Every day is a winding road, and you never know what is going to roll in the door. This was a good case for this particular wine as the buyer on call that day had never seen this particular wine before. Came to find out that the store had sold the 2016 version of Averaen Pinot Noir and the other buyer, who had not seen the label previously, thought it was pretty cool juice and bought the 2017. Can’t think of a lot better testimony for the wine’s quality than that.
The short story on this label was as follows. The folks that made Banshee wines, and their value label Rickshaw, were at the INPC (International Pinot Noir Conference) and just ‘sittin’ round the campfire’ when they had a revelation that this appellation that they were in, located in McMinnville, was remarkably similar to where they were working in California’s Sonoma Coast. Cold Marine wind funneling through low-lying gaps in the coastal mountain ranges and soils of a mixed volcanic and marine sedimentary soils played off of each other to create a very advantageous environment to grow Pinot Noir. Clearly it was kismet.
Not only did the Banshee boys sense that this would be a good environment for premium Pinot Noir, but they had just completed a partnership deal with William Foley that took a lot of stress out of taking the Banshee/Rickshaw label to the next level, but they ran across one Adam Smith, a talented winemaker who had bolted to the Northwest after making the first vintage of Banshee in 2010. It was ‘kismet’ and Averaen was born.
The 2017 Averaen Pinot Noir reflects both their desire to make high-toned, cool climate Pinot Noir, and the distinctive element s of the 2017 vintage that made this a very successful but very unique expression of Oregon Pinot. This was the fourth straight successful vintage in this part of the world (global warming?), but one that differed from the previous three harvests in its personality. While the 2014-2016 run showcased the riper side of Oregon Pinot, the 2017s showed plenty of ripeness but also a higher pitched, fresher, more lifted profile.
The nose showed urgent but high-toned ripe red, spicy fruit from the get-go. In the mouth, this expressive, lifted, almost ‘crunchy’ Pinot had plenty of well-defined, vivid red fruits that sat higher of the palate and delivered a wave of energetic flavors. We were taken with the wine immediately and bought it. Some two weeks later as we sat down to write these notes, Vinous Media put their comments on this wine on the front of their website. Apparently we are not alone.
Josh Raynolds comments in that feature reflected our impressions of both performance and value here, “Displays abundant berry and floral character, with vibrant spice accents adding verve. Seamless in texture and appealingly sweet, the 2017 finishes with impressive, juicy persistence and resonating florality. This is textbook Willamette Valley Pinot Noir at a great price. ..91 points (an even better score than he gave the 2016).”
The 2017 Averaen Pinot Noir Willamette Valley is appealing, well-priced effort from a label that shows a lot of promise going forward from a group that was already quite successful further south (Sonoma Coast). This juicy, little number plays nicely in the here and now in a higher-toned, ‘Burgundy’ sort of way .