I’m a Hamacher fan…new world in a good way.
RT
From Thanksgiving. This was closed for the most part, lots of good structure. I think Marcus said the same a day or two ago.
from Wednesday, another partially shut down bottle. It was so good on release, should drank it then.
Double photo, I’ll delete it if I had a clue.
Thank you, Frank, you represent the best of us. Unfortunately, had an elder parent emergency this last week, so did not get as many Pinot’s in; mostly late night bourbon.
De Negoce 197 Pinot Noir 2018
No decant. Pretty crimson color, nice pinot nose of cherry fruit, earth; palate is earthy, spicy, with dark cherry, elegant. Seems to have stuffing to age. Citrus note, more fruit as it opens up in glass. Was a great match with roasted chicken with tarragon cream sauce. Ranks up there with Berserker Cuvee for all-time pinot QPR.
Suzor The Tower Pinot Noir 2015
OR is as close as I can get to WA pinot to watch a great Duke win over Gonzaga in a great game. No decant. nice pinot; light cherry pinot nose, lighter style with crispy cherry fruit, a little citrusy note. Nicely integrated, balanced; good food wine that paired well with coconut curry mussels; elegant not terribly complex, but delicious; opens up in glass more floral, denser fruit. Nice BD find.
Tasting Notes:
2017 Vincent Wine Pinot Noir Bjornson Vineyard
Smooth, high toned Pinot Noir, medium to medium high acidity seems to be destemmed and fermented in neutral oak possibly partially stainless. Most likely neutral oak. Food friendly and solid pinot to enjoy with dinner. Lively cranberry and pomegranate notes throughout. Overall, a red fruited Pinot on the younger vine side.
2017 Peay Vineyards Estate Scallop Shelf Pinot Noir
Lively, red, black fruited pinot noir with a high entry note with the mid and ending palate that has some good spice notes. Enjoyable over time and did open up over the hour to give a complete note from the beginning to the end. I see now why some of the long term purchasers of Peay like this bottling. It does take some cellaring but it does seem to have more complexity due to the spice factor. The minerality and acidity blended well together; the depth of the spicy finish made it a pretty complete wine.
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A study in stem inclusion and barrel selection and one more Pinot
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2018 Schöne Tal Cellars Pinot Noir Hirschy Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton (11/28/2021)
Quite a bit angular at first. With some red fruits, potpourri, baking spices, dry flowers and smoked black tea leaves. With time it rounded out some, but even then at times it did feel a bit jagged. At times it also felt a bit thin and hollow on the mid palate, especially as I recalled the structure of 2017 Black Label version of the wine. Eventually I decided to pop a bottle of the 2018 version of the wine to try alongside it. Indeed it was a big step up. As for this, about 5 years in the cellar will do it nicely.
ABV: 13.6%
Closure: natural cork
Stem: Grassl Cru
Decant: 1h
Assemblage: From Block K in Hirschy Vineyard. All Pommard clone. Aged 20 months in neutral French oak. 60% whole cluster with native yeast. 24 cases produced.
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2018 Schöne Tal Cellars ihre treuen Söhne Hirschy Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Yamhill-Carlton (11/28/2021)
Much more refined, elegant than the regular Schöne Tal Hirschy tasted alongside it. Everything feels more precise here. Shimmering red cherries and raspberries with a lovely spice core filled with coriander, galangal, lily buds, and a hint of cloves on the very upper registers. The tannins are more structured, yet the wine feels much more delicate and nuanced. Very impressed with the wine. Enjoyable now, but plenty of upside potential in the next 15-20 years. Will be reaching out to David to purchase some more soon.
ABV: 13.5%
Closure: natural cork
Stem: Grassl Cru
Decant: 30min
Assemblage: All from a single barrel selection from the Hirschy Vineyard Block K. All Pommard clone. Aged 20 months in neutral French oak. 100% whole cluster with native yeast. 24 cases produced.
