I bought this in 1996, and have had it cellared since. It’s been through several moves, and while never kept in temperature controlled storage the majority of the time was in a PNW basement.
Old wine is often only as good as it’s closure, and the cork in this bottle looked to be in excellent shape and fill was within a ml or two of normal.
Upon opening, the nose was beautiful and ethereally pretty red fruit. Like smelling cherry blossoms with a couple of pints of fresh strawberries in your hands. Softly expressive, very feminine, the slightest element of luxuriousness, and no sharp angles. The palate follows through on the nose. Beautifully soft fruit, very gentle tannins at the back and non-intrusive acidity. Harmonious and lovely.
With air, the nose adds a gorgeous soil and stone component that really adds to the balance and seriousness of the wine. Like very, very good Volnay in weight and texture.
One of the best wines I have had in quite some time. It showed no real signs of falling off over a couple of hours, and I feel like this was very much in a perfect place.
Having paid a whopping $13 for this, I feel like my choice to purchase this instead of Apple stock was well rewarded.
Fruit sources were: 40% Abbey Ridge, 40% Bethel Heights Southeast Block, and 20% La Canterra.
Marcus, that’s a wonderful note and thanks for sharing. I’m unfamiliar with the La Canterra vineyard. Is it still around or has it been renamed? The other vineyard sources aren’t too shabby.
Another bottle of 1999 Torii Mor Balcombe was rocking this weekend.
Excellent note Marcus. Sounds like a terrific Pinot.
Do you believe that good OR Pinot Noir has a similar tasting window to burgundy, in that one should drink them in their first couple of years or wait 10-15+ years? In burgundy there is (or used to be) a window of disappointment for wines in between, in which they often come across as shrill.
Over the weekend we had 2008 Belle Pente reserve that was just developing tertiary characteristics. There was nothing shrill about it because there was lots of fruit, but nothing terribly exciting either. I wonder if ten more years would have helped it or if it would fall apart.
Do you see different aging patterns for hot and cool vintages?
The first one is what is “good” Oregon Pinot Noir?
With the growth in the Oregon wine industry and the range of farming options, I think the variance in what Oregon Pinot Noir can be is huge.
Even mostly in sync producers can have one or two differences that really impacts what the wines are like. e.g. Todd Hamina and I both use lots of whole cluster and have many similarities, but Todd(generally) likes his picks late in the season, and I am generally pulling the trigger as quickly as I can once I see the flavors I want.
So…for my own wines, I would say yes. There’s a 2-3 year window for early consumption, with the caveat that you have to like some tannic structure in them.
For people using destemmed fruit, I think that early window is just a great place to try the wines.
And there usually is a closed period with my wines as well. With some vintages it’s really obvious, and these tend to be the cooler vintages. But not always, my 2014s tasted like weed soup for a few years. With 2016, the dumb phase was/is still reasonably enjoyable. But having tasted them regularly, they have flattened out with regards to fruit and will be better in a few years.
I do think the vineyards have different lengths of shut down phases and warm vintages often return to form sooner. Yamhill-Carlton and the Dundee Hills often re-open after 5-6 years, while I feel like Whistling Ridge regains it’s place after 7-8 but isn’t into maturity(not old but non-primary flavors) until after 10 years(at least).
We also opened a set of 2008s to compare and, excepting one corked bottle, all were still just beginning to wake up. Not dull the way the vintage was for a while, but definitely still in need of years. I was really happy to see the 94 show so well, because it reinforced that the LONG wait was well worth it. I am guessing that the very good 2012s(balanced and not over ripe ones) will be similar to the 1994 Westrey.
I used to buy Westrey regularly. Just about everything they made. I never let mine go 10 years out and I never had a tasting experience similar to the one you describe Marcus. I liked them. But only that. I would guess I started buying around vintage year 2005 or so. Never saw the prior label in the photo.
I was typing too quickly, that should be La Cantera vineyard. It’s a Chehalem Mountain vineyard. Laurelwood soils and currently farmed by Walnut City Wineworks. Michael Lundeen makes a single vineyard wine from the vineyard and uses it in his Blanc de Noirs. The Lundeen wines are excellent, and Michael should be mentioned a bit more often here(IMO), he makes some really lovely sparkling wines, as well as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
My last vintage making my wines at the Westrey winery was 2005. (So I am biased)
It’s interesting though:
a) the 90s were an amazing set of vintages while Oregon was still VERY rustic in it’s process. Yet for cellaring that decade and the 1988 and 1989 vintages are at the top. Including the “off vintages” of 95, 96, and 97. All of which aged out very, very well for good producers. My first WV vs GC Burg win for Oregon was the 96 Cristom Marjorie and a 96 Bertagna Le Musigny.
The region is a lot less rustic in it’s process these days though, and I don’t think it’s an improvement(just my opinion, but I definitely bring that attitude to my wines)
b) 1994 was also a time when none of the great sites were really established. 1993(bottled either immediately ahead of harvest or after 1994) produced some very heralded wines: Cristom Reserve, the inaugural Drouhin Laurene, Cameron Abbey Ridge, and most definitely the Bethel Heights Southeast Block. I would guess that getting Southeast Block from BE stopped shortly after 1994 as Bethel Heights really blossomed as the end of the 90s vintages came along.
By the time I started making my wines with Amy and David at Westrey there was no Southeast Block. That said, their 2001 WV bottling ($15 retail back in the day) was Shea, Justice, and Abbey Ridge…
I like the Westrey wines quite a lot, but most specifically Abbey Ridge. Oracle as well, which they purchased in 2000. But the Southeast Block and Flat Block of Bethel Heights are two bits of Grand Cru for Oregon.
I obviously like the Westrey wines a lot, but the ranks have really grown up around them(and all of us). And also, whether we want to admit it or not, the climate is evolving. When I started making wine low yields and hang time were maxims most wineries lived by. And as we’ve warmed those maxims lead to wines with different characteristics than we had in the 90s.
Thanks for the note Marcus. I’ve only ever seen their label style from the early 2000s on.
Very much agree that Westrey excels with Abbey Ridge and Oracle. Both can age beautifully. The reserve and Justice not too far behind. Also agree about the BH vineyards.
“The ranks” have become a veritable sea. Something to be said for the tried and true. Happy to still have a couple cases worth of mixed Westreys.
We picked up two acres of Oracle fruit from David in 2019. I bought the fruit from the same vines between 2003-2005, and getting to see those vines again at 20 years old was a really neat experience.
I met him at IPNC several years ago and thought his 2010 Reserve Pinot was tasty. Still running his family wine biz? Pretty much lost track of his wines after that. He worked at Belle Pente IIRC? The past decade has provided a lot of opportunities for OR pinot makers to gain skill…as both you and Marcus know well.
Westrey has a similar deal on the 2013 Oracle on their website. Unfortunately, the website is not secure. I would like to support them, but I’ve never had any luck with the email address and phone number on the website.
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