Kelley Fox Wines is a very small winery I created along with my father, Gerson Stearns.

I have been a full-time, year-round, on-the-floor Oregon Pinot Noir winemaker for 13 years and counting. My winemaking experience includes Torii Mor, Hamacher, and Eyrie. I have been winemaker at Scott Paul Wines since 2005.  

The annual case production ranges from 100 to 600 cases. The first vintage was 2007. There are three wines: the Maresh Vineyard Pinot Noir, the Momtazi Vineyard Pinot Noir, and the Mirabai Pinot Noir. The wines are made Carlton, Oregon.

 

Some Press Excerpts (please refer to "Wines" page for more reviews):

Kelley Fox Wines 2010 Maresh Vineyard Pinot Noir
Review by Paul Gregutt
"Wine Enthusiast"  (March 2013)
Rating : 94
Made using fruit sourced from 40-year-old vines, this elegant and detailed Pinot Noir does not shy away from flavors of leaf and herb. But they are anchored in pure and expressive fruit, with old-vine flavors of bramble and pepper. What is most exceptional is the delicacy and length of this wine, two characteristics shared by all of the Kelley Fox wines. Cellar Selection. abv: 13%


2010 Kelley Fox Wines Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard
Review by David Schildknecht
"Wine Advocate" #202 (August 2012)
Rating : 92
From the block of old vines in this famous site she babies biodynamically, Kelley Fox's 2010 Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard combines lusciously juicy and invigoratingly bright red berry fruit with powerfully saliva-inducing savor of salted, meaty, fat-rich, subtly caramelized pan drippings. Palpably extract-rich, this boasts fine but distinctly detectable tannins (in contrast with the silkiness of the corresponding Mirabai blend) and finishes with resonance and grip, hints of citrus oil and brown spices to its lingering allure. I suspect it will at least merit a decade of interest.

2010 Kelley Fox Wines Pinot Noir Mirabai
Review by David Schildknecht
"Wine Advocate" #202 (August 2012)
Rating : 92
Incorporating two barrels from Momtazi south of McMinnville, but its majority from an old block of Pommard selection at Maresh Vineyard that Fox to a considerable degree personally (and biodynamically) tends, her tiny volume of 2010 Mirabai Pinot Noir delivers bright, fresh cherry and elderberry with piquant citrus oil and cherry pit infusion and a mingling of marrowy-rich, multi-boned underlying meat stock. Silken-textured and terrifically persistent, this evinces a stony finishing undertone that Fox associates with the cool, stony rigors of the Momtazi site, and which sets-off the wine's purity and vividness of fruit in something analogous to the way Mosel Riesling fruit can be set-off by its undertone of slate. At the same time, there is mouthwatering salinity that practically compels the next sip. I suspect this will be worth following for a decade. 


2009 Kelley Fox Wines Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard
Review by Jay Miller
"Wine Advocate" (October 2011)
Rating : 93
The 2009 Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard is sourced from one of the oldest and finest sites in Willamette Valley. Medium ruby red in color, it sports an inviting bouquet of exotic spices, incense, rose petal, cherry, and raspberry. It is a wine of terrific finesse that lasts nearly a minute on the palate. It will be difficult to delay gratification, but if you have the will-power, this pleasure-bent effort will deliver the goods for another 6-8 years.

2008 Kelley Fox Wines Pinot Noir Mirabai 
Review by Jay Miller
"Wine Advocate" (October 2011)
Rating : 92
Fragrant dried herbs and spices, red fruits, and floral notes inform the nose of a velvety, smooth-textured, elegant offering with unusual depth and concentration for the vintage. This tasty offering can be approached now and over the next 6-8 years.


2008 Kelley Fox Wines Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard
Review by Jay Miller
"Wine Advocate" #191 (October 2010)
Rating : 94
The 2008 Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard is sourced from one of the oldest and finest sites in Willamette Valley. Medium ruby red, it surrenders an ethereal perfume of cinnamon, clove, incense, cherry blossom, and raspberry. The epitome of elegance, it also has intense flavors, outstanding depth, and superb volume. Although tempting to drink in its seductive youth, it will have much more to offer as it rounds out into maturity. As I write this note nearly a month after tasting the wine, I can't help but think of Jimi Hendrix' great tune, Foxy Lady.


2008 Kelley Fox Wines Pinot Noir Momtazi Vineyard
Review by Jay Miller
"Wine Advocate" #191 (October 2010)
Rating : 93
Drink 2014-2025
The 2008 Pinot Noir Momtazi Vineyard features considerably darker fruit. Black cherry and black raspberry aromas and flavors merge into blueberry and black currant with hints of toast and violets in the background. It has greater density and structure than the Maresh cuvee but not quite the subtlety or elegance. Even so, it is a large-scaled super-savory offering that will evolve nicely for 4-5 years and have a drinking window extending from 2014 to 2025.


"Wine Enthusiast" June 2010 Issue:

94. Kelley Fox 2007 Maresh Vineyard Pinot Noir (Dundee Hills); $50.00.
This has a surprising amount of vanilla cream in the flavors, plus soft, seductive raspberry fruit. The fruit comes from the oldest part of the Maresh vineyard-38-year-old self-rooted vines. The wine is a pale rose, yet substantial in the style of a classic Pinot from Eyrie. After some hours of breathing it opens with elegant, seductive aromas and some caramel streaks, delicate and perfectly proportioned." -PG

Wine Writer Paul Gregutt's Feature of My Wines, 20 January 2010 (please open the link to read the full article):

http://www.paulgregutt.com/2010/01/return-of-elegance.html

"...What emerged from my conversations with all of these talented people was a sense that elegance and terroir are blossoming in Oregon wines...In addition, many Oregon winemakers are focusing on vineyards with organic/biodynamic grapes, minimal intervention winemaking, creating wines with moderate alcohol levels, and cutting back on the use of new oak. The Kelley Fox wines really exemplify what I am talking about...All three wines have the unmistakable grace of great pinot noir, and the potential to age for many years."

"Portland Monthly", January 2010, Conde Cox:
"...Though wines from Burgundy are the world's benchmark for pinot noir, Cole was wrong in her assertion that Oregon winemakers haven't caught up with their French counterparts. Brisk acidity and an acute focus on minerality are also the hallmarks of modern Oregon pinot noir-especially the 2007 and 2008 vintages. As our vines have aged and our winemakers have honed their skills, Oregon has narrowed the gap with Burgundy:
Kelley Fox Wines 2007 Maresh Vineyard Pinot Noir:...this wine exemplifies perfect pinot noir. Delicately floral yet focused on berry flavors that seem to linger on the palate for hours. "

Beautiful-smelling fields of crimson clover 
with honey bee houses neighboring
Momtazi Vineyard