Cape Lookout Oregon Pinot Noir
Our fruit-driven estate Pinot Noir is as bold as the Oregon Coast feature we named it for. Since 2006 we are very proud to offer this silky wine sourced exclusively from our own Carlton Cellars Estate Vineyard.
Here on Savannah Ridge in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, our well-drained Wellsdale soils take full advantage of the mild Pacific breeze. Our vines yield bright red berry, deep black fruit, and dark chocolate notes.
Cape Lookout has been recognized and selected by:
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
- Wine Enthusiast
- San Francisco International Wine Competition
- Sunset Magazine
- San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
- Annual Pinot Noir Shootout
- Oregon Wine Awards
- Northwest Food & Wine Festival
- Great NW Wine Competition
- Portland Indie Wine Festival
- Oregon Pinot Noir Club
> See all our awards & reviews.
Tasting Notes
Cape Lookout 2009
- vineyard: exclusively Carlton Cellars Estate Vineyard
- yield: 768 cases
- availability: current — purchase
Carlton Cellars Estate Vineyard, planted on well-drained Wellsdale sedimentary soils, makes its second appearance in the 2007 Roads End. First planted in 2003, it features 777 Dijon on Riparia Gloire rootstock, and Wädenswil and 828 Pommard on both 3309 and 101-14 rootstocks. These vines contribute bright, intense fruit notes all the way from blueberry and black cherry to plum and cassis.
> Download Cape Lookout 2009 technical data as a printable PDF.
WSA Tasting Panel notes:
Bright, pale to medium ruby with pale pink rim. The wine's aromas of watermelon, strawberry, violets and roses are youthful and of medium intensity. The wine is dry with medium body, medium-plus tannin, medium acid, prominent alcohol and medium intense youthful flavors of plum, blackberry, cherry and cinnamon spice. The finish is medium-plus in length.
Notes by the Wine & Spirit Archive (WSA)
Tasting date: February 20, 2011
Previous vintages:
Cape Lookout 2008
Our second vintage produced entirely at our own new winery facility. 2008 was a phenomenal year in the Willamette Valley, and our Estate Vineyard was no exception. This is a great wine!
- vineyard: exclusively Carlton Cellars Estate Vineyard
- yield: 576 cases
- availability: sold out
Carlton Cellars Estate Vineyard, planted on well-drained Wellsdale sedimentary soils, makes its second appearance in the 2007 Roads End. First planted in 2003, it features 777 Dijon on Riparia Gloire rootstock, and Wädenswil and 828 Pommard on both 3309 and 101-14 rootstocks. These vines contribute bright, intense fruit notes all the way from blueberry and black cherry to plum and cassis.
> Download Cape Lookout 2008 technical data as a printable PDF.
WSA Tasting Panel notes:
Bright, pale to medium ruby with pale pink rim. Aromas are youthful, of medium+ intensity, and display concentrated notes of blackberries, black cherries, dried herbs, and notes of brambly wood. The wine is medium+ bodied, with medium- acid, and medium to medium+ tannin and body. Flavors match those of the nose and show concentrated red and black fruit notes backed by brambly, dried wood flavors. The finish is medium to medium+ in length.
Notes by the Wine & Spirit Archive (WSA)
Tasting date: January 4, 2010
Cape Lookout 2007
Our first vintage produced entirely at our own new winery facility. The long, mild 2007 growing season gave these grapes the time to develop to rich complexity and a layered, voluptuous finish.
- vineyard: exclusively Carlton Cellars Estate Vineyard
- yield: 170 cases
- availability: sold out
Carlton Cellars Estate Vineyard, planted on well-drained Wellsdale sedimentary soils, makes its second appearance in the 2007 Roads End. First planted in 2003, it features 777 Dijon on Riparia Gloire rootstock, and Wädenswil and 828 Pommard on both 3309 and 101-14 rootstocks. These vines contribute bright, intense fruit notes all the way from blueberry and black cherry to plum and cassis.
> Download Cape Lookout 2007 technical data as a printable PDF.
WSA Tasting Panel notes:
Bright, medium ruby. Youthful, medium-intense aromas of very ripe, concentrated strawberries, cherries and plums are backed by earthy, foresty notes. On the palate the wine shows medium acid and low to medium tannin with fuller body. Concentrated flavors of ripe raspberries, cherries, and blackberries dominate with woody notes and herbal flavors rounding out the medium to long finish.
Notes by the Wine & Spirit Archive (WSA)
Tasting date: March 16, 2009
Cape Lookout 2006
- vineyard: exclusively Carlton Cellars Estate Vineyard
- yield: 125 cases
- availability: sold out
This, our first Cape Lookout, was a big hit with the Carlton Cellars Connoisseurs Club who previewed and pre-ordered the wine, still in shiners, at the exclusive pre-Thanksgiving 2007 CCCC event. The warmth of 2006 brought out the full ripeness of this excellent wine.
> Download Cape Lookout 2006 technical data as a printable PDF.
WSA Tasting Panel notes:
Nice clear ruby color and medium intense aromas of bright berry fruit, black cherries, liquorice, red candy and notes of toasted cereal grain. Medium to lighter body, medium acidity with soft, silky tannins and flavors of red berries, sweet spice and underlying dark fruit notes and bramble. Balanced finish with persistent spicy notes.
The 2006 is a smoother, silkier wine than the 2005, with both red fruit notes as well as darker notes that are perfectly integrated with the sweet spice notes that linger through the finish. Overall, a more seamless wine.
Notes by the Wine & Spirit Archive (WSA)
Tasting date: Dec. 27, 2007
2005 private bottling
- vineyard: exclusively Carlton Cellars Estate Vineyard
- availability: none (limited bottling, never sold)
Before it was called Cape Lookout, the 2005 vintage made a limited appearance as a private bottling. We include the tasting notes for completeness.
Overall, the Wine & Spirit Archive calls the 2005 "a slightly bigger more robust and slightly more rustic wine. It has a nice earthy, dusty character and intriguing green notes of mint and eucalyptus that play well off of the fruit and spice in the wine."
WSA Tasting Panel notes:
Clear ruby tending to garnet color. Medium intense aromas of strawberries, blackberries, savory spice and green notes of mint and eucalyptus. Wine also has a dusty earthy character to it. Medium body, medium acidity and similar notes on the palate — cherries, blackberries, earth, mint, eucalyptus.
Notes by the Wine & Spirit Archive (WSA)
Tasting date: Dec. 27, 2007
On location: Cape Lookout
Part of the Three Capes Scenic Loop, Cape Lookout is one of the most prominent of Oregon's capes, projecting 1½ miles. On a clear day, the view is endless.
The Cape Lookout label is a detail from a 2008 oil painting by Robert Beckmann, the Ashland-based painter and muralist whose work also graces the Roads End label.
For more about Cape Lookout, follow these links: