Pacific Northwest Tasting Trip, Day 5
Willamette Valley, Day 5
Tasted October 28, 2010 - November 11, 2010 by manonthemoon with 898 views
Introduction
Our final day in wine country started out at VD, because I can never get enough fried dough. We then hit up Stumproasters coffee which is excellent as well, prior to heading to wine country.
Flight 1 - Anne Amie, South of Dundee, Willamette Valley (7 notes)
We are usually really impressed with the whites at this stop, but not so much this time. Everything seemed to be okay at best, kind of disappointing.
Very floral on the nose and the palate. Easy going body.
Nose was a little hot and had some cherry and spice going on.
Palate was cherry and cedar with a little spice.
Flight 2 - Argyle, Dundee, Willamette Valley (10 notes)
We always like to breakup the day with some sparkling wine to give the palate a little break. The pinots never really do it for me for some reason, but the sparkling are usually the star here anyway. I was a little disappointed with the 06 Knudsens as I have really liked the blanc de blancs in good vintages like 02 where the acidity keeps the power in check, but the 06 was a little too creamy for me. I wish I could of mixed the Brut and BdB to get what I was looking for. It was interesting to have both my favorite wine and least favorite wine from the same winery, but this was the case here. The Black Brut was horrible, it was like a cross between a big bodied pinot and a little sparkling water. Luckily the Tirage was a perfect sparkling for my palate, good attack on the palate and great acidity and fine bubbles to keep it from being too much. Such a great bottle, would recommend giving it a try if you see it somewhere.
Strong nose of pear and pie crust. Really fine bubbles. Great balance of cream and acidity on the palate with pear biscuit and a little spice at the tail end. Really nice finish as well. Wow, probably the best currently bottled wine we had on the trip. Outstanding stuff. 94-95+ easily in the future.
Flight 3 - Tyson Crowley at August Cellars, Dundee, Willamette Valley (4 notes)
Tyson operates at the co-op at August Cellars which lets him keep his costs down while growing his brand. He has worked for some of the big names in the valley such as Brick House, Cameron, and JK. Carriere so he knows the ropes pretty well, plus he is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He took the time to show us around to all of his current wines being fermented and we tasted some promising 2010 juice which was nice. After this we talked about his 09's, his brands growth, and future plans for a winery at some point. It really nice to hear his opinion of things going on in the valley and how things are shaping up for 2010 which seems like it could be challenging to some producers due to the cool temps. This is always one of my favorite stops when in the valley and he produces some of the best values in the entire state, hands down. Already got most of case of the 08's and will be looking forward to the 09's, especially the whites which he does an excellent job with.
Nose of black fruit, a little rasin, spice, and a little greeness.
Palate of black cherry, blackberry, clove, nutmeg, pencil.
Lots of fruit and spice.
No score.
Nose of cherry, almond, toffee, spice box.
Palate of cherry, almond, toffee, green pepper, mocha, cigar box.
High tannin, really nice fruit.
Our favorite barrel sample.
No score.
Black to purple in color.
Nose of black cherry cola, bramble, funk, little mint.
Palate of blackberry, black cherry, violet, pencil shavings, leather, nutmeg, chocolate, funky forest leaves.
The pommard clone sample was bigger and funkier than the other sample. I think it may have also been in a newer oak barrel than the other sample.
No score.
Purple to ruby in color.
Fresh nose of tart cherry, lavender, little forest floor.
Palate of red cherry, little floral, truffle, wet leaves.
Really good acidity and structure to this wine.
Really great qpr.
Flight 4 - Cameron, Dundee, Willamette Valley (0 notes)
Disclaimer, I am a huge Cameron fan, I have always been so you may take my words with a grain of salt. This is the second time we have had the fortune to be able to stop by the winery and see Scott and the rest of the staff. They were really nice and showed us some of their daily routine during harvest and they also had a good time kidding around with us about a method of fermentation called "pillage" that they swear they use, but I am a little skeptical to say the least. We were given the opportunity to spend a few minutes with John Paul himself, which was a real treat as it was the first time we have had the priviledge. He was kind enough to give us a short tour of the property, let us taste a few of the nebbiolo grapes that were still hanging (sidenote they are releasing an 06 vintage but there is only 24 cases of this ultra limited production wine, so grab some if you can), and run us through a serious of barrel samples of 09's and possibly one 10, but we didn't really take any specific notes. All I can say is that all of the wines were awesome, and it was amazing to see the differences in the Clos Electrique barrels due to the different clones used in every couple of rows. The Abbey's Ridge samples were excellent as well and I didn't know prior that these were infact the oldest vines used in his wines, interesting fact. There was some sad news passed on by JP in regards to his 09 Chards and some of the others present in the valley. It seems that for some reason they stopped going through ML and never picked up again this sping which typically happens. He mentioned a few other winemakers had voiced similar concerns about their wines, so it could be a light year on some Chards in 09. I know with this news that I jumped on his 08's since it is unclear what will end up happening since they don't even know what caused this to happen. This was a fantastic visit, and I am glad they took the time out of their busy harvest day to show us around. We did take a few pictures which my wife will post a little later, all I can say is "black walls of death".
Closing
We had lunch at the Dundee Bistro and it simply did not disappoint. Great burger and truffle fries to cleanse the palate before Cameron. After Cameron, I was ready for the plane ride home, so we hit up VD once more because I am a glutton for punishment and headed for the airport where we sat and watched a little Monday night football to pass the time. Great trip and the bottom line is if a winery did not make a good to great pinot in 08, then they need to shut down because they are in the wrong business. The quality is so high in 08 that I would almost recommend picking up anything from the vintage and you wouldn't be majorly disappointed IMO. 09's seem to be closer to 06 in make up, but John Paul said he was able to keep his acid levels higher than 06 and was really happy with how they are looking and I would agree. The 10's seem like they will be tricky, so I would seem to think that long established vitners will do the best, just like in 07, as well as people who do the Deep Roots Coalition as the vines aren't affected by the rains due to their deep root zone. Already looking forward to next fall.