Oregon Pinot Noir ’93 vs. ’94 “smackoff”
At the Racquet Club, Portland OR 1/13/12
Starters:
1986 Drouhin Chassagne-Montrachet Marquis de Laguiche: great showing. Racy and honeyed at the same time, with bright lift and good structure. Absolutely refreshing and satisfying at the same time. Impressive.
1994 Jadot Le Montrachet: wickedly corked.
First flight (with French Onion Soup):
93 Domaine Drouhin Laurene: Interesting slightly sour nose (“old sweatsock”) reminded me of my high school gym, bricking, delicate flavors holding up well but seemingly past peak. Some length to the finish, attractive flavors and drinking very well overall. Doesn’t have the structure of the best Laurenes, but certainly a fine glass of wine. Drink up.
93 Adelsheim Seven Springs: Delicate nose of roses, dried herbs. Bricking. Shorter finish than its 93 brethren, but nothing offensive here, just a little one dimensional. Drink up.
93 Archery Summit: (this bottling had no single vineyard or cuvee designation) confected nose, candied fruit. Chunky, spicy. Fuller bodied and less elegant, but could last a few more years. Just not my style though others enjoyed this more than I did.
93 Ponzi Reserve: The most compelling aromatics of the 93s today, with a sweetly-herbal nose suggestive to me of an aged cab franc from the Loire (blind, my guess would have been an older Chinon, but of course these were unblinded). Initially showed well through the finish with good balance, decent depth and finish; after about 30 minutes, it certainly faded and by this time the DDO Laurene seemed in control of the flight.
Second flight (with seared duck breast, potato pancakes and candied carrots)
94 Domaine Drouhin Laurene: Dark violet. Brooding nose of lavender, black pinot fruit. Very full bodied mid palate, with ripe round flavor profile. Certainly big in every way, but still soft as a pillow. Like the bosomy woman in the airplane seat adjacent to you, this wine filled all the nooks and crannies, but lacked definition and structure. Awfully delicious for what it is, and seems to be holding up well. Drink or hold x 7 years (surprise).
94 Ken Wright Canary Hill: Aromatics dominated by tarry, rubbery tones. Lacked charm. Had medicinal, cherry cough syrup notes.
94 Archery Summit Red Hills: Dark purple. Significantly more successful than the 93 AS from the first flight. Here the oak is much better integrated with plenty of fruit to support it, though the overall size of this wine is pretty intimidating for Oregon Pinot. No shrinking violet here, this wine is a bruiser and the tannins seem to give the wine enough of a lattice to balance. This wine could have benefited from a food pairing more suited to it—eg prime rib, veal chop, etc.
94 Thomas: purple/lavender. Gorgeous pure fruit with effortless sweetness, balanced by suave tannins, a modicum of structure and good length. Balanced and harmonious. Drink or hold another 3 years.
Observations and comments:
Quite an eye opening tasting, as most of us predicted the 93s would be drinking far better than the 94s at this time. Interestingly 93 was a cool year, with a late harvest, not unlike 2010 and 2011. In general the 93s had evolved much more and demonstrated more complexity but less ripeness and less intensity. Our consensus was that this group of 93s seemed a few years past peak with significant bricking, fading intensity and shorter finishes. Overall I was a little saddened to see the wines from this heralded vintage, which we enjoyed so much in their youth, starting to certainly show their age.
1994 of course was a very ripe year, and there was considerable critical acclaim early on and Oregon benefited from the notoriety. Many 94s have since come across as flabby and soft, so it was educational to taste some of the better wines, with 93s right there for comparison. The 94 Thomas and DDO Laurene were big and showy to be sure, but well made and not cloyingly sweet. These two are crowd pleasing and delicious wines, and while the pure fruit is nicely on display and in no sense in retreat, the wines are true to the warmer vintage. While these wines would seem to benefit from more acid or zip, in the context of the vintage and their age, I was very impressed. Very good showing for these two 18 year old warm vintage Oregon Pinots.
Dessert (cheese):
93 Felsina Vin Santo: delicious as always, with intense caramelly, nutty sweetness and good lift.
Nice afternoon.