These library wines are a really special treat to time travel back to the early days of PGC. I never had a chance to meet Patty. Only when we made our very first trip appointment to visit the winery did we discover that Patty had passed three months earlier. Through a stroke of great personal fortune, Jim decided to spend over an hour with me and my wife in the cellar. Despite obviously being in a state of grief, Jim shared numerous barrel samples with us and gave us a phenomenal first hand introduction to PGC. It was a very generous act on his part. Since then, we have loaded up on lots PGC wines starting with 2016, but these wines really demand many years of aging. That makes this cellar offering all the more a special treat. I ended up with a mixed case of 2002-2010 wines.
Tonight, we started with 2002 Balcome (Dundee Hills). Apparently, 2002 was a great vintage for Oregon. Straight out of the shipping box, this wine was a murky soup that needed several days standing up. Eventually, there was about a half inch of very fine sediment. On a side note, I really love the old PGC label and the foil cap looks really classy (even if it did cost them lots of money to put on). On cutting off the cap, I saw a small amount of seepage. The cork seemed spongey and came out very easily with wine stain all the way up to the top. I had nothing to fear.
As soon as I poured it into a decanter, the room filled with the scent of wild flowers. We started in on tasting immediately. The wine still looked quite dark in the glass, but when held up to a light, it had a full, deep orange with only a fading hint of red. This is a fantastic bottle of wine. While it is probably at its perfect drinking window, it still has a remarkable fresh red fruit character and a mouth-coating, silky texture. The aftertaste goes on for at least a minute. I canāt say how this compares to Bonshaw, Etzel, or Balcome 1B and it doesnāt really matter. This is a first rate wine. Jim mentioned that the older PGC wines are a bit rustic and funky. If this is rustic and funky, give me a double portion. It shows no sign of decline at this point and I can imagine it hold on just fine for a few more years without problem. It also didnāt fade over four hours of consumption. I got two bottles of this. I wish I had a case. I also wish I has a cellar full of 15+ year old Pinot.
Thanks Chris for the very generous, enthusiastic and heartfelt review of an older wine from the Library Sale. Iām thrilled it held up and showed so well. I do feel that these older wines have very rustic aspects to them like the far greater degree of sediment than we would have in our wines today (even if aged out 18 years). There is some patience required with some of these and I appreciate you noticing, noting and dealing with that. Iāve been a bit worried some people will experience some disappointment because these old bottles have odd, perhaps not completely normal by the standards of the day visual and, if not handled properly, textural characteristics.
That being said this is a great lead note if others choose to post or just a great informational note on perhaps what to expect for the many, many people from this site that ordered some older wines without maybe knowing some of the history and back story that exists.
Iām always happy to field questions about what people have or might be considering. I certainly appreciate the enthusiasm that has been expressed and want to do my best to help people along here.
Cool note. Glad I ordered some of this! Makes me wish I had ordered more than I did.
Canāt wait to get my order this week! But will have to wait a couple weeks for them to settle I think.
Chris, great note & photos. For anyone that is āintoā Pinot Noir, my guess is that this Library release was one of the best things to come out of the last 12 months. Aged Pinot Noir is such a beautiful thing.
I havenāt pulled the trigger on any yet, but are there any left that you highly recommend, particularly for someone whoās never had any PGC wine before?
Check out the PGC library thread - including post 25, recommendations from the winemaker himself.
Drinking coffee and headed in soon for Day 2 of bottling line installation.
Iām not entirely sure what is still in inventory. As far as vintages go 2005, 2008 and 2012 are stellar. 2009s are sneaky good if a bit more opulent. Stuff from our Estate Vineyard and Balcombe Vineyard all show very well. Ana/Weber Vineyard is also pretty consistent (opened a 2006 late last week and while not everyoneās cup of tea it was good and certainly didnāt lack for flavor or substance). If there are Mysterious bottlings left they will be terrific. In March the 2009 held up in a flight of very serious and expensive Grand Crus. Freedom Hills are definitely terrific especially the 2012s (our first vintage with the site) but they will be bigger and darker wines as that is the nature of the site. A 2011 Balcombe showed super well yesterday.
