Sunday afternoon TNs: For he's a jolly "Goodfellow"

WINE TALK
1

My first time looking at the new Chardonnay releases by Marcus. We had a brief power outage half way through my typing the TN for the Richard’s, so when the power came back on I mistakenly typed the Richard’s Cuvee TN into the Durant “slot” - duh. I then “smoothly” corrected that error by typing the Durant TN in the Richard’s Cuvee note - pretty slick ;^)

Both very young right now, but with so much potential. I know the focus 95% of the time in Oregon is on Pinot Noir, but off of the last two vintages, Marcus is impressing the hell out of me with his Chardonnay. And on a geeky note, I like the info on the back labels - I can’t recall if this has been on previous labels and I never took notice before, but I hadn’t realized these were such small production wines.

Tightly coiled, with prominent acidity on the palate. Not surprisingly, showing very young right now. I thought the 2013 version of this was one of the best American Chardonnays I tried last year, and this new vintage appears to have that same potential.

  • 2014 Goodfellow Family Cellars Chardonnay Richard’s Cuvee - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Ribbon Ridge (9/25/2016)
    Not sure if this is the most “elegant” solution to my error, but this TN actually relates to the 2014 Durant bottling, and the one posted under the Durant is for the Richard’s Cuvee.

Similar in color to the first wine, although that matchstick scent is not quite as pronounced here. Great nose. As a side note, the wine is slightly cloudy, so I’m guessing Marcus doesn’t do a lot of fining/filtering, if any.

Not as “tied down” as the Richard’s Cuvee, although this is another wine that is still quite primary at this point. Focused and “linear” right now, but IMO with the same high potential for future favorable development.

This is my first time trying the Durant - and it won’t be the last!

Posted from CellarTracker

2

Sitting here with a last glass of the Durant - we paired these with some grilled Arctic Char today, and both wines opened up quite a bit with the extended air. So, while drinking young/primary at this point, if you are tempted to give one a whirl, definitely plan to give it some air.

I didn’t bother decanting either wine (and as a general rule don’t decant whites), but I could see that benefiting these wines right now if you didn’t have the time to open and enjoy them over an extended time period. [cheers.gif]

3

Glad to hear they’re drinking well! I visited Marcus at Goodfellow for the first time this past Summer and was really impressed and pleased with our experience and the wines. We left with a mixed 6-8 bottles of '13 Richard’s Cuvée Chardonnay, Durant PN, and Souris; I’m attempting to sit on them for the time being but am coiled and ready to spring one on a particularly obstinate friend who doesn’t believe Oregon can produce quality Chardonnay.

Can’t wait to get some of the '14 and visit again next summer!

4

Thank you! We just picked the 2016 Whistling Ridge Chardonnay fruit last week and saw the first signs of ferment percolating up.

5

Roberto, great to see your OR repertoire expanding so nicely beyond Beaux Freres. All it took was the right whites!

RT

6

Great notes. Pinot is what drew me to Matello/Goodfellow, but Marcus has been killing it with his Chards the last few vintages (I only have experience from '11 onwards). Definitely some of my favorite OR Chards year in and year out, and must buys.

Glad he finally made a WV Chard bottling, so I can enjoy while the Durant and WR evolve.