Oregon Pinot Noir

What is your favorite Oregon Pinot Noir? Anything with a nose on the par with Burgundy?

The regions and the wines are distinctly different. There are certainly Oregon wines that are not fruit forward and show a lot of terroir, which is in a sense similar to what is strived for in Burgundy, but they are different animals. Many people post here requesting recommendations for wines that are more restrained and less fruit forward. We can give you such recommendations or you can use the search button, but it’s important to understand that the two are very different.

Greg, I’ve found that there is a wide range of Pinot Noir coming out of Oregon similar to Burgundy that Volnay and Corton do not taste similar. What are some Burgundies that you’ve really enjoyed? What towns do you tend to gravitate towards in Burgundy? That would help me to understand what Oregon Pinot Noir producers you may want to check in on.

Always challenging comparing domestic pinot noir to Burgundy. My favorite OR pinots are Thomas and Domaine Drouhin Laurene.

Cheers,

Hal

There is quite a lot of discussion on this board for all regions and wines, OR pinot included. One of the reasons I hang around and try to contribute in my small way.
As previously mentioned, indicate your preferences in style and you will get more recommendations than you can afford to buy.

The '07s were sh!tty.
Avoid

I’m a big fan of Cristom, P Green, Seven of Hearts, and Vincent

Can I request the exact opposite? My wife would love a fruity pinot with strawberry and cherry all the way through the palate. Hell, it would be even better if it had at least a little residual sugar, as if it were a demi-sec or moelleux style. Anybody know of a purple drank pinot?

The two bottles she enjoyed the most so far are Ponsot 1995 Chapelle-Chambertin and Henri Gouges 2003 Nuits St. Georges Clos des Porrets.

I would also be interested in some different affordable pinots out of Oregon; one with more floral notes and one with more earthiness or meatiness. Good topic Greg I really want to try out more in this area!

I usually just ignore posts like this but I just don’t get it. What are you doing man ? What’s the purpose of your post ? Insult someone trying to expand his wine knowledge and experience ? Insult someone who adds a ton of value and content to this board ? Perhaps your just trying to be funny ??

Holy crap man what a turd you just dropped. Yes, please don’t post if you have no value to add to the discussion. Btw, Mike was actually trying to answer the question and participate in the thread… As to your question, I guess you are.



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Greg- there are many more experienced posters for Oregon pinot’s on the board but here would be a few I like:

More floral with lighter red fruit tones- Patricia Green.

Earthiness- Eyrie Estate-

Meaty and a bit darker- Belle Pente-

All of these benefit from 3+ years of age though vintage variety will make a difference. If you use wine-searcher you can find 07-13 right now so perhaps score some with age on them. These should all range in price from $25-40 so imo they are great qpr’s.

What does “Burgundy” smell like? (Topic has been discussed ad nauseum here with consensus it’s silly to ask)
What’s the “best” pinot from Oregon? (Topic has been discussed ad nauseum with consensus it’s silly to ask)
Asking the two in the conjunctive does nothing but compound the silliness.

Yeah, that’s great, Mitch. But those aren’t the questions the OP asked. Sheesh.

As you can see - lots of ‘wise guys’ on this board -

The fun thing about discovering wine is; how much different fruit is when grown in different areas. Try comparing a Malbec from Argentina to a Malbec from Cahors France. Pinot Gris grown in Friuli compared to a Pinot Gris in Oregon. Chenin Blanc grown in South Africa compared to Chenin Blanc grown in the Loire Valley.

It’s much simpler to just go out and sample all the 2012 and 2013 Oregon Pinot Noirs that you can.

Both are wonderful vintages, even many of the lesser priced wines are showing admirable fruit - and I haven’t had a bad one yet.

I just had a 2012 Benton-Lane over the weekend that was just delicious. Not over the top, beautiful aromatics, and in my mind, how a good Pinot Noir should taste - regardless of the place.

And Greg - you really don’t want your domestic Pinot Noir to taste like Burgundy. that would spoil everything. Let everything have it’s sense of place - it makes drinking wine that much more special.

Great question OP. I really like Matello if I’m in the mood for something with more acidity and a touch of earthiness. They all have fruit, more on the lighter side i.e. More cranberry or tart cherry than say a deep raspberry/cherry. I think Marcus does use a fair amount of whole cluster in most of his pinot’s and I dig that.

St. Innocent with bottle age does it for me. I opened the 2005 Seven Springs on Friday that was still young but stunning.

Anyway, my favorites are:
Kelley Fox- Mirabai/Maresh is spectacular.
Patricia Green-Old vine is crazy great.
Biggio Hamina for tremendous QPR
I have not tasted many myself but I’m rectifying that ASAP.
I can’t help with the second part of your question. All I can say is taste as much wine as you can and form your own opinions as to your preferences.
Welcome to the board. Once you weed through the flotsam like above, it actually is a great place to learn and yes, I have nearly 10k posts but I am still learning too. The day I think I know it all is the day I take a dirt-nap or at least know when to STFU and not act so holier-than-thou.

The only 100-point wine in my cellar is a shitty Oregon PN named after some Curmudgeon who used to grace this board; it is too bad he’s not here now, he’d enjoy this thread ever so very much!

Can Todd add a like button?

You may not and Greg may not…but you’d hear few complaints from me (and I’d expect a decent number of OR winemakers would join in) if OR PN tasted more like “good/great” Burgundy.

Sorry for being vague, how about say Chambertin?