Sorry if thatās not narrowing the field. Feel free to email me about specific wines. Try to have fun with it. We have an unusual and unusually large catalog here but donāt be overwhelmed. If you came to our warehouse right now you would be amazed. It amazes me and Iām used to it.
Okay, got Margaret to send me a list. Still pretty extensive.
I went from 2001-2012. These are just personal favorites that I either absolutely know or have had recently enough that I can posit are doing fine and drinking well. Just because I am NOT picking something doesnāt mean anything.
2001 Balcombe Block 1B and Notorious (which was from 2 barrels of Balcombe Vineyard)
2002 Estate Vineyard
2004 Estate Vineyard (there was no Old Vine bottling in 2004 because yields were insanely low so this is all of the site except for the 2 block designates) and Estate Vineyard Bonshaw Block (this would be a very, very high recommendation as we just cracked one a couple weeks ago and it was stellar).
2005 Anything there.
2006 Balcombe Vineyard and Balcombe Vineyard Block 1B (even Richard Trimpi liked this wine and heās not a fan of the vintage!)
2007 Estate Etzel Block, Notorious
2008 Anything
2009 Mysterious (100% Wadensvil, this was lively and fresh 10 months ago) and Olenik (had this a couple years back at Rick Dyerās house in SC and it was glorious) this is also 100% Wadensvil
2010 Wahle (an old vine one-off) Olenik, Balcombe Block 1B
2011 Balcombe, Estate Old Vine, Estate Bonshaw Block
2012 Nearly anything but a top 3 would be Ana, Freedom Hill Coury Clone and Olenik Anklebreaker (not for the AFWE amongst you all)
If you havenāt seen the site this IS narrowing it down tremendously. Again, if you want to reach out just email me.
Thanks so much for taking the time to pull this together! Will follow up by email with any questions.
Next up is the 2004 Estate Vineyard. I did not take detailed notes as this wine was quite similar to the 2002 Balcome. It has a similar sediment level although the cork was perfect for its age. It too was highly inviting right from the opening pour. Whereas the Balcome was surprising delicious, this was insistently delicious and was drank it with a tad too much gusto. The main standout difference was that this wine had more of an earthy darkness to it compared to the Balcomeās red brightness. Perhaps Jim can chime in on whether this is a factor of vintage or soil (marine vs. volcanic). My final observation is just how alive this wine is at 16+ years. I didnāt get any sense of decline whatsoever. In light of Mr. Goodfellowās recent post on the 1994 Westrey, Iād not be shocked if this wine still had something left ten years from now. I have a few more bottles, but they are really so good right now, Iād suggest that they are at the plateau for optimal drinking.
Am I the only one drinking these gems?
Chris,
I really wish I had bought moreā¦what Iāve found is that is a statement I commonly say about a few key producers. This was a real gift Jim & his team put together for us. My guess is that may of these wines will have a long life for people that choose to continue to age them. The 2004 Etzel Block we opened in early 2019 was in my mind āin the Zoneā. Iād have a hard time not opening anything I had from 2004 at PGC.
Maybe we should create a: āWhat Patricia Green Cellars are you drinking?ā topic.
I like that. Had the 2010 Etzel Block last night
Sounds good. I was just focusing on the recent library release wines.l
Iāll create one and reference this thread + the library thread.
New topic: What PGC are you drinking?
I grabbed a case from the Library release but have not cracked one open yet. Recently Iāve been enjoying ā03, ā04, ā05, and ā06s that I picked up separately at retail, and Iāve really been impressed with how lively they are. Some time to breathe really helps, and the ā03 Balcombe 1B was superb. Even a couple with seepage were still drinkable. Again, those were bought retail, so Iām excited to dig into my Library purchase, straight from the winery!
Waiting for mine to be shipped