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| June, 2009 Membership E-Newsletter |
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It's Too Hot for Shipping
We have suspended shipping for the time being. It's too hot to ship anywhere, by any method right now. Please note: this shipping embargo includes clients with a damage waiver on file, with instructions to ship by ground anytime. Sorry, it's too hot. When this heat wave passes, we will resume air shipments as appropriate.
Sincerely, Pinotguy Bob | |
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Rafting the Rogue
I'm pleased to report that this year's Wine on the River trip was very successful. The water was cold, the sky was blue, rapids were exhilarating, and fun was had by all.
This year's trip was on Oregon's Rogue River. This is a world-famous raft trip, through a steep and deep canyon that is heavily forested and packed with wildlife. It is a designated Wild and Scenic River, which means that there are no motorized boats on the river! The jet boats that plague many prime rafting rivers are blissfully absent on the Rogue.
Of course, we took along plenty of great food and wine. Chef Melissa Williams from Sustainable Table restaurant in Eugene cooked up amazing river food, including a variety of gourmet appetizers like seared Oregon albacore tuna with fresh Oregon wasabi, smoked Oregon sturgeon and more, along with dinner entrees that included steaks, lamb and chicken dishes.
Of course, wine flowed like a river. We started with aromatic whites in late afternoon with appetizers, and by the time dinner was served we were well into the pinot noirs.
Most of the group stayed busy hiking, swimming and kayaking during the day. I, however, slept as much as possible, and was content to lie in the sun and do virtually nothing. It was a good trip.
Keep your eyes peeled for next year's trip, to be announced soon!
Recent Tastings
1978 Giacosa Barolo Riserva: Sweeter than recent taste, superb. After 30 yrs, there are no great vintages, only great bottles. This counts.
1989 Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de Laquiche: DOA, oxidized, short and nasty. Too bad.
1982 Haut Brion: Sweet, layered middle is lengthy; finish ethereal and near endless. '82s are peaking says RP -- perhaps he's right this time. Wow!
1970 Chateau Latour: Sweet, dense, integrated core of fruit, replete w/ cassis, cherries, blackberries, and tar/lead/graphite. 39 yrs! Wow! 1978 Faiveley Chambertin Clos De Bez. Took an hour to open up. Elegant lengthy classy. Aging towards the end with grace.
1978 Ridge Cab Montebello. Can't ask much more from 31 yo CA cab. Drank it all, 'nuff said.
1993 Jadot Clos St. Jacques--peaking! supple, integrated. Drink now.
1982 Altare Barolo: even after 24 hrs decanted, big and brawny. Obviously has the stuff, but too young to drink, try 2014+.
1978 Giacosa Barolo "normale" a timeless masterpiece! Still unfolding at the last sip. Not even the Rocche red label! Now - 15 years.
2004 Patty Green PN Eason - ripe, w/dense texture, integrated not old. Mixed red fruit liqueur-like, but enough acid 4 balance. Now-5 yrs.
2002 Mongeard Mgneret Vosne Romanee Les Orveaux -- drink up! Supple, pure, balanced, and completely Burgundian. Try that, New World!
1999 Fontanabianca Barabaresco Sori Burdin Dense palate, with ripe, evolving fruit and soft tannins giving structure. Now - 10 yrs.
2002 Voillot Volnay Champan - lovely, better with more age. Intense fruit softening, fine tannin left. Xlnt balance.
1996 Latour Corton Charlemagne- the best chardonnay vineyard in the world.Baby fat gone, just intense extract, awesome acidity, stellar length. Forget CA chard.
2005 Schloss Gobelsberg Riesling Urgestein Trocken intense minerality lovely weight and the requisite acidity, perfect with Wilapa Bay kumamotos
2001 Groffier Chambertin Clos de Beze - Not biggest Beze ever, but full of sauvage character in a pretty, pure, integrated wine. Drink!
1988 Eyrie PN - yes 1988. Fully mature w sweet, fat fruit that evolves to leaner pinot w good acidity. Remarkable OR PN does age, believe it.
2002 Pousse D'Or Cuvee 60 Ouvrees GREAT sweet fruit, integrated, long, not mature but xlnt drinking now - top 1er. Not the '93, but . . .
2000 Clavelier Vosne Romanee Hautes Maizieres: V. good, close to xlnt, but an eight year old Burg you won't dump out, for sure!
