Attendees, please share your notes and thoughts here.
I didn’t take any detailed notes. I’m not a huge fan of mega-tastings, because my palate can’t handle that many wine effectively, and I knew that I would start strong and peter out after the first couple of flights. The other issue is the “snapshot” nature of the tasting doesn’t allow for development of the wines in the glass. For example, for me, the best wine I tasted was the 2014 Goodfellow Whistling Ridge, tasted after the event was over and it had been opened for three hours. It started out somewhat muted, but with a nice mid-palate and finish. Later, it had put on weight, and the aromas and flavors had blossomed. I also like the 2014 Cameron Abbey Ridge, but it had similar issues. I suspect that there were other wines that wouldn’t have been much more interesting if one could follow them for more than the allotted time.
Besides that, it was great to see and talk with everyone. A reminder that we need to find ways to get more folks together more often.
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This isn’t quite the flights as some order changes were made. If someone who got great pictures of each of the wines could share those I’ll amend the list to match exactly as tasted. Tx to the pics in Brian’s post I think I have everything correct except for which bottle of Vincent at the very end.
Flight 1: Ribbon Ridge + Chehalem Mountains
Goodfellow Whistling Ridge
Seven of Hearts Armstrong Vyd
Adelsheim Evelyn’s Reserve
Long Play Jory Bench Reserve “Lia’s Vineyard”
Flight 2: Van Duzer AVA + McMinnville AVA
Biggio Hamina Holmes Gap
Yamhill Valley Vineyards Tall Poppy
Coeur de Terre Heritage Reserve
Johan Nils
Day Johan
Flight 3: Dundee Hills AVA - Single Vineyard
Arterberry Maresh Maresh
Thomas (Magnum)
Belle Pente Murto
Cameron Abbey Ridge
Grochau Anderson Family
Flight 4: Dundee Hills Blends + One Ringer
Scott Paul La Paulee (not entirely DH, but the blend is mostly DH)
Cameron Dundee hills
Grochau Dundee Hills
Patricia Green Freedom Hill (Magnum)
Goodfellow Durant
Flight 5: Eola-Amity Hills AVA
Walter Scott Dumb Ox
Whistling Dog Heritage
Evesham Wood Le Puits Sec
Violin Clos des Oiseaux Vineyard (Magnum)
Cristom 123 West (Magnum)
Flight 6: Yamhill Carlton AVA + 1 ringer
St Innocent Shea Vineyard Special Selection
Lemelson Stermer Vineyard
Westrey Justice Vineyard
Bonus Flight: Single bottles offered blind after the tasting
Eyrie Daphne
St. Innocent Freedom Hill
Vincent ______
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I think the Vincent was Willamette Valley cuvee.
Thanks again for the invite and for organizing, this was fun! If I’m able to make it back a future year I’ll be sure to follow the directions more closely 
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I will add that the best/most interesting wine of the day was a 2014 Walter Scott Cuvee Anne Chardonnay. It is finally losing most of the reduction, but keeping the associated complexity. Very tasty!
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Sad thread! The last gasp and it goes under-reported.
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For some reason, desire to talk about the event on WB has faded over time.
But, attendance remains strong with half the attendees or more being local winemakers or ITB.
Many attendees asked before, during, and after the tasting asking what the plan was for next year? We don’t want this special event to fade away.
It will change without the anchor event but has a strong chance of continuing perhaps with a new anchor?
It was an excellent event and a lot of fun to see everyone. I got to sit with @Brian_S_t_o_t_t_e_r , @Will_Hamilton @Greg_Malcolm @Rick_Allen and @Megan_Joy (who will have better notes than I) and the table was good company.
The 2014 vintage was one of the hottest on record(the hottest at the time) but has over performed my expectations over the past 4-5 years. Monday was no exception. I missed the 2014 Eyrie Pinot Gris but at least 3-4 attendees raved about it. Hopefully someone will pist a more detailed note.
The Pinot Noirs were, for the most part, in good form, showing balance across the board, and I enjoyed most of them. In no particular order some of my standouts were:
Adelsheim Elizabeth’s Reserve, Johan Nils, Cameron Abbbey Ridge (funky great wine), Scott Paul La Paulee, Grochau Cellars Dundee Hills, PGC Freedom Hill, Walter Scott Dumb Ox, and the Vincent bottling at the end.
We had a few more corked bottles this time around, and our end of the table caught a few but a non-blind Seven of Hearts Armstrong was also super solid.
The Yamhill-Carlton wines were probably the only wines I found too big, though a few other wines showed some heat.
