Brian Marcy and Clare Carver are expat-Californians who, with the proceeds of a home they restored in Napa, were able to buy a 70-acre property north of McMinnville. Since moving there in 2006, they’ve converted Big Table to one of the more charming farms in the Willamette Valley. In addition to raising bees, chickens, pigs, cattle and goats, they’ve planted a vineyard on the property, an eight-acre parcel overlooking the winery, which they farm regeneratively and have not yet named (they’ll wait until it bears fruit, says Carver, just as her cows don’t get named until they calve).
They’ve held many long-term contracts to date, focused on old vineyards composed of heritage clones; their sources for pinot noir are especially robust and full of character. This wine draws from the more fruit-forward lots from those sources, subjected to foot treading and whole-cluster fermentation, a recipe marrying fruit and savor. It’s floral, forward in its fruit notes, with a concentrated attack of cherry and raspberry flavors. Seductive, balanced and clean, the wine’s explosive red-fruit presence becomes more refined with air.
93
Big Table Farm 2021 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
$50
Every week, our editors highlight a wine that intrigued them in our blind panel tastings, expanding on their tasting note in this space. These are entirely editorial choices; there are no paid placements. Subscribers can also access the original tasting note by searching here.
Patrick J. Comiskey covers US wines for Wine & Spirits magazine, focusing on the Pacific Northwest, California’s Central Coast and New York’s Finger Lakes.
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