I haven’t had one of these wines in 20+ years, so I grabbed this when it came up at Chambers Street ($50, a tad higher than the current price for recent vintages). I was curious to see what they are like today with a little bit of age.
Good news: No hint of New World cherry/cough drop/candy/cola pinot. A modest 14.1% ABV. Restrained and balanced.
Bad news: No hint of pinot character.
I served this blind to three wine-loving friends with excellent palates. None of them guessed pinot! That’s just weird, as pinot usually is easy to pick out blind.
It’s a pleasant, elegant wine, with only a bare trace of oak, but seems devoid of character – kind of generic.
This was decanted 90+ minutes ahead of our first tasting it.
I pulled a 2016 out last night and it was unresistable. Enough spice to give it dimension. Red fruit on the cherry, strawberry, raspberry side as the focus and lovely floral aromatic accents with good acidity and a medium finish. I guess I have to try a '15 now to see. I think it is enchiladas tonight and pleasant, elegant wine might fit for that.
Yup 2015 was the hottest of hot and dry vintages in Oregon. I tend to avoid it completely like 03 or 18 red burgundy. 14 and 16 were also warm, but the wines are significantly more balanced.
Thanks, all, for the info about 2015 as a vintage. I’m completely ignorant of Oregon vintages. That might well explain some of the character, though it was labeled at 14.1%, which isn’t high by today’s standards.
They couldn’t identify a grape. Two of them is just seemed kind of generic.
I guess that’s better than thinking it was syrah or zin. I’ve had a few overripe California pinots that could have been confused with those grapes.
FYI, I retasted the last quarter of the bottle last night. (I’d refrigerated it.) It was pretty much the same.