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Oregon Pinots with the Wine Thursday group at WWS
Willamette Wine Storage - Portland, OR
Tasted August 20, 2010 by gripNsip with 616 views
Introduction
T'was my month to pick, so Oregon Pinot Noir was the subject. In drunken discussion at the previous event it was decided 1997-2005 single vineyard or reserve designate was the focus. Turns out the WOTN was outside of those years but no one was complaining.
Flight 1 (7 notes)
Red
2003 The Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir Reserve
88 points
Very smoky, large sulfur nose on this wine. Smelled of smoked salmon, burnt vines and red fruit. The palate has a delicate feel, tart strawberries, grapefruit, with a nice taper through the finish leaving some pleasing fruit. The fruit here is nice but straight-forward and without complexity or evolution. Still, a nice wine overall. Served blind, I guessed it was 2002. This wine comes across far more delicate in both flavor and structure than any 2003 OPN I've had.
Red
2005 Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Noir La Bohème
89 points
Served blind: Nose: Rose plants (soil and all), potpourri, raspberries, high intensity. At first smell I was almost turned off by the strength of the potpourri but the more I sat there and sniffed the more I got into it. The palate carries a dusty texture and large character. Red fruit prevails on the palate in a straight-forward manner, no real evolution or complexity here. The finish does hang a long time though, and the acidity and tannins I found to be on the sweet side which I liked. A really nice wine overall, technically and structurally sound with delicious flavor, maybe this just needs more time to develop some more character.
Red
2003 Bergström Pinot Noir Cumberland Reserve
91 points
Served blind: Deep nose of dark cherries, mushroom and soil, some toasted oak and vanilla coming out as well. Very large nose here, I found it very pleasing. Big on the palate as well, big velvety texture in the mouth. A few were guessing this as a California ringer, being as this was an all Oregon blind tasting. The palate shows flavors of prunes, dried cherries, damp earth. The way these flavors evolve on the palate was very pleasing. There is also ample acidity and tannins to back everything up. Very drying on the finish. Someone called this "crushed velvet elvis pinot noir", lol. Tasted young, I guessed 2005. I really enjoyed this overall.
Red
1994 Stag Hollow Pinot Noir Célèbre
93 points
Served blind: The nose on this one was weird to me at first, it smelled like a combination of wet dish sponge, dried mushrooms and over-ripe cherries. The palate was extremely pleasing, rich flavors that evolve into tart flavors through the palate, nice velvety feel, even some hints of grapefruit spike up on the finish. Nice dusty finish. This wine was showing it all tonight, complexity, age, evolution. A balanced and delicious effort. I guessed 1999, we were all surprised when the bags came off. Well done Stag Hollow! Most people's WOTN.
Red
1998 Ken Wright Pinot Noir McCrone Vineyard
88 points
The nose on this showed age, old musty plums, potpourri, grapefruit and sweet raspberries. Smelled really nice. The palate was a bit of a let down comparatively, sharp acidity stick out right at the start. Starts off with some nice red and dark fruit but drops off quickly leaving a bit of heat detectable. The age here is really playing nice though, with the initial fruit it is showing some minor evolution across the palate while it stick around. This drank better if you just put it down rather than swishing it around the mouth and really examining it. Very good wine, just not in balance.
Red
2005 Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Noir Roosevelt Vineyard
88 points
Served blind: Coming from the older wine before it, the oak on this wine was easily detectable. The smell of buttered popcorn struck me right off the bat along with light strawberries and cherries on the nose. The palate has nice weight, and the subtle cherry flavors are super balanced to the tannins and acidity in this wine. Structurally this was really nice wine, flavor-wise though it was pretty basic, when the bag was pulled later on I was a little disappointed. Still a very tasty wine overall, I'm hoping it just needs time to come around. 88+
Red
1999 Stag Hollow Pinot Noir Vendange Selection
90 points
Served blind: This smells old, chocolate truffles, toasted wood, vanilla, cherries, strawberry aromas all play across in the nose. Smells quite pleasing. The palate shows some sharp edges, long, large acidity along side still young feeling red fruits. Some age is definitely evident on the palate though and shows on the finish. The finish isn't long but leaves you with enough time to take it all in. Overall I liked where this was drinking quite well, a nice place between young and old.
Closing
In ending we scored the wines by assigning our top three favorites, then assigning 3 points for 1st, 2 for 2nd, and 1 for 3rd. The scoring went:
1st with 16 points was the 1994 Stag Hollow Celebre
2nd with 7 points was the 1998 Ken Wright McCrone
3rd with 6 points was the 1999 Stag Hollow 'Vendage Selection'
4th with 5 points was the 2003 Eyrie Reserve
Tied for 5th with 4 points each were the 2005 Elk Cove Roosevelt and the 2003 Bergstrom Cumberland Reserve
No score for the 2005 Elk Cove La Boheme.
We also asked each person to guess the vintage of the wine. David won with three correct, the 2003 Eyrie, the 2005 Elk Cove La Boheme, and the 1999 Stag Hollow.
Thanks again to the group for showing up and putting on another great tasting. I was to drunk to remember, what is the plan for next month?