My wife and I head to Oregon each summer for our anniversary and to participate in the post-IPNC Berserkers tasting. As always we had a fabulous trip and were lucky enough to spend time with fascinating, talented, generous people who make this area the gem that it is. I figured I’d share some of our highlights.
We arrived late in the day on Sunday and drove up through the Dundee Hills and stopped in at Durant Vineyards. I’ve been enjoying Durant fruit from Matello, PGC, and others and figured I’d see what they do with their own product. The guy who tasted us was very informed, pleasant and fun to talk to. We enjoyed their crisp 2012 Raven chardonnay and both of their 2011 and 2012 Olivia Grace pinot noirs. The '12 was a bit ripe for my taste but my wife enjoyed the fruit. This was her first foray into 12’s and I think it was a nice change from all the AFWE stuff I pour for her all the time. The 2011 had a ton of complexity and I was quite impressed.
Next we headed to De Ponte. I have never had Isabelle’s wines but have heard great things. The wines did not disappoint. Their 2012 Melon de Bourgogne was fabulous. The 2010 Dundee Hills pinot noir was one of the best wines I had during our trip. The 2011 Dundee Hills was a bit thin and uninteresting, even as a fan of the 2011 vintage.
We then headed up to White Rose. I didn’t really know what to expect as I have read great press about the wines but I they are out of my usual price range and so I have never tasted them. I assumed they may be girthy like Domain Serene, etc., but I was wrong. We tasted through 3 2011’s in increasing vineyard quality/specificity, from the WV, to Luciole vineyard, to the “Neo Classical Objective.” I liked what I heard from those pouring for us in terms of the history of the property, the winemaking objectives/philosophy, the use of whole clusters, etc., but to me the wines were perplexing. They had a tannic edge to them up front with relatively thin mid-palate and a creamy back end, with seemingly low acidity. I didn’t know what to make of them. IMHO they didn’t taste anywhere near the price point and I couldn’t help but think about other wines I could buy for half as much that tasted better. Each step up in price gave more aromatic complexity for sure, but I came away feeling indifferent.
I needed to pick up my Curmudgeon cuvee so we raced off to Seven of Hearts to see Byron before they closed. We arrived and were pleased to see Byron hopping about giving an animated, informative tasting of his impressive stable (must be around 20 wines at this point). If you haven’t tasted at Seven of Hearts you have to swing by – and do it on a weekend when Byron is around. He’s a true wine geek at heart and is incredibly passionate about what he does and what’s he’s trying to achieve with each of his Burgundy, Rhone, and Bordeaux varietals (no German or Italian stuff yet I don’t think!) from both Oregon and Washington. We tasted mostly 2012’s and 2013’s and the quality was very good. We purchased several bottles of pinot, rose, sauv blanc, cab franc, and even a couple of dessert wines (not usually a favorite of mine). That you get chocolates to pair with the wines doesn’t hurt either. We ended our wine tasting day right there, happy and content. The Curmudgeon cuvee is very good, by the way. The Armstrong fruit is a real treat.
That evening we went to Nick’s for dinner and enjoyed a 2013 Trisaetum Coastal Range riesling. It went great with two hand made pastas (and some tripe with an over easy egg!).
In the morning we stopped by Matello at 10 to see Marcus before driving off to Grochau Cellars for the big tasting. Marcus tasted us through a gorgeous set of whites (2013 gris and 2012 Durant and Richard’s Cuvee Chards) a 12 Hommage pinot noir, and his '11 pinot noirs (which I own already but got to check in on for bottle evolution) and Deux Vert syrah. He also had nice 07 Whistling Ridge white field blend that was complex and tasty. Marcus really, really excels at making white wines. I don’t know how else to say it. The '12 Richard’s cuvee is a blockbuster of a wine in terms of sheer intensity and complexity but not because it’s a 12 and doesn’t come off as ripe, butterscotch-y, etc. The 12 Hommage had a expressive fruity nose that bursts from the glass and palate entry is lush and somewhat sweet but that lasts for about 1 second before the trademark linear acidity swoops in and balances everything out. I told Marcus I felt like the wine tricked me. It’s a really joyful ride. The 11’s are fleshing out and showing a bit more of themselves but I’d still say you need to give them some time. I am glad a have a couple of mixed cases to enjoy over the next 10 (or more) years. Perhaps the best part about tasting with Marcus is his unabated willingness to share all of his decision making calculus and philosophy about his wines and the picking/production process. There really is a method to the madness and if I were a young winemaker I’d spend time picking his brain.
After tasting with Marcus we headed out to Grochau but saw a sign for Brooks along the way and decided to stop. I had heard good things about their riesling from Dan Johnson and Chas Stiltner. We lucked out as the tasting room was empty and the wonderful host, Jessie, had just hosted a wine writer for a 9 am tasting and had pulled out nearly 20 of their best library pinots and rieslings. We let Jessie cherry pick her favorites for us, given the number of bottles open, and that we were on our way to a 30+ bottle tasting and had already been to Matello. Palate blow out was a real possibility. Without going into too much detail I will just say that I was really impressed with their rieslings and their pinots were quite good. Some I know have expressed concerns about low acidity but I didn’t find them at all flabby and Jessie even said their goal is low alcohol, high acid food wines (without being prompted). I believe the pinots we tasted were pretty pricey, and I’m not confident I’d pay top dollar for them, but they were distinctive and tasty and we noted distinct differences among different vineyard sites in a given year, always a good sign.
After the big pinot tasting at Grochau that day we headed over to Heater Allen to have a beer with Rick, his lovely daughter, and her boyfriend (great guy). They showed us around and we picked up some shirts and a case of bombers. Nothing is better after a day of wine tasting than some Heater Allen brew. I even had another at La Rambla at dinner. Thanks to Rick for the hospitality and the nice conversation. Great family business.
On Tuesday before we left town we went by Patricia Green to taste with Jim Anderson. Jim, like many other Willamette Valley winemakers, had been running ragged for the past week due to IPNC. But in Jim’s case they also due received a huge set of Tanzer scores and requests for tastings, purchases, interviews and the like. And Jim also attended the marathon post-IPNC tasting. So by Tuesday him granting me and my wife a tasting was very much appreciated. I have heard stories about epic tastings at PGC where Jim pulls out all the stops and this tasting lived up to the hype. He poured a bunch of his '12s, even though many of them got 90+ points from Tanzer and were already sold out, or retailed around $70 or $80, including the big 95 point Notorius. He also barrel tasted a bunch of 13’s and even showed up side by side comparisons of barrels that had 100% and 0% whole cluster fermentation (I may have the %'s wrong). He pulled out mystery wines and asked us to guess the vintages (2009 and 2004, for example) and even snagged an obscure wine from 2002 that he made using Hirsch fruit from California (who knew?).
I don’ know Jim well but he treated us very well. He even gave me free “upgrades” on a couple of wines I tried to buy that weren’t in stock. To be honest he’s a bit intimidating and intense but at the same time he’s very affable and when he cracks a joke it’s even that much more funny. The guy has been making wine in the area for a long time and it shows in his wines. Across the board they are distinctive, balanced, unique, complex, and show their terrior in spades. He admittedly had a couple of wines in '12 that were on the bigger side, but so many of them were perfectly balanced and absolutely delicious and built for age. He has been making claims on the board about 12 being his best wines ever and I have to admit he convinced me that excellent, age-worthy wines are absolutely being produced with '12 fruit. His 13’s taste damn fine too at this point. Thanks again to Jim for all his time and generosity. It was a blast!