1997 Giacomo Conterno Barbera. I took this 11 yo N Barbera to a party assuming it was crap. Instead it was awesome! Could age longer, even. It was deep, complex, long
2004 Prager Achtlien Smaragd-WOW! Peaches, citrus, acidity, intense minerals. Stunning now, structure for cellar. Austrian wine rocks! |
 2006 Soter Pinot Noir "Beacon Hill"
Price: $54
Drinkability: Decant now, or cellar
Availability: Good for now
By now, OPNC regulars will know that Tony Soter was responsible for one of the earliest Cult Cabs from Napa Valley (Etude) and that he sold that business and moved to Oregon to make pinot noir starting with the '98 vintage.
But would you be impressed to know he makes wine in a barn? Here's the story from the winery:
"Soter Vineyards wines are made in a refurbished Yamhill County Barn, originally dating from 1943. The barn is located off of Mineral Springs road just east of Carlton, high on a promontory lined with Douglas firs and centuries-old oak trees. Beginning in 2003, we undertook to completely clean out, refurbish, and rebuild the barn to make it suitable for making and raising the wines. We completely cleaned out many years' worth of rather unsavory debris, laid a new floor, rebuilt new walls using winery-friendly materials, and installed a water-filtration system for our use.
"Our winery features state-of-the-art equipment that is uncommon for a winery of our size. We have our own mechanized bottling line, and we do all tirage, disgorgement, and bottling of our sparkling wines in-house, retaining meticulous control over their upbringing. Our modest barn even features a small lab for wine analysis."
Since coming to Oregon, the Soter reputation has rested primarily upon the pinot noir from Beacon Hill Vineyard. But the decision was made a few years back to sell that vineyard, and to focus on the Mineral Springs Vineyard. In fact, this 2006 Soter Pinot Noir Beacon Hill is the last of the Soter wines from that site. (We sent out the '06 Mineral Springs wine a couple of months ago.)
This wine shows off intense and perhaps slightly brambly dark red fruits, with an excellent sappy texture and real density in the mid palate. Minerals and light, ripe tannin provide structure. The finish is long and detailed. This is certainly approachable now, but this wine is typically best with some bottle age - feel free to wait a couple of years, if you want.
This wine was awarded a Wine Advocate 92, with these notes: "The 2006 Pinot Noir Beacon Hill reveals a touch of eucalyptus in its attractive perfume. Darker, denser, and more structured than its North Valley sibling, this well-balanced, lengthy effort will evolve for 2-3 years and be at its best from 2011 to 2020."
 2006 Amalie Robert Pinot Noir "Estate"
Price: $47
Drinkability: Good, but also cellarworthy
Availability: Good for now
Amalie Robert has become one of our favorite wineries, and a favorite of OPNC clients as well. Under principals Ernie Pink and Dena Drews, this dinky producer is crafting some pure, unadorned pinots that really hit the sweet spot for purity and intensity. We sent out their '06 Pinot Noir "Dijon Clones" as a wine club selection earlier this year, and now it's time for the "Estate" bottling!
While perusing their winery literature, I came across a FAQ for Ernie and Dena. I thought it was somewhat different than all the blah-blah stuff I see from other producers, so I'm reproducing part of it here for educational purposes:
How/why did you get started?
We had had enough of the corporate lifestyle. You are at the mercy of the airlines when every project is out of town. There was a lack of quality time together. We were looking for a change, a more rewarding lifestyle.
We attended our first ĄSalud! event in the fall of 1997 and were enchanted by the Oregon wine industry. We met Dick Erath, Dick Ponzi and several others who were very open with us and generous with their time. We began looking for land the following year.
We wanted to take responsibility for a project that was our own. We wanted to learn how to grow great wines by starting at the "ground level", by doing the work and learning the land.
This is one reason we do not purchase fruit, we grow all of our wine. It's personal.
How long have you been doing this?
This is all we can seem to remember ever doing. We happened upon an old cherry orchard in the Spring of 1999. For the previous year or so, we had been researching soils and microclimates as well as barrel tasting specific Pinot noir clones from several vineyard sites with basalt or sedimentary parent material.
We got to know the gentleman who was farming the Montmorency cherries and learned about the orchard. I told him it looked like his orchard was planted on top of my vineyard. We both smiled and the deal was done.
That Spring, he gave us a crash course in agriculture and explained that farm equipment is a special category unto itself. He also taught us to respect the land and that our job was really to keep it in trust for future generations.
We harvested the cherries that summer and began preparations for vineyard planting the following spring. It was Earth day in the spring of 2000 when we had planted our last vine and established the first 10 acres of vineyard at Amalie Robert Estate.
What did you do before this?
We were both involved in the hi-tech world. Now we are committed to agriculture! Ernie was with Microsoft and was stationed in Dublin, Ireland in 1993. Dena was a consultant who was working for Microsoft in Redmond, Washington.
