Oregon Pinot Noir (Sustainability

A quick link to today's New York Times story on sustainable efforts at many Oregon wineries, centered on Pinot Noir producers, really interesting. Toured many of these myself back in March.

2006 Rasmussen Pinot Noir (Carneros)

We finally broke into a bottle of this ~$20 Pinot tonight. Was it a special occasion? No. But it's healthy and I like the taste of it. I paired this with a pan-roasted duck-breast (magret), duck-fat polenta (yes, you read that correctly David), and some mushroom-broccoli sautee -- magic doesn't describe it. The fat from the duck (or was that the polenta, with bits of mushroom in it?) cut through any pretension of structure and tannins in the Pinot and let the dusty cherry notes sing through. Sauce was a broth-P.Sirah reduction with green peppercorns and the leftover brown bits from the mushroom sautee (Cremini). The oaky-spice on Rasmussen's Carneros bottle was still on the nose, but with no dill to be smelled or tasted when paired with this duck. A good evening. A really good evening.
Wine was probably a 89/100 on its own. With the meal? 94/100
Bottom line: Quack quack quack, pinot for $20, quack quack quackity quack. Quack it.
Dessert? Meyers Family (Zin) Port with simple Kiwi fruit slices. Also friggin un-be-lie-va-ble.

In Oregon Pinot country...

There's too much to say here, since it's not a single 'wine review' posting - but just back from a conference in Portland, and got a chance to get away from the nerd herd and go to Pinot country south of the city, into the Willamette Valley (AVA) and its smaller sub-sections. Most of my tastings were clustered around the Chehalem Mountains, Dundee Hills, and Yamhill sections of the larger region. Stops at Adelsheim, Bergstrom, Beaux Freres (call first), Patricia Green (call first), Domaine Drouhin, Sokol Blosser, and Bergstrom, were all fun. I was a bit dumb-founded by tasting fees in these places -- yes, yes, I know it's Pinot which tends to be more expensive to produce -- some were $15. OK, but if I'm purchasing a decent bottle of Pinot (anything over $40), you really should DROP the tasting fee. Is this Napa? Yes? OK, fine.

Oh, you object to the comparison? Well, then drop the fee if someone bottles some of your juice. Ridiculous.

But it was a grand time - two of the favorites were Beaux Freres (duh!) and Bergstrom, with the latter's estate Pinot Noir really a wonderful wine for the sometimes-critiqued 2007 vintage. I found it berry-licious, earth, deep, yet delicate and elegant at the same time. It didn't hurt that it was my first stop of the day, either, since I was a little tired later on. Lunch was in McMinnville at a little tapas/wine bar called La Rambla. It was "fine," and if that sounds a little flat - well, it is. My mistake for not going to Thistle or Nick's Italian Cafe in this town but I was still feeling a little bloaty from the previous night's meal. Beautiful landscapes, and some really good pinot. Just watch the prices, people, or you'll end up duplicating Napa.

2006 Brick House Pinot Noir (Ribbon Ridge - Les Dijonnais)

For a fairly cool, and bashful, vintage, we all loved this wine. It had a very nice "Volnay" bouquet and taste to it, gentle cherry-spice core, with a solid and long after-taste that echoed through some cinnamon and clove. The wine stock is based on Dijon clones. The rim was a limpid pink, and it was not as 'stuffed' as some previous Brick House vintages, but lovely. Brick House is one of the few Oregon producers that can churn out consistently "Burgundian" style Pinots, and some Burghounders might even call this a "feminine" Pinot for its delicate aromatics and gentle cherry, but there's definitely some tannic presence. We let in breathe in large Pinot glasses for 10-15 mins before hitting it in earnest. Gorgeous stuff, if a little restrained. But if you're into delicate Pinots, this may be worth the money charged by BrickHouse (~$45). 91/100
Bottom line: Not the densest, but certainly one of the loveliest, of Oregon Pinots but great juice. It will remind some of a nice Volnay.