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2008 J.K. Carriere Pinot Noir Glass - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (5/1/2009)
100% Pinot Noir, 12.7% abv. J.K. Carriere calls this “White Pinot”. Very pale in color-- too pink to be called onion skin, yet not pink enough to be called salmon. The nose is not your typical strawberry-watermelon rosé… it’s rather floral and chalky, with just a touch of key lime and pretty Pinot cherry in the bouquet. The palate is precise, dry, and faintly spritzy, with pulsing acidity and strong minerality. This leans toward the “serious” end of the rosé spectrum, and would pair well with a wide variety of foods.
Great notes Melissa. I tasted the new vintage a few weeks ago at the OBM open house at Penner Ash. I really think Jim knocked it out of the park and this could be his finest release yet of this wine. The acidity is striking. In my book this is one of, if not, the best domestic roses on the market.
Note to self: I need to order some for the list and for home!
Nice to hear - when taking my club shipment of 3 Glass & 3 Provacateur…I went ahead and added 6 more Glass to make a case. Sounds like I might end up happy with that decision.
Thanks Geoff. Did Penner Ash pour a rosé too? I tasted their “Roseo” a couple of years ago at the winery, but it was >15% alcohol and our pours were room temperature.
Kevin, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with your purchase. I bought three because I wanted a lot of variety this year, but it would be an easy rosé to enjoy over and over if I’d bought a case.
bodes well for 2008 in OR doesn’t this?
08 in OR is some good shit Maynard.
I think at least part of the reason I nag you to make rosé is to see what you’ll name the pink stuff with your own label.
I vote for Long Ball. Chicks dig the Long Ball would be a great ad campaign. Greg Maddux will be looking for extra income pretty quick here!
I don’t think this wine has any skin contact nor any spritz? The high acidity creates a tactile sensation somewhat similar to the sensation of spritz, but is actually a sensation caused by acids interacting with the mucosal tissues of your mouth rather than entrained CO2. It does feel like light spritz but is actually caused by acids.
One of the curious and very cool things Jim does with this wine is an old trick from I think Champagne? He takes the lees from his chardonnay barrels and yeast fines the Pinot vin gris wine. He adds the spent chardonnay yeast from the bottom of the chard. barrels and the yeast cells bind with the anthocyanin (pigmented phenolics) and the anthocyanins bind and drop out. That’s how he gets the very light 
color.
I think they used to do this in Champagne a hundred years ago, but now no longer do.
This sounds right. There were no bubbles. It only felt spritzy. I’ve had more acidic rosés that don’t feel spritzy at all, though. I don’t know what it was, but it was more than the wine’s acidity that created that sensation. No complaints regardless.
I didn’t think so either, but then I read this blurb online:
This white pinot noir is a perennial hit. There’s just a bit of skin contact that imparts a pale salmon color to the wine.
That could be wrong, of course. It’s from a store selling the wine, not the winery itself. Here are the notes from the winery, which I’m not sure how to interpret:
100% Pinot noir – Whole cluster pressed and 100% barrel fermented to absolute dry utilizing a long, slow, low-temperature, wild-yeast regimen to promote vineyard characters and preserve fleeting fruit esters. 100% barrel aged in older French oak barrels. Aged utilizing lees addition and incorporating Champagne methodologies from 100 years ago to strip color and broaden an earthy mid-palate, similar to a rose? Champagne from that era…without the bubbles. Racked once and filtered prior to bottling February 2009.
The blurb about skin contact is wrong. Clearly a typo. What it actually meant to say is that “if used properly, the wine causes people to have skin contact.”
I’ve heard Jim describe how he makes this wine about a dozen times over the last 4 years. He’s a really good winemaker, knowing how he does his blending trials for the reds, I would even say obsessive. But good natured with lethal wit that can spew the funniest non sequiters at will.
Does anyone know the story of the Wasp?
He’s deathly allergic to wasps. So much so, he carries and injection with him at all times.
Jim is a witty guy and one of my favorite winemakers in Oregon. If you ever make it to his winery/barn, make sure he takes you upstairs.
The barn is soon to me no more if I’m correct! Too bad…that on my only trip there after hearing about JKC, he was unavailable to meet.
Based on Melissa’s note, I had to open a Glass last night and her note is spot on…and no doubt the acidity gives that illusion of the wine being “spritzy”. It is however very crisp and refreshing and will be a welcome addition to my summer drinking.
I like Jim’s delivery better:
“IT’S TRYING TO KILL ME.”