August 18, 2023 - Pop and pour. My last bottle of this wonderful Ayoub cuvee and it's showing terrifically, fully mature and balanced with savory fruit, earth, and herbs. No reason to age longer, drink up.
October 7, 2022 - Not as impressive as had hoped and may require more time in cellar. Ripe raspberry and fruit forward but thinned out with some predominant acidity. Finish is short and tart. Planning to revisit in 2-4 years
August 31, 2022 - This time it did not quite shine.
Maybe I drank it when it was too cool.
July 25, 2021 - PnP, based on expected maturity and past experience. Did not decant. Slightly reductive initially, but it eventually came around. Leads with tertiary notes: sour earthiness, red cola, muddled raspberry, day old crushed strawberry, and cherry compote. Low tannin, but still lots of acidity to prop up the fruits in the strong finish. Drink now or by 2024. Very good.
April 27, 2021 - Extremely food friendly, well balanced and on point.
April 12, 2021 - Pop and pour. This is really singing now with cool menthol herbs on the nose, saucy balance of red fruit and acid on the palate with notes of cucumber, sage, slate, and marzipan. This cuvee was the first Ayoub I ever had and it's evolved so beautifully over its life. Drink over the next few years.
April 3, 2021 - Wow, have not had the best experiences with Oregon pn, but this was terrific, hitting all the notes, brambly with something like gingerbread, darker in tone than a lot of pinots, savory finish. Right in the sweet spot. Highly recommended.
July 9, 2020 - Just not showing a lot right now. Seems in a weird spot being kind of flat plain Jane. Cellar for a few more years.
December 17, 2019 - A beautiful wine. Drinking perfectly right now. We drank with dinner, then over the next couple of hours after dinner. Lots of fruit on the nose and in the mouth, both cherries and raspberries. Some earthy undertones that, with the nice tannins, give the wine great balance. Medium finish, just on the big side of a medium wine. Marvelous, I wish I could drink this on a really regular basis.
November 5, 2019 - The wine looks ruby colored. The legs are medium. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like strawberry, raspberry, cinnamon and clove. It tastes like strawberry, sour cherry, black pepper and clove. The body is medium. The wine has smooth texture. The wine finishes medium. The wine has medium acidity, crisp and refreshing. lots of good Oregon wines in this price range though