Our penultimate bottle, popped and poured while cleaning up after dinner. Touch lighter at the meniscus but otherwise still with a deeply colored core. A hint of sulfur at the outset blows off leaving black cherry and typical Cameron funk. There’s a touch of rose hip and violet underneath as well. Medium-bodied, with a round, soft yet mouth-filling texture and flavors of baked cherry, red plum, herb and violet liqueur. Finally, a bottle that delivers the goods. 90+ pts.
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Popped and poured. Black cherry, cinnamon and just a bit of funk underneath. Medium bodied, with abundant black cherry fruit. Finishes well. 87-88 pts.
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Purple color. Cherry fruit and undercurrent of funk. The alcohol still seems a little obtrusive for something that's labeled as 13.3% but it seems more integrated than last time. Has the house style, and has the structure to hold for several more years, but I'm not sure it will get that much better. There's a slight harshness in the finish (kind of a tannic astringency). It's the least expensive PN in their line up of (at least) 7 wines and it seems to be the wine you drink on release (and for a couple of years) while the other wines sit in the cellar. Good, true to the house style, a nice weekday wine, but certainly less compelling than his other bottlings. If you can spend $4 more for the Ribbon Ridge cuvee or $8 more for the Dundee Hills cuvee, you jump up considerably in quality (you go from "good" to "great"). If this was the first Cameron wine I tasted, I would wonder about the hype (although the house style and the funk are there). Again, solid, every day wine, but doesn't really even hint at the quality of the other wines and as a result seems a little disappointing.
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Dark berry, dark cherry, some funk, spice, some pepper. Some alcohol in the nose (label says 13.3%). Typical Cameron house style with a hint of matchstick/sulfur. Finish is a bit rough with somewhat drying tannins, and a bit of short finish. Reasonable for the price.
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Cherry and earth on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied. A bit of sulfur on the nose and palate, though not as bad as the last bottle. A disappointing effort from JP.
These bottles endured quite a saga due to shipping company screw-ups, leading to breakage of 4 bottles from the case, and eventually shipped over 4,000 miles in warmer-than-ideal conditions. That said, there were no raised corks or signs of seepage, and no stains from the broken bottles on the 8 healthy ones. Nonetheless, these are marked for earlier consumption due to potential heat exposure. So how was it? Really good actually!
Still showing quite young, no signs of advancement in this first bottle. As is the case with the WV bottling, this wine showed forward, fresh red fruit, lower tannin than the regional designates or upper tier wines, good acidity, and some forest floor, autumnal complexity. Not particularly funky, but a lot going on as can be expected from Cameron. While a "forward" wine, still not giving everything, even over two nights. A really good year for Cameron WV, following up on the really excellent 2016 version. My experience with those wines was that I drank them all too fast, and the last was the best (only had six though). So despite my prediction to move these up, I won't rush too greatly unless I see signs of concern develop in subsequent bottles.
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Lots of berry up front and then a transition to earthy flavors with some mineral and pepper. It will be interesting to see how this vintage settles down over the next couple of years. A good deal for $22.
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Crunchy and delicious. Real funk on the nose upon opening. It blows off a bit pretty quickly, but I liked it. This is young, but I thought it got less interesting with several hours of air - I'd drink this as a PnP. But I'm sure this could also cellar for a while.
There are an increasingly number of very good Willamette Valley pinot noirs in the $20-23 range, at least here in Oregon. This one is less about pure fruit - in contrast, to, say, the extremely precise Ken Wright WV bottling - and more about earthy, brambly flavors. I for one really enjoy it, but it's a bit rustic in the sense that it's not as *focused* as some others at this price point.
That said, it's great to be able to offer that up as a criticism of a $20 PN. This is very good, and if you like Burgundy you should drink it.
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2/3/2024 - AllRed wrote: 90 Points
Our penultimate bottle, popped and poured while cleaning up after dinner. Touch lighter at the meniscus but otherwise still with a deeply colored core. A hint of sulfur at the outset blows off leaving black cherry and typical Cameron funk. There’s a touch of rose hip and violet underneath as well. Medium-bodied, with a round, soft yet mouth-filling texture and flavors of baked cherry, red plum, herb and violet liqueur. Finally, a bottle that delivers the goods. 90+ pts.
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5/8/2022 - AllRed wrote: 87 Points
Popped and poured. Black cherry, cinnamon and just a bit of funk underneath. Medium bodied, with abundant black cherry fruit. Finishes well. 87-88 pts.
