Here is an estate that embodies the potential for greatness in Oregon pinot noir. With this wine they blow away the stereotypes about the ultra-ripe 2003 Oregon vintage and produce a rarity - an under 14% alcohol 2003 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. While may pinots of this vintage taste of raspberries with a burn at the end, Belle Pente has produced a lovely balanced wine that tastes only of pinot noir and Willakenzie soil. There is no jammy, hot pinot here. Everything wine at Belle Pente exceptional and complex. Certainly not wines for the masses considering the quantity and style, but in my opinion an exceptional winery in all facets and this wine is clearly one of the best 2003 Oregon pinots produced.
Varieties of a Lesser God
There are a few great varieties and a few terrible ones. However, most sit in the middle quality-wise and what gets in the bottle is totally on the shoulders of those that make the wines. Put a great variety in a great vineyard and it’s your fault if you screw it up. Put an ordinary variety in an ordinary vineyard and you better know what you’re doing if you’re going to make a good wine.Such a variety is müller thurgau, the workhorse grape of Germany and the black sheep of Oregon winemaking. Perhaps its bad reputation in Oregon is understandable considering the simple, sugary wines that wineries made there over the decades. Producers were only interested in pumping out cheap, sweet grocery store wines selling for under $10 a bottle. The resulting bad reputation made müller thurgau the butt of the local joke:
What’s the leading cause of teen pregnancy in Oregon?
Answer: müller thurgau
Anyone who has tasted the wines of the great producer Rudolf Fürst in Germany’s Franken region understands that in the right hands this rather ordinary variety can produce a very, very good wine. His Pur Mineral Müller Thurgau is easily the finest example of this variety that I have tasted. It is dry as a bone with a mineral intensity hard to describe. Firm, elegant, racy and complex with a lacy flowery character that makes it both charming and briskly refreshing.
For the first time that I know of, there is an American producer taking a more serious stab at this variety and I’m sure the teenagers will hate it, but that you’ll love it. The 2007 Château Benoit Müller Thurgau Estate Vineyard, produced by Oregon’s Anne Amie Vineyards shows what can be done with such varieties when you actually try to make a good wine. In this case the combination of an outstanding winemaker, Thomas Houseman, and a passionate viticulturist, Jason Tosch made all the difference. By simply trying to make the best wine they could Houseman and Tosch have produced a lovely wine. It is on the drier side of off-dry with a charming bright, fresh fruity character laced with notes of fresh pineapple and wildflowers. It’s hard to think of a easier white wine for summer parties and picnics. It’s important to note that in vintages prior to 2007 you’ll find the Benoit more akin to those wines that spawned the joke mentioned above.
I do not intend to say this is a wine on the level of the Rudolf Fürst Pur Mineral Müller Thurgau, but it is a very good wine that is a pleasure to drink. What it proves that is that effort and attention pays off when it comes to varieties of a lesser god.
Wright On! Power to the Pinot!
It was more cocktail party than wine tasting, but the line-up on the table was incredible. It’s always a rare opportunity to taste such a broad selection of outstanding wines. Instinctively I went into power tasting mode, moving down the table methodically, focusing on the wines while the other guests focused on the conversation. It was very clear who the geek in the room was. I’m not a big fan of tasting wines in such conditions, but you do what you have to do.
While these were big name labels, more often than not the wines were less than big time. This always seems to be the case these days: the more famous the wines the more so-so they are. Just as my palate was about to be lulled to sleep from all the oak and alcohol something happened. I put my nose in the next glass and suddenly I was jolted into focus. The brightness of the wine in my glass stood out among technically well-made, but dead wines surrounding it. I tasted it again and then again to be sure. Indeed this was a special wine.
The wine was the 2006 Ken Wright, Pinot Noir, Abbott Claim Vineyard, Yamhill-Carlton AVA (buy online) and the first sniff tells you you’ve found something special. The nose lightly lifts out of the glass with a lively wild blackberry essence laced with a warm truffled earthiness. The first sip greets your tongue with a little acid love bite followed by a complexity that dances across your palate. All to often heavy handed overripe fruit dominates wine today, but not here as the gracefully ripe fruit lifts the wine more than weighs it down. The finish is long and firm and still a bit closed as this is a wine that needs two or three more years to revel its complete character.
Few winemakers have given us more fine pinot noir over than years than Oregon’s Ken Wright and with this wine he once again proves that powerful pinot is not powerful, but a wine that gains its power from complexity.
