2024 Vintage New Arrival Pinot Noirs
Kelley Fox Wines is a small Oregon winery created in 2007 by Kelley Fox along with her father, Gerson “Gus” Stearns. Kelley is a veteran of the Oregon wine scene and has been a full-time, year-round, on-the-floor winemaker since 2000. Her winemaking experience includes stints at Torii Mor, Hamacher, and Eyrie, as well as ten years as the winemaker at Scott Paul Wines. Since 2015, Kelley has happily worked exclusively on her own wines.
After receiving dual master’s degrees in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Oregon State University, Kelley entered the Biochemistry PhD program but decided to later change her path and pursue winemaking. She was deeply influenced by her dear friend and former employer, the late David Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards. David was the ultimate iconoclast who pioneered the Oregon wine industry in the 1960’s. David Lett’s influence has certainly carried over into the style of wines produced at Kelley Fox Wines. The wines are made to reflect the land, the vines, the fruit, the year, and everything else unknown and unseen that comes with those things. They are Oregon wines that display an honesty and transparency that are truly expressive of its origins and place.
Her annual case production is now around 5000 cases, spread out over many different wines. Having worked so long in Oregon, she has access to some of the top vineyards in the state, many of which were planted in the 70’s or early 80’s. These include the historic Maresh Vineyard, Hyland Vineyard, Freedom Hill Vineyard, Weber Vineyard, Durant Vineyard, Dux Vineyard, Carter Vineyard and Canary Hill Vineyard. All the wines are made with a deft touch so as to allow each vineyard to have its voice.
Kelley’s winemaking has evolved over the years to try and create the transparency she is looking for from these great sites (the details of which she chronicles on her website). The small lot fermentations have always been done with all native yeasts and no additions, enzymes, etc. After pushing a high percentage of whole cluster inclusion in her early days, she now does 30-50% for her Pinot Noirs, with gentle punch downs by hand (no pumpovers). Fermentations last around 12 to 20 days, and all of the wines are aged in 100% used, French oak barrels since 2012, down from 30% new oak in her early days.
All that said, the wines are not really “made” at all. Kelley has no end result in mind each year for what the wines will be, but rather lets them express themselves along the way. What she is doing takes a lot of inner and outer work in responding to the essence of the fruit from each block, along with the details of the year (the weather, the stars and the planets, etc. etc.).
Words and photo of the winemaker courtesy of Polaner Selections
New Arrivals Now in Stock:
2024 Kelley Fox Durant Vineyard Pinot Noir
- Regular price: $89.95
- Vinopolis price: $79
- 98+ POINTS -JEB DUNNUCK / AUDREY FRICK “A bright, energetic wine, the 2024 Pinot Noir Durant Vineyard resonates with remarkable purity, offering framboise, violets, sweet tea, sweet orange, and silky tannins. Sourced from old vines, it has extraordinary length, crystalline salinity, and remarkable depth despite its elegance. Nothing here feels lean. Drink over the coming 20 years or more.”
2024 Kelley Fox Shafer Vineyard Pinot Noir
- Regular price: $89.95
- Vinopolis price: $79
- 97 POINTS – JEB DUNNUCK / AUDREY FRICK “From the Tualatin Hills, the 2024 Pinot Noir Shafer Vineyard is bright and vibrant, with notes of orange zest, cranberry, bright roses, dusty earth, and terrific tension. Medium-bodied, it delivers mouthwatering acidity without ever becoming severe, alongside impressive salinity and elegance. Sourced from 1973 plantings in what Kelley calls a magical place, this is a wine Oregon wine pioneer David Lett would likely have appreciated. Drink over the coming 15 years”
2024 Kelley Fox Canary Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir
- Regular price: $99.95
- Vinopolis price: $89
- 97 POINTS JEB DUNNUCK / AUDREY FRICK ”The 2024 Pinot Noir Canary Hill Vineyard pours a transparent ruby color and offers bright aromas of pomegranate, wildflowers, tiny purple flowers, and wild strawberries. Medium-bodied, it has focused tannins, bright acidity, terrific linearity, and tremendous energy and length. Kelley believes this is the finest vintage she has made from this vineyard. The House Block combines basalt with fossilized sedimentary soils containing shells and is surrounded by mature oak trees. Drink this wine over the coming 20 years.”
2024 Kelley Fox Weber Vineyard Pinot Noir
- Regular price: $89.95
- Vinopolis price: $79
- 97 POINTS – JEB DUNNUCK / AUDREY FRICK 97 POINTS “A deeper ruby color, the 2024 Pinot Noir Weber Vineyard carries a touch of youthful reduction alongside darker notes of wild cherry, tea leaf, and refined fruit. Medium to full-bodied, it has greater breadth to the tannins than Kelley’s other Dundee vineyard, moving across the palate with impressive richness while remaining beautifully balanced. Drink over the coming 15 years.”
2024 Kelley Fox Carter Vineyard Pinot Noir
- Regular price: $119.95
- Vinopolis price: $99
- 100 POINTS – JEB DUNNUCK / AUDREY FRICK “From a site farmed biodynamically, the 2024 Pinot Noir Carter Vineyard pours a bright ruby red and saturates the palate with profound depth, ripe, refined tannins, gravelly earth, wild cherry, black raspberry, and remarkable persistence. It carries genuine Grand Cru character, unfolding beautifully in the glass. Sourced from self-rooted vines planted in 1983, this is an exceptional wine. Bravo. Grab it if you can find it. Wow. Perhaps a wine of the year candidate.”