Thank you @JohnGrochau for hosting! And to @ShelbyPerkins for a smokin’ cheese board and an absolutely delicious ham. The 2022 Perkins-Harter was perfect last wine for me as well. I am liking the 2022 vintage quite a bit.
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I followed from afar last weekend. Anna declared this her favorite Pinot and she tastes a lot of great Oregon wines. It was terrific and perhaps a small taste left for a better note this evening…
I think this was my fifth Throwdown now, and the third that I have been able to include Violin. Big thanks to Steven for organizing, and for John and his team for hosting and getting the cellar adequately prepared. Wonderful spread and a nice selection of wines. (That we had a cool, rainy day allowed the cellar doors to remain open and the cellar to remain cool. I think this favored the wines showing more grace. The 15s at Cristom seemed to get warm as the cellar warmed, and I think that did not favor the wines in later flights)
'14 was, at the time, the hottest on record, but to me it was the first of three quite early vintages where harvesting was beginning before September 15th. While I have favored the 15’s in this trio historically, I have believed in the balance and ageability of the 14s, despite them having perhaps less aromatic zest and flavor complexity. Their concentration and acid ratios seem to keep them in good balance and well coiled, needing more time to unfold. I have found my 14s need decanting when vintages around them shine a bit brighter, but they are well stuffed and more red fruited–opening up to more elegance in a slower fashion. To a large extent this tasting confirmed the nature of the wines to need to open up, but also reflected their balance in a positive way. Perhaps more youth than the '13 and '15 tastings done most recently, and relatively few wines showing much overt heat. An overall solid lineup.
In each of the last three Throwdowns, ('15, '13, and now '14), as well as a tasting of '16s we did in Amity several years ago, I have found that the wines from Freedom Hill Vineyard show particular distinction. The harmony, strength, balance, overall integrity, uniquness of fruit profile, relative youth,—perhaps more consistent than any other particular site. While the wines of Cameron are ringers in these tastings (easy for almost all tasters to indentify, for better or for worse) the wines from PGC and Walter Scott from Freedom Hill show execptional integrity and the site really shines. To have that consistency across vintages and producers is remarkable, and I simply want to make a note of it. I have started partnership with the Dusschee’s and have indirectly worked with them in years past. Second generation vine grower Dustin is a master of his craft, and truly dedicated. My 2023 Heritage block PN in barrel is nothing short of stunning, and yet highly distinctive and not like my Eola Hills wines. It may be worth considering/noting that in addition to highly detailed farming of mature vines, Freedom Hill is the furthest West vineyard of anything we have tasted in these throwdowns (save for an Amalie Robert estate which they share a border with).
14 Walter Scott Cuvee Anne Chardonnay–I agree with Rick, one of the standouts of the day. While the wine had lots of yumminess, most impressive to me was the loads of youthfulness. Crisp and fresh with a mild flint and very floral, compact fruit core and dense structure. I recently tried (also from excellent provenance) a 2014 Hubert Lamy St. Aubin En Remilly that was decanted for dinner prior to enjoying over an hour. Some folks claim that '14 is one of the best white burgundy years in the last 20. It showed quite young as well. Didn’t really budge much during the dinner and our enjoyment of the bottle–linear, fresh, terse. But the Walter Scott showed similar youthful energy, still coiled, but to me had more aromatic intensity and broad complexity.
As for the Pinots:
Flight One:
Adelsheim Elizabeth had more dark raspberry strong fruit and youth. Armstrong by Seven of Hearts was opened after due to corked bottle, strong fruit, very broad and seemingly ripe, but good showing. Longplay was a bit washed out on the palate, Strawberry Jam and some heat I thought. Wine #1 was the Goodfellow Whistiling Ridge. Subtle, well balanced, needing consideration. Very true to the style and a wine that has lots of unravelling to do in the cellar
Flight Two:
This flight was least exciting for me personally, seemed most were ripe, slightly cooked and vegetal. Bright fruits and good stucture in the YVV Tall Poppy, though overt Oakiness stood out.
Flight Three:
Arterberry was as fruity wine with relative youth, on the bigger side. Thomas was somewhat simple but red and decent pop. Belle Pente full of subtely, graceful withough much punch. Cameron was well liked by our table and easy to spot, I thought this wine’s “corruptive edge” brought a sourness to the acid profile, but it kept opening favorably despite this perception. Darker in general than others. Grochau Anderson was funky with a light lift, gentle palate.
