I know these are supposed to have been drunk up, since they did not see the same long hard press cycles/skin maceration that Seth typically gives the wines. A decision that was a result of the wild fire smoke, but this is still coiled and young. Took about 3 hours to fully open up. Flint, wet slate, peonies, lavender, rain water and barrel spice on the nose. Nashi pear, green apple skin, chalk, salt and a touch of caramel with an insanely spicy finish - like fresh brewed ginger beer. It just lingers and simmers. This is becoming one of my all time favorite wines. Absolute show stopper.
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I’ve long suspected that there are gems in the 2020 Oregon vintage to be found because of the timing of the smoke. Cheers for the TN.
Also bemusedly, wearily looked up Nashi pear.
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In general Chardonnay is likely to fair better since you can press the juice off the skins which are most likely to be impacted by the smoke. Pinot was more of a lost cause.
Makes sense.
I’ve had a '20 PN that drank well. It was shaping up to be a good year. I brought up the vintage some time ago somewhere here in WB but didn’t want to belabour what’s probably a painful memory to many winemakers. That good PN, was it a PGC? I’d have to look up my notes to be sure. IIRC, the winery sold it as an AVA offering although it was single vineyard.
In any case, might be worth it to start an “Another shitty '20 Oregon vintage” with the next gem found.
Seth’s release letter recommended early drinking for his 2020s but he later recanted, saying these wines were evolving along the normal aging curve.
IIRC, this was in comments that he made on CellarTracker tasting notes.
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For anyone interested in gambling with a different '20 Chard, there’s a 3-bottle lot of Longplay Lia’s Vineyard Jory Slope on WineBid. Not a great risk at $45.
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Not sure this fits with 07, 20 really is a shit vintage with widespread destruction of crop and millions of dollars of lost income across the board. 07 was overly panned by critics, but is in fact a decent year.
This is undoubtedly true and well taken. And it’s plain old icky to make an entire thread out of others’ loss. Drinking a nice '20 is bittersweet. Schadenfreude, for sure, even if there’s a certain wistful pleasure to be had. So, in seriousness, I’ll recant my flippant statement about starting such a thread.
We made one Pinot Noir under the Patricia Green Cellars label in 2020. It was from 3 blocks in 2 vineyards that were picked (because they were ripe) before the smoke descended into the valley. It was around 800 cases. About 35% of the wine came from what would have been the Corrine Vineyard, Wadensvil Block bottling. Saw no point in offering up a vineyard designated Pinot from 2020 regardless of its quality. So, it was blended with 2 blocks from Chehalem Mountain Vineyard (Dijon 943 and something else that I can’t recall off the top of my head).
It may be the only Patricia Green Cellars I have never tasted from bottle. I assume it’s good. Good material, excellent vintage, tasted good in barrel and tank.
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Thanks Jim – I feel like we’ve had this conversation before. My memory is that it drank well with no detracting smoke. I looked in CT but couldn’t find any evidence that I actually did drink a 2020 PN. To boot, I’m nursing 'flu symptoms in bed with only WB for solace. So maybe I’m imagining having drunk it, but I think not!