Bottle and cork were in great shape. This wasn’t dead but it’s definitely well past peak. Interesting to drink, plenty of acid left but all the flavors are a bit muddled. Great aged Pinot aromas, floral and leathery and dirty, similar on the palate but without enough intensity or focus, and not quite enough structure.
This is my first experience with an older Ken Wright. I wasn’t sure how it would hold up. Really enjoy his wines but they’re also very delicate in my relatively limited experience - that’s part of the appeal for me but maybe they don’t all have the structure to go 20 years. That said, this is just one bottling, and I know Shea’s vines were still on the young side in 1999.
Drink em if you got em, I don’t expect it’ll get better.
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This wine started out barely drinkable. After being decanted for an hour it had improved to being decent but not much above that. We had friends over so drank another bottle after tasting this. After another hour in the decanter we moved back to the KW and all the red fruit and spice emerged turning this into a really good tasting bottle. Some of our group wanted to score this at 90-91.
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Consumed over two nights. Definite bricking. Big, big nose still showing lots of fruit, as well as blood orange, leather and licorice. As it opens, there's almost a Nebbiolo tar and roses thing on the nose here, interesting. Noticable oak on the initial palate, vanillin. The mid palate is very broad, not terribly complex, but broad. Ripe fruit, filling, plush. However, there's a counterbalancing acidic spine that helps subdue the plushness of the fruit. The finish is showing some age as it becomes attenuated towards the end. Was a better stand alone bottle than paired with food (one of those sit and ponder bottles).
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Popped and poured. Good rich color, with faint bricking showing on the rim. The nose is strong cinnamon and fresh fruit with some fun funk on the edges. The initial palate is clean: good fruit. A nice transition to fine tannins and some fresh acidity. The finish is long, with decent complexity. Nice bottle, it certainly isn't getting any better, so drink up if you have it.
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Going strong at year 11. Medium red, nice pinot funk on nose. Residual fruit in good balance with subtle trannins. Nice acidity and smooth moderately long finish. Not quite as delightful as a recent 1998 Shea, suggesting this one may go for even a few more years before hitting, peak. Amazing durability of these Wright pinots. Dead by day 2 (altough the friend I was staying with did not havef a vacuum sealer)
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Garnet color in the glass, slight cloudiness. Nose started with a bit of barnyard followed by black berries, black cherries and some notes of underbrush. Flavors of black berries and black cherries. Light to medium acidity, resolved tannins, medium body. Drink now.
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BYOB at Bistro Maison, McMinnville. Much darker than last two bottles, very dark purple for a PN. Not one of your dainty, elegant pinots, it is full-bodied, with black fruit flavors, layers of complexity, and a huge chewy finish. Easily stood up to steak au poivre. It didn't change a bit over 90 minutes. Unlike the last bottle, which I thought had peaked, this one had 10 years left. I can't explain the bottle variation but this was excellent.
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Opened nicely after a hour or so. Sappy cherry, cranberry, wet slate, resin and strong note of slightly weedy tobacco. The finish has pleasing structure, good length and adds a touch of menthol. Has improved over the last couple of years.
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Popped and poured out of 375ml bottle. Huge perfume of violets, dusty black cherry and smoke that seems more expansive with time in the glass.. This leads into a crisp mouthful where the black cherry takes on a ferrous edge. The finish is not as persistent as I hoped, with chalky fine tannins. This is one of those wines where the nose is sublime and the taste cannot quite keep up. Very complex wine with mineral and secondary notes showing prominence at this stage.
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Very nice nose of flowers and (more predominantly) fruit. The wine tastes a bit oakier than I remember, as if the fruit has diminished but the oak has not. The "other" tastes in the wine are nice, but still a bit unevolved. The wine seems headed towards being "unbalanced" if the oak becomes more prominent. Drink now while the wine is still nice.
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Served with BBQ turkey + usual sides on Thanksgiving day. Still delicious, but it seemed a little thinner/lighter than when I had a this a year ago. I think it's time to drink up.
