The 2021 vintage is already gaining buzz as a Willamette Valley classic, and the stunning new score means this signature bottling from Ponzithe producer Robert Parker called a reference point for American Pinot Noirwill go quickly.

After all, in 1991 no American had ever attended Burgundys prestigious winemaking school before. And when she left with a Certficate Brevet Professionelle dOenologie et Viticulture, she was not only the first American to ever receive the degreeshe was the only woman from any nation to have earned the credential.

But when we visited Ponzis four-story gravity-flow winery last week, she was nonchalant about the winemaking curriculum she was taught in France. After all, her father had been making Oregon's most complex Pinot Noirs, according to Robert Parker, and shed been learning at his side since she was a little girl.

The real value in her two-year visit to Burgundy was the chance to hone her palate on the worlds finest bottles of Pinot and Chard: That was invaluable, she told us. Plus, she made deep friendships with now-star producers Christophe Roumier and Dominique Lafonshe even stayed with the Roumiers while in schooland describes the chance to discuss nuances of winemaking with both of them as a lifelong resource.

These days, Luisa is typically humble about the wines she producesIm making wines like my father, more than everbut her bottles are among the most striking in Oregon, and her 2021 Laurelwood District Pinot Noir is one of the finest examples of the grape weve tasted for under $50.

This is Oregon Pinot Noir with voluptuous charm, a benchmark from one of Americas premier Pinot-growing areas and a family Parker called a reference point for American Pinot Noir. Its a signature bottling for Ponzi, bearing the name of the recently created Laurelwood District AVA, an appellation for which Luisa and her family lobbied for years.

With its unique loess soils, Laurelwood stands apart from nearby Ribbon Ridge or the rest of the Chehalem Mountains, and Luisa credits those soils with lending her Pinots their signature spice and floral tones. Laurelwood is also the Ponzi home base: The familys longtime vineyards are in the core of the new AVA, which after a decade-long process was finally approved in 2020.

In the 2021 vintage, midsummer heat thickened the skins of the grapes before a moderate autumn preserved acidity and tension, producing the kind of Pinot that has always gotten our members excited about Oregon. Its also the initial year this wine was made under the auspices of legendary Champagne house Bollinger, who chose Ponzi as the first winery they acquired outside France.

Luisa loves to serve her Pinot Noir with lambespecially when it's rubbed with herbes de Provence and grilled over coalsciting the wines ability to pair with the lavender in the rub and cut through the fat of the red meat. Later that night, we enjoyed one of her fathers bottles, a 1990 Anniversary Reserve, with burgers and seaweed butter-slicked cabbage at the James Beardnominated OK Omens in Portland, and it was a thrilling match to both. We wouldnt hesitate to serve the 2021 with the same menu, or to declare that Luisas wines areand will bejust as timeless.