Oregon Pinot Noir 2008

Today's New York Times is reporting about a vintage that has already received plenty of accolades: The 2008 pinot noirs from Oregon's Willamette Valley. I've noted here before that I firmly believe these wines are among the best examples in the world of this notoriously finicky grape variety. And the region has had more than its share of standout vintages recently. But this one, it seems, is striking a particularly passionate chord.

These 2008's are, in general, "consistently top-notch. They were balanced and well-structured by virtue of their lively acidity," wrote Eric Asimov in today's column. "They were full of delicious red-fruit flavors without being syrupy, over the top or, to use the dreaded phrase of wine marketers, 'fruit forward.' They offered the rare combination of fruitiness and restraint. Most of them will be versatile with food. They are 'nonsteroidal pinot noirs,' as [tasting-panel member] Joshua [Nadel] put it."

Click here for the entire article. And then, in the coming year, look to stock up on these wines that represent such fantastic value considering the pleasure they deliver.

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Wine Review Wednesday (on Thursday): Pinots and Chardonnays

Sticking Stateside and nodding in the direction of Burgundy, we feature four exceptional Pinots and Chardonnays this week, each one a standout in my recent tastings.

Stoller Pinot Noir “SV Estate” 2006, Dundee Hills

The utterly intriguing nose here shows almost cherry-cola notes, though it never turns sweet. There’s lots of brambly fruit, almost autumnal in its expression, although it still maintains a sense of transparency. On the palate, there’s excellent concentration: This is clearly a young wine with serious potential. Some of that cola character comes through on the mid-palate, and is joined by hints of sous bois, black licorice, minerals, and flowers. The acid and tannins are in excellent balance, and though this is drinking nicely now--it’s screaming out for food--it should be even better in 7 - 10+ years. A muscular style, with an almost feminine sense of elegance. It evolves with half an hour of air and gains aromatic hints of kimchee and horseradish: Almost like a Gevry-Chambertin or an Echezeaux. Fabulous Pinot.

Hartford Court Pinot Noir “Lands Edge Vineyards” 2005, Sonoma Coast

Very subtle nose, almost smoky and mysterious in character--interesting for a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. It’s showing spicy, higher-toned dark cherry fruit too, and an unexpected whiff of slate. This is very soft on the palate, with lots of grilled mushrooms, mesquite, and sous bois notes. There’s also a touch of meat on the finish, were the cherry comes back, but here in the guise of cherry reduction and coffee grounds. Much of the fruit has melted away at this point, and it’s beginning to turn to something more secondary. Fascinating expression of the appellation. Very masculine. Drink now.

Knights Bridge Chardonnay “West Block” 2008, Knights Valley

Warm, toasty oak dominates the nose right now, but with some air, aromas of preserved lemon, cream, red apple, pear, and tarragon start to peek through. Where this wine really gains speed is on the palate, with its flavors of white peppercorn, dulce de leche, toffee, and hazelnuts. The fruit is sweet and ripe, with echoes of baked apple and cinnamon. This is a young wine, and still needs a bit of time to integrate more fully, but it shows lots of potential with its muscular, creamy texture, lingering finish of spiced nuts, caramel, and kumquat peel, and an overall impression of a wine that will evolve for another 6 - 10 years. Big and delicious.

Knights Bridge Chardonnay “Beresini Vineyard” 2008, Carneros

Much more filigreed and detailed on the nose than the “West Block” bottling; maybe the Puligny-Montrachet to the Meursault of the other one? There’s something more nervy here, more transparent, with intimations of seckle pear, flowers, and a whiff of minerals. The flavors take a nuttier, spicier turn, with anise and fennel pollen, and the oak’s caramel and vanilla are only showing their full potential on the finish for now, where they’re joined by a pleasantly bitter hint of lemon pith that vibrates on the tongue for a good 30 seconds. This is a very well-made wine, exceptionally pleasurable, and indicative of what Carneros is capable of: Power and insistency wrapped in an elegant package. 4 - 8 years.

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Weekend Reading

As the weekend draws near, I wanted to link up some solid wine reading for the weekend.

First, make sure to check out Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s list of Top 100 Best Buys for 2010. As the editors note in their introduction, “At the end of the year we tend to count our blessings and take a minute to appreciate the good things in our lives. Family, friends and health deservedly come first, but somewhere near the top of any wine devotee’s list has to be the increasing quality of wine, available at prices that make regular enjoyment affordable.” It’s hard to argue with that. The list is linked up right here.

For pinot lovers, make sure to read The San Francisco Chronicle’s report on the stellar 2008 vintage in Oregon. Not only are there some real gems to be found, but prices, they say, are beyond fair. The Cloudline pinot noir, for example, which made the Chronicle's list of recommendations, is a steal at $18.49.

Finally, for something a bit more hearty for the cooler nights that have descended upon us here in the east, Eric Asimov’s bloggy rumination on what he loves about Northern Rhone syrah is a must-read. If only we all had access to Cote-Rotie whenever we wanted it...

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Forefront Pinot Noir 2008

The nose here is beguiling, its high-toned notes of black cherry, sous bois, mushroom, and spice heading in the direction of Burgundy but kept firmly rooted on this side of the ocean by its effusive hints of cola. All of this is beautifully balanced, and on the palate, lovely fruit comes soaring through. Cream soda, sweet spiced cherries, juicy, concentrated berry fruit, and a hint of milk chocolate and caramel lead to a finish that turns more earthy yet still stays refreshing. This is a muscular wine that never loses its sense of elegance, and reminds me, in certain regards, of a sort of New World Gevry-Chambertin. Rarely is Willamette Pinot this well-crafted, and this expressive, so affordable.

