Last minute decision to bring this along to dinner with a friend (her birth year) so no planning or elaborate opening timing, which initially worried me. Actually worked out perfectly because this wine was beautiful right from the get go. Used a Durand to open but I think a regular wine key would have been just fine cuz the cork was in good shape. Wine pours brilliant ruby red with almost no fading or bricking, looks like a 5-10 year old wine in the glass. Nose and palate match pretty well with a big hit of cherry jolly rancher like fresh fruit and then an underlying seam of forest floor notes, mostly dried leaves and earth. Fully resolved tannins and bright fresh acidity. Good from beginning to end!
Quick note: over the last 2 years Iâve opened up a good handful of 20+ year old Willamette Pinot Noirs, all of them purchased in the last few years for a pittance compared to just about every other major wine region with the same bottle age (the St Innocent was $30 in 2019!) Every one of them has been beautiful. The other two that jump to mind were a 2000 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot and a 1986 Adelsheim Elizabethâs Cuvee. I would count all three as some of the best surprises and best steals Iâve had in wine. These were pretty unassuming bottles and I donât think Willamette is where many peopleâs minds go when they are talking about buying wines to age long term, but in my experience these wines have aged gracefully and been pretty special!
Thanks for the note Matt. What other 20+ year agers have you had? My oldest so far is a 1993 Domaine Serene Evanstad Reserve that I opened earlier this year. It was fabulous and fully mature, but still has time. I have one bottle left, not sure when I may open it.
Great note Matt. I agree on the ageing potential for Willamette wines. Iâm buying with the intent to age them 10+ years, and hope to keep enough around so that I can try them at 20+.
Nice to see this. Two years ago I sampled a 1996 Bethel Heights Southeast Block Reserve and a 1993 Adelsheim. They were both great, and I felt both had some gas left in the tank. Agree that these bottles can age quite well.
Eyrie releases a reserve bottling every once in a while of back vintage stuff, but Iâve had some from those releases and from stored bottles bought at release. I dont think there are Patricia green bottlings that old, but I have recently had some from the early 2000s (02 and 03) that would have had no problem with another 5-10 years, and those had been sitting on a shelf in the middle of nowhere SC since release.
would love to try an old Bethel Heights at some point. They have some of the oldest vines in the valley at this point in the southeast, flat, and west blocks. that must have been a treat
looks like they were founded in '88, not sure if they made wine that year or not though? if I had known this bottle was possibly from their first vintage⌠I probably still would have opened it actually lol.
I love the back label though: breaks down the vineyard blend, the vintage characteristics (â1989 harvest was characterized by a warm September and low yields in the vineyard. This combined to give small and very ripe clusters of grapesâ) as well as the aging process, must characteristics (acid, pH, Brix) and wine (acid, pH, total SO2). nice little touch there.
Completely concur on the aging potential for Willamette Valley wines by the right artisanal makers that have been properly stored/transported.
As an example, I opened two lovely Arterberryâs in the last month. A 1986 Arterberry Winemakers Reserve (the father of Jim Maresh) and a 2005 Arterberry Maresh (Jim Mareshâs first commercial vintage). Both were delicious. The 1986 had all those lovely ethereal qualities of well aged Pinot Noir. A wine to savor. Shared it with friends who have been Burgheads for 30+ years and they were wowed.
The 2005 was nicely Integrated, prime of life, with no bricking. Started out Dundee red fruit, and with time in the glass, the spice and savory elements came out. Was one of those delicious wines you keep reaching for until it is gone.
These came from an auction of what was clearly a thoughtful collectorâs cellar. Has has given me many other great Oregon bottles from the last 35 years, and motivated me to buy a fair amount of current releases to drink in a decade or two.
That said, Lighter touch, unfined or filtered, elegant wines show best. The few bottles of bigger extracted or higher alc makers have been mostly disappointing. There seemed to be a fork in the road in the 2000s where some names went in a bad direction.
A few of the wines have suffered from what I believe was heat damage early in their life to be stewed port. Those are a small minority though.
So with Oregon, as well as Burgundy and Champagne, you need to focus on safe shipping and not aging bottles that have sat on store shelves.
oh agreed for sure. do I think current Domaine Serene will age like the wines the two of us have been lucky enough to try? no way.
also funny that your bottles were from Arterberry, because Mark Vlossak that made the St Innocent I drank probably had a hand in making that '86 as well. I think he trained at Arterberry prior to starting St Innocent. that and Maresh vineyard still provides the fruit for what is probably my favorite pinot made in the valley these days: Kelley Foxâs Maresh vineyard.
A couple of thoughts on this thread:
First, just using the name âWillametteâ is lazy and poor grammer. There is a river, valley, township, university, high school, and other entities all called âWillametteâ. If you Google âWillametteâ by itself, most of the first page of links are related to Willamette University. If youâre talking about wine, youâre probably talking about the Willamette Valley. If youâre too lazy to type the whole thing out, WV is preferable.
Second, St Innocentâs first vintage was 1988. The wines were really good right out of the chute.
Third, Fred Arterberry was an incredible winemaker, although what first drew my attention to him was a sparkling cider he made in the late 70s. I happen to make beer in the space where Fred once made wine (Patty Green and Jim Anderson too).
Fourth, Iâve had a lot of older Willamette Valley (see how easy that was?) Pinots, and for the most part, most of those early wines werenât made for long term aging. Since then, winemaking has improved a lot and where I once didnât feel comfortable aging a WV pinot more than 8 years, Iâm now thinking that 15 years is looking pretty good.
Fifth, sometimes pundits get over-excited about ripeness and forget about balance and concentration. The pundits thought 1994 was a great vintage because it was a ripe vintage. I think now most would recognize that 1993 was the better vintage though it got little attention at the time.
I can see how you could confuse my post to be about the river, university, township or high school. I apologize for that. if anyone here came in to talk about how badly the high school building is aging, I can only say Go Wolverines by way of apology.
otherwise I appreciate your contribution to the thread and your insight into the evolution of winemaking in the valley (do I need to specify which valley here?).
Interesting. I bought 3 bottles of Domaine Serene Grace Vineyard 07 at an auction a couple of months ago. Agree on the low price point however the first bottle I opened was very uninteresting and died after some hours out + the day afterâŚ
I know 07 wasnât a great vintage however the wine was very underwhelming and overdue, which actually made me think of not trying âvintageâ Willamette again. This post has made be dare to try again - thank you!
Doug Tunnel sent this to me last week. Honestly, I was shocked. That was our first vintage and the Estate Vineyard was in dubious condition then. A 2003 Balcombe Block 1B showed very well the other day. Lots of Oregon Pinots cruise through 2 decades.
