Popped and poured, chilled gently from cellar temp and followed through an infinite amt of temperatures. Unbelievably, this was on a restaurant list here in PDX.
Stunning wine. Nose was inviting and alluring without any one aroma dominating. All kinds of white flowers, honey suckle, some biscuit, pears, roasted lemon and lime zest on the aroma and flavor profiles. Palate was always teetering between unctuous and at another instance, linear. Just awesome textures. Finish was gorgeous and at least 90 seconds.
Fantastic chardonnay. Easily top chardonnay of last 2 years. In my top 3 WOTY 2014. Why did it have to occur on 12/31?
Can anybody provide more information about these wines? I bought a mixed case of Oregon wines from Alberty @ Storyteller and the Cameron Chard blew me away, but they don’t seem to have much distribution.
Cameron is a very small producer that primarily distributes its wine in Oregon. Winemaker/Owner John Paul has been making wine in Oregon for 30 years. John’s business strategy is to self distribute his wines to a limited number of retail locations and restaurants in Oregon. Some of the former assistant winemakers have been Jay Somers of J. Christopher, Tyson Crowley of Crowley Wines, and Scott Frank of Bow and Arrow Wines.
The best wines come from two vineyards, Abbey Ridge and Clos Electrique. Abbey Ridge was mostly planted in the 70s with cutting from Eyrie, and Clos Electrique was planted mostly in the 80s with clones John brought from California. Abbey Ridge sits near the top of the Dundee Hills, while Clos Electrique is one of the lower elevation vineyards in the Dundee Hills. Both vineyards are dry-farmed.
Cameron usually makes six Pinots (WV, Dundee Hills, Reserve, Arley’s Leap, Abbey Ridge, Clos Electrique) and four Chardonnays (WV, Dundee Hills, Abbey Ridge, Clos Electrique). A fifth Chardonnay called “Wadsworth” is occasionally made, as is a Reserve Chardonnay - usually a best barrel lot. John also makes a white wine from primarily Pinot Blanc called Guliano and makes a Nebbiolo based wine as well. When he can get the fruit, he makes a Ramato-style wine from Pinot Gris. The WV Pinot is primarily made up of Yamhill Carlton fruit from a younger vineyard, along with AR and CE barrels that don’t fit in another cuvee. Most everything else comes from the two main vineyards. The top of the line cuvees are very small lots - anywhere from 25 to 200 cases. Total production for the estate is in the 2,000 to 4,000 case range.
Thanks for the overview, Rick. I know Arley’s is younger Abbey Ridge vines. Anyone know the main difference between WV, DH, and reserve, or does it vary by year?
There are also some retailers in Seattle who get allocations, fwiw.
Michael,
As I mentioned, the WV Pinot is mainly made up of non-Dundee Hills fruit. Right now they are getting fruit from a younger Yamhill-Carlton AVA vineyard. I got an early bottle of the 2013 version (to be released in a couple of months) that tasted really young and was a more dark fruited than I would expect in the DH. If there are barrels that don’t fit in the Dundee Hills Pinot, they’ll end up in the WV Pinot as well. The Dundee Hills is mainly made up of Abbey Ridge (including Arley’s Leap) and Clos Electrique, along with anything else that they get from the Dundee Hills (they used to get fruit from the Gehrts vineyard as well) that, at an early point in time, doesn’t fit into the top cuvees. The Reserve is a second, later cull from the wines going into Clos Electrique and Abbey Ridge (the SVD wines are bottled six to nine months after the Dundee Hills). So the Reserve could be all from one of the two vineyards, a blend, or there could be none bottled.
I made the point that the wines were mainly sold in Oregon because there is some distribution outside the state (WA for sure and I’ve seen it in CA at times), but it isn’t much.
Not exactly Chard related…but was 2008 their last? There must be something to the fruit quality with 2 former Cameronites sourcing it. The 07 Cameron Gehrts was dynamite IMHO.
The 2008 was the last Gerhts, and it’s great. One of these days I’ll get a bottle of the Crowley Gerhts to try. I’ve been darned impressed with the Crowleys I tried in 2014.
I am planning a nice dinner for Tuesday, and sure enough what do I see on the wine list at one of my potential choices? 2005 Cameron Clos Electrique Blanc. Guess I don’t need the answer from the OP.
