Cristom’s 2022 Pinot Noir “Eileen” is a single-vineyard, estate Pinot Noir from the Eileen Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills, a high, wind-influenced site that crests above 735 feet. The vineyard’s exposure to cold Pacific air and the Van Duzer Corridor is a defining part of the wine’s character, and the winemaking leans into structure and clarity: native-yeast fermentation with about 51% whole cluster, then 17 months in French oak (32% new), bottled unfined and unfiltered. Alcohol is listed at 13.5%, and production is relatively small at about 816 cases.

This is also a strongly reviewed wine, led by two excellent 97-point scores. Decanter (97) calls Eileen “a picture of elegance,” emphasizing a “satiny” texture and “spiced aromatics, wild herbs and bright tart cranberries,” with “blue fruits, wild spearmint and Chinese five spice” and a finish showing “a sweetness of berries and a note of green peppercorn.” That note underscores the herbal, cool-site nuance that can show up alongside the fruit.

Vinous’ Eric Guido (95) highlights polish and lift, writing that it “seduces with a sweetly spiced yet refined bouquet” of “cloves and cinnamon sticks with dusty rose, mint and bright cherries.” On the palate it is “silken to the core and lifted in feel,” supported by “juicy acidity,” then finishing “dramatically long and classically dry,” with oak use noted as “seventeen months in 32% new French oak.”

Jeb Dunnuck (97) frames the wine as deeper and built for time, pointing to the “windswept site where the grapes get thick skins from the wind.” He describes a “more woodsy profile” with “savory saline, brothy feel, tea leaf, toasted spice, and black cherries,” and recommends drinking it “over the coming 15–20 years.”

Taken together, 2022 Eileen reads as an elegant but firmly structured Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir: red and blue-toned fruit, spice and herbs, bright acidity, and a long, dry finish.