INSIDER DEAL! Willamette Valley Vineyards Founders' Reserve Pinot Noir

A $45, perfect 10 Pinot at a special Insider Deal price, the Willamette Valley Vineyards Founders' Reserve Pinot Noir.

One of the first wines we ever reviewed on this site (10 years ago this month in fact!) was the 2008 vintage of the Willamette Valley Vineyards Barrel Select Pinot Noir. This was an entry level Pinot developed just for Costco and it still cost around $17 at the time. While it was amazingly smooth and delicious it also opened my eyes to just how hard it was going to be to find quality Pinot Noir under $20, especially from Willamette Valley.

Then a few years later I was invited to New York for a special tasting with a number of Oregon producers, including Jim Bernau, founder and winegrower of Willamette Valley Vineyards (WVV) and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. It was there I was able to taste a number of WVV's higher end (and higher priced) Pinot Noirs.

While we often find that the higher end wines of many wineries just don't deliver enough bang for the buck (i.e. $20 more only gets you a small increase in taste/quality, a poor trade-off in my book) that was not the case with these wines. Ever since we've sought them out for our own enjoyment when finances allow.

And so it was recently when we were thinking about wines we would love to offer to our audience that our mind turned to Willamette Valley Vineyards. While WVV doesn't normally participate in discounting (they have plenty of demand for their wine even at full price) I decided to reach out to Jim Bernau to see if they might have interest.

It turns out that while their wine is flying off the shelves they did have one wine they would be willing to offer to our audience as it is primarily used in their restaurant program which, of course, has been negatively impacted by the pandemic. We gave it a try and immediately fell in love. As such today we're quite delighted to present to you the 2018 Willamette Valley Vineyards Founders' Reserve Pinot Noir at a special Reverse Wine Snob only price for 1 day!

Yes, this one is still a splurge but with an SRP of $45 from the winery (and who knows what price on a restaurant list) this is quite a deal especially after factoring in our super low $5 shipping.

Today's 1 day deal gets you 3 bottles of the WVV Founder's Reserve Pinot Noir for $84.99, or $28.33 a bottle. That's a savings of almost $17 a bottle.

Add in the savings from our $5 shipping and you're saving over 40% on this premium Pinot!

This 3-pack deal is available to ship to the following states: AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, KS, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, ND, NE, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WI and WY. (These states are dependent on the individual licenses of the offering winery. Future deals may have more or less states available.)

This is a limited time, winery direct offer facilitated by our friends at Wine Country Connect. Sale ends Tuesday 2/2 at noon (PST) unless it sells out sooner. Shipping is a flat $5 per order no matter how many 3-packs you buy.

Clicking on the buy button above will take you to the site winedealmaker.com for checkout. If you don't see the embedded buy box click here to order. Once there you can also adjust the quantity of 3-packs in your order by using the "Click To Update Cart" link at the top of the screen.

This Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a blend of different clones - 113, 114, 115, 667, 777, Pommard and Waldenswil to be exact. The wine was aged 9 months in oak barrels, 30% of which were new French oak. In a nice touch, even more technical details can be found on the back label including soil types.

Just 240 barrels (6,000 cases) were produced.

From the bottle:

Willamette Valley Vineyards was established in 1983 by a dedicated group of wine enthusiasts committed to the dream of building a world-class winery in Willamette Valley focused on producing among the highest quality Pinot Noirs while being good stewards of the land. As a tribute to these individuals, we have created Founders' Reserve, a special blend of Pinot Noir. We invite you to join us as Owners to be a part of the Oregon wine industry and enjoy the rewards of creating this future together.

Jim Bernau, Founder/Winegrower
Joe Ibrahim, Winemaker

Produced & Bottled by Willamette Valley Vineyards
14% Alcohol

The 2018 Willamette Valley Vineyards Founders' Reserve Pinot Noir begins with a wonderful, inviting aroma of red and black cherry along with hints of cranberry, strawberry, licorice, some lovely notes of dried herbs plus a little cola and black tea and even some earthiness and floral notes. There are lot of layers to explore here so take your time as you swirl.

Taking a sip reveals lovely juicy fruit notes in this dry wine that also features well integrated touches of oak and velvety tannins. All of those wonderful, varied flavors from the nose also make an appearance in the mouth and the whole thing gets even better with some time in the glass. This is a smooth, savory and really delicious light to medium bodied Pinot.

The wine ends dry, quite long and persistent. I love it and it gets a perfect 10 on our taste rating scale.

And here's what people are saying about our previous Insider Deals:

"My wife and I have really enjoyed getting to know new wines (and better than we used to buy!)​ Thanks for what you do and providing this service!​"

"The wine is outstanding. I am so glad I bought a case."

"Jon, I should have bought more! Delicious!!"

"thanks for the deal...this wine is spectacular for $12.50/bottle. I am used to buying big, bold, young cabs or old vine zins and paying considerably more multiples of this price."

"Just got my 6 bottles and having my first glass. WHY, WHY didn't I buy a case??!!"

"Hi Jon, just had to let you know that I love this wine!!!! Thanks for doing what you do."

"Jon - you have to stop offering all of these amazing deals. My self discipline is fading fast!!"

"I recently took advantage of your offer. So glad I did, and now sorry I did not buy more (like all those quotes on your website!)"

"I have purchased many times over the last several months and loved the wines!"

"Seriously amazing deal!!! I love a bold red, and Reverse Wine Snob delivered!!! Perfect for a rainy night!!"

"AMAZING!! Damn, I should have bought a CASE!!"

"WOW. Just... wow. Absolutely delicious. If I knew it was going to be this good, I would have bought a case... or two. This was dead-center in the sweet spot of what I like. Thank you!!"

"I have loved all my RWS deals, can't wait to get this one."

"Wow! That was amazing! Thank you!"

"I finally opened a bottle of this and it did not disappoint. Delicious!!!"

"Thanks for a great service! We’ve been loving your emails and wine deals!"

"This insider deal is a great wine!!! So glad I got it!!"

"My Insider Deal arrived just in time for my celebration tonight and it’s absolutely delicious! Cheers!"

"Wish I had doubled my order!"

"Wow - this wine is amazing!!! Glad I have two more bottles of it!!"

"Bought a case wish I had purchased 2-3 cases. Fantastic buy for the price."

"This Insider Deal was the best ever. This wine is amazing!!! Strongly recommend."

Grab this deal while you can!