TNs Oregon Offline

[gavin.f]

NYC - Oregonopoly 9/30 - Event Planner - Online or Offline - WineBerserkers

@Sam_Kwak very kindly took us to Golden Hof Bar & Grill on 48th (Staff were super nice and the food was tasty) for Oregon dunking.

Key take-aways:

• No faulty corks or bad bottles
• Reds over whites (surprise to me as I typically prefer Oregon Whites)
• Overall quality super high

Wines of the night for me:

Sparkling - Perkins Harter Solera

White - 2021 Morgen Long Chardonnay Eola-Amity edging out 2022 Walter Scott Chardonnay X-Novo Vineyard

Red - 2014 Longplay Pinot Noir Hi-Tone Lia’s Vineyard edgeing out 2011 Thomas Pinot Noir Dundee Hills

QPR champion - 2023 Walter Scott Chardonnay La Combe Verte

Overall - Perkins Harter Solera

[gavin.f]

Sparklings

Argyle 2012 extended triage
10 years on lees 40 Pn 60 Chard. Little yellow color, cream, lees, ripe pear. Pretty good more ‘yum’ than 'wowza… Needs air. 2hrs later a lot more lemon and that zip helps bring into balance for me. Very good

Andre Heucq Heritage Blanc de Meunier
Brut nature, but was broad and distinct honey note. Best at chill. Would neither spit nor seek out.

Perkins Harter Solera
Solera of '20, '21, '22 Pommard clone Pinot Noir. Bracker vineyard. 3x7 spacing. Rootstock 3309. Volcanic soil. 25 cases.

My bring. Pnp was a little tight. By end of evening, this became truly excellent, beautiful broad base notes shot through with ginger citrus star. Love it. @ShelbyPerkins - well done!

Whites

Walter Scott X Novo 2022
Wow, one that’s actually open! Believe @RayChung mentioned he double decanted at 5pm or for 5hrs? Reduction reigned in. Kiss of oak. Pear and light peach. Good acidity. Some jittering finish and clearly the complexity is just starting to rise up. Great stuff. This did not hold up by end of evening, the extra air time prior probably just ran it out.

Bergström 2016 Sigrid
Suffered a little for being by WS Xnovo. More basic than the Walter Scott. Lemon curd and lighter voiced. V nice

Evening land 2022
Brighter more cut. A little natural strangely with some spritzy vibes. Everyone was surprised at the reveal. Good

2017 Arterberry Maresh Chardonnay Maresh Vineyard
Touch broad. With air it picks up some acidity. Nose huge. Strange one and hard to call.

Lingua Franca 2022 Sisters
Tight, but air didn’t seem to help. Chablis energy. Tasty. By itself it’s fine, with food it’s great.

Walter Scott la Combe Verte 2023
My bring and last bottle ;,(

Gosh I love this wine. Just incredible at the price point. @Erica_Landon :)))

00 Wines Chardonnay Freya Hermann Cuvee 2022
Reductive notes (surprise) with some oak. High quality, but is still figuring itself out. Not much changed at the end of the night. I don’t think this should be touched for 5-6 years.

2023 Big table farms the elusive queen
Waxy nose with oak notes. Baking spice in the mouth too broad for me good but fine

Kelley fox Durant Vineyard chardonnay Lark block
Missing the vintage here. 2018?

Slight lemon yogurt nose. Mouth has it as well and some texture. Some peach and pineapple notes. Conundrum - clearly well made, but I (others didn’t mind) can’t get past the yogurt thing (stuck malo or maybe oxidizing a bit)?

Morgen Long 2021 Eola-Amity
Dang nab it. I always hope to not like these wines, but Really nice. Salty crunch in the mid. Real class. Had not had before. Very good to excellent

Reds

1998 Domaine Drouhin Laurene (Mag)
One of mine. Estate’s flagship wine. Dundee hills vineyard.

Super surprised - showed very young and powerful. 15 more years in this format and for my taste, 5 years too young now.

I had assumed bc of the vintage/age that this would need no prep, I was wrong. Everyone guessed it to be much younger. red/black fruit, some oak notes, some herb. This really got better over the evening and was still strong the next day.

Thomas 2011 Dundee Hills
Very light and pretty. Was funny pair with my Drouhin as, while younger, much more refined in texture and mature in palate. Preferred this. Plenty still to go here if you like Tertiary.

Peay Ama 2012 (Sonoma Coast)
@Juliec being sneaky and with good reason. Felt very classic and older world energy. Underripe berry, some orange rind, touch fig, little forest floor.

Seven hearts 2012 Armstrong curmudgeon cuvée vineyard
Richer and fuller some black fruit. Beautiful story that @J_a_y_H_a_c_k shared with us

2021 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir Willamette Valley
Have never had a real connection to this producer and surprised by this. The texture is so flowing. Incredible. Believe a generous double decant helped here.

2014 Longplay Pinot Noir Hi-Tone Lia’s Vineyard
Wadenswil clone. Beautiful nose. So complex. fruit drenched herbs, high quality potpourri, orange peel, cherry Robitussin finish. Utterly distinct.

Domaine Serene Jerusalem Hill 2015
Visited here two months ago as my “Try things you don’t like to keep yourself honest” addition to my Oregon trip. Have never really liked a wine from this house as the style of big fruit and oak ain’t my jam - and they’re committed to the bit.

This honestly wasn’t bad. Good even. Swore left and right it was 5 years old (shows what some expensive wood will do).

My blind note - Some oak, big fruit, big in general, some tannins texture at end and chocolate(?) not bad for all that.