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5/10/2021 - wlsch Likes this wine: 88 Points
Purple color. Cherry fruit and undercurrent of funk. The alcohol still seems a little obtrusive for something that's labeled as 13.3% but it seems more integrated than last time. Has the house style, and has the structure to hold for several more years, but I'm not sure it will get that much better. There's a slight harshness in the finish (kind of a tannic astringency). It's the least expensive PN in their line up of (at least) 7 wines and it seems to be the wine you drink on release (and for a couple of years) while the other wines sit in the cellar. Good, true to the house style, a nice weekday wine, but certainly less compelling than his other bottlings. If you can spend $4 more for the Ribbon Ridge cuvee or $8 more for the Dundee Hills cuvee, you jump up considerably in quality (you go from "good" to "great"). If this was the first Cameron wine I tasted, I would wonder about the hype (although the house style and the funk are there). Again, solid, every day wine, but doesn't really even hint at the quality of the other wines and as a result seems a little disappointing.
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1/11/2021 - sleepyhaus wrote:
Quite dark and primary still. My last bottle, but ideally this should be held for another year or two at least.
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7/14/2020 - wlsch Likes this wine: 88 Points
Dark berry, dark cherry, some funk, spice, some pepper. Some alcohol in the nose (label says 13.3%). Typical Cameron house style with a hint of matchstick/sulfur. Finish is a bit rough with somewhat drying tannins, and a bit of short finish. Reasonable for the price.
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6/17/2020 - AllRed wrote: 75 Points
Cherry and earth on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied. A bit of sulfur on the nose and palate, though not as bad as the last bottle. A disappointing effort from JP.
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6/7/2020 - dsgris Likes this wine: 89 Points
Dark ruby with blue fruit nose and light funk on opening, dry with noticeable acid, medium fruit, nicely balanced toward the tart sid on night one.
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3/26/2020 - sleepyhaus wrote:
Wow, this is drinking really well now. Much better than last time around. Good weight and acid, really liked it.
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2/12/2020 - dsgris wrote: 88 Points
Light to medium ruby garnet, lavender nose. Dry with tart fruit with a hint of bitter, some tingle on the tongue on opening.
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12/14/2019 - AllRed wrote: flawed
Walk around format, brief note. An initial burst of black cherry and Cameron funk is quickly overwhelmed by sulfur.
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11/4/2019 - sleepyhaus wrote:
These bottles endured quite a saga due to shipping company screw-ups, leading to breakage of 4 bottles from the case, and eventually shipped over 4,000 miles in warmer-than-ideal conditions. That said, there were no raised corks or signs of seepage, and no stains from the broken bottles on the 8 healthy ones. Nonetheless, these are marked for earlier consumption due to potential heat exposure. So how was it? Really good actually!
Still showing quite young, no signs of advancement in this first bottle. As is the case with the WV bottling, this wine showed forward, fresh red fruit, lower tannin than the regional designates or upper tier wines, good acidity, and some forest floor, autumnal complexity. Not particularly funky, but a lot going on as can be expected from Cameron. While a "forward" wine, still not giving everything, even over two nights. A really good year for Cameron WV, following up on the really excellent 2016 version. My experience with those wines was that I drank them all too fast, and the last was the best (only had six though). So despite my prediction to move these up, I won't rush too greatly unless I see signs of concern develop in subsequent bottles.
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7/13/2019 - 560 B&W Likes this wine: 87 Points
PnP with steak. A bit too much oak. 13.5%
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4/5/2019 - SaraCorky wrote: 89 Points
Lots of berry up front and then a transition to earthy flavors with some mineral and pepper. It will be interesting to see how this vintage settles down over the next couple of years. A good deal for $22.
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4/5/2019 - OregonLoafer Likes this wine:
Crunchy and delicious. Real funk on the nose upon opening. It blows off a bit pretty quickly, but I liked it. This is young, but I thought it got less interesting with several hours of air - I'd drink this as a PnP. But I'm sure this could also cellar for a while.
There are an increasingly number of very good Willamette Valley pinot noirs in the $20-23 range, at least here in Oregon. This one is less about pure fruit - in contrast, to, say, the extremely precise Ken Wright WV bottling - and more about earthy, brambly flavors. I for one really enjoy it, but it's a bit rustic in the sense that it's not as *focused* as some others at this price point.
That said, it's great to be able to offer that up as a criticism of a $20 PN. This is very good, and if you like Burgundy you should drink it.
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