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Beaux Vin
Oregon’s Beaux Frères is not only making some of America’s finest pinot noirs, but is also that most rare of things: a winery with courage. Vintage after vintage winemaker Michael Etzel shows the courage of his convictions and produces dramatically distinctive wines with a personality all their own. Some dismiss the success of Beaux Frères as mostly due to the fame of Etzel’s brother-in-law and partner, famed wine critic and publisher of The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker, but considering the stunning quality of these wines I can’t help but believe they would still be sought out by collectors everywhere with or without Parker’s impact.
While a bevy of authors have pilloried Robert Parker for dragging the wine industry down the road of standardized, jammy wines, his own winery is the polar opposite. The Beaux Frères Pinot Noirs are tight, structured wines with a decided spritz from natural CO2 when young. That’s right they’re a little fizzy. These are truly natural wines and the little spritz is a result of the natural, cool slow malolatic fermentation practiced by Etzel. None of their wines are manipulated to make them ready to drink young and even the precocious 2006 vintage produced wines that need a minimum of several years of bottle age to unfurl their now tightly wound personality. These are wines that do not try to mimic Burgundy, but that set their own unique style, both as Oregonian and an expression of Etzel’s winemaking art.
The current release of 2006 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir, The Beaux Frères Vineyard, Ribbon Ridge is nothing short of exciting. In his notes Etzel describes this wine as, “a beauty and can be drunk young.” However, he must mean in relation to his wines from previous vintages as compared to other 2006 Oregon pinots this wine far from being ready to drink. The nose is already exotic with layers of black truffle, porcini and dense, black wild forest fruits, but it is not yet resolved and you can just sense the greatness that is to come as the components intertwine and integrate. The wine hits your tongue with a thousand tiny little bites from the firm acidity and the slight spritz of the CO2, but then quickly expands dramatically into the voluptuous textures you would expect from this forward vintage. What strikes you as you taste and smell this wine is the endless swirling of exotic characteristics that make the wine change from second-to-second as you savor each sip. If you must drink this wine now, please give it at least an hour in a decanter before serving. However, at $80 a bottle you may want to give it the respect it deserves and wait at least five years before releasing the treasure inside.
Beaux Frères produces wines of great integrity and character because they are made by a winemaker with the same attributes. Mike Etzel makes what he believes. These are wines that must be on anyone’s list of the best American pinot noirs. (Buy online)
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Harvest in Oregon
Don’t forget to check in on my Anne Amie Vineyards Willamette Valley Cellar Blog as we tell the story of the 2007 harvest in the Willamette Valley.
Beauty and the Wine
Recently, on a spectacular sun drenched afternoon, I enjoyed a delicious bottle of 2006 King Estate Oregon Pinot Gris with a lovely lady at my favorite seafood restaurant on Oregon’s coast, Local Ocean, in Newport. The day was perfect, we started with stroll through the Yaquina Head Lighthouse (pictured) and after drinking in the gorgeous views proceeded to sip on the King Estate at Local Ocean alongside some perfect Dungeness Crab Cocktail, Crab Po’boys and grilled blonde salmon.
I thought the wine was excellent, but hope you’ll forgive me if you enjoy it in less perfect circumstances and it disappoints. However, I’m confident it won’t. The King Estate Pinot Gris is reliably exactly what you want from both pinot gris and Northwest white wines. That is bright, crisp, dry and refreshing. It is a great companion to the bounty of the Oregon coast matching crab, clams, fried oysters, razor clams and rockfish with refreshing precision.
North-Westrey Cuisine
Such a full-flavored fish needs little additional fanfare, so I just sprinkled the fillet with fresh Savory from my garden along with a spattering of red sea salt and fresh ground pepper and quickly pan-roasted it to medium-rare. Then served it with a baby arugula salad from a local farm stand and some crusty, warm bread from the famous (in McMinnville anyway) Red Fox Bakery.
The Westrey seemed a bit harsh at first, but soon opened into a silky complexity that brought alive the palate in a perfect counterpoint to the dense, rich salmon. A spot-on example of the wired, electric richness that makes for great Oregon pinot noir this 04 Westrey Reserve is not only delicious, but a bargain at under $30. The initial tightness of this pinot underscores the necessity of decanting young Oregon pinot noir. A short exposure to oxygen will give you a wine with more complexity and balance. The reductive style of winemaking required to make outstanding pinot noir means that decanting young wines should be a standard practice. Let’s face it, with the entry level price for good pinot noir at $20 and well over $30 for real complexity, to not take the time to decant these wines if you’re drinking them young is a waste of good money and good wine.
As the last bite of this sumptuous salmon crossed my lips, the Westrey just hit its stride and a good stride it was as this pinot noir will challenge far more expensive wines. Winemakers AmyWesselman and David Autrey (get the name of the wine?) continue to not only produce great values, but great pinot noir in Oregon.