Oregon Trip-Day 2

Here and there, Willamette Valley
Tasted Saturday, January 20, 2024 by drwine2001 with 151 views

Flight 1 - Violin Wine with Will Hamilton (12 Notes)

  • 2021 Violin Chardonnay Willamette Valley

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Light yellow. Fragrant orchard fruit. Ripe apple jelly. Sweet fruit, some soil, average acidity. This is missing some mid-palate energy and intensity.

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  • 2021 Violin Chardonnay Sojeau Vineyard Eola - Amity Hills

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Medium yellow. Some lees and oak, much less fruity nose. Nice spicy apple entry that isn't as sweet as the WV bottling. Good soil, but average acidity makes it feel loose and lacking balance.

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  • 2021 Violin Chardonnay Black Walnut Dundee Hills

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Yellow. Complex aromatic mix of tropical fruit and oak. Ripe, sweet attack, glycerine feel, but here there is lift provided by orange peel and stronger acidity. Light wood and soil at the end. The roundest, most complete of the 3 bottled Chardonnays.

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  • 2021 Violin Pinot Noir

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Light ruby. Wintergreen. Light, earthy dull red and blue fruit. Touch of cola, gentle tannins. Good entry level Pinot.

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  • 2021 Violin Pinot Noir Sojeau Vineyard

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Ruby center. Perfumed cherry. Medium weight but surprisingly powerful. Soil arrives first but then sweet fruit wells up before well structured tannins kick in. Excellent young wine.

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  • 2021 Violin Pinot Noir First Man Vineyard

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Light ruby. Menthol and stems on the nose. Medium to light weight. Fluid mixture of soil and lean, dark fruit that has no excess sweetness. Taut, dry tannic finish. Very good but lacks a tad of intensity.

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  • 2021 Violin Pinot Noir Polk County Cuvee

    USA, Oregon, Polk County

    Light, fading ruby. Medium weight, more textural and sappy than the First Man. Some restrained ripe cherry fruit, citrus, and a grippy tannic finish that shows some wood. Young and a little harsh now.

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  • 2021 Violin Pinot Noir Koosah

    USA, Oregon

    Clear ruby. Confectionary red fruit aromas. Medium weight, wonderfully sappy feel. Sweet cherry and blueberry, outstanding acidity, excellent soil/tannin finish. Not a big wine, but glossy and flavorful. The fruit is incredibly seductive. My favorite of the bottled Pinots.

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  • 2022 Violin Chardonnay Willamette Valley

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Barrel sample. Slightly turbid yellow. Medium weight. Sweet apple backed by zesty grapefruit, discrete oak. Intensity dips in the mid-palate. Could be very good.

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  • 2022 Violin Pinot Noir Sojeau Vineyard

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Barrel sample. Amazingly forward fragrance. Gorgeously sappy feel. Deep, seductive red and blue fruit with excellent acidity and framing tannins. Wonderful soil finish. Sexy, wildly delicious stuff, should be outstanding. The Sojeau fruit is totally winning.

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  • 2022 Violin Pinot Noir

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Dull ruby color. Medium weight, slightly lighter than the Sojeau. You feel some wood. Spicy dark cherry, good mix of fruit and herb, not terribly soil-inflected. Roundly tannic finish. Definitely on the more restrained side but also less exciting.

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  • 2022 Violin Pinot Noir Justice Vineyard

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Barrel sample. Light ruby. Some reduction but still floral. Medium bodied, grippier feel, less lush than the other wines. I like the red fruit/soil balance, but the tannins are really grainy and dry right now. Hard to tell where this is going to go.

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Flight 2 - Lingua Franca (11 Notes)

  • 2021 Lingua Franca Chardonnay Bunker Hill

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Toasty, heavily reduced nose. Sappy medium weight, marvelously seamless feel. Rich, leesy pear and tropical fruit. Very good acidity but the amount of wood is off-putting and swamps everything else.

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  • 2021 Lingua Franca Chardonnay Estate

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Obvious oak but less overt reduction. Rich, almost buttery feel with an oaky base. The fruit is less tropical and has more bitter citrus. More lively than the first wine, but the finish is marred by bitter wood tannins.

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  • 2020 Lingua Franca Chardonnay Chers Amis

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Picked before the fires. Somewhat reduced but lively citrus comes through as well. Less hefty, less oak, and some subtle lees creaminess. Brighter bitter citrus, green apple, and excellent acidity. The best of the Chardonnays so far.

