| Vintage Name Variety | Publication Reviewer Score More... | |
|---|---|---|
| Red |
2007 Chehalem Pinot Noir ReserveWillamette Valley more |
Full Pull, Paul ZitarelliFull Pull Library Pinot (5/16/2018) Hello friends. We have a very cool opportunity for our list members today: the chance to access Oregon Pinot from a classic producer, at more than a decade past vintage, and at more than 30% off its $60 release price:The 2007 vintage in the Willamette was fascinating. Many (unfairly) wrote it off at the time because of the copious amounts of rain around harvest time. But then a few years later the Pinots started getting released, and lo and behold, many of them were excellent. Harvey Steiman in Wine Spectator ended up giving the vintage a “B” rating; not an A+, but also not worthy of being ignored, which is what many folks did. It highlights, I think, the difference between a bad vintage and a challenging vintage. 2007 was challenging. It wasn’t necessarily easy to make great wine (for that, look to 2008), but it was possible. And most of the winemakers who made great wines from ’07 were experienced; folks who had been through rainy vintages before and knew that the trick was not to panic-pick, but instead to wait it out. Harry Peterson-Nedry founded Chehalem Vineyards in 1990, so yeah, he was one of those experienced folks who remained calm in 2007, and the results have been exquisite. I loved Chehalem’s whole lineup of 2007 Pinots right from the start. They were perfumed, ethereal, evocative. I socked a bunch of them away in my little pantry-turned-cellar and have been subsequently drinking them down over the years. Recently I did a count, and I was down to just two bottles, so I reached out to the winery to see if they had any ’07 in the library. As it turned out, they had more than enough for my personal needs, and even enough to offer the Reserve Pinot Noir to our list. Lucky us! The Reserve is Chehalem’s flagship Pinot Noir, always a selection of their very best barrels. In 2007 it comes predominantly from Ridgecrest (82%) with the remainder from Stoller. This was done with about 20% whole clusters and about 40% new French oak. Listed alc is 13% even. We recently cracked a bottle in the warehouse, and it was in a terrific point in its evolution. The nose combines fresh fruit (red plum, cherry) with dried strawberries and dates. Tertiary notes of earth and dust and mushroom abound. There is something wonderfully leafy about the fruit quality here. And this is a textural knockout, with a jolt of electric acidity still humming along through a mouthful of seriously intense fruit. I wouldn’t be concerned opening a bottle any time in the next five years; it still has plenty of road to run. What a rare pleasure, getting to check in on well-made Oregon Pinot moving gracefully towards maturity. |
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