Reustle Prayer Rock Winemaker’s Reserve Tempranillo 2014
Precise as all Stephen Reustle’s wines are—the 2014 Winemaker’s Reserve Tempranillo is opaque quinacridone violet in the glass, with a swirl one can coax from it classic varietal aromas of earthy sun-warmed terra cotta tile, aged leather and dried herbs, all neatly folded into a background of black cherries and plums. It’s softly textured on […]
Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir 2014
Enigmatic as all Véronique Boss-Drouhin’s wines are, the 2014 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir boasts freshness and poise in a ripe vintage year. Crushed lavender, cocoa powder, dried mint, underbrush, and an alluring array of red fruits lead into a wine that is medium-bodied and neatly trussed in fine tannins. White pepper and earth emerge at […]
Brooks Estate Vineyard Pinot Gris 2016
From Brooks’ estate vineyard, this is old vine Oregon Pinot Gris at its best. Aromatically, minerality that dominates this nose with wet stones co-mingling with white peach and tender spring blossoms. In the mouth, a lithe ribbon of chalk and talc course through it, along with bright lemon pith. Very nice. Sample Brooks 8.9 Points
Bluebird Hill Cellars Barrel Select Pinot Noir 2015
The perfect marriage of fruit and elegance, Bluebird Hill’s 2015 Barrel Select Pinot Noir, a micro-lot from the acclaimed Zenith Hill vineyard, is inlaid with ripe raspberries and pie cherries, dried orange peel, cinnamon stick, and rose petal—all rather more delicate notes that transform, at last, to an unexpected burst of iron ore. Undergirded by […]
Bluebird Hill Cellars Willamette Valley Reserve Pinot Noir 2015
Red cherries, boysenberries and perhaps a touch of wild bramble berry are enlivened by more delicate aromas of heirloom roses, underbrush, white pepper, and baking spice. I love the balance in Bluebird Hill Cellars’ 2015 Reserve Pinot Noir, with its meniscus-tinged in violet, there’s a distinct backbone coursing through it—a balanced acid that crescendos in […]
King Estate Limited Edition Blanc de Noirs 2008
Aged Sir Lee for 26 months, King Estate’s 2008 Limited Edition White Black is finely wrought, with a delicate bead that gives rise to baked apples and orchard fruit notes, followed by buckwheat, dried marjoram, and whipped butter. Nice concentration on the palate, with eccentric rings of kumquat, sea foam, and sandstone, which impart a […]
Brooks Sunset View Eola-Amity Hills Riesling 2014
Brooks is one of a handful of Oregon wineries to have mastered Riesling. Every year, they offer small lots of single vineyard Rieslings like this beauty from Sunset View Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA—the vineyard that sits at a 290′ elevation on a south-facing slope. It’s expressive, deliciously layered in white peach and golden […]
Ponzi Vineyards Pinot Noir Reserve 2013
An utterly breathtaking, seductive nose perfumed in rose water, rhubarb, black cherry, incense, anise, cola, sous bois. The underlying structure is there in Ponzi’s 2013 Pinot Noir Reserve, in the form of ultra-fine tannins framing out a wine of tremendous grace and elegance. Fruit on the palate—a tumble of red and black— is overtaken by […]
Troon Blue Label Longue Carabine 2014
A bit of a kitchen sink blend, reminiscent of some of the complex whites I’ve run across from South Africa—Troon’s Longue Carabine 2014 is composed of 43.81% Marsanne, 27.35% Viognier, 12.65% Vermentino, 8.79% Riesling, 5.0% Roussanne, and 2.4% Sauvignon Blanc, all from the Applegate Valley—offers cadence in its aromatic range. Bruised pear, yellow apple, star […]
Umpqua Undercover
The Umpqua Valley has a streak of wildness to it. Sparsely populated, its towns lie scattered amidst a series of rugged, undulating hills thatched in spikey Ponderosa pine and black oak. The Umpqua River and it’s winding tributaries churn and tumble through a network of valleys formed by the collision of three mountain ranges—the Klamath, […]