Community Tasting Notes 44

• bjamesclark wrote: 91 points

  November 27, 2022 - Decanted.
  Not much has changed since my original note. This wine remains remarkably youthful.
  This cool vintage Pinot show notes of cranberry, wild raspberry and red apple skin with supporting aromas of dried rose petals, pink peppercorn, black tea, bramble, crushed volcanic rock, light cigar smoke, coriander and hints of blueberry.
  The palate shows a laser beam of tart acidity, followed by dry, muscular tannins. Serious structure here and purely McMinnville fruit. Flavors show bright notes of cranberry, tart red cherry, raspberry, rhubarb and red apple skin that intermingle with ash, rocky mineral, dried rose petal, crushed pink peppercorn, black tea, bramble and sous bois. The finish lingers persistently.
  
  A great showing from this cool vintage that shows the acid, tannin and fruit that is almost reminiscent of Nebbiolo... This wine is built for food.

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• Gary Likes this wine: 90 points

  October 26, 2020 - Still very tight and tannic. Needs more time.

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• Eclectic Palate Does not like this wine: 74 points

  April 12, 2020 - Purchased at auction, wine was in pristine shape and representative of how a properly stored bottle of this wine should taste. However, as other reviewers have noted, this wine in imbalanced as the acid is way too high. I say this even though I buy and drink a lot of "high toned" pinots. With food it was more balanced, but still too lean and crisp without enough fruit or earth. This wine should have been blended with other lots of pinot to try to create a balanced wine, although that would have meant it would not be a single vineyard bottling. If I owned this winery I would never have released this wine. The owner and winemaker is a great guy, and humble, and recognizes that wine making is an ongoing process of learning; so don't judge the winery by this release. Lastly, there is no way aging this wine will improve it, as fruit fades but acid remains. Perhaps it would have been better 4 or 5 years ago when there was more fruit.

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• TGLeroy Likes this wine:

  March 23, 2020 - Okay, so this is unlike any Willamette pinot, or frankly any pinot I have had. Tart?,yes; Tannins?, a bit chalky; Complex?, wouldn’t accuse it of that; Horrible?, not at all. I’m not going to argue this a great wine, but if you haven’t tried it yet imagine it is some new esoteric Italian varietal, maybe related to Nebbiolo, that is a bit acidic and meant to be paired with food. How they did this with an Oregon pinot in a cool vintage I have no idea.

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• Bandreas Does not like this wine: 76 points

  May 16, 2019 - Inky smell, acrid and acidic. This impression continues on the palate.
  The wine is uncouth and will not improve anymore from here.
  Ressembles a cheap and diluted Algerian or Provençal wine from the 40ies and 50ies.

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Wine Definition

• Vintage 2011
• Type Red
• Producer Ayoub
• Varietal Pinot Noir
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Meredith Mitchell Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region Oregon
• SubRegion Willamette Valley
• Appellation McMinnville

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 221 (36%)
• Consumed 392 (64%)

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