oregon

NEWS FLASH: WINEX RECOMMENDS AN OREGON PINOT BLANC

A little perspective should precede what we have to say about this Oregon Pinot Blanc. For the most part, Oregon Pinot Blanc has only been slightly more successful than Chardonnay from a historical perspective. We have seen a tremendous improvement in Oregon Chards over the last few years. It has been attributed to more knowledgeable viticulture, arguably new practitioners with better ideas, and a number of votes for finding better clones for that environment.

Pinot Blanc seemed to do better out of the gate, but we haven’t seen the kind of improvement for the genre we have for Chardonnay. While we taste a number of examples on a regular basis, it is rare for any to exceed our typical view of ‘functional and forgettable’. They are largely crisp, clean, and without much character. While we usually keep a couple on hand for the sake of selection, we are much more likely to reach for something from Alsace or Alto Adige, or perhaps German producer Rebholz, when the mood strikes.

That’s why this Iris Vineyards Pinot Blanc 2022 was a surprise. In their own words, “At Iris Vineyards we look to showcase the potential of Pinot Gris when planted in the proper place and crafted by the hands of our dedicated growers and cellar staff.”

We knew nothing about the vineyard until we tasted with the winemaker Aaron Lieberberg. We went through a few different things but came back to the Pinot Blanc that admirably filled a niche that has been typically just a hole we kept filled for the sake of selection.

Hey, we are as picky about Oregon Pinot Blanc as we are about everything else. Yes, it is crisp, bright, and fresh, as they are expected to be. The surprise here was that there was fruit (apple, pear, citrus), texture, and some character as well. It is a small thing that makes a huge difference within the category. It’s typically not a genre that moves us. Suffice it to say it’s a big deal for us to actually talk about it. Can’t remember the last time that happened. As a bonus, it’s also priced as an everyday go-to ($16.98).

PATRICIA GREEN

The recent lineup from Patti Green’s label crosse our table recently and both made a great impression and gave us a bit of more a feel for the 2021 vintage in Oregon, which is looking good. Founded back in 2000, this has been an insider’s winery for the most part as Patti, who passed in 2017, was always more focused on the natural synergy between vineyard and wine than the politics of the wine business. We tasted her stuff early on and liked this winery’s focus on purity and honesty of terroir.

These days a lot of folks talk terroir and geology in Oregon but, as partner Jim Anderson who now runs the show described, Patti was one of the first to really focus on those aspects 15-20 years ago before it became the anthem it is today. In his words, she didn’t always know the terminology, much of which hadn’t even been created yet, but she had an innate feel for what that meant in practice. The goal was to make wines naturally, which is not to say they were making ‘natural wine’ as that is defined today. One interesting quote from Anderson’s tribute to Patti is this, “If you go in with the idea that you know how to ‘make’ the wine or even really have a conception of what you want that wine to be like stylistically then you aren’t going about things the correct way to begin with.” It adheres to the philosophy of many great Burgundy domaines.

From three choices presented we picked this one as the best representative of the spirit of the vineyard, though they all delivered what a lot of winemakers don’t seem be as concerned with as we would like…joy. This is a bright, gushing, expressive show of spicy red cherries with subtle undercurrents of forest floor and savory as nuance. Medium weight with tender, delicate but juicy fruit, the Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountain Vineyard 2021 seduces one with the style that Pinot drinkers will respond to. It’s sort of an ‘essence of Pinot’ feel to this bottling.

The vineyard itself has a story of its own. The first planting of the vineyard was 1968, ancient history in Oregon. This bottling comes from the second planting in 1978, which is still very old vine material around these parts. Originally planted by Oregon pioneer/nurseryman Dick Erath, and located on the border between the now delineated Ribbon Ridge and Chahalem AVAs, it has been referred to as the ‘Erath clone’ block but the cuttings for this parcel are believed to have come from Clos Vougeot in the mid-70s. A delightful, pure expression of Pinot.

BRITTAN-QUIETLY AMONG OREGON’S ELITE

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).

‘NEW’ OREGON CHARD FROM AN OLD HAND

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But Ponzi, certainly among the oldest ‘dogs’ in Oregon viticulture, has clearly learned a lot more about Chardonnay. A lot of folks in Oregon have. Early on, tasting Chardonnay was something that a buyer did to be polite. For the most part, the wines were narrow, acidic and many smelled like pine needles. Eventually, vintners reexamined the clones they were using and decided they weren’t the best for their cooler region, as well as adjusting winemaking practices.

The changes have been remarkable. A number of the newer Chardonnay bottlings from Oregon have weight, texture, and complexity, while still walking a tighter line because of the cooler growing seasons in this part of the world. Ten years ago we rarely had any inclination to talk up an Oregon Chardonnay. Today we are regularly finding engaging examples. The Ponzi Chardonnay Reserve 2016 is the latest, a blend of various vineyards including the winery’s own LIVE Certiﬁed Sustainable Avellana and Aurora Vineyards, fermented in 15% new French oak.

Texture is the biggest thing you may notice in the new Oregon Chardonnays like this one. While far from fat and blowsy, there’s fruit and weight in the mid-palate, quince, pear, and peach fruit with some toast, floral, and spice notes to the finish. They definitely deserve attention these days.