Fate took a hand, and we met up in Ireland for a week. Dena had always wanted an overseas assignment and soon relocated to London. Ernie soon started taking weekends off, and people wondered if he was OK.
Over the course of our overlapping assignments, we had a chance to do some touring. Frequently, one of us would be in some western European city and have the opportunity to stay the weekend. That situation resulted in a call something like this: "Hey, can you meet me in Paris on Friday. I am stuck here for the weekend." Or, "I am staying at the Albatros in Portugal this weekend, can you join me?" Those weekends helped us keep tabs on our sanity.
How did you come up with your name/label?
Our label is the combination of our middle names. "Amalie" (pronounced AIM-a-lee) is Dena's and "Robert" is Ernie's. We had a piece of flip chart paper in the kitchen and brainstormed all kinds of stuff. Those names stayed up about 3 months and anytime we had a new idea, we would write it down.
Finally, we sat at the kitchen table over coffee and decided it was time to decide. We looked out the window at our budding vineyard and then back at each other. That's all it took. We decided to go with the name that reflected the hard work and commitment we both shared, "Amalie Robert Estate."
Okay, back to Bob's personal pontifications. This wine is one of the great '06s left on the market, with darker red fruits sporting black highlights, and pretty acidity supporting a sappy, layered midpalate. Youthful firmness still evident half a year ago has now resolved, and the wine is in terrific drinking condition. Drink, or hold for a couple years if you can.
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PREMIUM CLUB WINES
 2003 Medici Pinot Noir Block I, II
Price: $29 Production: 110 cases Drinkability: Excellent now! Availability: Good for the short term
This new release is in amazing drinking shape right now, at a price that is hard to believe. This are ripe and rambunctious, yet with superb acidic structure. It is beautifully balanced and has exactly the right amount of cellar time to integrate perfectly without showing any signs of excessive age. It defies the fatty goo-bomb character of '03 in delicious fashion. Here's the story.
Hal Medici has some old-vine vineyards on the slopes of Chehalem Mountain. They've been the source of some memorable pinots from Oregon's past.
Sineann's Peter Rosback started making wine for Hal, using that old-vine fruit, back in about 2000. But, Hal does not do a lot of wine marketing. He sells his wine at his own pace. In fact, he still has several past vintages to sell. So, these '03s have patiently waited in his cellar until just recently.
Now, '03 was a ripe, fat vintage lacking in structure. Many of those wines have aged poorly, and are an alcoholic, sweet mess right now. Not so the Medici wines made by Rosback. This wine is fresh, with plenty of acidity, tons of fruit, and has achieved that state of complexity where the wine is integrated but not showing any signs of old age at all. It sports the ripe, rambunctious fruit of '03, but also has impeccable balance. In short, it is excellent. Drink this now.
 2007 Andrew Rich Pinot Noir Cuvee B
Price: $26 Drinkability: Good, getting better Availability: Good now "Denizen" in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary on my iphone is "occupant." But, it is also historically used as "foreigner allowed certain rights in their adopted country." Hmmm. Andrew Rich was originally a winemaker in California, where he worked with Randall Graham at Bonny Doon. He abandoned that locale and was one of the early wine refugees to cross the border into Oregon. He is now a denizen of Oregon in general, and of the Carlton Winemaker's Studio in particular.
The Studio is a winemaking facility owned by the husband and wife team of Eric Hamacher and Lisa Ponzi. The facility is jointly leased by ten wineries who share equipment and space. The building was the first "Green" building in the Oregon wine industry that I'm aware of. Here's a description of the facility, from their literature:
Although there are many palate pleasing reasons to visit The Carlton Winemakers Studio, an important aspect of the facility that draws attention is its "green" construction.
"The first winery registered with the US Green Building Council, The Carlton Winemakers Studio was designed to be compliant with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, promoting a whole - building approach to sustainability by recognizing five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.
"Some of the most intriguing environmental building materials and techniques are the following:
* Below foundation water capture and reuse
* North roof water capture and reuse
* Clear roofing materials
* Daylighting, windows, doors, and hallway
* Night air cooling
* Coal byproduct (fly-ash)/concrete mix
* Recycled mats, paint, office desk materials, roofing metal, carpet
* Non-conventional material uses: sals-walls, curtains, shade
* Reused: counter tops (SS & acid resistant composite), light, concrete, sinks
* Dynamic flow air pocket walls
* Earth berm / below grade walls for natural cooling
The current list of Studio denizens includes:
Hamacher Wines
Lazy River Vineyard
Andrew Rich Vintner
Bryce Vineyard
Domaine Meriwether
Dominio IV Wines
J Daan Wine Cellars
Resonance Vineyard
Ribbon Ridge Vineyard
Wahle Vineyards and Cellars
Alumni
(Note: This list may be out of date; Domaine Meriwether recently bought the old Secret House facility near Eugene, Oregon and is likely no longer in Carlton.)
