I thought this one might be of interest to the US contingent…! I bought it from a private client about a year ago with the intention of using it in a tasting of older Oregon wines at some point. I was having dinner with a few fellow members of the trade on Wednesday though and thought it might be a fun one to serve blind, though I wasn’t certain it would still be alive as '78 was apparently hot (it’s before my time!). This said I’ve had some very good bottles of Oregon PN from the mid 70s to mid 80s .
1978 Knudsen Erath Yamhill County Pinot Noir
Ruby in colour with a wide brick rim. Lively nose of gentle cranberry fruit and roses. Very fresh in the mouth with fine and gentle tannin. It’s poised and focussed. Elegant wine.
Guesses around the table were interesting. Most people jumped for early '90s Burgundy initially and then decided it must be Felton Rd when I said it wasn’t European. It was rather fun to reveal it as Oregon…
Here are the 1978 vintage notes from David Lett of Eyrie:
1978—Warm March temperatures created an early bud break. Cooler weather in April and twice-normal precipitation slowed things again. May rain was again twice-normal, but dry, warm days at the end of May and into June created ideal bloom conditions. July and August were very hot. Early rains in September were welcome, but rare high-70’s temperatures in late September and early October brought sugar levels very high before we could get the grapes harvested on October 9th-12th. Yield was .82 tons/acre of very dehydrated grapes. Wine was alcoholic, tannic, dark-colored, high pH and in general totally disagreeable. Only 25 cases of 1978 Pinot noir were bottled as a vintage-dated wine; the remaining 600 gallons were blended with the very pretty 1979 vintage to produce a “vintage blend” which is very attractive.
Love the photo and notes.
Thanks Paul - interesting to read that. As it happens just after I posted I pinged a note to a friend of mine who has been Eyrie’s UK agent since year zero to tell him how good this bottle was (he was also bringing in the Erath wines at the time). He said he didn’t much like the '78 when he tasted it in back in the day. Sad that the '76 wasn’t up to much!
I wonder whether modern vintages will age in the same way?
Per his son Jason, David was not a fan of the vintage at the time either.
Others are more knowledgeable than me but some of the cooler site 08s and many of the 11s should last 20 years at least if not 30.
Great note and photo, thanks for sharing!