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Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir Tasting
Gary's Place
Tasted January 30, 2016 by rocknroller with 500 views
Introduction
This tasting was the follow up to a tasting done 8/10/13 featuring the Shea Vineyard in Oregon. Most of the wines back then were from 2008. The plan was to revisit them 2 years later and track their evolution. Well, it took a bit longer, about two & half years to pull it off, and there were a few more '06 and '07's in the mix this time.
Flight 1 - Starter Wine (1 note)
White
2010 Shea Wine Cellars Chardonnay Shea Vineyard
92 points
Light gold color. Decanted 1 hour; drank 1 glass over 30 minutes. Had this about 4 months ago for the first time and enjoyed it very much. This bottle proved that was no aberration. Lovely nose with white fruits, pear, melon, subtle grapefruit, almond paste. The palate is medium bodied with focus and precision, pear, white fruits, mineral, little if any oak, wonderfully balanced, medium plus finish. There's a very nice elegance and purity to this. This turned out to be better than any of the 3 examples of Shea Wine Cellars pinot noir.
Flight 2 - 2006 Flight (2 notes)
Red
2006 Shea Wine Cellars Pinot Noir Estate Shea Vineyard
90 points
Medium dark red color. Decanted 1 hour; drank 70ml over 20 minutes. This was nice upfront, with a subtle dank earthiness, cherry, cherry cola, and spice. The palate was a lighter mediu body, sour cherry, black cherry, earth, spices, medium finish. Others reported this fading somewhat. I'd echo the comment to drink these up without a decant.
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Comment
Flight 3 - 2007 Flight (2 notes)
Red
2007 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard
93 points
Medium dark red color. Decanted for 1 hour; drank a 70ml pour over 3 hours with a touch more at that point. I was surprised to see that I had not had this since the last Shea tasting two & a half years ago, but I'm happy to say this is going strong as expected. I just wish I had a lot more of these. The nose as always was a star, and clearly the NOTH, although this was also the clear WOTN too. The nose offers such a pretty perfume of dried roses, wonderful earthiness, cherry and floral overtones. There's an elegance on the palate that while soft and beguiling, at the same time shows depth of flavor, earthy, leather, dry, briary tannins, dried earth, lovely spicebox. This long and perfectly balanced. There is no need to worry about these anytime soon. Not quite as powerful or deep as the '08, but the sheer beauty just shines a bit brighter for me in a very close call - I will not be surprised if maybe someday the '08 takes the mantle. My and group WOTN, 93+pts.
Red
2007 Ken Wright Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard
90 points
Dark red color. Decanted for 1 hour; drank a 70ml pour over 40 minutes. This was quite spiced on the nose, a bit green, black cherry and wood spice. The palate was more medium full bodied, darker fruits, sour black cherry, cranberry, currants, tart, with a green edge and bold spiciness. This was nowhere near as good as a bottle 2 years ago...drink up.
Flight 4 - 2008 Flight (5 notes)
Red
2008 Penner-Ash Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard
92 points
Dark red color. Decanted for 1 hour; drank a 70ml pour over an hour plus. There's an attractive nose with cinnamon, dark berry fruits, dried forest floor, vanilla. The palate is medium full bodied, deep and powerful, great fruit, nice structure, dark red and black berries, pepper, oak, long finish. This was my and group #3WOTN, the same as it was two & a half years ago.
Red
2008 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard
93 points
Lighter-dark red color. Decanted for 1 hour; drank a 70ml pour with a bit more later, over 90 minutes. I held some of my '07 to compare side by side. These were simply the class of the evening. There's a gorgeous complex nose with dry and damp earth, dried berries, floral, mineral and exotic spices. The palate is medium bodied, deeper than the '07 with bigger bright berry and cherry fruit, nice tannins, great texture, long finish. I think this is still a couple years from hitting its peak, but may ultimately outshine the '07. My and group #2 WOTN.
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Comment
Red
2008 Shea Wine Cellars Pinot Noir Estate Shea Vineyard
flawed
This bottle was not right. I suspect heat damage, it had some anise, oak, and earth on the nose, but the palate was oak, alcohol, and largely devoid of fruit, what was there seemed baked.
Red
2008 Shea Wine Cellars Pinot Noir Block 5 Shea Vineyard
89 points
Dark red color. Decanted for an hour; drank a 70ml pour over 30 minutes. This had a very dark fruit profile, spicy, big on the palate, bold flavors, spice, some heat, just a bit unbalanced. This was pretty similar to when we had it before.
Red
2008 Alexana Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard
91 points
Dark red color. Decanted for an hour; drank a 70ml pour over 40 minutes. Nice nose with ripe berry fruit, raspberry, earth, spice. The palate has a lot of volatility, ripe, sweet fruit, raspberry, tannins with some firm grip, oak, alcohol on the finish. This evened out more over 30 minutes and became a bit more balanced. Interestingly this was so much more balanced two & a half years ago. That night it was WOTN; tonight it didn't place. 91+pts.
Flight 5 - Dessert Flight (3 notes)
White - Sweet/Dessert
2005 Château Suduiraut
93 points
Light gold color. Drank a 40ml pour from a 375ml over 30 minutes. This was delightful, pineapple, tangerine, pear, white flowers on the nose. Tangy and zippy on the palate, medium body, quince, long, lovely and refined. 93+(+)pts. And yes, this was the best pairing with the stilton, the Port did not work at all.
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Comment
White - Sweet/Dessert
1999 Oremus Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos
90 points
Dark gold color. Drank 1 glass from 500ml over 30 minutes. Bold nose, baked apricot, orange. The palate is sweet, a bit short on acid, baked apricot, tart orange, powerful, long. Compared to the Sauternes this was somewhat clunky and one dimensional.
Red - Fortified
1977 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage
Very murky, medium dark purple color. Splash decanted, fully saturated cork with signs of old seepage. This was basically a PNP with decanting off the heavy sediment. This just wasn't showing a lot, tons of alcohol, a little raisiny fruit on the nose; the palate is alcohol, spice, fig, cherry, and some floral hints. Will be curious to see if this was better 24 or more hours later or if this was just DOA. No score.
Closing
WOTN was the 2007 St. Innocent Shea Vineyard (3+3+3+3+3+3+2+2+2+1+1=26pts) (#4 in 2013)
#2 WOTN was the 2008 St. Innocent Shea Vineyard (3+3+2+2+2+2+1=15pts) (#6 in 2013)
#3 WOTN was the 2008 Penner Ash Shea Vineyard ((3+2+2+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=14pts) (#3 in 2013)
2007 Ken Wright Shea (2+2=4pts)
2008 Alexana Shea (3=3pts) (#1 in 2013)
2006 Shea Wine Cellars Estate Shea (1=1pt)
2008 Shea Estate (0pts)
2008 Shea Block 5 (0pts)
2006 Raptor Ridge Shea (corked)
Thanks to Gary for setting this up and sharing all these wines!