Last night my friend and BBer Lour Rad hosted what is now the 7th annual five year retrospective of Oregon Pinot Noirs. The wines are consumed blind over the course of a couple hours. Breads and cheeses are served. We knew what wines were being served but not which was which until unveiling at the 1.5 hour mark.
The tasting as a whole was a bit disappointing I think. At this stage, I hoped for more from this vintage which I thought was very good and the best between 02 and 08. Many of the wines had herbal notes and not as much fruit as I thought they would. The wines were popped and poured and it took them all an hour or so to start to open although most did not open as much as I thought they would. The Thomas and Sineann for my tastes, were the only ones that seemed to really open with air and keep developing. There was little unanimity among the group with the exception of the Thomas. Those who demanded big fruit had issues, those who were more in the AFWE loved it. So it goes.
Thanks to Lou for hosting these events that all of really look forward to during the holiday season.
2009 Johan Vineyards Pinot Noir Vin Gris Estate- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
Copper/gold in the glass. The nose to me was selzer and chalk, not much fruit. Viscous texture but not much fruit on the palate. Perhaps some peach (like scraping off the pits). Some lemons on the slightly bitter finish. Its ok, but just not showing much. (85 pts.)
2006 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton
The group liked this more than I did I guess, it was the WOTN Purple/ruby in color. Light cherries on the nose and some rosemary. It took a while to open, but was never really expressive. Tart cherries on the nose. Nice texture. With air, tannins came out. Not sure where this goes from here. Its good, but I hoped for more. (89 pts.)
2006 Thomas Pinot Noir Dundee Hills- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills
To anyone who knows Thomas, this was easy to pick single blind (we knew one was in the mix). Light ruby in color, it seemed to darken with air. The nose is feminine with spice, light cherries, green tobacco and a bit of earthiness. On the palate, tart cherries, depth and complexity. This got better all night long. Long finish. I much preferred this to last years 05 version. I think it will keep improving in the cellar. (92 pts.)
2006 Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
Ruby with slight purple notes. The nose has cherries with a sage note. Maybe some rosemary. On the palate, nice texture, but along with some cherries, there is a strong herbal note. This did improve, maybe more than any wine on the table with air. The herbal notes lessened. I would drink these sooner than later though. (87 pts.)
2006 Domaine Serene Pinot Noir Evenstad Reserve- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
Ruby/purple in color. The nose is very herbal (rosemary). With air some cherries and slight earthiness emerge. Lighter bodied (I thought the lightest at the table). Like cherry flavored mouthwash on the palate. Maybe not quite as strong, but in that vein. Drinkable, but I would prefer more complexity. (87 pts.)
2006 Resonance Vineyard Pinot Noir Estate Bottled- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton
I am not sure if this was made by Peter Rosback at Sineann. I was under the impression it was. It bore little resemblance that we could see to the Sineann version though. Near the bottom on almost everyone’s card although it got one first place vote. The nose is a bit earthy. Cherry cough drops and sage. Medium bodied. Nice texture. Slight heat on the finish. Dropped off thru the evening. (85 pts.)
2006 Owen Roe Pinot Noir “The Kilmore”- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton
The group liked this more than I. Purple/ruby in color. The nose is nice, but quite tight. Never really opened much. Some cherries. Medium bodied. Nice texture. Cherries that got a bit medicinal with air. Nice finish though. (88 pts.)
2006 Sineann Pinot Noir Resonance Vineyard- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
My WOTN. I was pretty sure this was Sineann semi-blind. Funny that this and the Thomas were my two favorites as they were at polar opposites of styles at the tasting. IMO, they were the two best wines. This one is still young and improving. On the nose, it took time to open. Cherries, cherry powdered drink mix and some earthiness. Great texture. Lots of cherries and dark cherries. Firm tannins. Complex and evolving. Drink or hold. (92 pts.)
2006 Ken Wright Pinot Noir Carter Vineyard- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills
I liked this and thought of all wines, it was in the best spot for immediate consumption. The nose has pretty cherries and kept developing. Sweet fruit, more black and red raspberry than cherries. Some tannins. I would not be surprised to find out there was Syrah in the blend, or at least it has that kind of profile which is more common in CA than OR. Still, its tasty and easy enough to drink. (90 pts.)
