Sometimes great things happen when we find ourselves in a tight spot. That’s where Jim Prosser was three years ago, along with every winemaker in the Willamette Valley, under the deep red sky of Oregon’s 2020 wildfire season, when a massive cloud of smoke lay over the valley just as grapes were reaching optimum picking time. It was an agonizing choice for winemakers across the valley who had spent the season looking forward to what should have been a banner vintage. Many winemakers dumped their crop entirely. Some forged ahead and pressed their Pinot Noir as gently and quickly as possible to mitigate the smoke taint in the wine. This second choice was the first edition of the JK Carriere Clarion, and it had something in it that caught Jim Prosser’s attention, a freshness, a vibrancy that shone bright enough that he elected to try it again the next year, and it has quickly become a beloved part of the JK Carriere set.