This project has been afforded great respect pretty much since ‘Day One’. True, Robert Brittan came from California with a resume of being the winemaker and estate manager at Stags’ Leap Winery for 16 years. His wife Ellen was highly involved with a variety of marketing aspects with respect to rolling out the Rudd Winery program. These Napa veterans came to the Willamette Valley with reputations and great expectations.
They were afforded great credibility right of the bat. Examine this excerpt from one of the longest footnotes on a producer we’ve seen in the Wine Advocate as the reviewer talked about their very first releases, “…A personal encounter with these singular wines should be high on the to-do list of any wine lover – not just Pinotphile – who hasn’t yet had the experience. Over and beyond his Pinot Noirs (soon to be sourced in part from old California vine selections), Brittan’s estate essays in Chardonnay and Syrah have been nothing less than revelatory…”
In this article great attention was paid to the Brittan’s ‘scientific’ process and caring a lot about what many would consider minutia. Noting the different consistencies of the basalt soils in various parts of the vineyard, studying the interfaces between rock, root, soil, and plant metabolism, studying and encouraging diversity of flora and fauna across his property to enhance the microorganisms that populate his grapes’ skins, this is attention to detail at a rare level and it shows in the wine.
Subsequent to that initial review, Brittan wines only failed to crack the 90 point (and usually higher) level twice over 35 wines dating back to that original 2007 vintage in Wine Advocate, a testament to the quality that everyone seemed to expect out of this Oregon project from the beginning. The Pinots have always shown tremendous detail and filigree, purity of fruit and distinctive style and complexity. We have been quiet fans of Brittan’s wines for a long time.
The fruit in the Brittan Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate Willamette Valley 2017 shines expressing vibrant blue and dark red fruits, notes of lifted spice, and subtle but insistent streaks of white stone minerality. The fruit all comes from the original estate vineyard planted in 2001, though only eight of the original 18 acres planted in this rugged terrain in ultra-thin topsoils survived. Clearly the remaining plants are happy enough to produce some distinctive fruit.
To be honest, the style of the house isn’t necessarily ‘pop-and-serve’. This wine has a lot of layers to unravel. Note the comments from Wine Advocate reviewer Erin Brooks, “Drinking these wines on my own for pleasure, I notice that the Pinot Noirs, especially, take several hours to open and show their stuff once the cork is pulled. Consider giving these wines more time than usual in bottle—or at least a long decant—before enjoying.” There’s a lot to love here but giving the wine a little time to stretch out gives you a more complete experience.
As we have pointed out on occasion, reviewers are people, too. This piece from Josh Reynolds sums up the bullet points rather succinctly, “Shimmering red. Spice-accented raspberry, cherry and floral aromas are complemented by hints of cola, succulent herbs and smoky minerals. Sweet and pliant on the palate, the Estate offers nicely concentrated red and dark berry preserve and rose pastille flavors. A spicy nuance builds steadily on the back half. Supple, fruit-driven and accessible, this wine delivers solid finishing thrust, well-knit tannins and strong, floral-tinged persistence. Aged in 15% new oak…92 points.”
Nice review, and certainly a respectable score. But our point here is that this is one of those wines that isn’t necessarily fully explained with just a number. There’s a lot of cool nuance here that cannot be ‘digitally’ expressed. In other words, we think, all in all, this is an even better wine than the score indicates. There is a certain ‘touch’ that Brittan Pinots show that we don’t see all that often and some ‘bonus’ complexity you might miss if you aren’t paying full attention. They are quietly on another level. Only 517 cases produced. (*There is a special price at checkout).