2006 Penner-Ash Pinot Noir- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
Stupid/heavy bottle. Why does wine like this need to be in a bottle that even empty feels full? Anyway, the nose is earthy with green tobacco, sage and some cherries. Nice texture. Slightly bitter cherries. Tannic. Not sure where this goes from here. I would drink sooner with a bit of a decant as the fruit seems thin. (87 pts.)
Bob, I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen Roy Piper’s vintage chart for Cali Cabs, but would be rather interested to see your ratings of Oregon Pinot vintages.
Well we agree on 03. I don’t think any of the 04, 05, 06, or 07 are outstanding vintages, but I liked the 06’s better on release but perhaps that was only the producers I drink more of. Based on this tasting, you may be right (except Thomas and Sineann perhaps).
How far back to I have to go, Corey? Let me give it a quick shot, understanding that 2008 may or may not take over the top spot in time and that the rest of these are very, very subjective - and that, for ranking purposes, 2001, 2, 4, 5 and 7 are virtually interchangeable and that 2010 is a very early call.
Well obviously you can go as far back as you like, but I think your list is pretty interesting. I haven’t tried enough Oregon Pinots to make a similar list, but in my limited experience, I think our views are fairly close.
Of course, Roy’s list had scores on release and current, plus a drink/hold guide, so he beats you in that regard.
Well, I don’t give a shit about scores, but try this one on.
1999 Drink/hold
2008 Hold
2002 Drink
2010 Hold
2005 Hold
2001 Drink
2007 Drink/hold
2004 Drink
2000 Drink
2009 Drink/hold
2006 Drink soon
2003 Dispose of in an environmentally-friendly fashion
I saw this thread and Bob’s list and as I was thinking about barreling down I thought it would be a fun exercise to go down memory lane. So cellar work gets a pause (I’m tired on day 36…) here’s my list:
I went back to 92 because those were in our book at the distributor in Denver where I worked, from 96 on I was physically involved with the winemaking. Thanks for the distraction!
I haven’t bottled my 10’s and the 11’s are f#%&ing beautiful. I can’t remember it ever being this lovely at this stage. It could be double extra shitty…
I did not go back to '92 and I did not include 2010 or 2011 as I have not really tasted very many 2010s and it’s way to early to comment on 2011.
I think they fall into 3 sorts of categories
Undeniably terrific (at least IMO) and if you like one more than the other than that’s fine
2008-Not for the impatient or early-oriented drinker. In fact not so good if you want to drink them now. They need years.
2005-Just a tick off 2008 in my book.
1998-Under-rated to me. I have rarely had the '99 counterpart be the better wine.
1999-That being said this is a damn fine vintage
2002-These wines are in a great place right now
1993-There are some great wines here but there was a litter of green ones too and the amount of wine was a paucity.
Mostly pretty good
2009-Perhaps this lacks across the board but the best wines are incredible
1994-Mostly these wines were amazing for 5-7 years. Some hung on longer, not most. In the early window though they were delicious if hedonistic.
2001-Lovely stuff. Some over-cropped stuff brings the vintage down a notch but good stuff is still youthful.
2007-Do I need to go into this?
2000-Solid wines, sort of like 2000 Red Burgundy in the sense that it was a largely solid, easy if unspectacular vintage.
Vintages with issues
2006-I am a bigger fan than most. There are jammy, hot wines but there are also a boatload of beautiful wines that will be terrific in 10 years.
1996-There were and are good wines. Most have gone by the boards but in their youth some stuff was nice.
2004-I am less of a fan. Unbalanced in many instances but good ones are nicely sappy.
2003-Atypical but there are still incredible wines doing very well (not that Bob Wood believes this).
1997-Hard vintage
1995-Not a good vintage
Every vintage is going to have something good in it. I think the 2 wines we churned out at the winery we used to work at in 1995 were both very nice wines. They weren’t destined for a long cellar life but they tasted good. I think I tended to rank vintages based on the carrying capacity of the wines. 1994 would have been a better vintage to me if more of the wines had been able to last longer. I feel like that was an exciting vintage (certainly sprung Oregon from a national perspective) but the thrill of the wines was mostly relatively short-term. 2005 and 2008 are almost the exact opposite. The wines require time and it can be hard to see the beauty that will occur. I think I also gave mental points to vintages where I could really think of top wines that were the tits (so '93 does well even though there wasn’t a lot of wine and there were some duds in there).
