TN: St. Innocent Pinot Noir 2009 Momtazi Vineyard

WINE TALK
#1

St. Innocent
Pinot Noir 2009
Momtazi Vineyard
13.5%. Bio-dynamic, no fining or filtering.
$38

C: Darker PN red
P: A bit sharp on the finish at first. Needed 2 hrs. open to blow off. After that, superb! Medium body, darker PN flavor, lovely lovely balance and length. Very very smooth. Dark cherry notes, but what really mattered was the integrated taste, length and balance. So smooth and compelling! Can’t quite find words for it. Somehow New World, a note of “innocence,” perhaps? I could hardly recommend this more highly. No wonder Lardière is moving to Oregon!

#2

Thanks for the note. I’ve had this, liked it. I don’t buy enough St Innocent.

#3

Nice note, Peter. Great vineyard, very experienced producer. I should get some of this.

Cheers,
Doug

#4

Peter, how does it compare to the 07?

#5

:astonished:

#6

Thanks for the note. St. Innocent is one producer I haven’t tried - how would you compare their style to others in Oregon like Cameron, Westrey, Evesham Wood, …? I heard an interview with Mark Vlossak the other day, and his evident knowledge and experience got me curious about the wines.

#7

'09: shitty

'07: super shitty

(with a tear in my eye for Bob)

Actually, to tell the truth, I have no idea. The '09 is the only St Innocent I have had.

#8

You missed the joke, Peter.

#9

enlighten me, Ron.

#10

Nu, what’s the joke? Inquiring minds want to know…

#11

Peter, I have not had either, and this could be wrong, but I believe an older vintage of the Momtazi was extremely controversial, some calling it the worst wine they have ever had, maybe that was the 2007. But Ron’s being unnecessarily snarky. BTW that regardless of the 2007, I believe you that the 2009 is a good wine. There’s a Calif pinot winery where I really did not like their previopus vintages of one bottling, I thought both were flawed in different ways, and the 2009 and 2010 are terrific.

Anyway do a search on Momtazi in this forum.

#12

Peter I could not resist and I did a search and yes the 2007 Momtazi has the worst notes of any wine I’ve seen on this board, but no complaints about any other vintage. A couple of years ago someone, like you, missed the joking reference:

" J Diven wrote:
Bob Wood wrote:
But what about the St. Innocent Momtazi?
i’m unaware of any Momtazi Chardonnay from St. I or anyone else.
Totally willing to be educated…
I think it was an “inside” joke about Oregon’s most controversial pinot."

#13

Thanks, George! I hadn’t seen those '07 threads. Clearly a vintage to avoid.

#14

Hey, wait a minute! I was right–'07 is super shitty! neener

#15

[wink.gif]

#16

I really wasn’t intending to be snarky. But I do recognize it could’ve come off that way. The way that you responded is what I would have said. I do recall reading a lot of back-and-forth about that wine. I have been traveling and been without Internet intermittently. It took me a while to get back to the thread see what it had gone. Cheers all.

#17

Ron you are awful! I’ll never speak to you again, ever [soap.gif] [smileyvault-ban.gif] [berserker.gif]



Seriously, no prob. I just didn’t know what you and Sax were talking about–hadn’t seen the '07 thread.

#18

To be honest I kind of expected Sax to chime in and clarify as he was involved in those threads. It’s all good.

#19

I was going to chime in but I was really enjoying watching Peter trying to figure out what the joke was. I think Roy Hersh had one of the best description of the wine.

#20

Ah, the Schadenfreude of this place! [berserker.gif]

Actually, no prob (and what can you expect from Sax anyway [pillow-fight.gif] )

I wonder what went wrong with that vintage? Seems like all the other years were very good at worst, and usually much better. Of course he uses sourced fruit, maybe it was somehow off that year…but what do I know…