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A cloudy, bricky ruby color. Straight out of the bottle it showed low intensity raspberry and strawberry fruit with an earthy, cedar edge. Moderate weight on the palate and a little short on the finish. Over a couple of hours the earthiness faded to a dark, forest floor funk and the wine added tar characteristics. The finish also lengthened with time. A so-so showing. To my palate Oregon Pinot is best consumed soon after release or after 10+ years (in a good vintage). In middle age they often seem over-oaked and under-fruited. Maybe just a characteristic of the 1999 vintage?
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Decanted at Waterfront Grill in Seattle. Nearly overpowering nose of raspberries, I could smell it from 3 feet away. Medium body with a palate of strawberries, cassis, and more and more blueberry and cherry as it opened up. Very well-balanced and a 30-second+ finish. Paired beautifully with seared ahi and meuniere sauce. Well-integrated tannins. Drinking very nicely now, but think it will peak in 1-2 years, with at least 5 years of drinkability beyond that. Glad I have 2 bottles left.
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Dark ruby. An interesting and fresh nose of cherry pie, strawberry, bramble, some toast. Medium/light bodied, lively texture, reasonable cleansing acidity. Still very fresh but mellowing presence. Long tailing finish. Very nice wine and not at all over done. I'd compare this to a Jacqueson Rully '04 I recently had more than most other new world Pinot's ... lovely but not overly complex or thrilling.
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The second 1999 Ken Wright I've tasted in the past two weeks, the other one being an Elton. This one is a bit more intense, darker and slightly browner in hue, and with black fruits taking a higher profile. But like the other one, it is admirably structured around a crisp acidity. It benefited from decanting, and on the first night I noticed some pleasant notes of mint and cedar developing after about two hours. Certainly this was an enjoyable wine, but it left me wondering whether there is all that much difference between an aged, terroir-driven Oregon Pinot such as this one and a younger $20 version with a Willamette Valley appellation. Drank with split pea soup and pain de campagne.
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1999 Pinot Noirs; 1/14/2006-12/31/2006 (All over the map...): It's surprising to me, the way that this wine tastes, having tasted through a bunch of 1999 Ken Wright's over the course of the past few weeks. I vaguely remember, being jaded (of couse) with what "Shea" "does" taste like, that this wine is should be, a substantially darker wine than most of the rest of the Ken Wrights, and how different it is than the strawberry flavored Canary Hill. Instead, it tastes like an only slightly darker, slightly more intense version of Canary Hill. Good nose, good attack, slightly hollow midpalate, decent length. Tart red cherries, strawberries, a bit of black fruit, and underbrush. Still a bit unresolved, but less so than I remember the Canary Hill as being a few weeks ago. I'd like it to have more body, and a bit less acid, but that's quibbling. This one is drinking well now.
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Slightly muddy nose but the flavor had a burst of bright red fruit. Not as vibrant as when last tasted 6 months ago. Great balance and excellent with earthy, hearty food. Drink soon.
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Bright red fruit aromas with good perfumed, floral notes, followed with some earthy hints. Same cherry and strawberry flavors, nicely balanced with elegant structural elements. Reasonably long finish. At its peak now through 2008 or 2009.
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(My #1, Group #4) Medium red color. Slightly sulfered red fruit aroma - pale. Richer red fruit with nice balance. Finishes forever. A serious wine - nice. 1/05
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9/28/2019 - OregonLoafer wrote:
Bottle and cork were in great shape. This wasn’t dead but it’s definitely well past peak. Interesting to drink, plenty of acid left but all the flavors are a bit muddled. Great aged Pinot aromas, floral and leathery and dirty, similar on the palate but without enough intensity or focus, and not quite enough structure.
This is my first experience with an older Ken Wright. I wasn’t sure how it would hold up. Really enjoy his wines but they’re also very delicate in my relatively limited experience - that’s part of the appeal for me but maybe they don’t all have the structure to go 20 years. That said, this is just one bottling, and I know Shea’s vines were still on the young side in 1999.
