Steve, crew, and Heather and Todd from Elk Cove, thank you for all the work organizing and hosting this event. Always informative/educational and fun. Wonderful to be back at the Estate and around the cellar. It is truly my pleasure to have a chance to participate in these throwdowns. One day we hope to be able to host!
Lovely range of wines for pre tasting. 2013 Walter Scott WV Chard was not over the hill. Good wood framework keeping it tight. I would argue that this white wine was not more aged than 90% of the Pinots we tasted. 19 Morgen Long Chard was nice, good reduction. Johan Chard was flinty and fresh, I can’t remember the particular cuvee.
2013, an anomaly of a vintage in the WV, warm and early until soggy, dilute, and fragile. It will always be special for me as it was Violin’s first commercial vintage, and I was so excited to see how things were doing. I also think that 8-9 year in bottle range is a good time to evaluate “stay power” for local Pinot.
Knowing the Walter Scott THV was in the tasting but not knowing which wine was fun. This is an example that many loved-- I had good notes. It will forever give me confidence as a producer that visually compromised fruit should never be underestimated and can lead to delicious beverage with attention to detail and quality craftsmanship.
To a large extent I think this tasting confirmed that the wines are in a nice window for consumption. No doubt that some were more “relaxed” than others, but I would say the next 3-5 years will be the last safe time to get maximum enjoyment of anything on the primary side of the spectrum. The textures are so mild and pretty compared to so many other vintages after it (until '19).
Some lovely weighted examples, certainly some more stewed if not red fruit, more than the occasional tea leaf and/or savory spiced element. In many examples the wood and lactone was doing the heavy lifting with respect to structure and mouthfeel as more of the “wine tannin” had receded. I expected to see more examples with lifted tones, even noticeably high VA. While a few were mildly corrupt, most examples offered reasonable focus, freshness, and suppleness.
The one exception to me was the Elk Cove Mt Richmond from second flight #4, the most structured, bold and powerful Pinot of the 30 we tasted (for better or worse, if felt pretty wound up, strong, young, and fairly dark.)
Flight #1 “Polk County Killin the Game” (3 of 6 wines from Polk County in Freedom Hill, neighbor Croft, and Johan)
BTW Freedom Hill Wines have shown so much consistent quality in these tastings!
1 PGC Freedom Hill Coury: Ripe, rusty, floral, very red, spiced. gorgeous rounded entry, good frame. Spices on palate, really pretty, good length. My fave on this flight
2 Violin Sunny Muthafu%$in Mountain: What a weird site. Shows good focus and intensity, broad mouthcoating tannin always a hallmark of the wines from this Southern site. Knew it was mine. Showed a nice crisp sense despite roundness/broadness. (Definitely the only wine from a site anywhere near that far south in the Willamette Valley–Lower Long Tom AVA). I bottled this wine separately in 2013 so as not to more drastically “influence” my Willamette Valley blend. (I did it four years straight, and they are all aging pretty slowly.)
3 PGC Berserker Cuvee (Chehalem Mtn). Lias? Despite what we thought was mild TCA, good mouthfeel, spice and oak balance
4Haden Fig Croft Vnyd: Also seemed cork affected to me. Nice weight, subtle raspberry.
5 Johan Nils: more juicy fruits, showed maturity but very pretty. Goes quickly toward black tea, tea leaf.
Flight # 2 Yamhill Carlton AVA
1 Elk Cove Roosevelt: Mine was tired and oxidized, showed some drying tones. Others really liked this wine, bottle variation noted by crowd
2Lenné: Lots of cured meat, salami, darker fruit. Some iron, mineral sense, then riper tones and alcohol. Whole cluster? good persistence
- Resonance (estate?): cloudy, swirls, brett to the max. This was by far the wine most affected by corruption. Managed to hang in there palate wise but his wine is soapy, chunky. Cellar space may be more valuable?
4Elk Cove Richmond: As mentioned, ripe, bold, strong, structured. Felt younger than just about everything I tasted, but also plenty of wood tone and darker, developed fruit characters.
5: Shea Shea: Great overall balance, more red and spiced. High Whole Cluster I think? Cran raz note. Probably my fave on this flight.
Flight #3 Dundee Flight
1 Anderson Family. Got some lift, VA to start, juicy mouthfeel, good balance but cherry cough syrup. Plenty of wood
2 Purple Hands Latchkey: Rustic, woodsy, cherry red fruit, creamy round, understated. Not heavy weight. Prob best of this flight for me
3: Domaine Serene Gold Eagle: Fairly stewy but very red, red fruit profile. round, supple, relatively sweet palate/ lactone heavy. A touch of heat
4: Eyrie Outcrop: Corrupt, vegetal, savory, lacking acidity
5: Westrey Oracle: Rich and Round, good strength, a touch warmer wine temp which likely hurt its showing. Wood guiding the persistence on this one. Probably would have been best in flight if served cooler?
Flight # 4. Dundee x Older Vines
1: Arterberry Maresh Maresh Vnyd: “Lifty difty” fruit, very perfumed, cherry cough syrup, good aromatic pop. Juicy, pure soft but nice structure on outside. A touch sweet. Pretty wine, probably best in this flight
2: Scott Paul Audrey (Maresh vnyd): Menthol, medicinal. Whole cluster? Spiced, good bit of wood and good length
3: Eyrie Sisters: Candied, lighter than many. Lacking expression
4: PGC Durant: This wine was leading and carried with Oak throughout. Strong and built but lots of lactone to my palate
5: Cameron Abbey Ridge: Reductive, slight acetic, lots of Cola. Classic for the house I suppose, many called this out?
Flight 5: “Everthing is Polk County”
1: Johnny G Bjornson Vndy: Rose petal, nice red drive, tea leaf, good drive against richness to structure ratio. This was tied for wine of flight with Dumbo ‘X’
2: Vincent Crowley Station Vnyd (now Silvershot): Sassparilla, soapy loam, sweetness on palate. Soft and savory
3: Water Scout Wines “Dumb Ox” Eola Spring Vnyd: (Old vines). Vanilla up front leads to purple fruits, sexy, juicy berry tones, round and creamy with nice sense of crisp acidity. The more it unraveled the more it offered, a rarity in this tasting I think. Wine of flight with GC
4 Evening Land Eola Hills: Dark, sexy, prune like. Cola, good intensity. Shy but pretty. Nice balance
5 Walter Scott Temperance: Such a fun wine to taste on a personal level. I wrote ethanol, rusticity. But was quite savory and expressive, if not pretty detailed and subtle
#Flight 6 Chehalem Ribbon Ridge. (Both Lia’s wines were my faves from this flight)
1 Helioterra Lia’s: Sage, cardamom, nice aromatic perfume. Good drive but a bit loose on the mid.
2: Longplay Lias “lucky 13” : Clean, dried cherry, good juicy core, wonderful balance
3: Art and Science “Armstrong” : good focus but lacking some overall power. Stewy, slight fatigue with some background heat
4: Good Fellow Whistling Ridge: Cake Icing, slight VA/lift, candied, raisins.
5: RR Ribbon Ridge: Cola, red fruit, good aromatic strength and drive
Will’s personal faves of tasting in no order:
PGC Freedom Hill Coury Clone
Arterberry Maresh Maresh Vnyd
Grochau Bjornson
Water Scout Dumbo ‘X’
(And for those of us keeping count, that’s 75% Polk County)
Cheers! Look forward to seeing others thoughts on these
