So you’re looking for a sweetheart. Love at first sight. Someone to spend the night with, someone to spend the rest of your life with. You may have married the love of your life and have three children, and your heart is still hoping to burst forth this Valentines Day.

As it is with man and woman, so it is with wine and Pinot Noir. Pinot has been called the heartbreak grape. The finest Pinot Noir wines are grown and produced in only a few, relatively small areas of the world. It’s hard to find the right spot and climate, what the French call terroir, that will grow the finest, most elusive wines. And every once in a while you find a wine that stops you in the middle of dinner and says something unforgettable to you. These moments, these places, are special.

Like any relationship worth it’s salt, the grape has a need to be married to the right location. And it is only when these conditions are met, that the marriage flourishes. The Willamette Valley and Pinot Noir are the perfect match. To the West of Salem is the newly created Eola-Amity Hills AVA. It extends from the Amity Dayton Hwy in the North, to Hwy 22 in the South; and nearly all the land from Hwy 99 in the West to Hwy 221 in the East. Set in the hills of this region, it is now nationally recognized as a unique grape growing region.

Throughout the ages, most red wine has been referred to in masculine terms. Few red wines rate feminine descriptors. Pinot Noir is one. Silky, smooth, soft, sensitive, light, and floral are some descriptors of Pinot Noir. This is not to say that Pinot Noir cannot also on occasion have masculine characteristics such as assertive, bold, dark, and strong.

While wondering what to do for a significant other on February 14th, we keep our feet on the ground, nose in the barrel and head in the clouds.

If it’s a wine you’ll buy to celebrate the day, and it’s masculinity your looking for, purchase a 2006 Pinot Noir. For a more elegant, graceful Pinot, sample a 2007.

Enjoy the journey and the search for that perfect match. For those of us who live in the Willamette Valley – we may not have to look far.

David Lloyd-Jones is the winemaker, vineyard specialist and owner of Bryn Mawr Vineyards in Salem, Oregon.