TN - 2007 Kelley Fox - Maresh Vineyard Pinot Noir

WINE TALK
1

Opened last eve with a group of friends over a series of small plates. “Popped” and poured (its a screwcap)

An enjoyably perplexing wine… At once ephemeral and substantive. Impossibly thin looking, yet with so many layers of flavours and nuance.

Strawberry, cherry, currant aromas and flavours, with a meatiness and spices like cinnamon, clove, and an almost minty menthol quality to the finish.

A most enjoyable bottle of wine!!!

2

Thanks for the note. been curious about this one for while, but its not like one can grab a bottle at the Local shop before going all in for a case

3

Had this last night. My first from Kelley’s label. Got 1 07 to go with my 08 Maresh order. Gave it about 2hours of air. A real delight. Light red almost pale in color. A wonderful nose of red fruit and spice. Layers of spice and earth framed by deep red cherry on the palate. Nice silky mouthfeel and very balanced. I’d like to give this another year or so if I had more and try it with Roast Chickent. This is such a nice comparison between Cali and Burgundy. Almost seems like the best of both…

4

Just goes to show that Wood’s Axiom holds true: There’s no correlation between color and quality when it comes to pinot noir.

5

Fred,

had no idea you were a fan of Oregon Pinot. Most of the posts I see from you are California cabs, etc.

6

DJ- the tn’s I post are probably 60/40 cali pinot/cali cab so your right you don’t see many TN’s on Oregon from me. I have been following Oregon Pinot since 04. Really liked 05, 06 not so much and didn’t really try 07. Mainly because I bought a lot of 07 Cali pinot. The 08 vintage noise got me to look at individual producers again. I’ve had several basic appellation wines and have liked them all.

I am moving towards wines with lower alcohol and more finesse and balance. My experience is that Oregon is right in my wheel house. I’m a Scott Paul fan so was interested in Kelley’s own label. She took my order herself over the phone. A real nice lady and a very deft hand with pinot.

I have about 3 cases of the 08’s and will be buying the 07’s as I see them at retail so looking forward to discussing these some more [cheers.gif]


7

DJ or others - any thoughts on the 07 Momtazi. Just picked up a few.

8

Much different than the Scott Paul wines or the Maresh Vyd Pinot that Kelley bottles, simply the nature of the vineyard and the fruit, but still shows Kelley’s style. Where Maresh is light and ephemeral strawberry, cinnamon, and spicebox, Momtazi is more red and black cherry, white pepper, some tart cranberry and, to me, a touch earthier than the Maresh. For 2009, Kelley made a wine called Mirabai, which is a blend of the two vineyards

9

Though I haven’t had these particular wines, these differences are predictable because of the soil types involved. What you’re tasting in the Maresh is fairly typical of the Dundee Hills where the soil is virtually all Jory - volcanic. Plus, their plot seems to emphasize the strawberry flavors and, in many instances, yields fruit without a lot of pigment. When Brian O’Donnell was making wine from Maresh fruit the wines were always very lightly colored.

Momtazi, on the other hand, has a whole bunch of different soils (240 acres after all) but they’re mostly sedimentary in nature. They have a big slug of Nekia which is allegedly volcanic but also has a big core of sedimentary as part of its makeup. What you get from sedimentary soils (Willakenzie, for example) is dark, black fruit - more blackberry than strawberry.

These soil influences are readily noticeable in the Luminous Hills wines (see disclaimer below). The vineyard is sedimentary in the bottom portion and Jory in the top, and Byron has planted it so that the red-fruited clones (667 for example) went on the volcanic soil and vice versa (Pommard and 115 on the sedimentary), emphasizing the flavor profiles of the individual cultivars.