Happy 150th Oregon!

Happy Birthday Oregon! If you missed it, Oregon’s 150th Birthday was February 14. And you though you only had to say I love you to your significant other! Well I do love Oregon and on the 14th I took a trip out to the Dundee area for a wine field trip. Myself, and my friends Paul and Brianne, had a list of places we wanted to go. As well as a more realistic list of what we might be able to make in time allotted. While we were able to taste many wines, and I recommend you jump in the car and make a field trip of your own, here are three highlights of the trip in my mind.

2000 J.K. Carrier Willamette Valley Pinot Noir – This was a very pretty wine and a great way to kick off our day. It was cherries and slightly sweet aromatics in the nose, and the color was a beautiful rose red. It had a solid length and medium mouth-feel I expect of Pinot Noir albeit not as silky as some wines we had latter in the day. What seemed to make us most happy however was the taste. Certainly ripe red/black cherry from the tree, and a semi-sweet herbaceous flavor that we guessed at anything from thyme to just about every herb in the garden. I do not know that we ever got it right but thyme or marjoram was probably closest. Unfortunately for the public this is a library wine that was being tasted only and not sold. So why even mention it? The Vintner mentioned 2000 was a cool year with some rains and since 2007 was similar, I am hoping that perhaps the current upcoming release may find similarities. If so, it could be quite good.
Flavor Profile: 4/5
Value Profile: 0/5 as unavailable

1999 Bernard Machado Pinot Noir – This wine is produced by Walnut City Wineworks and has only seen three vintages in the last 10 years with the 1999 being the first vintage. We tried this side by side with the 2005 vintage. While ’05 has some nice characteristics and a bit more intensity to its scents I found the ’99 overall more to my liking. It’s a dark garnet color with red/rose floral hue and the nose as well starts off with cherries, raspberry, and some sort of flower that was thought perhaps green, just blooming, violet. As the glass opened, I found rose and other flora scents. It’s a very perfumed nose but with a little musk (Elemi?) and dirt hanging around in the background that take quite a bit longer to appear. On the palate, this wine also had some difficult to determine but pleasant qualities. While it shows its age in its length and mouth-feel it still has plenty to give. There is an ample amount of tart red fruit such as tart cherries and black raspberry, maybe even cranberry, with dusty cardamom and off dry incense middle to a nicely dry even finish. I think I will try this wine with a porcini pork loin to match the earth notes, and show off the fruit and floral notes. And while I think I enjoyed this wine more than my companions… that is one of the wonderful things about wine. I think they are nearly out of this vintage so if it sounds interesting you should look them up soon.
Flavor Profile: 4/5
Value Profile: 4/5 (around $35/bottle – a great value for a 1999)

2000 Domain Drouhin Laurene Pinot Noir – The best tasting note of the day was not actually from me but I had to put it here – Jesus! (Nothing more was written.) I think of DDO’s wines as close to Burgundy as some may get in Oregon perhaps only lacking the stony finish of French earth. It was a deep garnet red in color, dark as sanguine red but still clear enough to read through and it smelled of rustic cherries, with dirt around the edges plus underlying dark floral tones… DDO also perhaps has the most seductive mouth-feel of any Oregon Pinot I have had and the 2000 was like sliding across the smoothest well-woven red silk. Its tastes were of red cherries long and lean, bright acid, and off dry fruit such as a cranberry or gooseberry as well. The finish was dirty, loamy, with clay wrapped around pockets of pumice. It was incredibly even and smooth on the palate and on its mouth-feel. Simply put this was the best wine of the day and the best profile I can honestly give it is “Yum”. I knew it was a great wine because while I would hurry through the first tastes to get more; but as I emptied the glass, I went slower and slower to preserve what I had. The part that may hurt most of us is the cost; at $100 per bottle, I hope you have a special occasion to purchase this wine or just the disposable income to do so. I am very hopeful as well with DDO that the 2007 Laurene may reflect very similar nuances to the 2000 but without the cost upon its impending release. This is what Oregon Pinot Noir can be and oh my, Jesus…
Flavor Profile: 4.5/5
Value Profile: 2.75/5 ($100+/bottle - this just seems a lot to me with the very good 2005 for a bit over 1/2 as much)