Posted from CellarTracker
Fortunately, I know where there are a few more bottles. 2011 was a truly unique growing season, our coolest on record.
I joked at one point that summer was taking a vacation from us, we had so many cool overcast days. October was the second warmest month of the year. Not a hot October but definitely a good amount of sunny fall days that just edged the fruit into being physiologically ripe. This is my favorite wine from the vintage for us, and just beginning to show itself.
When we opened this last fall, it was a pale red fruited wine. Very demure still and I thought we would leave it in the cellar but around 4-5 hours later it began to add density. Not fruit, but the tones of earth and autumn leaves. Still weightless but no longer ethereal. I am looking forward to seeing what happens with this wine over the next 3-5 years.
So am I. Just saying.
Yes, but I’m kinda glad you were impatient. There are 6 of these resting downstairs and I wasn’t planning to open one for a few more years. Thanks for the reinforcement.
RT
Honestly, with six, I think a check in to validate or contradict my note is in order.
Having opened a dozen+ Matello/Goodfellows too early…over the past 15 years or so, there’s no need. I believe you.
RT
2011 is such an unusual year, I will be checking in on more of my Oregon Pinot Noir soon. A decade out is a good time for a look.
This is my oldest Goodfellow…Marcus, got any library stuff so we can drink things that are properly aged? 
Herbfarm Seattle has some Goodfellow (Matello) dating back to 2003 that are for sale that are “properly aged.”
My cellar used to…but I’ve consumed everything pre-2010. Too good to wait longer.
RT
It’s pretty lean before 2011. I only passed 1000 cases in 2009, and 2011 is the first year that I made more than 3000. We did a small offering of wines from 2012 and before last November, but it was just a few bottles of about 7-8 wines.
But we have saved more wines since 2011, so I’m hopeful to offer older bottles as they get into the window.
I opened a 2011 recently and can also confirm this is coming into its own. I regret burning through so many early on. I now have just under a case of 2011 Matello pinots…
I must have been asleep when that email came in. Or I had probably just spent too much on wine yet again. I’ll just have to wait patiently for my 2017s and 2018s to age.
Throw one of your bottles into a decanter for 24 or 48 hours you might be surprised, sometimes you have to do what you have to do
2011 Matello Pinot Noir Souris - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (7/5/2023)
– popped and poured on Day 1 –
– tasted non-blind over 2 hrs on Day 1; revisited on Day 2 –
NOSE: ripe, red berries, with a little bit of a green/leafy note; smells like we’re into tertiary territory now. Day 2 aromatics did strike me as being a bit “cleaner” than on Day 1, so perhaps it just needed some air to sort itself out a bit, and come together.
BODY: ruby color with slight bricking throughout; color is of shallow depth; light bodied.
TASTE: high acidity; ripe fruit, but quite light; leathery – perhaps slight brett – regardless, a bit funky — could be aged Pinot funk; less funky at the 2 hr. mark on Day 1; long finish; no apparent tannins remain; underlying leafy/bitter element. I like this, despite it being more rustic/earthy than pure/crystalline. Day 2: better today — less leafy/dirty and now fruitier. Day 2 showing suggests this needs lots of air if drinking now – and for reasons I cannot pinpoint, other than to say “gut instinct”, I do feel it’s better to drink now with lots of air than to continue holding. A bit vexing, but ultimately enjoyable.