This 2007 Andrew Rich Pinot Noir Cuvee B is Andrew's entry-level pinot noir. It's replete with bright red fruit flavors, zippy acidity, and has very nice depth and length. In a recent tasting of bargain-level '07s, it stood out for excellent fruit concentration at this price level, and for the excellent overall balance. Andrew has been at the game quite a while now, and the experience shows with this pretty, balanced and tasty pinot noir. Decant and drink now; or hold this for a few months for further integration.
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| RESERVE CLUB WINES
 2005 Cristom Pinot Noir Signature Reserve
Price: $110
Production: 50 cases
Drinkability: Cellar this one
Availability: Only a few bottles left
Cristom winemaker Steve Doerner showed up in the Valley with a huge reputation - after spending 14 years making pinot noir for Calera in California, Doerner moved here with a longer pinot noir pedigree than just about anyone except the earliest wine pioneers. He quickly became a go-to guy for winemaking information. I used to refer to him as the Smith Barney of Oregon wine - when Steve talks, winemakers listen.
Now after sixteen years in Oregon and thirty years as a pinot noir winemaker, Doerner still has more experience that just about anyone else. He also makes an amazing lineup consistently excellent wines that steadfastly resist the fruit-bomb, early-drinking label. Instead, his wines show structure and tend to take a bit of time, particularly "the girls." The "girls" are a set of pinots named after various blocks of the Cristom estate vineyard, including Louise, Jessie, and Marjorie.
Back in with the '98 vintage, a decision was made to bottle the winery's first Signature Reserve. It was a heady time for Oregon wine, with the ballyhooed '98s fetching record prices. In fact, there was a bit of a race that year to see who could sell the first $100 pinot noir. The winner was Patty Green, back when she worked for Torii Mor, when the '98 Torii Mor Quail Hill sold for a hundred bucks a bottle. Archery Summit was close behind, and Cristom was also in the mix with their Signature Reserve.
Now, '05 was a terrific vintage for folks who like pinot noir that will age. There was plenty of structure, and from this perspective it appears like the wines will be long-lived. In fact, most top '05s right now are shut down, biding their time until some future date when they will open back up (note: don't drink your top '05s right now). Combine that with the Cristom penchant for ageable wines, and you will correctly assume that this is meant for the cellar.
How long to cellar it? Well, I drank the '04 Signature Reserve a few months ago. It's still developing, and while it was approachable, it was not fully integrated. Then, about two weeks ago, I pulled out my last bottle of that great '98 Signature Reserve. It was delicious, and integrated, but nowhere near mature; this contrasts with the vast majority of '98s which are mature now and should be consumed.
There were only fifty cases made of this, and we got the largest allocation anyone will ever get. But - we have only got another 15 bottles or so to sell of this wine after the Reserve Club members get one. Cellar this, or try it immediately and call us to grab a couple more.
 2006 Twelve Pinot Noir "Uh Huh"
Price: $58
Production: 98 cases
Drinkability: Wow!
Availability: Exclusive to the OPNC
Great pinot noir is always small-lot pinot noir. A particularly warm block of the vineyard, a particularly good match between clone and soil, fortuitous events in the vineyard and winery - all those things can create a barrel or two of wine that just stand out.
Twelve Winery is a dinky producer (about a thousand cases per year, total) operating out of a joint facility out near Yamhill, Oregon - collectively known as the Yamhill Five or Six, depending on who is where at the time. We had notable success with the 2004 Twelve Pinot Noir Reserve a couple of years ago - it was our sleeper Indie Hit of the Season. Now, Twelve is back in the game with this cuvee, a result of blending just four barrels of wine.
This was all sold out the door, and has not been released in any formal sense. We are getting the last few cases extant, and I'm thrilled to release this first to our Reserve Club members. The wine is not quite a fruit bomb, although it is fruit-centric. The magic comes in the layer after layer of pure, detailed and complex fruit flavors that literally drench the palate, and that continues in waves for many long seconds. It is quite easy to get lost in the nuances of this wine, and literally forget to swallow. The finish is near-endless.
Under many scenarios, this wine would have been blended into a larger cuvee, and lifted the quality of that larger bottling significantly. Luckily for us, winemaker John XXX tasted the special qualities of these two barrels, and that we found the wine before it was nothing more than a historical note in the tasting log. Decant and savor this one over a period of hours.
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Robert Wolfe
Oregon Pinot Noir Club · 1-800-847-4474 |
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