TN: 2008 Johan Vineyards Pinot Noir Nils Reserve (USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley)

WINE TALK
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  • 2008 Johan Vineyards Pinot Noir Nils Reserve - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (2/20/2014)
    A great BerserkerDay deal, and a wonderful way to be introduced to a new winery. A surprising wine, however, as it doesn’t smell of the typicity of an Oregon Pinot, with my limited experience, likely due to the ripeness of the vintage in OR. Its nose is rather dark, rose petals, red/black fruits, not the brightness and clean, snappy yet elegant nose I expect from Oregon Pinot. Very interesting, however, and it carries through right to the palate, which is also much richer and darker in character. Good weight, strong acidity, particularly at the finish.

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Sounds good. I bought some of these on BerserkerDay, so I’m glad you posted this note. One day, maybe it’ll warm up enough out here that they can actually ship the wine to me so I can follow up with a note of my own.

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It’s good that it is a riper style, this wine, as it will go better with dinner than a typical, elegant and lighter Pinot.

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I tasted there in summer of 2012 and was impressed. Definitely dense and earthy style Pinot, and they also do a really cool skin fermented Pinot Gris.

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I tasted there last summer and was also impressed. They are biodynamic and make some interesting wines including the PG. I would have bought on BD if I had the space.

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Dan came to NY last year and we did a big byo event. He served us one of his wines as part of that dinner and it showed well but I also recall it showing masculine style of Pinot with just a touch of heat. Overall a very enjoyable drink though and food friendly. Sorry I missed the berserkerday deal, will need to reach out to Dan to get my hands on some…

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I have a bottle of that here as well. Was hoping to enjoy it during a Clemson game (because it’s an orange wine) but not sure it will last that long!

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Todd, maybe you should just pop it during the ACC Basketball Tournament!

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Maybe…but I don’t care enough about basketball…maybe the NFL draft! [cheers.gif]

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Nice note, thanks for posting it. Their 08 Nils has been a really fun wine to explore over the past few years. I think it’ll only get better with several more years in bottle.

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This.

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Sounds like a good plan. The NFL draft is one of my favorite sporting events of the year. [cheers.gif]

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I finally got around to opening one of these and thought I would add to this thread from a year ago. Popped and poured about an hour ago, this wine is quite dark in color, and it has a potent nose of flower petal and baking spice. In the mouth the wine comes off as very youthful and coiled up, but it shows notes of black cherry, tart cherry pit, loam and white flowers. Someone upthread noted that the wine is masculine in style, and I agree with that. I also think this needs time to unwind, but I like it quite a bit and look forward to drinking my remaining two bottles a few years from now. If this is indicative of the house style, then I need to drink more Johan.

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worth noting that the vines were planted in 2002 so that might explain a bit of the fruitiness. Also, hope that means their wines get even better as the vines age, weather willing.

Here’s a write-up by Jamie Goode Johan Vineyards, Oregon

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Thanks for the note. 2008 is an interesting vintage to me. My guess is that wine, even in a riper style, will really develop well.

And thanks for the Jamie Goode post.

And when did Dan get that beard?!?

Jason

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it’s been growing. the running joke is “top 5 Winemaker in Oregon or Homeless Man?”