Eyrie sisters 2021
Scrumptious it more basic with time.

Patricia Green Notorious 2012
Nose is enthralling with stem and brambles and red fading black fruit. Lots of lift in palate. Some heat at the end (14.25% abv?) confused things, but excellent up to that point. Look to try different vintages.

Big table farm 2018 Pelos Sandberg vineyard
Little rough and ready with texture and red fruit - some light tabacco on finish

2022 Sun Break Wines Pinot Noir Marie-Paule Reserve Cortell-Rose Vineyard
Mine. First of a pair I won at BD auction. Very likeable some florals and light red berry. I think this has many more years in front of it and, if doing again, I would have double decanted.

2021 Sun Break Wines Pinot Noir Marie-Paule Reserve Cortell-Rose Vineyard
Mine and I can’t read my note… ;( Was solid. Prefered '22

[JustinP]

@gavin.f

Morgen Long 2021 koosah vineyard
Dang nab it. I always hope to not like these wines, but Really nice. Salty crunch in the mid. Real class. Had not had before. Very good to excellent

Was this the '21 Eola-Amity? Memory is there was not a M-L Koosah VD in '21, but the Eola-Amity is 100% Koosah.

[gavin.f]

Ah, you’re correct, Justin. I’ll retitle.

[JustinP]

Great notes, btw, and funny enough it’s nice to see some discussion of some of the legacy producers, who have a tendency to get skipped right over on the board. (I’m as guilty as anyone of going straight to the cool small producers who post here, but I do feel like I’m lacking some broader context on WV as a result. Like I don’t think I’ve ever tasted quite a few of the second (third?) wave established folks like Drouhin, Serene, etc.)

A little surprised that the Walter Scott seemed to be flagging by the end of the night. Would have expected it to cheerfully go a few days open.

[gavin.f]

Thanks and Agreed. We had a great mix of generations. Though for an Oregon night, pretty WV constrained - no Gorge or Applegate.

Same

[B_Caputo]

Take my opinion with a grain of salt because after this tasting it basically doubled the amount of Oregon wines I’ve ever tried. Was more of a learning experience for me and to check in with what high quality Oregon producers were doing.

Favorites for me in the whites were the 2022 Walter Scott x Novo, 2022 lingua franca sisters, and the 2022 Freya Herman (kind of reminded me of a Caroline Morey).

With the reds there were lots to enjoy. Standouts for me were the Thomas, jays ringer of the bouchard hospices de Beaune, and the long play which I had never heard of. The drouhin and eyrie were also very nice. The Peay was a fun ringer and reminds me I should start drinking some 08-11s I still have in the cellar somewhere from Peay.

Thanks to Sam for setting this up and everyone in attendance for bringing lovely wine and fun company!
-brian

[Sam_Kwak]

Thanks everyone for coming and bringing awesome wines! I really wish I’d taken more detailed notes and more pictures, but overall all of the wines were high-quality and not a single dud among them. Lots of good leads on what to buy/try next.

Some highlights for me:

• 2012 Argyle Brut Extended Tirage: This was a fun one. There’s something different about the quality of the fruit from champagnes - more pear/peach - and a little more easygoing.
• 2022 Walter Scott X-Novo Chard: Firing on all cylinders. More oak-prominent that I would have thought but to good effect. Intrigued by the difference with the Combe Verte that was also opened.
• 2022 00 Wines Freya Hermann: Interesting banana pie nose. Still painfully young but lots of stuffing to age. Would like to re-try down the road (@PeterB hold on to your bottle!).
• 1998 Domaine Drouhin Laurene from mag: Really surprised by the age on reveal. Very nicely evolved.
• 2014 Longplay Pinot Noir Hi-Tone Lia’s Vineyard: WOTN for me. Love the spiciness here and the floral nose. I NEED to seek out more of this producer.

Also honorable mentions to both of the Big Table Farm wines.

[PeterB]

well done folks

[Sam_Kwak]

think there was also a bottle of natty pinot blanc that Jay brought

[gavin.f]

Ah. That’s right.

And I digit the Jesus burg -which showed great

[Ramon_C]

Nice. But no photo of the honey-butter pancakes!

[B_Caputo]

[gavin.f]

they were honestly delicious.

[R_M_Kriete]

Member of the wine club. He does “Spring forward/Fall back”. Fall shipment is 2019 wines!

[Sandbergsm]

For CT reference. Hope this works

Oregonopoly list

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

IMHO, The whites were marginal at best. The Freya, which I had tried to source but was unavailable so I am glad someone brought it, was something I would cellar. The problem is that the price is so high that I can do better in California or France or a few other countries for half the price. I was disappointed by the Evening Land that I brought because it was just not noteworthy. Meh.

The three reds that I enojoyed were the 1998 Domaine Drouhin, the Domaine Serene and the 2005 Hospices Volnay. I would like to do a Cali pinot versus an Oregon pinot throw down. I think that Rivers Marie, Kosta Brown, Aubert and lots of others will beat Oregon when blind. About 18 years ago, there was a blind Cali pinot tasting that I attended and in general the Calis were much better than these Oregon pinots. I remember bringing a DuMol that was in the middle and generally about 75% of the attendees rated the Rivers Marie as the best or close to it. I had never heard of it and have bought it ever since. Nothing last night drove me to a similar conclusion.

[Marcus_Goodfellow]

Probably depends on what type of wines you enjoy.

[gavin.f]

Wowwwww

[gavin.f]

I’m down to do that tasting.