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2017 Trathen Hall Pinot Noir Momtazi Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (11/28/2021)
Blackberries, black cherry cola, boysenberry with a moist moss undertone. On the palate the fruit is clean and fresh. I originally noted it may be all destemmed, but after reading the tech sheet I saw it’s 50% whole cluster. The de-stemmed fruit profile comes across much more, I’m guessing from the gentle pigéage. With air and as it warmed up the fruit profile moved even further into the black fruit territory learning more blackberries, and even deeper black cherry with anise and cedar.
ABV: 13.5%
Closure: DIAM5
Stem: Grassl Cru
Decant: 1h
Assemblage: 50% whole cluster, spontaneous fermentation and 21 days on skins with gentle pigéage daily. 16 months in neutral French oak. 50 cases produced
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I wasn’t planning to open this yet but it’s for a good cause.
2017 Lumos Pinot Noir Temperance Hill - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (11/28/2021)
Shimmering ruby color with no bricking. PNP showed it a little hot and closed but that blew off after half an hour in the glass. After that, it’s forest floor and hints of sage and nutmeg on the nose that later evolve into dry Christmas tree. Beautifully balanced and medium weight. Seamless tannins. On the palate, bright strawberries, cherries, a few raspberries, a stray blackberry and a hint of cinnamon. Delicious. Within a couple of hours, some of the fruit evolves into fresh mushroom notes. The finish is upbeat but would be better if it weren’t so short.
It could just be starting to transition but I’m not experienced enough with Oregon Pinot to know how long to age my remaining bottle given the fast evolution in the glass. (93 pts.)
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2005 Louis Jadot Beaune 1er Cru “Clos des Couchereaux”
Still tighter than I hope it will be down the road, but certainly not entirely closed. Half the bottle last night after 45 minutes or so in the decanter, the other half tonight after 30 minutes or so. Classic. Dark cherry, slightly dusty, a hint of tartness, and some spice. Very nice, hopefully even better down the road. A great way to finish of the weekend that opens the holiday season!
And thanks, Frank, for reminding us that Christmas doesn’t come from a store - that it means so much more! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Lots of Patricia Green in this thread, me included. Nice to see! One of my favorite producers of domestic Pinot.
Dan Kravitz
Under the Wire 2016 here as well. The stunned look is from just hearing that one my last minute guests is vegetarian. Fortunately she eats fish so she had this scallops I planned for an appetizer while the rack of lamb went to the rest of us.
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Thank you again Frank for hosting this fun annual event. Also a shout out for Chris S. for pushing for the aged domestic wines. Tonight we had a lineup of 3 pinots but only dipped into two of them among four of us. We made slow cooked boneless beef ribs in a soy - bourbon sauce with wild rice and a beautiful salad made by our friends.
1999 Rochioli RRV Estate Pinot Noir - Cork seemed prone to crumbling so I pulled out the Durand to cleanly pull it out. In the glass the wine shows slight bricking . The wine is a deep garnet with some sign of the shading to the orange side because of age. On the nose I got an earthy and slight barnyard aroma. In the mouth there is a lush rich attack of dark cherry, red currants, and plum fruit with a backdrop of tannin and acidity. Finish is long and still shows some of the tannic quality. Was a nice pair with the beef ribs. This is a full bodied wine should hang in there for another 5 years or so without loss of richness.
2019 Flowers Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir - Cork easily removed. In the glass no bricking and slight sour cherry aroma. This is a medium bodied wine that carried the cherry theme on tasting. Not much flavor complexity but the layer of acidity gives the wine a freshness and friendly drinking style with food. Finish is medium. Nice entry level pinot noir for everyday drinking.
2020 Vincent Pinot Noir - Willamette Valley. I’ll post a separate TN in Wine Talk. Suffice it to say this is a very good wine and an excellent QPR. Reminds me of his Gamay Noir with a bonus mineral streak.
2020 Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Lot 105 - Russian River Valley.
The master bathroom shower has been gutted for about four years. (Ok, four.) The Mrs. recently gave me the nicest ultimatum to spend the $$$ and get it finished.
If I had to switch to drinking this TJ Pinot, it would be quite an adjustment but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It smelled like Pinot. It tasted like Pinot and a lot of oak. The oak was masked by leftover turkey and cranberry mostarda. For something from the Russian River Valley, I though it was lighter bodied in a good way. Drink with food.
