When to drink 2011 Oregon Pinot?

With all the warm vintages in Oregon over the past few years I’m feeling a desire to experience some of lighter, more brisk, high acid wines. My 2007’s are dwindling and starting to peak and so I’m trying to keep my hands off of them for special occasions. I bought a lot of 2011 wines and so these are potential candidates to scratch my itch, but they aren’t nearly ready IMHO.

When they first came out the 2011’s were generally pretty screechy. There were some WV bottlings that were approachable, aromatic, fresh and bright (Biggio Hamina immediately comes to mind), but the SVDs weren’t at all ready. Over the next couple of years I watched them stitch themselves together a bit and integrate pretty nicely. I was thinking they might turn a corner and be ready to dip into periodically but during the last 6 months or so my experience has been pretty consistent. The wines don’t taste nearly as harsh and disjointed as earlier, but in many cases they seem to be shut down a bit. And while the integration has seemingly made for more complete wines, many still come off as lacking in aromatics and palate intensity. I typically do not associate flavor/aromatic intensity with color or viscosity, so that’s not what I’m looking for. It just seems like the wines are maybe closing down?

What has been your experience? I’m still a believer in the vintage and I’m willing to wait, but if I had to guess I would say these will be starting to get quite enjoyable in 3+ years and starting to peak in maybe 7 years?

Now.

Disclaimer: I downstream up front and fresh on purpose.

Beat me to it.

See what you get by complimenting Todd?

The most recent 2011 I’ve tried was an Et Fille just two days ago. It reminded me of the '07s before they came around. The aromatics were hinted at, but not yet full blown. I wouldn’t say shut down, just not developed. I got a few tastes of '11s last weekend at the WV events, and had exactly the same impressions.
The people pouring said to give them 3-5 more years.
This does not, of course, apply to all the wines, because you drink an individual wine, not a vintage.

P Hickner

Ron, you know most will be better if you wait. Growing pains. Continue to believe.

RT

Sorry.

Richard, are you bullying members into agreeing with you and apologizing too?

Everyone knows Oregon Pinot is not 1978 La Louviere.

Ron, two options come to mind.

1. look for producer you normally don’t buy that will have just a bit more flesh.

2. stay with the entry level wines. My 2011 WV is showing most readily.

Also, there’s definitely some bottle variation, I opened a 2011 Hommage a month ago that was available and aromatically lovely, but another bottle a week later was shut down like nobody’s business.

Oh…and for the original question…1-5 more years. They still need time but they’ve been evolving faster than I expected. Also-most 2011 fruit had higher levels of malic acid, and after malolactic finished most 2011s had shrill acidity with a higher than typical pH. pH is a big part of the aging Pinot Noir and while I love 2011, I suspect they’ll age/evolve more quickly than one might guess.

I’ve been investing pretty heavily into 2010 and 2011 as well and have had half a dozen wines over the past few months from both vintages. As stated, the WV blends are quite nice and have some body to them. Several of the other single vineyard wines just need more time. 3 years minimum and MANY will go 5+8 years I would guess.

We’ve recently had a few different Cristoms that were 2011s and were extremely nice. Same with White Rose. I feel like the Whole cluster inclusion helps give the cooler vintage a bit more body earlier on. Crowley, Longplay, Maresh and Goff were also some other '11s that are showing quite nicely right now.