I guess I
had the desire to explore North-Western Pinots for quite a while. Unfortunately
I wasn’t really able to motivate myself for this challenging task. Well, I
really got big problems, right? Not able to motivate myself to drink some damn
good wine! Okay, the proliferation in Europe isn’t that good. Excuse enough
;-). Whatever, a couple of weeks ago I discovered a pretty passionate, sometimes
really funny, real, maybe a bit amateurish, but surly competent and definitely not
over-posed video-blog called “Wine is Serious Business” which intrigued (or infected)
me enough to tackle this extremely daring and longing challenge ;-)
I would
like to start my Oregon Pinot exploration with an entry-level wine from Evesham
Wood Vineyard in Salem. The 2008 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley! Evesham Wood was
founded by Russ and Mary Raney in 1986. So, I guess it is one of the older
wineries in Willamette Valley. As far as I know the professional wine business started in the late 1960s. Until today, the winery cultivates (resp. purchases from) only 5
hectares of Pinot Noir (various Dijon clones and a few older Pommard clones),
Chardonnay (108 clones), Pinot Gris (Colmar clones), Gewurztraminer, the rare Rieselaner (!)
and Grüner Veltliner. They all grow on volcanic basalt soils in the Eola Amity
Hills. Today’s Pinot is a selection of various vineyards from the
outstanding vintage 2008. So, let’s hope I can recollect my thoughts on this
wine correctly, because dorky Oh Dae-su has lost his tasting notes!
The colour
looked very transparent, but not so bright. A decently dark colouration with a
whiff of murkiness (unfiltered, strong sediments). At first the bouquet was
dominated by, I just assume, the well-known “Oregon Funk” (a potpourri of flintiness,
a bit stinky barn fragrances, dark earth and wet forest leaves). The fruitful flavours of
dark forest berries, hints of lemon and a few dark cherries seemed a bit
reserved. Besides all that I was under the impression to catch some mineral’ish
features. Oak never seemed to a problem. Later, I guess approx. 3 hours, the
Oregon Funk eased and serious, maybe slightly austere seeming, well
proportionate fruit flavours (more and more dark cherries) evolved. I might describe
the overall nose-picture as serious, pretty complex (especially for this price
range), earth driven, relatively elegant, not so much hyper-sophisticated (but definitely sophisticat'ish) and beautifully
balanced. In the first hour the taste seemed quite tart, very reserved fruitful
and acidic. The flavours were dominated by mineral and foliage impressions. I
wasn’t worried in this situation, because I sensed a certain quality in this
wine which made me more and more confident. After 3 hours and more a serious
fruitful character of very tasty dark cherries and some assorted forest berries showed. Definitely
not in a lush way! Far more in an elegant and concise way! No sweetness
problems! No oak problems! No alcohol problems! No typical and of course totally
generalized “New World Pinot” problems at all. One big helper was definitely the great
and well proportionated acid (well prop after 2 to 3 hours). On the second day
it almost got a bit aristocratic and sublime. No real exaggeration. Well, maybe
a bit. I must not forget it was “just” an entry-level Pinot Noir. Cunning
structure, great finish, cold-style fruit and decent complexity! Great QPR! Impressive Pinot to start with. Certainly
one of the best Pinots I presented on this blog so far. I guess there will be
more Happy Days on this Oregon Trail ;-).
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