TN: 2008 Evesham Wood Pinot Noir Illahe (USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley)

• 2008 Evesham Wood Pinot Noir Illahe - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (11/5/2011)
  Dark garnet. The nose is predominately smoke and spice, but has a brooding dark fruited character as well. This breathed in glasses and the rest in the bottle. Medium bodied, and nimble. It adds a bit of heft as it takes on air, but never comes close to heavy. Dark cherry on the mid palate with plenty of baking spice and some earthiness. The 2008 strucutre is here, especially the acidic backbone, but air tames the tannins enough to make this truly enjoyable. Wonderfully complex finish showing off both the spice and dark fruited components of this.

We enjoyed this with a family recipe from my wife which blends ground lamb and pork with oregano and pine nuts served over a bed of spinach and rice. Drinking this with that dish is utter bliss. The varied spice from the food and spicy components of the wine play off each other masterfully.

Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks for checking in on this. Mine are buried with no plans to open any until 2013+.

RT

You’ve got to open your Pinots some time…

2008 Evesham Wood Pinot Noir Illahe
Soy, sandalwood, baking spice, black cherries and black raspberries. Age has smoothed out the rough edges adding an umami-like integration. The aromas match the palate. Supportive acidity with some mildly herbal tannins…lightly grasping instead of gripping. There’s still freshness, as the wine avoids the uber right jammy/raisined notes that sometimes accompany the vintage. This Illahe is in an excellent place. There’s a good 5 years to go. Very quaffable. Patience rewarded.

RT

2013+ You really mean it when you say +

Well, I did consume a half dozen bottles of 2008 Le Puits Sec to monitor the progress of the vintage…over the past decade.

RT

Never been a huge fan of Illahe. I visited Russ when he had his first vintage in barrel (the 2007) and he did not seem all that enthusiastic about the vineyard or fruit.

Speaking of EW and Russ, I started cellaring Mags of the Cuvée J, one of my favorite OR pinots, starting in 1990 and ending in 2008 when Russ sold the winery. I only missed the 1989, his first. We had a vertical Cuvee J dinner with Russ many years ago, in the late 90’s?, but there were not enough people to open Mags so we had the vertical out of 750’s from my cellar and Russ brought the 1989. An excellent tasting, and to this day both the 1989 and 1990 were some of the best pinots I have tasted.

I’m still sitting on those Mags, and I’m not sure exactly what I was thinking. It demonstrates the problem with verticals if they get too vertical! Managing a tasting with the requisite number of people where it makes sense to open 19 Mags (20 if Russ or Erin someone else still has a 1989 Mag). Venue, glasses, post pandemic, etc. Fortunately EW’s wines age so well, but time is marching on!
,

The only magnums of Russ’s wines I ended up with were from situations where I couldn’t get as many 750mL bottles as I wanted. I had forgotten I bought any at all until Robert’s post. I love the idea of the big vertical tasting. You could make it a two-session tasting and split the vintages by character or simply do an early years/later years split. If you can figure out the details, a split by vineyard source would also be an interesting theme. I think the vintages where it was 100% one vineyard are labeled thusly. The others would require some detective work. I’ve only had the '89 once maybe around age 11 or 12 (circa 2000/2001). It was in fine shape.

Cheers,
fred

The suggestion of a two day tasting is a good one, assuming enough people with the required level of interest. We have a beach place on the Oregon coast, and starting with the 1990 vintage the owner of the Wine Shack store in Cannon Beach, as well as the subsequent owner, were kind enough to acquire one mag from Russ each year for me, in addition to the 750’s I wanted.

Yes, I visited about that same time and remember Illahe wasn’t that exciting. Honestly, the wine exceeded expectations…which adds to the enjoyment.

RT

That’s a lotta mags, man! Like buried treasure.