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Trend Report: Single-Vineyard Bottlings

It’s probably a statement of the obvious, but one of the trends you’ll see more and more of in the coming year is an increasing focus on site-specificity, on bottlings that express the unique character of a particular terroir. And in few places is this more true right now than in the United States, particularly California, Oregon, and Washington.

It only makes sense, of course: As vineyard managers and winemakers continue to understand their land better, they become better able to match it up with the perfect clone of the perfect grape variety, coax out its essence through smart vineyard practices and well-considered winemaking, and create wines that, ultimately, hopefully, only could have come from that unique piece of the earth.

This is nothing new in the wine world--the Burgundians, for example, have known about it forever--but the increasing frequency with which it’s happening on this side of the ocean is an excellent sign.

And, in fact, some of the most exciting wines I’ve tasted in the past year have been from single vineyards. I recently had a chance to sample the wines of Knights Bridge, whose single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons were stunners. Their Knights Valley estate vineyard, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, and Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard bottlings were nothing short of profound. Dutton-Goldfield, the standout Russian River producer, crafts great wines (I love their Pinots) from a number of single vineyards, including Sanchietti and Devil’s Gulch, among many others.

Heading north to Oregon, one of my favorite producers is Bergstrom, whose powerful and often Burgundian Pinot Noirs typically find a way to both be tied to their land and to nod in the direction of a thousand years of elegant Pinot tradition across the Atlantic. Their Bergstrom Vineyard, de Lancellotti Vineyard, and Shea Vineyard bottlings are some of the best this country has to offer. (Their 2007 Bergstrom Vineyard, in fact, was recently named one of the top 100 wines of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle.)

In the end, great wine is often separated from merely good wine by its honesty and by the way it expresses either the vision of the winemaker or the land in which its fruit is grown. When those two come together--well, that’s when the real magic finds its way into the bottle.

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Fire and Pinot

Decanter.com is reporting that “investigators probing a huge wildfire that began at a vineyard owned by Constellation Wines believe a firework used to scare birds may have started the blaze.” It’s wildfire season in California, and, as always, the news is peppered almost daily with tales of acre upon ruined acre dotting the landscape. And, also as always, it is affecting the local wine industry, as well.

The story continued: “Nearly 6,500 acres…of grassland in an area northeast of Soledad were destroyed in the blaze, which started on 27 August and was finally put out on Monday evening.” More details will be posted here as they emerge.

Also this week, The New York Times ran a wine column and tasting-panel report on the Pinot Noirs of Oregon and, contrary to what usually appears in the press, it wasn’t all that exuberant.

“I will say,” wrote Eric Asimov, “that this was one of our more difficult tastings. While we liked many of the wines, very few grabbed and held our attention.

The wines that seemed most balanced and freshest lacked complexity, while those with more going on in the glass occasionally seemed clumsy or unfocused. The difficulty in finding wines that put it all together kept our scores relatively low."

He goes on to describe the differences between the vintages in general (2006 and 2007) and the wines tasted for the article in particular, but his conclusion is not as positive as I would have expected. I’d be interested to hear about readers’ personal experiences with Oregon Pinot Noir in the comments section here. Personally, I’m a big believer in them, and wines at all price points, from Torii Mor to Bergstrom to Antica Terra have given me as much—and often more—wine-drinking pleasure as anything else in recent years.

And speaking of great Oregon Pinot, click here for an excellent interview on Grape Radio with rising star Maggie Harrison of Antica Terra and cult Syrah Lillian. Her story is a fascinating one, and speaks not only to her own history, but also to the future of American winemaking.

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Fiddlehead Cellars Pinot Noir

After tasting the Sauvignon Blancs, I also had the opportunity to taste three of their Pinot Noirs. Interestingly enough, Fiddlehead produces a number of bottlings from both their Santa Rita Hills estate vineyard, Fiddlestix, as well as fruit from specific custom-farmed blocks in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

The Fiddlehead Oldsville Reserve 2006, while still the slightest bit hot, possessed an excellent balance between ripe dark cherries, flowers, licorice, and an earthier funkiness that was just intriguing. There was an addictive glycerin texture to the mid-palate, too, that will make it awfully difficult to lay a couple of bottles of this one down and not pillage them immediately. But some time in the cellar will definitely reward patience, and I expect that, once it sheds some of its youthful exuberance, this wine will evolve into one heck of a bottle of Willamette Pinot.

Heading south to California, the two wines produced from Fiddlehead’s estate vineyard were equally delicious yet in totally different ways. The Fiddlestix “Seven Twenty Eight” 2005 was, simply, darn good. It earthy nose led to a palate bursting with rich cherries, ripe berries, minerals, morels, violets and lavender. The combination of youthful power and dangerously easy gulpability was a result of both its beautifully integrated tannins and exquisitely balanced acidity in addition to the deep well of flavors it revealed with every sip. The finish—a long, graceful interplay of blackberries and black raspberries—was yet one more grace note in this stellar wine that should continue to evolve for another 3 – 7 years.

The barrel selection for the Fiddlestix “Lollapalooza” 2005, on the other hand—only 180 cases were produced, as opposed to 2,200 of the “Seven Twenty Eight”—resulted in a wine that was more elegant but just as deeply flavored. Pretty aromas of flowers and lavender wafted up from the glass, and well-concentrated dark berries left their imprint on the palate. This is a young wine that still needs time to absorb its oak and come into its own. Once it gets there, though, I expect it to be a standout—a rich, perfumed, ever-so-subtly spicy testament to the potential of this great vineyard. It’s fantastic now, but a couple of years should really give it a chance to shine even more brightly.

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