Welcome to this week's Must-Try Wines from Vinous! Each week we compile a list of top wines from the Vinous database that you need to add to your wine wish list. With all the various regions, producers, and grapes, no week will be the same! Wines available for purchase on Banquet are linked below. This week Josh Raynolds has specifically selected his top Oregon Pinot Noirs under $50 from his article, Oregon Pinot Noir: The Winning Streak Continues for the Delectable community! Enjoy an excerpt from Josh’s article and his top Oregon Pinot Noirs under $50! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Oregon’s unprecedented run of outstanding vintages which began in 2014, has been extended yet again with 2018. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2011 and 2007 to find years that were truly challenging, and both of those vintages actually produced a large number of outstanding wines. 2018 – POWER AND, OFTEN, ELEGANCE In 2018, Oregon saw an abnormally dry, sunny and hot growing season, even by recent standards, and the wines show it. By and large, the 2018s tend to possesses deeper, darker fruit profiles than the 2017s. In a number of cases, alcohol levels are on the high side, but many of those wines have the freshness to buffer the heat, not to mention the balance and backbone to prevent them from coming off loose or markedly warm in character. Oregon Pinot drinkers whose taste runs to richness and power are going to flip over the 2018s, while I suspect that those whose preferences lean more towards brightness and red fruit will largely prefer the 2017s. A cool spring kept budbreak on schedule, although some of the colder spots, especially those at high elevation, lagged a bit behind. Then came a stretch of basically zero rain in most of May, June, July and into August. The days were warm and often hot, but the evenings were much less so, which kept rising sugar levels in check and acidity levels sound. The weather took a welcome, cool turn in late August, followed by quenching rain at the beginning of September. Because of dry conditions mildew pressure was nonexistent, which ensured perfectly clean fruit and easy work in the vineyards aside from rigorous canopy management. The skins of the grapes were thicker than normal as well, which no doubt contributed to the wines’ power and often higher tannin levels. In most cases, harvest began in the second week of September and was pretty well wrapped up the first week of October. Alcohol levels in 2018 are on the somewhat low side – 12% to 14%, generally speaking – but the fruit profile of most of the wines I tried shows a deep, dark cast, suggesting cherry and dark berries, a different style compared to the more red-fruited and animated 2017s. Acidity levels aren’t crazy low, so there’s also a liveliness to the wines that doesn’t entirely reflect the hot year. It was the rare Pinot I encountered that had overt jammy, much less cooked or stewy fruit character or flabbiness." --Josh Raynolds, Oregon Pinot Noir: The Winning Streak Continues, August 2020 1. 2017 Argyle Winery Pinot Noir Reserve 2. 2018 Averaen Wines Pinot Noir 3. 2017 Brick House Pinot Noir Select 4. 2017 Crowley Wines Pinot Noir Entre Nous 5. 2019 Division Winemaking Company Pinot Noir Methode Carbonique Division Villages 6. 2018 Maison L'Envoye Pinot Noir Straight Shooter 7. 2017 North Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir 8. 2018 Resonance Pinot Noir 9. 2018 Roco Gravel Road Pinot Noir 10. 2018 Walter Scott Wines Pinot Noir Cuvée Ruth To read Josh's full report and learn about the 2016 and 2017 vintages and the status of the market during these strange times, check out the full article on Vinous now.