Walter Scott

X Novo, Eola Amity Hills, Pinot Noir, 2021

Name: X Novo, Eola Amity Hills, Pinot Noir
Brand: Walter Scott
Price: 78.59 GBP

94/100

Vinous

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Last Few
2021
75cl
DP
£78.59

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Flowers, dark and red fruits over a complex mineral framework, with a core of supple, inviting cranberry and sweet strawberry notes. Texturally compelling, with a supple flow and weave to it; a measured and beautifully balanced X Novo from a great vineyard, whose 15 different clones are all picked at the same time, bringing complexity to the blend. X-Novo is a singular, tiny, east facing vineyard planted by viticultural legend Craig Williams to huge clonal diversity, producing some of Oregon's most complex wines. Fermented with 5-10% whole bunch, layered in the middle of the vat.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

94/100

Eric Guido,

Vinous

The 2021 Pinot Noir X Novo Vineyard blossoms in the glass with seductive sweet florals and autumnal spices complementing vivid black cherry. Its silken textures and brisk acidity impress further, casting polished wild berries across the palate as rosy inner florals form toward the close. It tapers off pure and crisp as stimulating mineral tones add a tactile feel and dusty tannins fade. The X Novo is simply stunning and should enjoy a long, broad drinking window.

drinking window 2025 - 2033

date of review 01/2024

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2021 Vintage

2021 is a classic vintage at Walter Scott, where husband and wife team Ken and Erica continue to turn the dial in their efforts to produce great Oregon Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. “With the exception of the heat dome that hit right around flowering time, this was a vintage that was dry and warm and relatively straightforward” Ken explained. “We started picking on August 21st and continued for 5 weeks. September was stress free, we could harvest at our leisure, plus there was no wine from the 2020s, so you had all the time you wanted AND all the space you needed in winery. Some cuvees were barrelled down before others were picked”.

The wines, as a result, have a measure of precision we’ve perhaps not seen before, with crunchy ripe fruit, fresh acids and plenty of succulence. They bear none of the hallmarks of a warm vintage, and all of the nuance and drive we’ve come to expect from this excellent outfit.

Tweaks in the winery saw all whites being crushed prior to pressing, no sulphur in the press pans, and more solids than ever before taken to tank to enhance the texture and grip of the Chardonnays.

The reds are bittersweet, perfumed and high definition, largely red fruited, with complex mineral undertones and plenty of torque and detail.

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13.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.