Folks who are far more knowledgeable about Oregon vintages than I am have already weighed in, but my first reaction to reading your post (before I saw the replies) was exactly that of Mr. Wood. It surprises me that you had the perception that '06 was among the best.
I do recall that certain winemakers and winegrowers who are based in California and who are only peripherally involved with Oregon pinot (in one case the guy had NOTHING to do with Oregon pinot but did grow pinot in California) were quite vocal when the '06 Oregon pinots were just about to come to market that the '06 vintage in Oregon was a great one. I scratched my head at that one as I was not hearing the same thing at all from the Oregon-based producers of Oregon pinot.
I was really into Oregon pinot at the time (still am) and bought far too much '06 anyway. I’ve hated just about everything from '06. I did like most of Patricia Green’s (particularly the Eitzel) and I have not yet tried any of my Thomas.
My only caveat/asterisk/footnote/seed of doubt is that in many ways, '06 Oregons remind me of my '05 Village level Burgs. They are hard as nails and just not showing well just yet. I have been letting the remainder of my '06 Oregons sit to see how they are in four or five more years. '06 is still a very recent vintage in Oregon terms.
2010 92 D (Limited tastings)
2009 87 D (Limited tastings)
2008 95 D/H
2007 90 D/H
2006 91 D
2005 89 D/H
2004 87 D
2003 82 D
2002 94 D/H
2001 90 D
2000 85 D
1999 93 D/H
1998 88 D
1997 86 D
1996 86 D
1995 82 D
1994 92 D
1993 91 D
I may need to readjust (Downward 2006) based on last night. I don’t think I would adjust 05 or 04 upward though. As for 07, all I know is keep seeing threads that they are shitty, but I don’t read them. Perhaps I should.
I didn’t think 06 would be a long lived vintage but I thought there would be some good upfront wines made. I.e. I preferred 02 Bordeaux wines for their short term enjoyment over 01 wines that were good, not great but needed time and would never be great (obviously all vintage assessments have huge exceptions to the rule).
I think both you and Jim A. pretty well hit the nail. A large part of the equation is aging. We’ve had this conversation on this board before, but many of the early drinkers didn’t like the 2008s and would put them way down on the vintage chart. I have a friend that bought 4 cases of 08s, with my constant urging, and were are all gone by early this year. He would tell you that the wines are hard and somewhat tannic. For the vast majority of wine drinkers, his views are probably popular. Many did not like the 05s, and considered it a poor vintage.
Another issue, is decanting. Loren’s drill for this tasting is representative of what most wine drinkers do: pop and pour. I have a higher view of many of the 06s that have been expressed so far, but my 06s are typically seeing a min of 1-1.5 hours in the decanter, with many seeing 2+, before they ever hit the glass. I’ve found that many of the 06s I purchased aren’t even waking up until then.
All this goes in the hopper when we discuss vintages. The friend, I referred to above, bought a case of 08 Brickhouse Evelyn and drank all of them within six months of arrival. He’ll admit that the best bottle of the case he had was the one with me where I made him decant for 2 hours before we drank it. He’ll tell you it tasted nothing like the other bottles. But his perspectives based on pop n pour young wines rule the wine world.
Gordon, I agree on the decanting and I suggested that for next year (and certainly when we get to 08) we drop off our bottles a day or two ahead to allow for an hour or two in a decanter first.
Wow, look away for a moment and suddenly there’re multiple decade+ summaries of Oregon Pinot vintages. Playing along:
1999 - Stunning vintage given top billing because the best have reached an impressive peak.
2005 - 2007, beautiful wines made by all my favs. A number of 05s are about to bloom. 07 requires caution although a decent number nailed it.
2008 - Just don’t know about 08 yet, the greats could by mindblowing but there’re lingering doubts about some going anywhere. Time will tell if it leapfrogs up to 1999 heights.
2002 - Lovely wines, some can be a little too ripe
2004 - 2009 Meh, sure there’re exceptions…but mostly, meh.
2006 Meh and worse
2003 Yuck
2000 - 2001 - 2010 - 2011 insufficient data to comment, but a more positive vibe for the last 3.
BTW, thanks for the TNs Loren. The Thomas is also one of my 06 favs.
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