2011 Chehalem Pinot Noir Ridgecrest Vineyards

Community Tasting Notes (11) Avg Score: 89.6 points

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  8/22/2020 - oldwines Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Another delicious bottle of this wine. Decanted at 6pm and tasted over the next 5 hours. Tough vintage in Oregon that many thought would be a terrible wash out. Many wines picked early were considered poor. The grapes for this wine were picked in late October and early November. With some bottle age they have turned pout wonderful. This wine is a bright translucent medium ruby crimson. The nose evolved quite a lot over the evening but was consistently good. There is the “Pinot” cherry, some earthy minerals, rose petals, white pepper and some beautiful complexity that defies my description including layers of florals, menthol and red fruit, maybe some sweet spices too. Palate is bright with acidity but light and magical on the tongue. Flavors reflect the nose and the finish is slightly tart but rounded and long emphasizing the white pepper and red berries. Delicious with a 45 day dry aged Prime porterhouse steak. Plenty of life left...if you find any buy it, it is now way better than the early scores it received would indicate.

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  7/9/2020 - oldwines Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Decanted at 4pm and tasted throughout the evening and with dinner. Lovely medium translucent ruby color. Gorgeous nose of cherry, leather, tobacco, black pepper, white pepper, crushed black raspberries and florals galore. Palate reflects the complexity of the nose with bright acidity and an ethereal mouth feel....that quality I love in great wine where it is both light and heavy at the same time. Another fabulous 2011 Oregon Pinot Noir. This has developed spectacularly, way better than the pundits at the time of release would have thought. Delicious!

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  10/14/2018 - oldwines Likes this wine: 94 Points

  This was acquired a year ago directly from the winery. It was decanted through a Venturi and then put back in the bottle to take to a party. It is translucent medium ruby with some slight bricking. The nose has white pepper, sour cherry and rise petals. It still has pretty vibrant and racy acidity but modest tannin. Palate is smooth but slightly tart with flavors of cranberry, sour cherry, white pepper and an earthy finish. Probably best after about an hour at the party and then started to decline.

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  6/2/2018 - oldwines wrote: 96 Points

  Drank after decanting for a couple hours before a grilled steak dinner at home. Medium, translucent ruby with a nose is spicy black pepper red cherry and cranberry along with a little sous bois. Great texture and mouth feel with medium tannin and medium to high acidity. Palate is cherry, cranberry, raspberry and peppery spice. Long persistent finish. Really great wine with the steaks and probably better with a finishing dish that has more richness and fat. Really quite impressive. I could have just smelled it for hours.

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  1/31/2018 - BHP1994 wrote: 92 Points

  Really enjoyed this. A little funky right after we popped the cork but it blew off quickly to reveal a really fresh Pinot noir. Lots of bright cherry berry flavors. Good acids, find tannins, and a Long finish. Very nice wine and getting into a good place.

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View all 11 Community Tasting Notes

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