TNs: 2013 Figgins Estate red/ 2015 Toil Oregon Pinot Noir

While celebrating a family related college graduation from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, an appointment was set up for a private tasting at the tasting room/ winery for the label Figgins and their sister label, Toil Oregon which features Pinot Noir from Oregon. The Figgins name should be familiar to most who know about wines from Washington State`s Leonetti made by Gary Figgins. This Figgins is the son, Chris, who like many sons of successful fathers across the globe, has set out on his own path with a different spin on how to craft good wines from different varietals.

The WA vineyards are located about 5 miles to the East of the current winery in Walla Walla which is a temporary home as the plan is to expand to the vineyard itself.

We were graciously and capably hosted by Raejean, the tasting room person who conducted the tasting as well as giving us brief tour of the winery. Two wines were poured:

2015 TOIL OREGON PINOT NOIR- 3rd release; 28% new French oak, 72% neutral French oak, 12 months in the barrel; from the warm growing season in Oregon, this had a bright red and pink rim color followed by aromatics of fresh, ripe and youthful red fruit; red cherry/ berry notes were prominent in the taste profile with a touch of spice; although not a fruit bomb, it was certainly fruit forward and there was noticeable oak influence close to being integrated; at a $50 price point, it comes in at a higher than most Oregon Pinots and I will reserve my comments on its QPR merits until revisiting down the line.

2013 FIGGINS WALLA WALLA VALLEY FIGGINS ESTATE VINEYARD RED- a blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot, this 62% new French oak, 38% 2nd fill ‘French oak and is aged for 20 months; 14.7% abv.; the color was a deep, rich purple with a red trim; the nose was redolent of fresh ripe red and black fruit and some vanilla spice; upon tasting, pretty bold tannins are evident and all of the nice fruitiness continues on; the wine needs time to balance out all of its treasures; priced at $85, this again will need to evaluated over time to determine its place in the quality lineup of all things Figgins.

I liked the wines enough to buy some and will review them later after they have some time to mature.

Cheers,
Blake
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Thanks for the note. I’ve always been curious about the Toil project. With such a long, long track record with Bordeaux varieties and Sangiovese, the Leonetti lineage venturing into Pinot Noir piqued my curiosity. I look forward to your follow-up TNs.

I tasted at Figgins last year after spending time in Willamette. I didn’t care for the Toil. It was bigger, darker with a larger oak influence than what I care for. Frankly, it didn’t taste like it came from Oregon at all.

That being said, I really liked their estate red Bordeaux blend (and I tasted a number of vintages). After tasting through those, the Pinot made a bit more sense to me as in it tasted JUST like it was made by someone who made a career out of making large(ish) scaled Bordeaux varietals and one day decided to make Pinot.

The one thing our experiences had was the oak influence. The 13 Pinot Noir I tasted was the opposite of big and darker; however, the Estate Red certainly was. I would like to taste the first 2 Pinot releases and compare the styles. Was the one you tasted from 12?