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  • 2020 Lingua Franca Chardonnay Sisters Vineyard

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Picked before the fires. Reduced. Maybe a bit sweeter and sappier than the Chers Amis. Light wood imprint, good citrus and acidity, but only average intensity and length.

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  • 2021 Lingua Franca Chardonnay Inspiras

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Some toastiness, lower amount of reductive notes. Nice wood/fruit interplay and balance. Much deeper fruit in the apple/citrus register. Tolerable oak on the finish with slight bitterness. This could be excellent over time if it is able to shed the oak.

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  • 2017 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir Estate

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Light, clear ruby. Tart fruit and stem nose. Medium to lighter weight. Beautiful, striking blue and black fruit with a light soil base and fine acidity. Some back end grip remains. Very good or better with a few more years.

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  • 2021 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir Estate

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Light ruby. Whole cluster aromas. Medium weight. Much more raspy, less harmonious feel. Tangy, less fruit forward, bitter tannic finish. This definitely needs more time, but I'm not convinced by the balance.

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  • 2019 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir The Plow

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Full ruby center. Sweet caramel and fennel on the nose. Medium weight. Sweet and layered with discretely ripe blueberry fruit and a more structured, earthy, tannic back end that provides some bite. Much more pleasing than the 2021 version.

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  • 2021 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir The Plow

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Lighter ruby. Fragrant blue fruit with reduction. Medium weight, crisp blueberry fruit. Good acidity. Grainy, dry tannins that coat the gums.

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  • 2021 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir Petit Géant

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Deeply saturated ruby to the rim. Strongly stemmy. Medium+ weight, very sappy. Deep, ripe, sweet blue and black fruit, a dash of herbs, excellent acidity, and mouth filling, round tannins. Excellent, complex, and full of soil, but this speaks more of Syrah than Pinot. It should age well for decades. So different than any of the other reds we were shown.

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  • 2021 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir Mimi's Mind

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Light dull ruby. Fragrant wintergreen and fennel. Flowing, medium weight, spicy blueberry and citrus. Gentle soil base, subtle application of oak, and moderate well integrated tannin. Elegant and much less of a punch in the face than the Petit Geant. Already drinking very well. This is a beauty and clearly the best red wine we tasted here.

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Flight 3 - Dinner at Joel Palmer House and an After Dinner Treat (4 Notes)

  • 2010 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot

    France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

    Medium yellow. At first, ripe orchard fruit and vanilla on the nose, then with air more saline/iodine emerged. Fabulous enveloping texture, outstanding acidity that exceeded that in the 2010 Vaillons last night. The rich pear fruit became more lemony over time, and it veered more toward a typical Chablisien profile. Superb and still embryonic.

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  • 2002 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru

    Medium ruby core with fading. Right out of the bottle, captivating aromatics-sweet red fruits, violets, menthol, and spice. Gorgeous midweight feel with perfect ripeness of the red fruit, a touch of soil, complicating herbal tones, perfectly titrated acidity, and soft round tannins. Long, fading finish. Over time, the stem notes became more peppery and dominant, and the wine became more clenched. Outstanding without doubt, but for me the bottle was at its best before the 2 hour mark, after which it lost some of its incredible silkiness and harmony.

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  • 2001 Joseph Drouhin Musigny

    France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Musigny Grand Cru

    Light ruby with tawny rim. Surprisingly ripe, almost candied red fruit complemented by light higher toned green notes and subtle stem inclusion. Medium weight, beautifully flowing, very fine acidity and light remaining tannins. I loved how this evolved in the glass, with the burst of fruit and citrus receding to the background, yielding to and supporting a beautiful core of soil which carried through from beginning to end. Ultimately, this is more about the subtle earth and savory elements than the fruit. Movingly complex wine at an almost perfect point in time.

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  • 1993 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Laurène

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Ruby color most of the way out. Leafy, green tea nose. Medium weight. Plenty of remaining mixed dark red and black fruit that is impressive and still has some sweetness. Excellent soil and acidity, but rustic tannins that impart some bitterness to a shorter finish. Very good overall and so interesting to drink this after having the 2001 Drouhin Musigny earlier this evening.

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