Damn, so many of you coming strong tonight with notes…WELL DONE. We have a lot of division and ‘camps’ these days around us, but this thread pushes back against all that stuff. In the end, seeing all the photos, I just feel joy. Thank you all for bringing me that joy. To that joy, I got 2 more notes to add to the party, enjoyed with 2 friends tonight. He brought the Kutch, I chipped in the Bouchard.
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2016 Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Blanc de Noirs Côte de Val Vilaine - France, Champagne (11/28/2021)
First of two. 100% Pinot Noir and no dosage. This got better with air so if you can wait while this finds its way in the glass, then you’re better off. Initially this smelled smoky, woodsy and reduced, which seemed to soften to a more woodsy toast over time (and it even influenced the palate). Plum, pears, tangy citrus and at room temp this shows a nice mix of limes and mineral. Good intensity, accessible yet with some backbone to lift it. -
2017 Kutch Pinot Noir Falstaff Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (11/28/2021)
This is bottle #10 since release, I know this wine very well. My buddy brought one of these over and it showed excellent. But, it took time to unfurl. He opened this at around Noon and we started to really drink into the bottle about 6pm. So, a good six hours and it did change for me over the 2 hours we enjoyed it, and I even have a good sized glass left for tomorrow. I sensed the stems (as I did from the bottle this past May) yet these seemed to soften into the wine nicely with time. I had 3 glasses of this over the 2 hours. The first glass seemed intense and had distinct spiciness. The second glass, I could sense the wine coming together, the balance and moderate weight filling in with red apple, dark cherry and strawberry. Then, today’s final glass started to pull in the dark blue fruit, a touch of soil and also some tannin comes through to tighten the wine enough to make it even better. This is really a genius bottle of CA Pinot Noir and I’ve consistently said the best pre-2019 wine Jamie has made. You can take my note in context as to whether this is a great wine or not as you look at the other tasting notes here in Cellartracker but for those who follow my palate, this wine for me remains the real deal.
Posted from CellarTracker
2005 Domaine Réyane & Pascal Bouley Volnay 1er Cru Robardelle- thin, weedy, green, hollow mid-palate. fine tannins, slightly astringent. it did improve some with air. off bottle?
2013 Domaine Julien Cote de Nuits-Villages- bright cherries. somewhat simple, but a decent value proposition for red Burgundy.
2005 Jacky Truchot Bourgogne- opened because my better half was not impressed by either of the two previous wines. As soon as she stuck her nose in the glass, she exclaimed, “Now this is more like it! I like this!” Red fruited, earthy, dusty tannins, just enough acidity. This is very pure and a lovely example of a Bourgogne. Enough tannins, that I’m not in a hurry to drink my remaining bottles. It really hit the spot tonight
2006 Belle Pente, Belle Pente Vineyard, Yamhill-Carlton AVA
This is in a beautiful place right now. Bit of reduction on PNP, but with a core of pretty red fruit, and soon broadening and opening into deeper red fruits. Juicy, elegant and floral. Doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, youthful as if it were two years old instead of 15.
2011 Walter Scott, Clos des Oiseaux, Eola-Amity Hills AVA
Also in a beautiful place, also a bit reductive on the fore-front, but now at 3 hours or so open it has dropped that, opened into mineral and red fruit. Hard edged core and a bit more serious than the Belle Pente, velvet red and mineral on the finish. Looking forward to tasting this tomorrow as well, but seriously enjoyable tonight. Definitely better after a few hours… it was nice when first opened, but much more serious and elegant now.
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Nice adjustment Robert !
Since I started early, I’ll finish late to make it symmetrical. I wasn’t in the mood to be on the computer over the holiday.
Tuesday night was 2002 Mount Eden Estate Pinot Noir
Still dark plum/smoke red with moderate transparency. Decanted off fine sediment. Aromas of ripe raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, and some spice. Palate has some oxidative coffee and dark chocolate notes joining the raspberry/blueberry spice core. Some dried leaf notes also join in on a medium finish. My experience with older Mt. Eden Pinot is that it goes through this phase to emerge on the other side with a nice strawberry and black tea fruit presentation without so much of the coffee/chocolate oxidation. I have a couple of these left and will hold to see if they turn the corner in the right direction.
