Open discussion thread for opinions on this vintage, both red and white. I’ve tasted a decent amount over the spring/summer, including a trip down to the WV, and am generally very impressed. In general, these strike me as structured wines accross the board, but without significant over-ripe flavors. To give one example, I tasted the 21 Abbey Ridge with Jay Somers and noted the tannic structure was much more evident and unlike the typical Dundee silkyness (in a great way). I don’t have the experience to place this vintage in the context of the WV, are these similiar to the 08s when young, etc. Would love to hear other folks opinions of these wines.
I’m a big thumbs up on 2021 WV as far as I’ve tasted. I’ll add comments more after the fall visit next week.
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My understanding is that yields were low, berries were smaller, but quality was high. It’s a recipe for more structured, but excellent, ageable wines. I’ve been really thrilled with all the 21s I’ve tasted and really loaded up. I really loved the 2019s too, which feel similar, but even cooler climate in some ways. Just starting to open some 2022s, and the whites have all been stunning so far. Its been a good string of vintages IMO (barring 2020 for reds, although I have to say I’ve really enjoyed several 2020 Chardonnays).
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I think you’re spot on, @Bweiss. It’s either - depending on your view - a divine joke or a great sense of cosmic balance that two wonderful vintages are on each side of '20. Every great producer I’ve tasted made some astonishingly great wines in '21: Evesham, Arterberry, Audeant, Goff, Goodfellow, Vincent, Martin Woods, Thomas, etc. I agree that these are wines for the cellar more than early consumption, but there’s quite a bit of textural silk - especially those producers that favor less extraction - for pleasant early drinking.
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2021: In general a tremendous vintage. Wines of enormous cellaring potential. Intense and structured. Deep but surprisingly not very high in alcohol.
2022: Very red fruited and supple. Again, surprisingly intense given the vintage and excellent balance. A tick lower in tannins than 21. Maybe more wines with better earlier drinking windows.
2023: Obviously not available. At least in my little corner of the world it seems to be the best raw material since 2016.
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I’m looking at some 2021 Adelsheims at auction - how is the 2021 vintage looking at this point in time?
I wanted to revisit this to see how the wines are doing now. I bought the 2021 vintage fairly heavily, but haven’t tried most of the wines since release (with the exception of some entry level WV wines). I love most of the wines I’ve tasted from this vintage and think it’s a fairly structured, long lived vintage, but at four years old, I’m wondering if they’re shut down now. I normally wait at least 5-6 years before getting into most Oregon pinots (and think 8-15 years is really the prime window for my tastes), but I’m wondering if anyone has been digging into these recently and how they are (open, shutting down, etc).
I tend to agree with Marcus Goodfellow’s time lines for different AVA’s that he mentions here (Do you typically drink Oregon pinot 10+ years past vintage? - #54 by Marcus_Goodfellow), but I’m wondering if 2021 might need an extra couple of years.
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In my opinion, 100% yes. 2021 was the year we had the significant heat dome just after bloom. Skins were very thick and while flavors are intense, so are the tannins. So it’s my opinion that most things needs an extra couple of years in the cellar.
As a counterpoint though, and good customer who enjoys wines from Piedmont told me that he is really enjoying the 2021 Pumphouse.
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