Flight 4
Scott Paul Paulee was very elegant, good intensity, youthful. Cameron Dundee showed less density than the Abbey Ridge, not as dark, but also some lifted tones. I wrote “Diapery” for what its worth. Grochau Dundee was corked, second bottle was elegant and rounded, good example of John’s touch in a warmish year. PGC Freedom, Candied, nice intensity, darker toned, great togetherness. GoodFellow Durant was light in hue, lacking verve, less pronounced than the Whistling Ridge
Flight 5
Water Scout Dumb Ox (Eola Spings Own rooted Pommard)–oak and funk, juicy, unraveled well. Good freshness. Whistling Dog (Nuestro Sueno Vineyard) Fish sauce, wood, green coastal influence. Graham cracker wood. Evesham Le puits sec was mildly TCA to me, dumbed down, decent drive but not all the way there. Violin Clos des Oiseaux, easy to spot due to reductive character of the site, burnt popcorn/ dried filbert shells to me was burnt matchstick to others. One of the least enjoyed wines by folks at our table, though I have always loved the savory funkiness of the site and elegance of the texture. Cristom 1,2,3 was non estate ruit. Woody, red fruit, juicy up front, terse tannin.
Flight 6
St Innocent Shea was medicinal, ripe fruit, red and young. Stewy strawberry. Lemelson Stermer showed more freshness, sweetness. Round palate but acid in good check. Westrey Justice was dusty, reductive, developed but seemed in mildy good balance.
2014 Eyrie Pinot Gris showe youth and balance I would not have expected. Very pretty and the fatness of the style here was not so noticeable
My standouts on the day with no preference would be: Goodfellow Whistling Ridge, Adelsheim Elizabeth’s, Arterberry Maresh Maresh, Scott Paul, PGC Freedom Hill, Walley Scott Dumbo X. Both were not consumed blind due to the originals being corked, but I also liked the Armstrong Seven of Hearts and Grochau Dundee.
I hope we can find a way to continue this, always wonderful to gather with everyone and fascinating to see how WV wines are developing at 8-9 years of bottle age
Cheers
Will
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Many, many thanks to Steve, John, and all who helped organize another great throwdown. This was my first since before COVID, and I was very grateful for the chance to rejoin the group. One learns so much at this event.
FWIW, my favorites were
Johan, Nils
Cameron, Dundee Hills
Violin, Clos des Oiseaux
PGC, Freedom Hill
Belle Pente, Murto
Thomas (seems to be my love-it-or-hate-it wine depending on vintage)
I happen to agree with Rick than the 2014 Walter Scott Cuvee Anne chardonnay was the treat of the day. Still a very young wine.
Again, many, many thanks to Steve and all for keeping this going and doing a wonderful job of organizing.
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Nice commentary on Freedom Hill Vineyard. It has certainly been a boon to my winery since started with it in 2012. The transition to Dustin has accelerated the quality of farming, plant health and fruit quality since he began back in 2013 and really took over in 2016. With the upcoming bottlings of the 2023s we will have bottled 60 individual wines (56 Pinots and 4 rosés) since we began with them. Glad the FH “classic” showed nicely. It’s our “entry level” FH PN if you will and has been priced at $37 ever since it’s first vintage.
It is a western-oriented site but I assume over the year a Hyland and/or a Momtazi Vineyard has made the line up here and those are slightly west of Freedom Hill (Freedom Hill and Hyland basically take up a day to themselves when I go visit and I’ll go to FH first then head back up the rough Dallas and turn west onto Highway 22 and go a few miles to Red Prarie Rd to cut back up to 18 west of Sheridan and then head a smaller number of miles northeast on 18 to get to Muddy River Rd.) Not dramatically west of Freedom Hill but, yes, not a lot of vineyards in the north WV on those longitudinal lines.
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I was out of town and left my notes at home…. looking at them now though, I don’t see them being as much help as I hoped!
My overall impression was that the wines were all quite youthful, and I wished I had a chance to taste almost all of them again after several hours being opened. On a whole the vintage seemed more elegant than it seemed most people expected. Some of the wines did show a bit of heat, there was a fair amount of reduction, some, on tasting, seemed a bit one dimensional, and an unfortunately high number were corked…. but almost nothing was tired. Similar wines stood out to me as Marcus and Will mentioned, especially the Scott Paul, Walter Scott, Cameron Abby Ridge (despite, or maybe in part because of flaws), Johan Nils, Cristom 123, PGC Freedom Hill, and (only after several hours) Whistling Ridge. Wines that seemed quiet or awkward started to open up just as we were getting ready to move on to the next flight (thinking especially if the Belle Pente, which I initially would have agreed with Will on, but then started to show pure strawberry at the end). I know several people already called out the later tasting of the Whistling Ridge, but it seems unfair not to acknowledge that a number of the wines could have similarly benefited.
