97 points Vinous Media
Drinking window: 2027 - 2038
The 2024 Chardonnay X Novo Vineyard bursts from the glass with an array of dried flowers and herbs, freshly sliced nectarines and green apples, all elevated by a whiff of mint. It's elegant and deeply textural, nearly weighty in feel yet expertly balanced, with ripe pit fruit and melon tones. A stimulating core of minerals and sharp acidity grounds the experience in reality. The finish is long and intense, leaving nuances of citrus to fade.

Ken Pahlow of Walter Scott described 2024 as a year of reduced yields due to an April frost and a cold snap during flowering, followed by disease pressure, gentle ripening and a later harvest. He added, “Everyone knows I like low yields.” This lineup of Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays balances ripe fruit with minerality over a stern acidic core. Because the 2024s remain tightly wound, the entire range, including the whites, was decanted before this tasting. The reds show deft tannin management and should mature well. Pahlow commented, “I've been increasing the whole-cluster percentage, now around 30-60%. I'm also bottling Pinot Noir earlier to capture the freshness and crunchiness of the vintage.” These adjustments have worked well. Chardonnay has long been the strength of this house and remain the benchmark here, especially the single-vineyard bottlings from Koosah and X Novo. Pahlow added, “The 2024 whites have very low pH levels of 3.1 to 3.18.” These wines show crackling tension on the palate. Also of note, the red wines here have shown steady improvement over the past few years. Walter Scott remains one of the most consistent portfolios in the Willamette Valley.

Note from Vineyard:
In 2010, esteemed winemaker Craig Williams ventured to Oregon with his family and a bold vision for establishing vineyards of unparalleled quality. The Williams’ made a significant impact by cultivating two distinct sites in the Eola-Amity Hills, X Novo and X Omni.

X Novo stands out with a remarkably diverse 20 clones of Chardonnay, intricately woven and densely spaced within the 2-acre block. Situated in the coveted Spring Valley of the southern Eola-Amity, X Novo occupies the edge of the Holmes Gap, where the invigorating Van Duzer winds sweep through the undulating hills. This unique site reveals exceptionally rocky Gelderman clays, intensifying concentration of its wine. In 2021, an adjacent 20-acre plot of land consisting of existing older vines and cultivable land was acquired and integrated into the original site. Walter Scott sources the entirety of the original plantings, harvesting them at the same time and co-fermenting the block in order to show the complexity possible with this diverse crop.