Do you typically drink Oregon pinot 10+ years past vintage?

I’m curious how many of you find much additional complexity or (positive) development on these wines after 10 years.

I started buying in fairly considerable quantities with the 2007 vintage and find that 2007-2010 vintages are all drinking really well by now. Some 08’s and 10’s are still tight or closed, but for the most part they are pretty accessible.

I usually buy multiple bottles so I have the opportunity to sit on bottles that I’ve tried and are drinking really well, but I am not sure how much more upside is there. I know this varies by producer and I am familiar with those that tend to age longer, but I just don’t have much experience tracking a given wine from age 10 to say, age 15 or even 20.

I feel like waiting 10 years after vintage shows considerable patience but I’m wondering if I’ll be rewarded by exercising even more patience. I’ve found that for the most part, about 7 years is the sweet spot where these wines really start to integrate and show complexity.

edit: this post is not intended to question or doubt the age-worthiness of these wines, just hoping to hear some thoughts about the marginal benefits of additional age past 10 years.

Almost every bottle is 10 years + in my cellar, I honestly don’t really like drinking them before that…

I generally keep them 7-10 years before drinking them but that also depends on the vintage. There are some that are actually better younger.

I hosted a small blind tasting of pinot noirs in March and the consensus top two wines were a 2004 Ponzi Pinot Noir Reserve and a 2007 Belle Pente Belle Pente Vineyard Pinot Noir. They were both fantastic: complex, delicate, but with a really nice amount of fruit remaining. I do think the best reward 10+ years. To answer your question, though, I don’t tend to cellar most that long. I think most can be very good at 5-7 years from vintage date.

I once brought a 10 year old Ken Wright to a tasting several years ago - it was summarily dismissed (by a few) as ‘obviously too old to be worth considering’. Others enjoyed it.

Once upon a time at Eyrie, they were pouring one of the first vintages (76 I think) by the glass out of a Coravin style device. It was sublime. The good ones can continue to deliver for 20+ years.

Matt, I’m not totally surprised that a Ken Wright wasn’t showing too well at 10 years. To me, most of their lineup is made in a more enjoy-early style. In full disclosure, though, I haven’t had one in quite a few years so that may have changed. That Eyrie sounds awesome.

I’m curious how many of you find much additional complexity or (positive) development on these wines after 10 years.
Some wines/producers do better than others. Even entry level Pinots can age nicely. Some don’t. A lot of 2005s are killer right now with more mileage ahead.

Some 08’s and 10’s are still tight or closed, but for the most part they are pretty accessible.
I have apprehension for 2008s that still remain tight.

I feel like waiting 10 years after vintage shows considerable patience but I’m wondering if I’ll be rewarded by exercising even more patience.
It increases the risks. Oregon isn’t Burgundy, but some wines of 15 - 20 years are just plain gorgeous while others simply fade. It can vary bottle to bottle. You have to like aged tertiary characteristics. Some don’t.

7 years is the sweet spot where these wines really start to integrate and show complexity.
Not a bad rule of thumb for higher level cuvees. Vintages and style play a part.

RT

As you recognize, it varies - some will reward 10+ years, some won’t of course. In my experience, it varies by (1) producer, (2) where on the scale you want to drink them (examples being lots of remaining primary fruit, some secondary development notes, mostly secondary development notes, some tertiary development notes, etc.), (3) vintage, and (4) release level for producer (an example being recent 2005 Evesham Wood WV vs. EW 2005 Le Puits Sec wines tasted - WV was nice but not terribly complex while LPS has more development, complexity, and further life ahead - not a surprise). The vintage component can limit how much development even certain producers can attain for certain wines.

For my taste, the most enjoyable, haunting, memorable OR PNs I have consumed have been mostly somewhere into the tertiary development stage, so I tend to hang on to certain wines more than 10 years and even well more than 10 years (if I can hold out that long). If I could make a gross estimate of my sweet spot in terms of age for my favorite producers in ageable vintages, it would probably be 15-20 years from release.

All great points thus far. I have enjoyed several older (15+ years) pinots from Eyrie, Cameron, and DDO, so I don’t doubt how good they can be, but I didn’t have an opportunity to see how they tasted at 10 years and whether there was very much development from the extra time. I recognize this is probably way too general of a question to answer.

That being said, I am sitting on a ton of Goodfellow/Matello and from the way these wines are built I suspect giving them well over 10 years is warranted and will be rewarding. They don’t have the track record being a relatively young entity, but I suspect they’ll do well.

I find that I really prefer the wines when they have 10+ years post vintage. My So does not like the wines we’ve had that have been older. I think a lot of this is largely shaped by the 10+ years I spent working in different parts ITWB. Young wines are bright and fun, and easy to love…but nowhere as interesting to me. There are some exceptions…and there are wines that I’m working to age longer if possible. One of my favorite wines I had was a 1990 Elk Cove Reserve in 2011 and at 21 years old…it was so Burgundian that it floored me. I continue to age the wines I trust in the hopes that they will beat out a wine that probably didn’t have the experience, knowledge, and vine-age behind it that wines from 2005, 2008, or 2012 do.

Anyone have a read on the '09 St Innocent Momtazi? (John O, maybe, looking at your avatar.) Got one sleeping downstairs.

I am fortunate in that I get to routinely drink and try older Oregon pinot.

As others mentioned, the risk goes up but the risk is worth the reward if you make the right bet! We recently did a blind tasting dedicated to 90s Oregon pinot.

We had about 12 wines, none were “bad”. A few were not that enjoyable, many were very enjoyable, and a few were downright fantastic and far more interesting than a wine with only 10 years on it.

The '94 and '96 vintage was great in Oregon and nearly every wine I have from those vintages is still fantastic. You have to select your producer accordingly but that’s a given for older wine.

For a vintage like 2007 and 2011, I would guess those wines will easily age 20 years and arguably won’t peak until 10-15 years.

It also comes down to what you enjoy. If you like secondary aromatics (earth, spice etc) as opposed to fruit, then 20 years might be your sweet spot. 10 years is a safe bet for a wine that’s still primary but starting to really develop some nice secondary flavors.

Yes

Sounds like we need an Oregon pinot theme offline in Seattle!

Ron, this is a great question. I just don’t know if there’s a perfect answer. The 5-7 year window is a great time to drink Oregon Pinot Noir, that said I had a 2001 Westrey Reserve last week that was magical. And magical in a way that nothing but old wine can be.

Not all old bottles of Oregon Pinot Noir are home runs, but like Burgundy, the ones that are male up for all the wines that fall short.
That said, I enjoy drinkng a wine over it’s lifetime, so I hope you are sitting on enough Goodfellow/Matello to drink some now and hold some for later.
My favorite wines to drink right now are 02 and 04-07. I would happily open a 2010 now too but not if I was down to 3 btls or less.

Depends on the winery and the vintage. John Thomas wines are almost never ready before they are 10 years old.

I am lucky to have a shop near me that has quite a few 10+ year old St Innocents and Patricia Greens. I havent had one that made me question buying more of them (or holding onto a few of them) yet.

The few I have experience with over 10 years old (St Innocent, DDO, old eyrie reserves) most certainly reward aging. 2004 DDO a few nights back was great and can improve

I like this idea!!

Older bottles of DDO, Eyrie, Elk Cove, Ken Wright, and more all have something special…if it’s a crap-shoot, it’s worth the roll of the dice to me. There’s a depth and complexity that can only come with age.