I agree too that the temperature of the room was significantly better for the wines in comparison to the 2015s, though I also think that with 2014 being a juicier vintage with less intense dry extract, and another two years from the vintage when tasting; it was a bit easier to see the potential in the 2014s (and taste through as many in a row!).
Overall a great event. Thank you to Steven for corralling all of us, and John for hosting!
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What FH PN bottlings are you putting out in 2023? Is it still the “basic” and clone-specific? Any special blocks?
Standard line up:
FH “Classic “
Coury Clone
Dijon 115
Pommard
Wadesnvil
Perspicacious Cuvée
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Yes that’s true that Hyland and Momtazi are right on the similar or just further West Longitude, or thereabouts, and possibly more exposed to wind and the Van Duzer. Also on volcanic soils rather than the classic Bellpine of Freedom Hill. When the first “nested” AVAs were almost or had just been established circa 2006, I remember talking with Laurent that I thought “Coast Range” should be its own thing. McMinnville and Yamhill Carlton, and now Tualatin Hills to some extent, mostly share the mantle. The Mt. Pisgah seems a different beast though…
I didn’t keep the best notes, but I did have some observations. Initially, I found some wines somewhat alcoholic on the nose and palate, though most improved sitting in the glass for a bit.
Flight 1
My favorite was the Adelshiem Elizabeth’s Reserve, which had less perceived alcohol to me.
Flight 2
From the second flight, the Johan Nils was my favorite. Another notable wine from the second flight was the Yamhill Valley Tall Poppy, with notes of funk and black olives.
Flight 3
From the third flight, my favorite wine was either the Thomas or the Belle pente Murto . The Belle Pente was still fairly primary tasting, and the Thomas was unfamiliar tasting but interesting. From the 3rd and 4th flights, both Cameron wines had the funk I associate with the winery .
Flight 4
From flight four, the Goodfellow Durant was my favorite but I think it still needs more time to come together fully.
Flight 5
The two notable wines were the Evesham Wood and the Vincent. The Vincent was fairly reductive and the Evesham Wood had the most grippy tannins of the event.
Flight 6
Flight six was my least favorite of the day, with ripeness levels being high across the board.
Flight 7
By Flight seven my notes fell off with my only observation being my favorite was the Eyrie Daphne.
Most surprising wine of the event was the 2014 Eryie Pinot Gris, with ripe orchard fruit notes and enough acid to balance it out. Regarding getting together more often, would anyone want to do a Chardonnay event after the Oregon Chardonnay celebration?
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It would be cool to do a Chardonnay event post OCC.
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Now this is an idea I can get behind! 
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This was only my second Throwdown - Andy Steinman invited me along pre-covid when the tasting was at Archery Summit and Ken was busy…doing Ken things. That seems like ages ago at this point.
In some ways the 2014 reminded me of two important lessons. The first lesson is about winemaking - higher acidity and (grape/barrel) tannins certainly seemed to garner some important tools for survivability for this vintage. The second lesson is that a site’s capacity of a site to transcend all kinds of vintages is critically important to consistently deliver profound wines.
Setting the melange of flawed wines aside, there were some examples of wines that presented as quite simple - and yet I suspect I would have preferred them in their youth or in other vintages - noting the Thomas (minty, cherry/berry, clean) and the Johan Nils (diffuse, simple, spicy). In contrast, there were wines loaded with breadth and barrel that are not my preferred style of wine - but I admit they still had some structural integrity and youth in them: Seven of Hearts Armstrong Vineyard (vanillin, violet, strawberry, cherry, M+ tannin, broad on the palate) being an example of this.
Slicing the analysis in a different direction, some sites just have a tendency to be profound, regardless of vintage. The cooler sites with a bit more acidity always catch my attention, and I’m increasingly noting McMinnville, Pisgah, and Ribbon Ridge to be most reliable in delivering the goods for me towards this end. Patricia Green Freedom Hill (bay leaf, tannin, acid) and the Goodfellow Whistling Ridge (pale intensity, some bricking, stone, strawberry, spice, saddle, fine tannin texture) being examples of these.
The Walter Scott Dumb Ox (Eola-Amity, but the bright acid and spice tones) resonated with me as well, as it came from the slope below my vineyard (Bracken) and I can identify what is essentially familiar to me in that wine. Chock it up to “home field advantage.”
Fantastic tasting! Happy to help support this endeavor in the future!
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