Kelley Fox Wines is a very small winery created by Oregon winemaker Kelley Fox along with her father, Gerson Stearns.
Kelley has been a full-time, on-the-floor Oregon Pinot Noir winemaker for 10 years. Her winemaking experience includes Torii Mor, Hamacher, and Eyrie. She has been winemaker at Scott Paul Wines since 2005.
The annual case production ranges from 100 to 500 cases. The first vintage was 2007. There are two wines: the Maresh Vineyard Pinot Noir and the Momtazi Vineyard Pinot Noir. The wines are made in Carlton, Oregon.
What I love most about Pinot is its transparency. I prefer authenticity and even grit to armchair idealism. Pinot does this. There is something so real about it, for the better or for the worse.
Some Press Excerpts:
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):
"...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. "
"Saveur", July 2008, Sarah Karnasiewicsz (about her winemaking at Scott Paul Wines): "
With
her emphasis on small-yield vineyards and delicately structured Pinots,
winemaker Kelley Fox makes her affection for Burgundy apparent in every
bottle, including the luscious La Paulee and the refined, faintly
floral Audrey."
Close-up of vine trunk in the vineyard block pictured on the right
(photo taken by Jeff Hagen)