1996 Erath Reserve PN

WINE TALK
1

Took this magnum to dinner with 2 other couples, one person designated driver so five of us shared the bottle. Redfish in Port Orford was in good stead last evening with scallops, clams, cheese, salmon and duck confit. They charged just $20 for corkage.

Wine had a good whiff of age that mellowed as it was aerated but never really went away completely. What did change was the wine’s character from slightly austere and sea-driven to red and blue fruits galore. A wine that made the trip from Côte d’Or to California over the course of two to three hours. A beauty I was glad to share with other Oregonians, one of whom told a great story about visiting Erath once with her parents.

I am sure WV experts can provide details about Prince Hill Vineyard and other particulars concerning this wine.
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2

I’ve never had a good Erath experience. I was there just as Dick sold the property…sounds like the glory days were back in the 90’s.

3

I think you would have enjoyed this bottle Kirk. Really moved the needle over the course of a few hours.

I don’t know who gets this fruit nowadays.

4

Pretty sure Erath owns Prince Hill Vineyard if my mental recall of the sign on North Valley Rd. is correct. It’s an older Dundee Hill site. Not sure of the time line but Rob Stewart may have been the winemaker there at the time. Erath, while still producing some shlocky cheap tasting room wines which were seen as de rigeuer back then, was less of a giant than it is now and some high quality Pinots were produced from excellent sites. Prince Hill is adjacent to Maresh and even back in '96 the vineyard was certainly already over 10 years in vine age. I know they still produce this bottling but can’t speak to what is like these days.

5

When I tasted there a couple of years ago, I was disappointed with the entire range. I’m glad this bottle was nice.

6

Wow! Cool, randomness, Mr Levine!

7

Jim you are right that Erath had Prince Hill Vineyard and Rob Stuart made that wine. Mike

8

Actually I think Erath’s glory days were in the 80’s. The 1983 and 1985 were superb, although bottle variation was an issue at Erath throughout the 80’s and early 90’s.

9

He made a Dolcetto that was a hit a number of years ago. We stopped by on another trip and they said Dick pulled out the vines and replanted. I was not impressed with the line up and he sold soon after.

10

Thank you for that note!

I think I recall some of the '80’s wines by them from Solano Cellars, back in the day.

That was my first time with the Erath, Ponzi, and Eyrie wines.

You wrote a great note!

11

Agree with this Rick, if memory serves, a number of IPNC Salmon Bake examples from the 80s were pretty tasty.

I met Gary Horner (current winemaker) a few years ago. Nice guy. Big cash infusion, also if memory serves. It seemed like things might be tilting slightly more AFWE-ish but it never really happened IMHO. There’s respectable quality but haven’t found anything compelling in their recent offerings, but I don’t search them out either.

RT

12

The 1999 Erath Leland Vineyard Pinot Noir was very nice a few years back. Other than that, nothing overly compelling, as others have noted.