Drink em if you got em, I don’t expect it’ll get better.
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5/31/2015 - blabbott wrote: 89 Points
This wine started out barely drinkable. After being decanted for an hour it had improved to being decent but not much above that. We had friends over so drank another bottle after tasting this. After another hour in the decanter we moved back to the KW and all the red fruit and spice emerged turning this into a really good tasting bottle. Some of our group wanted to score this at 90-91.
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4/24/2011 - oldgrowth45 wrote:
Consumed over two nights. Definite bricking. Big, big nose still showing lots of fruit, as well as blood orange, leather and licorice. As it opens, there's almost a Nebbiolo tar and roses thing on the nose here, interesting. Noticable oak on the initial palate, vanillin. The mid palate is very broad, not terribly complex, but broad. Ripe fruit, filling, plush. However, there's a counterbalancing acidic spine that helps subdue the plushness of the fruit. The finish is showing some age as it becomes attenuated towards the end. Was a better stand alone bottle than paired with food (one of those sit and ponder bottles).
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9/3/2010 - oldgrowth45 wrote: 91 Points
Popped and poured. Good rich color, with faint bricking showing on the rim. The nose is strong cinnamon and fresh fruit with some fun funk on the edges. The initial palate is clean: good fruit. A nice transition to fine tannins and some fresh acidity. The finish is long, with decent complexity. Nice bottle, it certainly isn't getting any better, so drink up if you have it.
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3/15/2010 - kennyg wrote: 93 Points
Going strong at year 11. Medium red, nice pinot funk on nose. Residual fruit in good balance with subtle trannins. Nice acidity and smooth moderately long finish. Not quite as delightful as a recent 1998 Shea, suggesting this one may go for even a few more years before hitting, peak. Amazing durability of these Wright pinots. Dead by day 2 (altough the friend I was staying with did not havef a vacuum sealer)
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11/7/2009 - wineismylife wrote: 90 Points
WIML90
Tasted November 7, 2009 at an offline.
Garnet color in the glass, slight cloudiness. Nose started with a bit of barnyard followed by black berries, black cherries and some notes of underbrush. Flavors of black berries and black cherries. Light to medium acidity, resolved tannins, medium body. Drink now.
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10/11/2008 - Magnolian wrote: 93 Points
BYOB at Bistro Maison, McMinnville. Much darker than last two bottles, very dark purple for a PN. Not one of your dainty, elegant pinots, it is full-bodied, with black fruit flavors, layers of complexity, and a huge chewy finish. Easily stood up to steak au poivre. It didn't change a bit over 90 minutes. Unlike the last bottle, which I thought had peaked, this one had 10 years left. I can't explain the bottle variation but this was excellent.
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8/10/2008 - pgordon62 wrote: 88 Points
Opened nicely after a hour or so. Sappy cherry, cranberry, wet slate, resin and strong note of slightly weedy tobacco. The finish has pleasing structure, good length and adds a touch of menthol. Has improved over the last couple of years.
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7/31/2008 - rmodak wrote: 91 Points
Popped and poured out of 375ml bottle. Huge perfume of violets, dusty black cherry and smoke that seems more expansive with time in the glass.. This leads into a crisp mouthful where the black cherry takes on a ferrous edge. The finish is not as persistent as I hoped, with chalky fine tannins. This is one of those wines where the nose is sublime and the taste cannot quite keep up. Very complex wine with mineral and secondary notes showing prominence at this stage.
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5/8/2008 - jbaron wrote: 89 Points
Very nice nose of flowers and (more predominantly) fruit. The wine tastes a bit oakier than I remember, as if the fruit has diminished but the oak has not. The "other" tastes in the wine are nice, but still a bit unevolved. The wine seems headed towards being "unbalanced" if the oak becomes more prominent. Drink now while the wine is still nice.
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11/26/2007 - Magnolian wrote: 91 Points
Served with BBQ turkey + usual sides on Thanksgiving day. Still delicious, but it seemed a little thinner/lighter than when I had a this a year ago. I think it's time to drink up.
