1999 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (9/14/2009)
It had been quite awhile since I tried this and it was less than I was hoping for. Nice all around but not as interesting as previous bottles. Not giving a lot aromatically, showing roses and dried raspberries. Reminded me of a barbaresco. On the palate the wine is not very charming and not showing great length. Subtle fruits while showing more earth and tannin. Things are definitely tightening up and not sure what will be left when things loosen up. I might have enjoyed this more if I wasn’t stuck with the memory of previous bottles. (88 pts.)
Ouch. Would’ve expected it to be in its prime. Any chance of a very low level TCA issue? I’ve had bottles take overnight before becoming apparent…although I’d consider myself senstive, not super sensitive.
St. Innocent is an interesting winery. They sit in the Eola Hills, but often buy fruit from Dundee Hills, and in this case (Shea) Yamhill Carlton District. The fruit from these different areas yield, imo, very different wines. At this point in their winemaking history, I’m not sure they really understood the different fruit enough to be doing all that jumping around, especially for age worthy wines and/or SVDs.
Another factor one should remember is that Dick (Shea) lost most all of his vineyard to phlox, and had to replant in the mid 90s. It is entirely possible that the fruit for this wine came from 3rd leaf vines. If that is the case, then getting 10 years out of a 3rd leaf pinot is typically quite a stretch.
From your notes, I’d say you’d better be drinking up and enjoy what you have left.
May well be the case. Shea Vineyard is pretty large. He didn’t tear it all out at the same time, not did it all get replanted at the same time. Could have been all together different fruit from the same vineyard. Dick has sub plot’s within the one vineyard that he makes SVDs from.
I picked one of these up on winebid. I was a little dubious of the Shea fruit because I’ve read that maybe it doesn’t age as well as fruit from a little further north. Anywho I’ll be looking to pop it pretty soon. Jason did you pop and pour -how much air did it get?
It was a pop and pour … and then I decanted to see what would happen. Drank over and entire evening so it saw plenty of air.
As Gordon eluded to, Shea is a massive vineyard (I think on 2 different hillsides … forgive me if this is bull) and over the years different sections have been pulled. Hence Patty Green no longer producing a Shea. I generally love Shea from 3-7 years … less experience with 10+. But if you look at CT, many have recently found lots of joy in this 99. Maybe my bottle was a little off.
Actually, until a couple years ago, St. Innocent was located in an industrial park in Salem. Probably too far to understand much about any grapes, if I follow Gordon’s thinking correctly.
Are we talking 1999 Shea or just Oregon Pinot for the horizontal? I only have 1 99 Shea left which I think I am going to bury but have a bunch of other stuff … if I can find them. Primarily Chehalem and St Innocent.
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That kind of knowledge doesn’t cross the river, you know. It’s a good thing you’ll be making your wine over here.