November 10, 2012 - Wine Dinner @ fasteddie35's Home (Lake Forest, IL): Drank alongside the '02 Bergstrom Vineyard and '02 Arcus.
Just a gorgeous nose of raspberries, rhubarb, earth and spice notes. Super young. Vosne in style.
Cherry cola on the palate. Slight mintyness on the midpalate. Long finish.
This to me was very Burundian in style versus the other two wine we tasted.
SS 93pts
August 27, 2012 - To me, this has always been a little too horsey on the nose for a pinot.
May 15, 2010 - 9L party (Woodinville, WA): Tasted blind from magnum (well, almost). This was brown bagged and brought out for us to taste blind. Just a little bit of the burgundy wax around the neck was showing where the bag didn't cover. The guy pouring is a Pinot freak, and the wax color had me thinking Kosta Browne or Bergstrom right from the start. The magnum format made me almost sure it would be Bergstrom. The nose had a very nice Pinot funk on it, and certainly called out OR Pinot. The palate had cherry and plum flavors with a spicy and minty note that also gave clues to whole cluster fermentation. Medium bodied with medium-long finish. Nice OR Pinot, but I really prefer the Shea from Bergstrom over this bottling.
September 27, 2009 - One of the best Oregon pinot noirs I have ever had - maybe the best. This wine is drinking perfectly right now but I sense that it still could be great for years to come. There was a solid backbone to this wine that hints of the possibility of incredible longevity. This is a medium+ bodied pinot noir with terrific length on the finish, nothing missing in mid-palate, great fruit (red with enough black to get all of our attention). Why didn't I buy a lot more of this when we were at the winery? At the time, it seemed like a lot of money and was the only wine we tasted that day that really caught our attention. Today, I would happily pay twice or more for this wine. Spectacular.
July 14, 2009 - A little heavy-handed for a pinot.
July 2, 2009 - Maturing bouquet of berries, earth, and candied smoke. A brushfire just doused with rain. A hint of jasmine. The palate offers cherry, wintergreen, petrol, and tangerine with a long beautiful cinnamon stick and cherry pit finish that forms the highlight of this wine and reveals its appropriate underlying backbone. A river of big sweet tannins stays true as the pit notes echo. Held down only in that it oscillated in and out of showing too much alcohol.
May 31, 2009 - A worldly chauvinist in the summer of its life, with a nose of earth and just the right amount of stink. The red fruits, rosewater, and black liquor are well balanced and bathed in woven tannins.
March 26, 2009 - This deep, royal wine has become more interesting and confident, with great balance of dark fruits and even-keeled oak. The integrated, almost resolved tannins drank beautifully with a 5-day-marinade pork grilled in hoisin and brown sugar.
September 17, 2008 - Nice wine. Red berries/fruit and a bit herbal. Not much finish though.
June 11, 2008 - Same score I gave a couple years ago but for different reasons. Last time it was more about potential and now it's getting there! Nose still a bit tight but opens w/ time. Red fruit/cherry liqueur, with mineral/stone. Lovely wine w/ plenty of time.