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11/22/2006 - pgordon62 wrote: 87 Points
A cloudy, bricky ruby color. Straight out of the bottle it showed low intensity raspberry and strawberry fruit with an earthy, cedar edge. Moderate weight on the palate and a little short on the finish. Over a couple of hours the earthiness faded to a dark, forest floor funk and the wine added tar characteristics. The finish also lengthened with time. A so-so showing. To my palate Oregon Pinot is best consumed soon after release or after 10+ years (in a good vintage). In middle age they often seem over-oaked and under-fruited. Maybe just a characteristic of the 1999 vintage?
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11/11/2006 - Magnolian wrote: 93 Points
Decanted at Waterfront Grill in Seattle. Nearly overpowering nose of raspberries, I could smell it from 3 feet away. Medium body with a palate of strawberries, cassis, and more and more blueberry and cherry as it opened up. Very well-balanced and a 30-second+ finish. Paired beautifully with seared ahi and meuniere sauce. Well-integrated tannins. Drinking very nicely now, but think it will peak in 1-2 years, with at least 5 years of drinkability beyond that. Glad I have 2 bottles left.
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10/2/2006 - antiwood wrote:
Dark ruby. An interesting and fresh nose of cherry pie, strawberry, bramble, some toast. Medium/light bodied, lively texture, reasonable cleansing acidity. Still very fresh but mellowing presence. Long tailing finish. Very nice wine and not at all over done. I'd compare this to a Jacqueson Rully '04 I recently had more than most other new world Pinot's ... lovely but not overly complex or thrilling.
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2/12/2006 - ifm wrote:
The second 1999 Ken Wright I've tasted in the past two weeks, the other one being an Elton. This one is a bit more intense, darker and slightly browner in hue, and with black fruits taking a higher profile. But like the other one, it is admirably structured around a crisp acidity. It benefited from decanting, and on the first night I noticed some pleasant notes of mint and cedar developing after about two hours. Certainly this was an enjoyable wine, but it left me wondering whether there is all that much difference between an aged, terroir-driven Oregon Pinot such as this one and a younger $20 version with a Willamette Valley appellation. Drank with split pea soup and pain de campagne.
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2/3/2006 - jbaron wrote: 90 Points
1999 Pinot Noirs; 1/14/2006-12/31/2006 (All over the map...): It's surprising to me, the way that this wine tastes, having tasted through a bunch of 1999 Ken Wright's over the course of the past few weeks. I vaguely remember, being jaded (of couse) with what "Shea" "does" taste like, that this wine is should be, a substantially darker wine than most of the rest of the Ken Wrights, and how different it is than the strawberry flavored Canary Hill. Instead, it tastes like an only slightly darker, slightly more intense version of Canary Hill. Good nose, good attack, slightly hollow midpalate, decent length. Tart red cherries, strawberries, a bit of black fruit, and underbrush. Still a bit unresolved, but less so than I remember the Canary Hill as being a few weeks ago. I'd like it to have more body, and a bit less acid, but that's quibbling. This one is drinking well now.
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11/1/2005 - Burgundy Al wrote: 90 Points
Slightly muddy nose but the flavor had a burst of bright red fruit. Not as vibrant as when last tasted 6 months ago. Great balance and excellent with earthy, hearty food. Drink soon.
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6/16/2005 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 Points
Bright red fruit aromas with good perfumed, floral notes, followed with some earthy hints. Same cherry and strawberry flavors, nicely balanced with elegant structural elements. Reasonably long finish. At its peak now through 2008 or 2009.
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1/1/2005 - winefool wrote: 92 Points
(My #1, Group #4) Medium red color. Slightly sulfered red fruit aroma - pale. Richer red fruit with nice balance. Finishes forever. A serious wine - nice. 1/05
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10/24/2004 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 Points
Bright fruit aromas with moderate spice. Strawberry, red cherry flavors. Lots of energy and minerality. Good length has some emerging spice.
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