Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir Laurène Dundee Hills 2023

#11 on James Suckling’s Top 100 Wines of 2025, with 97, 96, 95, and 94 points from top critics – it is safe to say that Domaine Drouhin is thriving in Oregon’s Dundee Hills! This Laurène Pinot Noir has become the estate’s flagship – and we scored just THREE cases of this fantastic 2023 vintage! 

Domaine Drouhin was among the first Burgundy houses to lay claim to vineyards in Oregon’s Dundee Hills back in the mid-’80s – over a century after the founding of their now legendary house in Burgundy’s Côte de Beaune. Their reputation has followed them to Oregon, and they are arguably the most successful Burgundy transplant here in the New World. Their claim of “French soul, Oregon soil” certainly rings true in this top bottling – a masterclass in balance, power, and precision. 

Sitting atop a knoll, on a 235-acre estate overlooking the Willamette Valley, their Dundee Hills estate serves as the perfect location to capture the sunshine above the fog, while still enjoying the maritime breezes that moderate temperature and preserve essential acidity. They grow their own rootstocks to be used in grafting and re-planting their vineyards, and their chosen site mimics the very best of their Burgundy holdings in terms of soils, exposure, and latitude.

This blend, named for Véronique Boss-Drouhin’s elder daughter, is a wondrous Oregon Pinot Noir that should develop pristinely for a decade plus, flawlessly. The aromas are spicy and floral – with cinnamon, wild herbs, violets, rose petals, Earl Grey tea, and lavender, followed by inky and velvety flavors of ripe cherries, cranberries, raspberries, dried hay, forest duff, and roasted fennel. The finish is dry, long, and resplendent with an earthy, minerally bite… and plenty of room to grow! Only three cases available, and each bottle is certain to vanish quickly!