On Saturday, a number of Berserkers (mainly lurkers) gathered at the Heater Allen Tap Room to taste 2013 Oregon Chardonnay. This is our fourth year of this endeavour. I thought the quality was better overall than previous years though that might be partially explained by our trying to include wines from better producers. We tasted 7 flights of 3 wines, which was slightly cludgy (5 flights of four would probably have been better). Wines were served double blind for the most part.
Flight 1
Vincent - Rich, some oak, good mouth-feel, a little pickle in the nose. WOTF
Bethel Heights - a little sulfur, lacked concentration, nice finish
Walter Scott Cuvee Anne - a little oaky, good concentration, a little harsh, nice finish
Flight 2
Evening Land Seven Springs - Very well integrated with no rough spots. WOTF and my #3 wine of the tasting
Walter Scott X Novo - Reduced, with a weird burnt aroma that mostly blew off with time, nice apple/pear, good acid
Evening Land La Source - Nice mouth-feel, lemon custard, good balance.
Flight 3
Walter Scott Vojtilla - Great nose, some oak, great acid WOTF
Longplay - Some said corked. I thought is was flawed but not corked.
Hamacher - Shrill, lacks the body and mouthfeel to stand up to the acid.
Flight 4
Arterberry Maresh Maresh - Lemon/yeasty nose, rich, great mouthfeel and finish. WOTF and my #1 wine of the tasting
Goodfellow Durant - Muted nose, slightly reduced, good balance
Coleen Clemens - Tired, lacks acid
Flight 5
Crowley Four Winds - Lemon/yeast nose, rich, good balance, a little oak. WOTF and my #2 wine of the tasting
Johan Visdom - Oak, good acid
Keuka Lake Vineyards (ringer from NY) - Funky, bitter, weird.
Flight 6
Brick House Cascadia - Lemon/oak, intense, good acid
Goodfellow Richards - Reduced, oak, showing it age a little, nice balance WOTF
Trisatum - Well balanced, a little oak
Flight 7
2010 Roulot Bourgogne (ringer) - Lemon/oak, peppermint, intense lemon yeast, good finish
Liquid Farm (ringer from CA) - Reduced, flabby
Cameron Abbey Ridge - Intense lemon, great mouthfeel, nice finish. WOTF
A couple of thoughts - first, more people are making great chardonnay in Oregon. I didn’t have high hopes because it was a little bit weaker vintage, but the overall quality was high. Second, I was a little surprised that I liked the bottom level Evening Land better than the spendy stuff. Good to remember.
2014 is a better vintage, so next year should be interesting (and hopefully we’ll have more people that are willing to post.