2012 Patricia Green Cellars 'Notorious'

As is my wont, I had pulled a number of red burgundies to choose from for Thanksgiving dinner. When reviewing choices with my daughter, who was cooking up a storm, she said, “It’s Thanksgiving. Let’s do Oregon Pinot”. So I pulled a 2012 Patricia Green Cellars ‘Notorious’, which turned out to be a great choice. Double decanted 2 hours ahead of dinner. Small to moderate amount of sediment. Deeply colored. Dark cherry/black cherry predominates on the nose, a little blackberry. Some underbrush, slight smoke. All combining into a seductive perfume. Great depth on the palate, again with a darker feel. Along with the fruit profile, one can imagine a little iron. Just the right amount of acid. If I remember correctly, this actually was raised in 100% new oak as a bit of an experiment, at least for part of it’s journey, but the oak is nicely integrated. One could easily see passing this off as a 2005 or 2009 Charmes-Chambertin from any number of good producers. Perhaps Serafin in light of the oak? anyway–wonderful stuff. Jim Anderson (and Patty was still with us back then) has done a wonderful job this past many years. Hell–maybe I’ll just give up on burgundy.


IMG_5737.jpeg

1 Like

Niiiice! Yes, this blend sees a bit more oak than some of their other wines. I have never had a bottle of this that I did not like, but if you have not yet tried the Etzel Block, I’d encourage you to check that one out too. It’s a little more delicate in style, but still has the vivid fruit and structure that does well, even requires some time sideways to really show how special these wines are.

How was that Champagne? I’ve not tried that producer yet.

Thanks, Kirk. I’ve had pretty much all of them, although with the number of bottlings that they now have, that is getting to be quite an accomplishment. I left the Notorious alone after tasting and buying, thinking that it would likely need a fair amount of time, so this is actually the first time I’ve tried it since purchase.

With regard to the champagne, I like the Hebrart lineup quite a bit. This was the blanc de blanc, which I think is the star of the NV bottles. I’m not much of a champagne geek, preferring to geek out more about burgundy and nebbiolo, so I find that I’m pretty happy with selected NV bottles for the most part.

Hey, nice note and thanks for the holiday inclusion!

Yes, it’s a non-vineyard designate of barrels that get a particular boost that sometimes work and sometimes doesn’t but when it does it really provides a whole other dimension in the wine. This allows it to more easily take to and integrate the 100% new barrel it is always in. The choice of cooperage here is important as well, obviously. Don’t know the mix on the 2012 off the top of my head. Like most of the upper echelon stuff from 12 I suspect this will have several years of formation to go.

Is Notorious the bottling you did for the gentleman in CA that passed away in recent years? If so, are you still making it?

Yeah–I can tell that I’m catching it still on the upswing. Problem is that I only have one more bottle. Maybe try again in 5-7 years (unless, Jim, you still have a stash hidden away somewhere…)