2005 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (6/24/2009)
This is 7 Springs done right. Smells wonderful straight out of the bottle. The fruit is complimented by the dusty earthy quality. I had this over 2 days and the aromatics stayed beautiful. At times I thought brute strength but a moment later I thought elegance. Still young on the palate but not angular like some renditions of this wine. Refreshing acidity held up perfectly for 2 days. This may be my favorite 7 Springs. Time will tell. (94 pts.)
Very encouraging note, Jason, thanks a lot. I opened a bottle of the Seven Springs Special Selection on release, but it was pretty monolithic at the time. The vintage is my favorite from a structural point of view since I started tasting young St Innocent with the '02 releases. It’s nice to hear that it’s providing some good drinking now.
Thanks Jason! I started getting serious into wine when the 02 SI’s came out and have been patiently waiting to crack a few open… but with their Drinking Chart and CT, I have been able to convince myself many times that another year or two couldn’t hurt.
Nice note, Jason. I have been pleasantly surprised with how well the few '05 Oregon Pinots that I have opened over the past couple of years have shown. It speaks of an encouraging future . . . if I can keep my hands off of them . . .
As far as when to open, I loved it right now and found it easy to enjoy, particularly if you look for some primary qualities. I would think now or wait 3-5 years … maybe more.
As to “typicity”, I can’t really say. There are basically 2 7 Springs … the old 7 Springs and the new 7 Springs which doesn’t have the Anden area. I found this more friendly than earlier renditions of this wine. Some have been very angular and austere.
As a side note … $30 bucks for this … I really don’t get it when people talk about Oregon being higher priced than Cali. Idiotic … and very difficult to find a Cali pinot of this quality, at any price. At $30 … forget about it.
Thanks for the note Jason. Sounds like a wine I should be looking to taste again soon. Also reminds me of the wonderful '06 version, which I tasted this past weekend and ranked similarly to yours:
2006 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (7/4/2009)
Medium cherry red color, slightly cloudy, with pale meniscus; nice roses, tart red fruit, cherry, brett nose; lovely, ripe cherry, tart cherry, cinnamon and mineral palate; medium-plus finish (94 pts.)
Richard, thanks for the note on the 06. I hope you have more since that is the last one ever. The 06 was one of my favorite wines of the vintage but I prefer the 05 probably do to the vintage.
It’s funny, when you look at the CT scores for Seven Springs and even the Special Selection, they are fairly low. I don’t think this style really appeals to most consumers.