2011 Bergstrom Bergstrom Vineyard Pinot Noir
Not at all inexpensive for OR Pinot. Tried this based on the rumors of control. Well…welcome to the land of restraint. There’s nicely proportioned richness with plenty of agile acidity. Great balance. Spice, sous bois, rich Pinot black cherry with plenty of intensity while maintaining a svelte figure, bright and delineated. Fine length. It just keeps drawing you back for more. Accessible tannins. Delicious. There’s been talk of Josh Bergstrom leaning towards controlled Pinot Noir…absolutely true for this one. Drinking great for a 2011 with plenty of upside.
RT
The vintage probably contributes to the restrained profile. Sounds great! I’ll keep an eye out.
Michael
Yowza, “not at all inexpensive” indeed! Pushing $70 from Sec.
Michael
Not sure if Bergstrom is leaning another way or if the vintage is driving it. Personally, I’ve found the 11’s from wineries I like but lean a bit too fat for me (e.g. Ayres) to be in my strike zone but the AFWE producers need a couple of years at least. '11 has so much promise but it doesn’t show well early. I’ll be buying.
Vintage effect? 2012 should tell us a lot more about that. In the meantime some lovely OR PNs (2010 and 2011) are available, or soon will be.
RT
According to CT, I’ve drunk 9 2011 so far, and they’ve varied from good to great. I’m excited for the vintage for sure.
Michael
Richard – at that price does one of those beat a Cameron WV, DH and a Matello Souris?
The Bergstrom Bergstrom should compete very well with the Cameron Abbey, Clos Electrique and the Matello Souris. The 2011 Souris is still backwards (just bottled) while the Bergstrom Bergstrom is open for business. For value…Bergstrom is definitely not a “go to” OR producer. Taking price out of the equation, it’s an extremely nice wine displaying some of Oregon Pinot’s best attributes.
RT
This Bergstrom is one of the better 2011s that I have had. Still needs a bit of bottle time to fully develop. This Bergstrom has better balance than most, imo. Having tried numerous 11s, to many of the 2011s have almost searing acidity, and though many have nice complex fruit, it is my opinion that just a small decline in fruit will leave just searing acidity. I like wines with good balanced acidity, especially to go with food, however the wines shouldn’t pair best with Tums or unflavored Rolaids, imo. This seems to be a hallmark of the vintage. Personally, I’m buying few 2011s, drinking 09s and 07s backs, and making cellar room for what looks to be an excellent 2012 vintage from early barrel samples. The 12s will probably be the 3rd best vintage, this Century, behind the 08s and 02s.
I’m sure the vintage had something to do with the restraint show, but I started noticing the restraint Bergstrom was moving towards with the '09 vintage wines. '09 was a warm year, but the wines were still less oaky and extracted than previous vintages I have had.
I’m sure the vintage had something to do with the restraint show, but I started noticing the restraint Bergstrom was moving towards with the '09 vintage wines.
+1
I’m not sure it’s fair to use 2012 as a marker to judge whether Josh is truly invested in more restrained wines, anymore than his 2011 can fairly be used to show the execution of an intention to produce said style. My overall impression though is that Josh is a very talented guy and pushing his winemaking choices towards a more restrained(or perhaps expressively pure?) style of Pinot Noir.
At a recent Deep Roots Coalition tasting, I was surprised at how many of the non-whole cluster wines (i.e. other producers wines) from 2011 were showing beautifully. Patricia Green’s Old Vine Estate was absolutely lovely, as was Evesham Wood’s Le Puits Sec. I see Oregon’s 2011 vintage as a much better version of 2007, and 2007s are showing beautifully. Acids are higher in 2011, but the quality of fruit is much better as well, and as the wines fill in I think they will balance themselves beautifully.