2004 Oregon Pinot retrospective

Lou Rad's
Tasted Friday, December 18, 2009 by Loren Sonkin with 677 views

Introduction

Last night I went over to my friend and BBer, Lou Rads, for his annual 5 year retrospective on Oregon Pinot Noir. We each bring a bottle from our cellar that is from the vintage five years prior. This year was 2004. The wines were consumed blind over the course of 3 hours. Breads and cheeses were served.

Flight 1 - A couple of blind whites to start the evening: (2 Notes)

  • 2005 Witness Tree Vineyard Chardonnay Vintage Select 78 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    How do you guess at a bottle that only shows oak. Well, first you guess on them: Oregon. Then color: Pinot Gris or Chard. Then? It was so devoid of any fruit, flavor or anything that I thought Pinot Gris. But, it had so much oak, that I couldn't imagine anyone doing THAT to a Pinot Gris. Probably Chard. But, who really cared. This was like taking some water and adding oak chips and "mega-yellow" :-) for color. After a few hours, the oak was a bit mroe subdued, but there was nothing else. I can only assume this should have been drunk a few years ago.

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  • 2004 Sineann Riesling Medici Vineyard 91 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Deep gold in color. The nose has some slight petrol and some lemon lime ntoes. On the palaate, there is decent acidity. Lemon-lime flavors. Long finish. This got better with air. This is holding up fine and a great example of an Oregon Pinot. More like a Kabinett style IMO.

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Flight 2 - The 2004 Oregon Pinot Flight (8 Notes)

The group was pretty unanimous in their top 2 wines. What I found interesting was every wine recieved a number 3 vote except one and that got 3 #4 votes. So while the top quality was unanimous, after that individual biases really played a part.

  • 2004 Beran Pinot Noir 80 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    The group liked this better than I. Pale, thin, ruby in color, clear and bright. The nose is nice; spry with christmans spice and cherries. Thin on the palate. Dilute. Soft. Cherries with a bitter finish. This seems so weak and simple. I was surprised other liked it more than I.

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  • 2004 Cristom Pinot Noir Louise Vineyard 88 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills

    Ruby in color, clear and bright. The nose has a bit of dill. Lots of cherries and a bit of candied cherries. On the palate, this turn more to cough syrup. Some alcohol (more than heat) on the finish. Somewhat disappointing but probably more a factor of the vintage.

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  • 2004 Westrey Pinot Noir Abbey Ridge 85 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills

    Ruby in color, but looking older and dull. The nose had cherries and cherry cola/Kool-aid. With air some macerated cherries. Also a strong component of sweaty socks (which we now all know as Lou's brother's Tom's BO). On the palate, this has bright fruit but turns sweet. Cherries mostly but some candy.

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  • 2004 Carabella Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 89 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Deep ruby in color with some purple swirls. The nose has cherry cola, cloves and some licorice. This is complex and drinks more like an RRV Pinot. Long finish. I liked this especially on my first time thru the lineup. When others opened, however, this seemed to fade a bit. Still good, but I don't know where this is heading from here. To be fair, I don't think many of these are long term agers.

    BTW, last year we opened the tasating with a Pinot Gris from this producer. This was a much better wine IMO.

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  • 2004 Sineann Pinot Noir Resonance Vineyard 92 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    Sineann continues to dominate these tastings from year to year. This was the WOTN with 6 out of 8 first place votes and high finsihes from the others. Ruby in color, slightly purple, shimmering bright. The nose has cherries, slightly earthy and complex. On the palate, plenty of cherries with some mint on the attack. A bit hollow on the mid palate the first go around, with air it fleshed out and smoothed out. This is drinking quite well and while there is no hurry, I doubt it gets better from here either.

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  • 2004 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard 91 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton

    Ruby in color, clear and bright. The nose is earthy with cherries. This is bigger than I would have expected. Comples with cherries and sweet black licorice notes. Long finish. The groups #2 WOTN easily.

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  • 2004 Cloudline Pinot Noir 88 Points

    USA, Oregon

    I liked this wine far more than the group. I did think it fell apart after an hour or more. Purple/ruby in color with some dark brown swirls. There wasn't much on the nose at first and then it developed some funk which I liked. Some cherries. Solid cherry fruit on the palate. This is upfront and simple but no cola, no sweet fruit. I liked it as much for what it wasn't than what it was. It was the groups last place wine.

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  • 2004 Bergström Pinot Noir Broadley Vineyard 87 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    A relatively poor showing, this wine had just flown in (and boy were its arms tired ;-) ), so travel shock may have had something to do with it. Slightly light ruby in color. The nose has some earthy cherries. Soft in texture. Cloyingly sweet on the palate. It got better with air, but never got great.

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Flight 3 - A couple or more: (2 Notes)

Lou went down to his cellar and opened a couple more bottles:

  • 2004 Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir Croft Vineyard 91 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    This is a big wine. Ruby/puplre, mostly opaque and bright. The nose has cherries, cola, and a bit of earthiness. It tightened up after about twenty minutes in the glass. Plenty of cherries and ripe fruit. Silky texture. This was very good and surprisingly big and ripe for the vintage.

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  • 2002 Panther Creek Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard 91 Points

    USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

    The vintage difference really did seem to stand out. This had some barnyard on it, the only one of the night. Also some dark cherries. A big wine. On the palate, cherries, leather and chocolate covered cherries. Also the only wine with any tannins to mention. Still not at maturity, this will improve.

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