TN's: Arterberry Maresh

2009 Arterberry Maresh Maresh Vineyard Chardonnay
Platinum tinged golden.

Very pleasant and immediately engrossing. So rich yet lithe and long aromas. Wide and friendly, it also has quite a bit of coiled energy and is mineral and stony. Ripe but delicate stone fruit, ginger cake, lemongrass, cardamom, golden sweet hay. Refined and elegant. It is primary at this point and the oak is prominent but not overbearing.

On the palate, there is a bright acid spine, which is the thread that weaves throughout with good mid-palate intensity and a long, lovely texture from judicious oak and extended time on lees. Flavors follow the nose with rich tones of yellow flowers, brioche, yellow plum and white raspberry. The finish has breadth yet retains focus.

This is a spectacular wine in the making. It is beautiful, rich and primary now. I don’t expect it to peak for another 4-6 years. From the warm and cushy 2009 vintage, Jim has crafted a 12.8% Chardonnay from old-vine, dry-farmed 108 clone that is both enveloping and nicely textured as well as lithe and seamless. Beautiful balance and execution. Unfined and Unfiltered. Worth more than the $75 price tag. Buy all you can, while you can.


2008 Arterberry Maresh Juliard Vineyard Pinot Noir

Dark garnet.

Reticent. Dark, earthen and floral, somewhat wet, rocky, mossy and nutty with bramble and tinges of tart blackcap raspberry, black cherry and bitter chocolate. There is a bucolic purity here and a deepness that is austere and dark. It is not “easy”, but there is complexity and that is what I enjoy about it.

Bright natural acidity runs throughout and is supplanted by fine coffee bean tannin and a swarthy, floral finish. This is lovely with earthen charm, full of spicy and brambly notes with nice iron, black cherry, plum and minerality. Complex, distinct and deep, this wine is a welcome contrast to the lithe and red-fruited style of most Dundee Hills Pinot Noir and to the velvet richness of the Maresh Vineyard bottling.

Juliard Vineyard is dry farmed and just down the hill from Maresh Vineyard on Worden Hill Road, the heart of the Dundee Hills. From 1974 plantings of upright clone (Ponzi? 828?) and Pommard, the wine shows an old vine sinuosity and rustic complexity. I think this needs time to knit and should be best from 2014-2028. Unfined and Unfiltered.

He’s making some very solid wines!!

Do you sell these wines?

I don’t but know the people that do. Jim and I sit down and burn bottles on a semi-regular basis.

I need more friends like that!

I’ll introduce you.

Thanks Bob. My wife turns 40 in June and I think we’re going to plan a weekend getaway down in your stomping grounds. I will read all the threads here first, but plan on bugging you about an itinerary, etc. I’d like to taste some wine I’ve never experienced. A. Maresh is one, but I’ve yet to have the Seven of Hearts/Luminous Hills wines either.

Bob might even be selling tickets for that Cripple Creek Ferry. [wink.gif]

RT

Wheatland. neener

Ron - the fare is only $2, so watch out for the $20/axle Bob will want…

You won’t run across this if you are headed to Arterberry Maresh (Dundee Hills) or Luminous Hills (Carlton).

But if you want to beeline down I-5 to Eola-Amity, this is a reasonable, and picturesque way to go…

Do I need to ride this to get to Penner-Ash and Domaine Serene? [snort.gif]

It’s a long way from the Wheatland Ferry to Domaine Serene. And I mean that…

Yeah, the rumor is DS is digging a very wide moat around their castle, and you’ll need to buy passage to taste their wine…
I mean, you’d happily do that for DRC right?

Could be a challenge on the hillside - maybe they will buy DDO and flatten it out with a bulldozer to accomodate.

If they fill that moat with their wine people could just walk across on the wine

You should be fine in June but a boat is currently required to get to Penner-Ash.

Really? Wow, never seen that before. I’ve seen “Lake Gaston” quite a bit, though.