Nicolas Jay Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2016

Really lovely cherries and brambly raspberries, graphite and red flowers on the nose, leading to a rich and dark, deep, plush and spicy palate that has a very pure core of satiny, silky fruit flavor. Drink now.

Brilliant red. Highly perfumed, spice-accented aromas of dark berries and cherry pit, with violet, musky rhubarb and woodsmoke flourishes building in the glass. Offers bitter cherry, black raspberry, floral pastille and spicecake flavors that show very good concentration. A snap of juicy acidity provides back-end lift. The cherry and floral notes build steadily through a very long, penetrating finish that's supported by chewy, slow-mounting tannins. (33% new French oak)

Young and a bit chewy, this brings a nicely-layered mix of orange peel, almond paste, black cherry, sassafras and cola, all in good proportion. Those well-integrated components are further highlighted with a streak of iron ore and graphite. The complexity is already impressive, and seems sure to improve with age. Drink now through 2030.