Torii Mor Pinot Noir 2022

The 2022 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a classic interpretation of the “Black Label” from Torii Mor. The wine displays rich aromas of fresh raspberries, sweet and plump dark cherries with complex mushrooms-earth-oak notes and framed by notes of vanilla and spices. The flavors are forward yet elegant with harmony of acidity, sweetness and spiciness leading to fresh bright red and dark fruit. The wine is enhanced by aspects of white pepper and oak spices and a touch of earth complexity. The mouthfeel is lush, complex and spicy. The finish is long, opulent and sweet, with the complexity of fruit, zesty tannins and savory earth notes.

This 2022 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is ready to be enjoyed now, cheers. Tasted February 10, 2024

The Vineyards

The grapes that comprise Torii Mor’s Willamette Valley Pinot Noir come from 7 vineyards: Alloro, Dupee, Zenith, La Colina, Olson, Varga and Kraemer.

The 2022 growing season started with an average bud break in early April, following a cold and wet winter with a few snow events. It was a typical cold Oregonian winter.  In mid-April turned colder than average with an unreasonably late snow/frost event that damaged some of the buds which led to smaller yields.  We had to wait for secondary buds to appear which pushed back the forecasted harvest dates to October. The cold wet spring also amped up the pressure of mildew in the vineyards.  After getting off to less than ideal start the growing season flipped to the other extreme with record setting temperatures in July, August and September.  Bloom occurred during the warm dry weather flowering went well offsetting some of our previous concerns about the low yield.  Expecting an October harvest date led to some worries about underripe fruit, rain, birds and disease pressure.  Those worries all went away with perfect weather late in the summer into October. The grape yields were on the low side with fruit displaying perfect balance of flavors, sugars and acid.

Torii Mor’s harvest started on October 7th and finished on October 26th.

Harvested from October 7th to October 26th, the Willamette Valley Pinot noir grapes were handpicked at 22.3 to 24.9 Brix, sorted, fermented with minimal whole clusters for 12 to 26 days, with 3 punch downs a day, aged for 10 months in mostly French oak with some Hungarian oak The barrels were racked and in April following Malo-Lactic fermentation and again in August when the blend was put together, then stored in tanks until bottling.

The name ‘Torii Mor’ is an integration of the Japanese the word for a gate to sacred place and the ancient Scandinavian word ‘Mor’ which means: "earth."  By integrating these two distinct languages, the metaphor of the vine as a sacred gate to the earth through which beautiful things come is formed.  Perhaps no other varietal expresses the sense of place from which it comes more elegantly than Pinot Noir, and Torrii Mor’s Pinot Noirs are carefully crafted with minimal handling and native yeast fermentation to express what the earth offers in the most nonintrusive and purest style possible.
Torii Mor views wine, especially Pinot noir, is a priceless, non-reproducible work of art created by the cooperation of people with nature and people with each other.  It is both art and a story to be enjoyed with family and friends.  We think that you will agree.