1990 Van Duzer Pinot Noir Reserve

Community Tasting Notes (6) Avg Score: 92.8 points

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  8/4/2018 - wvanvalkenburg Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Thought this might be past its prime but we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of fruit and body still left. Maybe it was the larger format but the wine was still drinking very nicely. An impressive showing for a 28 year old Oregon Pinot noir. If later bottling date like this one, I would hold for quite a while before drinking. Bravo to the winemaker.

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  6/13/2012 - Kirk Grant wrote:

  Color: Brick Red
  Smell: Earth, dried red fruits, and light floral tones
  Taste: Dried red fruits and tart cherry
  Overall: I have to say that I had higher hopes for this given the experience I had with the '94 about a week ago. This seems tired and on the down-slope. The acidity is beautiful, and with the mushroom risotto in creame sauce the acidity worked really well. However, after the food was gone...this just couldn't hold up. Very Good

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  5/2/2012 - sawira wrote: 94 Points

  P&P, then tasted over two evenings. Nice mature pinot coloration, with slight bricking and moderate salmon rim. Ripe red-fruited nose, reticent at first, then effusive, and more Oregon brambly, on the second day. Great plummy cherries and acid-laden attack, which persisted to the last drop. As an acid head, this works for me, and I love the juicy, mouthwatering, earthy, tart cranberry profile. Very long. Lingering, lingering....still lingering.
  Amazingly, this seems young still. As this is my third of three bottles from the same case, I was determined to let this really unwind before slurping it all down. Finally, at the end of the last glass, after 26 hours of being opened with no preservation other than cellar temp, I began to get some bitter fruit, harshness of tannins and shoe polish aromas beginning to show up.
  This is a profound classic in the Oregon pinot pantheon, and any lucky holders of this bottle would be well served to savor this gem over time, with the focus it deserves. A great wine.

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  1/17/2011 - sawira wrote: 94 Points

  Nose showing funky at first, poured one glass which was rough, and recorked to let sit at cellar temp for 24 hrs. Next day, blossoming and tasted over three hours. Salmon rim to a slightly garnet hued burgundy red. Nose of roses, earth, spices and muted baked ripe cherries. Palate showing again muted red and black ripe fruits, secondary behind the big iron, soil, cinnamon palate. This has another decade in it - believe it or not - and if you've got this well stored, you've got a beauty, but it needs attention: careful slow ox or monitoring for the brief moments of funk, heat on the palate and rubbing alcohol on the nose in between bouts of fantastic mature ripe complex new world pinot. Excellent length, but not that extra special something that puts it over the top into fragrant pinot heaven. Whoever made this made a gem, but it's limited by its terroir. Equivalent to a lower level premier cru in the hands of a master like Jayer, this really is that good, in a different style. This bottle is a carbon copy of a bottle I tasted from the same case last November, which only goes to show the profundity of the wines in that tasting, as this was barely noticeable then, but shone here. Brilliant winemaking, perfect maturity and bottle, not the best pedigree of site, or something that didn't let this really ignite. Too bad, but still profound.

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  11/27/2010 - sawira wrote: 91 Points

  P&P. No formal notes. Had alongside an amazing 83 Calera Jensen and a stellar 96 Fougeray de Beauclair Bonnes Mares, so I'm sure this suffered in the company. Take these notes from memory with a grain of salt. Dark, a bit brooding, ponderous and foursquare, even impenetrable. If tasted blind I would have said 'not ready yet,' but that's hard to believe given its age. Tasted over two hours and it just sat there. As a bottom line I'd guess this is a well made wine, having lasted all these years and still being in balance, with dark fruit and earthy characteristics. I really look forward to my next two bottles, one of which I'll open soon. To be continued...

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