WTN: 1997 Oregon pinot noir Round-up

[Nevan]

Last Monday, a group of us convened in Portland for the 2nd I-Guess-We'll-Make-It-Annual All Friends Post-IPNC Oregon Pinot Noir Vintage Review Tasting

The object of the tasting was to deepen all of our tasting histories with Oregon pinot by sampling as broad a set of Oregon’s premier pinot producers from a single vintage as we could gather together and swallow in a sitting (prior to dinner). Last year we did 1996 and found them to be far better wines than the prevailing wisdom held. This year we did the less-than-vaunted 1997 vintage and found them to be as variable as everyone expected, but with some particularly pleasant surprises.

Attendees included two Oregon winemakers, two wine retailers, a local wine writer (me) and some ardent and knowledgeable consumers. I won’t provide consensus tasting notes for each wine (it’ll take me awhile to compile the audio tape), but will present the wines and overall comments from the group, for those interested.

We blindly tasted the following (in order), all 1997 Oregon pinots (with one surprise ringer):

1) Sokol Blosser, Redland Vineyard

2) Flowers, Camp Meeting Ridge (a ringer from Sonoma)

3) Elk Cove, Roosevelt

4) Herschel

5) No Wine

6) Bethel Heights, Southeast Block Reserve

7) Ken Wright, Carter Vineyard

8) Archery Summit, Arcus Estate

9) Archery Summit, Cuvee du Ronde

10) Cristom, Reserve

11) Beaux Freres

12) Chehalem, Ridgecrest Vineyard

13) Domaine Serene, Evenstad Reserve

14) Torii Mor, 4 Winds Vineyard

15) Torii Mor, Temperance Hill Vineyard

16) Panther Creek, Shea Vineyard

17) Panther Creek, Freedom Hill Vineyard

18) Broadley Vineyards, Claudia’s Choice

19) Broadley Vineyards, Marcile Loraine

20) Evesham Wood, Cuvee J

21) Steveson-Barrie, Glasgow Vineyard

21) Torii Mor, Balcombe Vineyard

22) Torii Mor, Olson Vineyard

A few words on the vintage. 1997 was the largest yield Oregon had ever seen to that time. Generally, clusters were large, yields per vineyard were large (lots of dropped fruit before harvest, but still lots left at harvest time). 1997 was the last vintage of significant rain during harvest (at least through 2002), and depending on when individual producers picked, fruit concentration was affected by rain (I don’t think there were any concentrators in use then . . . unlike today). Consequently, 1997 has a reputation for relatively light wines, high acids, low extraction, and less than optimal ageability.

In his summary comments, one of the winemakers said that most vintages since 1997 have been a “cake walk” relative to 1997 . . . and that 1997 was a vintage to learn from, whereas recent vintages were not. For him, the wines showed that there were many poor picking and winemaking decisions made, and that in general, winemakers had tried to make bigger wines than the fruit would allow. Today, he felt, Oregon knows a lot more and would likely make better wines given the same vintage conditions. His summary comment was that if we had just tasted 22 red burgundies, we would have had a lot more fun (I'd have to agree)!

The other winemaker seemed to concur, commenting that the wines showed a lot of manipulation (chaptalization, for example), but that it was unavoidable given the vintage. He also noted that the wines were from vineyards that were much younger then, and that may have been reflected in the relativbely unconcentrated fruit, but that he was pleased to see there were a number of good wines that still retained body, flavor, and character.

Other participants commented that they felt the vintage showed better than they expected it would, with wines that still retained good fruit and good textures . . . “even though some were kind of weird.” One comment I particularly agreed with was that the vintage showed the lighter style of Oregon pinot, which itself has fallen out of fashion, mostly due to the ability in recent vintages for Oregon to produce big extraction, high concentration wines . . . but that this character alone doesn’t necessarily make the 1997s worse wines.

Throughout the tasting there were some wide differences of opinion on individual wines—indicating that the wines definitely still contained enough character to spark debate . . . they were not quite over the hill.

In summarizing favorites, the group coalesced around a few wines that simply stood out as having more depth and vibrancy. The most frequently named favorite—and consensus choice for best wine of the evening--was the Elk Cove, Roosevelt Vineyard. The second most frequently named favorite was the Domaine Serene. In both cases people thought the wines retained full fruit and depth and were well balanced. Other wines receiving multiple votes for inclusion in the top 3 were the Torii Mor, Olson Vineyard, and Archery Summit Arcus Estate.

I can’t wait for next year when we do the 1998s!

[Mark Sommelier]

Nevan,

Pardon me for responding without quoting. Thank you for your interesting and informative post. People ask me everyday what I think about Oregon PNs. I think they vary greatly, is my answer. Glad you confirmed that. Domaine Serene just won some fairly impressive tasting battles,topping some Grand Cru French Burgundies . I am a fan of the wine. Here's a scoop: Bobby Kacher no longer distributes Beaux Freres in the US. Jim Arsenault has been named national sales manager. For those who know him, Jim is always a colorful and vocal addition to a tasting. Of the Panther Creek wines, I think the Bednarik Vineyard was the top scorer for that vintage. A Question: you mention chaptalization. Can they do that in Oregon? When you ask the Burgundy guys about chaptilization, they all change the subject immediately. Final question: You are a wine writer? Why are you anonymous?

[Nevan]

To answer your questions, yes chaptalization (and acidification) is legal in Oregon . . . though a useless concept for vintages since 1998. As for being anonymous, well, I'm strictly a local wine writer and absolutley small potatoes. I'm also unfamiliar with proper net-community etiquette (eGullet is my first online group grope, and I already seem to have blundered into some mistakes), and felt that I was here because I wanted to learn and share, not promote and brag, so it seemed better to just use my middle name. I didn't want to be thought of as forwarding my own agenda every time I posted because that's not really what I'm about (probably why I'm small potatoes!). Maybe that wasn't the right approach and I've made another big mistake, I don't know??

Thanks for the tip on Kacher not distibuting BF . . . didn't know that!

Yes variability in Oregon Pinots is a reality, especially in older vintages, but widely tasting through the more recent vintages tells me that the variability is lessening as 1) vineyards mature, and 2) young winemakers mature. Finally many producers have been around enough to have gained a bit of a track record. As for Panther Creek, one of my favorite pinots from Oregon of all time was their 1999 Knights Gambit Vineyard (which was a very small, one-time only release). The PC wines in our tasting were still quite tannic and even harsh, though that really appealed to some in the room!