Wednesday through Saturday was a good set of Pinot-based wines
In order opened (most of these were open simultaneously)
2008 Bergstrom “De Lancelotti” Pinot Noir
I bought these based upon Josh indicating he had dialed back some of the heavier hand in the winemaking process. This one is a positive result in my book. Medium cherry red with medium transparency throughout. Aromas of cherry, strawberry, vanilla, and raspberry. Red fruits throughout the palate with some black tea elements toward the medium-long finish. Held well over two days.
1990 Veuve Cliquot Rose “Cave Privee”
This is the second time we’ve had this wine at Thanksgiving Dinner. This bottle came from the same purchase. Medium copper-red color with ample bead for a wine of this age. Palate is velvety with some tart cherry, toast, and cantaloupe notes. Overall, this lacks the punch and depth I’d expect from a 1990. It is a nicely-structured wine with great mouth feel but not a good value at all in my book.
2018 Domaine Drouhin Oregon “Louise” Pinot Noir
This is Drouhin’s prestige cuvee from their Estate Vineyard. It debuted with the 1999 vintage and I’ve been collecting it since 2002. I’ve never consumed one young until curiosity and impulse got the better of me this year. This is medium-dark cherry red with limited transparency. I decanted it starting around 10:30 a.m. and consumed through the day. The remainders were put back into the bottle and consumed on day two from the cellar. The aromas here are pretty typical Drouhin cherry/raspberry, vanilla, some cinnamon. The palate has a cranberry/cherry/raspberry red fruit core with some sweet vanilla/oak elements emerging on the long finish. Compared to the other cuvees, this has the same profile but a lot more polish. I think it is arguable whether the Laurene or the Louise is the better wine with age but I am happy to have had an early peek and still am a fan of Drouhin.
2018 Ridge Corralitos Pinot Noir
An oddball from Ridge that I couldn’t resist buying given my preference for Pinot Noir but huge fandom of Ridge wines. This was my second bottle consumed. Color was dark plum red with limited transparency. Aromas of ripe blueberry, strawberry, and vanilla. Palate is fresh and full of ripe berry fruit without much acid to buffer it evident. This comes off as a “bistro pinot” and it clearly isn’t built for a long cellar development cycle. Drink them up and enjoy for the fruit. I liked it. Consistent experience with the first bottle consumed this summer.
Not pictured…
NV H. Goutorbe Rose
From a batch purchased in 2019, disgorged May 2018. Medium strawberry pink color. Aromas of strawberry, cherry, cream, and a floral element. Palate has deepened from memory of last bottle with more earthy strawberry up front and still carrying a ripe cherry finish that is rather long. Great value and really a delicious rose.
Thanks for the tasting series sponsorship Frank. I always have fun even if I don’t really follow the guidelines too well.
Cheers,
fred
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With Fred’s post, we have reached the end, el fin. I did a tally of the notes and based on what was posted above, I have a total $1,340 raised, which I will round up to $1,400 and donate this morning. I have two matching Berserker donors of my donation, plus what a few of you have pledged separately, either as one off donations or matches to your own notes. So, I’d say we will surpass $4,500 for the challenge, which is outstanding work. For those who pledged to donate (or wish to add a donation of any kind), you can do that directly to the Laura’s house website www.laurashouse.org. When you do your donation, place it within the General Donation category and enter a note in the field where you can say it’s on behalf of Wine Berserkers.
For those who participated, thank you. What you have done is ease the burden for families fleeing violence, a place where their fears can be safely put aside and help provided because of Laura’s House. Domestic violence is a horrible, debilitating, and for some, deadly dynamic. We did good work this past 10 days to help.
God bless you and happy holidays everyone.
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As a side note, one of my matching donors has rounded their donation up to $2,000 so it’s safe to say we will exceed $5,000 this year, which we had yet to exceed in any of our challenges over the past 9 years here on Wine Berserkers. I’m thankful we raised this level of support. Thank you again.
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