James Suckling found a lot to like here as well writing, “This is a complex chardonnay with a wealth of ripe peaches and pears, framed in attractive, grilled-cashew and praline nuances. The palate has very composed texture and freshness and delivers a sturdy, concentrated impression with pears, lemons and grilled hazelnuts to close…93 points.”

It seems that, thus far, the public has seemingly not caught on to the changes in Oregon Chardonnay. Or maybe it’s the pandemic. In any case, that makes it better for you as we can offer out this list $44 reserve bottling for a mere $19.99!

EVENING LAND’S SALEM WINE CO PINOT NOIR EOLA-AMITY 2017

The whole story of the evolution of Seven Springs Vineyard over the last four decades has been a varied and interesting one reaching back to the ‘formative years’ of Oregon Pinot Noir. But under the winemaking team of Sashi Moorman and Rajat Parr, it may be that the best times are still ahead for Evening Land. Certainly the wines under the primary label continue to get critical acclaim, and they are at the forefront of the ‘hey we make pretty darn good Chardonnay in Oregon these days’ movement as well. Certainly their credentials are in order. But this time around we are talking about a relatively new offering that provides a classic demonstration of why we pay a lot of attention to the ‘small’ wines from important producers.

The Salem Wine Company Pinot Noir Eola-Amity 2017 is a more attractively priced version of what these guys do regularly, produce Pinot Noirs that are pure, fruit driven, unfettered and expressive. The ‘Eola-Amity’ comes from three vineyards that are dry-farmed, sustainable and bio-dynamic…Eola Springs, Rocky Hill and the ‘home turf’ itself, Seven Springs Vineyard. The soils are all volcanic. The grapes are destemmed, fermented only with the indigenous yeasts, and the juice sees an 18-month sojourn in neutral oak.

This doesn’t come off as a ‘junior’ version but rather a more direct expression of the pure, intense, spicy dark red fruit character that makes this vineyard a special place. There plenty of fruit intensity, nice lift to the finish, and engaging cherry and dark berry flavors as the central theme. This isn’t geared as a Cabernet substitute, but rather a well proportioned Pinot made by guys who love Pinot and its Burgundian manifestations, for people of like minds. In that respect it succeeds admirably, attractive right out of the gate and pretty accessible price-wise at $22.98.

If you need critical acclaim, we couldn’t find any. This stuff is pretty new to the market (starting with the 2014) and will likely never get a huge score because it will usually be tasted by the press alongside the bigger, fussier, more famous bottlings that come from here. If, however, you are looking for an expressive, user friendly, purposeful expression of Pinot Noir, the Salem Wine Company Pinot Noir Eola-Amity 2017 will do quite nicely.

NEW PINOT FROM AVERAEN

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 .

OREGON CHARDONNAY 2.0: LINGUA FRANCA BUNKER HILL 2016

There’s a lot to digest here. First of all, it would have been easy for us to dismiss this as another ‘somm label’. You know, famous sommelier decides he can do it better and goes off to create some undernourished wine that ‘pairs well with food’. Only in this case the sommelier in question is one of some repute, Larry Stone, and he partnered with a ‘hall-of-fame’ Burgundy producer, Dominique Lafon. They then hired Thomas Savre, an accomplished young winemaker from Evening Land’s Seven Springs Vineyard and put him to work on the project.

Perhaps even a bigger challenge here is that we are going to talk about an Oregon Chardonnay that sells for around $50. But the performance here was so remarkable that we are thinking about it not as an Oregon Chardonnay, but as a white Burgundy look-alike that, given the cost of ‘real’ white Burgundy these days, actually looks reasonably priced. We know a lot of you are still like we used to be, thinking of Oregon Chardonnay a sea of lean, mediocre juice grown in the wrong location, planted to the wrong clone. There is still a lot of that. But the upswing in quality from those who have reoriented their Chardonnay programs and corrected some of the old mistakes is astounding.

Lingua Franca Chardonnay Bunker Hill 2016 is exclusively from Salem’s Bunker Hill in Eola-Amity, with 20-year-old CH76 vines on pure Nekia soils at an altitude of around 800 feet. It is a west-facing vineyard that is exposed directly to the cooling ocean winds of the Van Duzer corridor (yeah pretty geeky stuff). The name of the winery, Lingua Franca, which is defined as “a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different”, seems an appropriate tongue-in-cheek reference to this ‘Franco-American’ endeavor.

All we can figure is that these guys, who have tasted some of the world’s greatest wines, have figured out a way to make something in the image of a great white Burgundy. No easy task but knowledge is power. The wine has both substance and lift. The aroma is complex with layers of mineral, smoke, herbs, caramel apples, and a faint hint of that hazelnut character we associate with Meursault (or is that power of suggestion?). The wine is intense, long, racy and complex on the palate with a lasting finish of citrus, herbs, and white flowers. There are flinty, mouth-watering mineral notes as well, which we don’t typically associate with Oregon Chardonnay.

All in all this is an impressive glassful and indicates this project is going to turn some heads (the inaugural 2015s got some nice ink from Vinous), and that Oregon is capable of bringing Chardonnay drama when the juice is in the right hands. A good run of vintages probably hasn’t hurt the early success here but, clearly, there is some vision here as well. Talking about $50 domestic Chardonnay typically isn’t our ‘jam’, but exceptions do come along. We highly recommend this one as a breakout kind of effort as well as a darned tasty bottle of serious Chardonnay that deserves attention. Also there’s that whole thing about ‘preconceived notions’…