TN: 2010 Patricia Green Durant Vineyard Pinot Noir

Pine, cherries, fresh tilled soil, red tea, some floral notes, good but not excessive density on the mid palate, finishing with ripping acidity and a medium-long black cherry finish. After a couple of hours the finish turns more supple and silky. Definitive OR Pinot. One of the best OR Pinot noirs I’ve had in some time.

Is this different than the Durant Madrone Block bottling? I just had (I believe) a 2011 or 2012 of the Durant Madrone and it was much richer and riper than any of the other Patty Greens I’ve tasted. . . I think it was 14% alc. as well.

You’re right Dusty. At a recent tasting with Jim he told me that in 2012 they got a different, warmer block than they had in the past (I believe it was that one year only). He was honest enough to say that wine was out of character for the types of wines they like to make. I think he even said it was borderline over-the-top. I tasted some of it and agreed, but bought a bottle anyway for some time when I was craving a big juicy monster. That was a very different wine than the 2010 I had last night!

Yeah, Patty said at the same tasting that this vineyard was only a few miles down the street from the Balcombe, which I loved and thought was nearly the lightest wine of the bunch.

Yes. The bottling labeled DURANT is now, technically speaking, the Durant Vineyard, Bishop Block bottling. This is Pommard planted in 1973 making it one of the oldest sections of vines in Oregon. In 2010 and 2011 that was the section of the vineyard we got fruit from. In 2012 an early May frost couple with an enormous hail storm 2 weeks later wiped out that section of the vineyard. There was maybe 500 pounds on 3+ acres so the owners just kept that for themselves and gave us a section of Dijon 115 planted in 2000. It was quite nice stuff (if heroically scaled) but in no way relevant to the bottlings we had done the 2 previous vintages so it was bottled in 2012 and 2013 as the Durant Vineyard, Madrone Block.

The Durant (Bishop Block) returned in 2013 but due to the intricacies of label approvals we did not change this label to read Durant Vineyard, Bishop Block and it still says just Durant. That will change with the 2014 wines as we introduce a whole new look to all of our labels along with which we eliminate all inconsistencies such as this one.

The Durant in 2010 was one of my favorite wines and I very much like the '11 and the sneaky, light and subtle '13. The '14 in barrel is insane. It is a beautiful section of vineyard and if I could remember how to put a picture on here I would put one on.

Jim, I am relatively new to OR pinots but have enjoyed a number of PGs recently including the Old Vines 2011 and 2012, and the Freedom Hill Dijon 2012 (I recently bought a bottle each of the PG 2013 FH Dijon and Pommard). But given your comment on the 2014 Durant currently in tank, can you give us some initial comments on the PG 2014s generally? Good to hear that another strong vintage may be in the pipeline.

I am enamored with 2014s. I am tasting with Marcus Goodfellow on Sunday and that will be the 2nd non-PGC winery I will have tasted 2014s at so to say the least my experience with the vintage is quite internal at this point. What I like about the wines I have in cellar is that they are what I would want them to be and unexpectedly so given the unusual summer of 2014. They are not, by and large, big wines. I think there is great stuff. Highly aromatic, good balance of concentration and finesse, excellent tannic structure and just nice all around aesthetics. It will be nice to taste Marcus’ wines. We share the old Bishop Block and he picked his section much earlier than did we, however (and this kills me to say) when we picked I was already running very low on fermenter space and I had to have them stop at 5 tons. Marcus, I believe, got the remaining 1 ton+ balance so it will be interesting to taste our stuff and compare it to his stuff that has a very different and exact same pick date.

I would say that perhaps across the board the 2012s are the best wines we have done but it may be the case that 2014 holds maybe the best individual wine or wines we have made. Time will tell on that. Right now, I am a fan but my out-of-PGC experience is limited. I am sure Marcus has good stuff. I would say I only know the cool folk however the idea that I, Marcus or most of the people I know and am tight with are “cool” would be laughable.

Patty is cool. You’re a geek.

Look forward to hearing more of your '14 impressions. Wasn’t that PGC '10 Durant the one that was kind of cranky when young?

RT

1 part true, 1 part incorrect.

Durant usually is. It’s old vine stuff. It’s very nature is to be less than forthcoming.

Cranky when young is the mantra for great Pinot Noir(IMHO)

I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Our 2014s, white and red, have surpassed my expectations for intricacy in the wines by a good bit. The whites came in moderately early, and are showing a beautiful set of diverse personalities with great acidity, abvs between 11-13.4%, and intense but elegant texture.
We picked Pinot Noir over a large range of time, although the majority was in the third and fourth week of September. There is great fruit density, especially for the Goodfellow/Matello style, but almost perfect underlying structure, lovely acidity, moderate alcohol(with one exception) and great detail in the flavors.

The 2014s have great site definition, even down to blocks within the vineyard. All in all, while I am of the mind that 2013 is right in my wheelhouse(much like 2010 was), 2014 is greatly exceeding my expectations.

I got some '11 Matello Durant, but late to the party on PG. Making up for lost time though.

I rest my case.

RT

That picture only proves that she is short. Which she is.

Coolness has no height restrictions.

RT

Great stuff all around. Very intrigued to hear Marcus’s and Jim’s thoughts after the tasting. I hope you guys share.

Cheers,

Jason

So…I land in Portland Friday from a week in pollen filled Virginia, Saturday is ok but I start getting stuffy around 6pm. Sunday morning I couldn’t smell a 5 alarm fire in the house next door. Ridiculously bad timing for allergies to appear and while I have some ideas about PGC 2014s and my own wines, I have nothing of consequence to say. Except that I was picking up aspects of Jim and Patty’s wines so they must be explosive aromatically. I didn’t smell anything else the whole day…