.

The Campbells of Elk Cove Vineyards have played a key role in writing that history, and their “Mount Richmond” vineyard has become one of the Willamette Valley’s ‘grand crus.’ If you’re to assemble a list of Oregon’s most distinguished, most consistent, most important Pinot Noirs, Mount Richmond needs to be on it, and its appeal is only enhanced by the fact that it is crafted by true-blue, hands-in-the-dirt vignerons. There are a lot of dilettantes in today’s wine world, but no one would dare accuse the Campbell family of that: Pat and Joe Campbell planted their first vines in 1974, in what is now the Yamhill-Carton AVA, living with their small children in a trailer on the property as they built a wine operation from scratch. One of those children, their son Adam, ‘officially’ came aboard in the mid-1990s, helping develop Elk Cove into an iconic regional label now sustainably farming 350 acres of impeccably maintained estate vineyards—including 180 planted acres on Mount Richmond. Today’s ’18 has the concentration, structure, and soil character of Premier/Grand Cru red Burgundy, at a price that is nowhere near reflective of its elite quality. It’s as dramatic a disconnect as exists in the realm of top-tier Pinot Noir: take advantage!

The Pinot Noir is fermented in open-topped stainless steel tanks and is subjected to regular “punchdowns” (submersion of the ‘cap’ of grape skins that forms in the fermentation vessel), although Adam notes that 2018 was a vintage of considerable intensity—prompting him to scale back the frequency of those punchdowns (“I knew that the color/tannin potential was already there,” he says). Following fermentation, the wine is transferred into 26% new French oak barrels for 10 months. Afterwards, all barrels are tasted and only the finest make it into a “Mount Richmond” bottling—which in 2018 is a luxurious, structured expression of the Mount Richmond terroir. In the glass, it’s a deep ruby moving to magenta at the rim, with vivid aromas of black cherry liqueur, wild raspberry, pomegranate, orange zest, black tea, tobacco leaf, cola nut, forest floor, rose petal, and aniseed, next to an intense backbone of interwoven baking spices. The palate is supple, smooth, and lush, with its mouth-filling array of ripe black and red fruits. It finishes on a warm spice note, with firm but fine-grained tannins and a refreshing rush of acidity. There is serious structure in “Mount Richmond”—it will age 10-15 years, effortlessly—but the sweet core of fruit and air of youthfulness makes it a wonderful treat today. Serve at 60-65 degrees in large Burgundy stems and enjoy a bottle paired with some cedar-planked salmon, Oregon-style. If you’re a serious Pinot-phile, this needs to be in your collection. Cheers!