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Appellation · United States

Yamhill-Carlton

A horseshoe of hills west of Dundee on ancient marine sediment, making the Willamette’s fullest Pinot Noir.

Yamhill-Carlton AVAmaritimecool
What to expect in the glass

Medium-to-full bodied Pinot Noir, darker and more structured than Dundee Hills, with black cherry and firmer tannin.

About Yamhill-Carlton

Yamhill-Carlton forms a horseshoe of hills around the towns of Yamhill and Carlton, on uplifted marine sediment rather than volcanic soil.

The coarser, faster-draining ground produces a darker, fuller and more tannic Pinot Noir than the Dundee Hills — the most obvious soil-driven contrast in the Willamette Valley.

It ripens slightly earlier than its neighbours because it is sheltered from the coastal gap winds.

What the name means

Legal name
Yamhill-Carlton AVA
Type
American Viticultural Area (AVA)
Set by
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)
Recognised
2005
Regulates
Origin only. It sets no rules about varieties, yields, ageing or winemaking.

Only where the grapes were grown, plus the percentage that must come from the named area. An AVA sets no varietal, yield, ageing or winemaking rules whatsoever — the single most commonly misunderstood fact about US wine labels.

Grapes

Wines from here

red

Oregon Pinot Noir

Cooler, more savoury and more Burgundian than California — red cherry, forest floor and fine tannin from the Willamette Valley.

Soil and geology

Underlying geology
Ancient marine sedimentary rock, uplifted seabed
Soils
Coarse, well-drained sandstone-derived soils (Willakenzie)
Drainage
Free-draining
Water holding
Low

What it does to the vine. Shallower and faster-draining than the volcanic Jory of the Dundee Hills, which stresses the vine earlier in the season and gives smaller berries and a fuller, more tannic wine.

WineHQ describes soil in terms of what it demonstrably does — drainage, heat retention, water supply, rooting depth — and not in terms of flavours it is said to transmit. Vines take up ions, not aromas, and no mechanism has been demonstrated by which a mineral in the ground is tasted in the glass. See soil and drainage.

What to eat, and how to serve it

Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.

Oregon Pinot Noir

Serve at 14–16°C (cellar cool).

Try with fillet steak, duck or steak with mushroom sauce.

Where to go next

Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.

  • Dundee Hills — Oregon’s original Pinot Noir hillside, on distinctive red volcanic soil, and where the state’s industry began.
  • Ribbon Ridge — The smallest AVA in the Willamette Valley — a single ridge of uniform soil entirely surrounded by Chehalem Mountains.
  • McMinnville — A rain-shadowed AVA on the western edge of the Willamette, drier than its neighbours and making firmly structured Pinot Noir.

Sources

Sources consulted