First, I would like to thank the hosts of this event for so kindly including me. I have been focused on Chardonnay these past few years, so for me this was a great perspective on vintage, style, and aging of Pinot Noir given my recent purchase of an Eola vineyard with Pinot. I focused my tasting on the more notable aromatics and palate flavors for ID profiling, not as much on quality level or preferences on style/AVA/geology. That said, I have indicated my preferred wines wine an asterisk. Ultimately - the svelte complexity of the wines from the Dundee Hills is marked. At times I confused Yamhill-Carlton initially due to what I perceived to be a monolithic flight, but in Y-C the acid and oak do not headline as prevalently, and were not as high-sparkle polished. Ribbon Ridge seems to provide more space (less density) and less spice than Dundee. For me, bright salinity and spice definitely be more prevalent in EAH and Polk County, but with varying tannin textures/loads and spice profiles. Thank you again!
Flight 1 – Ribbon Ridge
Wine 1: Goodfellow, Whistling Ridge*
Aroma: Salinity, floral, savory ham and seaweed (noting some browning)
Palate: Warm with slightly grippy earthy tannin, but freshness and acid balance.
Wine 2: Goodfellow, Heritage Whistling Ridge*
Aroma: Dusty, cherry lozenge, ripe, oak
Palate: Warm alcohol, ellagitannin apparent in texture, finishes nicely at front of palate.
Wine 3: Art + Science Armstrong
Aroma: Stony, orange peel, bright cherry, oak.
Palate: Luscious acid, stony, long finish, slightly warm (alc.), but otherwise balanced.
Wine 4: Seven of Hearts Armstrong
Aroma: Cola, licorice, balsamic.
Palate: Rich, herb/dried rose petal. Warm alc., big but short finish.
Wine 5: Seven of Hearts Cuvee
Aroma: Muted, airy, saline but ripe.
Palate: Spacious, slight bitter – needs more time to settle down.
Flight 2: Greater Density overall – Eola Amity
Wine 6: Grochau Bjornson*
Aromas: Umami, soy, spice.
Palate: Full, warming alc, front palate tannin descends into a good finish. Interesting wine.
Wine 7: Seven of Hearts Bjornson*
Aroma: Light Soy, herbaceous, saline, elegant pretty aromatic profile for me.
Palate: Light entry, saline , bright acid, front to mid palate tannin. Palate delivers on promise of aromatics.
Wine 8: St. Innocent Temperance Hill
Aroma: Oak, vanilla, ripe, heavy.
Palate: Oak, vanilla, cherry lozenge, long finish, as expected.
Wine 9: Walter Scott Temperance Hill*
Aroma: Mint, river rock, slender aromatics.
Palate: Mid-warmth, with lean crunchy palate acidity and long finish, slender wine style consistent with aromatics.
Wine 10: Vincent Bjornson
Aroma: Glass issue? (River rock slime funk).
Palate: Ripe, grippy
Flight 3: Yamhill Carlton.
Wine 11: Anne Amie Cube*
Aroma: Toast, smoke, meats, mint, eucalyptus.
Palate: Intense, dense, candied, warm, complex with notable grip on exit.
Wine 12: Bouchaine/Anne Amie Cube
Aroma: Hot red brick.
Palate: Intense, dense, warm and grippy.
Wine 13: Lincourt/Anne Amie Cube
Aroma: Vinous cherry, warm alc, dense, monolithic.
Palate: High acid and alc apparent.
Wine 14: Shea
Aroma: Light cherry and oak.
Palate: Loose palate resulting in a feeling that the wine will never resolve itself. Has harsh texture and space but they are just not working together as they theoretically should be.
Wine 15: Belle Pente
Aroma: Slime, river rock again > bad glass > glass change.
Palate: Oak notable, heat notable, texturally not integrated.
Flight 4: Mixed
Wine 16: Walter Scott Dumb Ox (Eola Springs)*
Aroma: Bright, saline, spicy > bay leaf and floral notes.
Palate: Loose, good acid balance, lean, focused palate (well structured).
Wine 17: Medici
Aroma: Oxidized, prune funk.
Palate: Did not taste.
Wine 18: Bethel Heights Casteel*
Aroma: Gingerbread (Sojo?) – dense, slight paper/cardboard scalping.
Palate: Tannin load is marked, slightly bitter.
*I liked this wine because I’m trying to needle down on what is similar to my site (Bracken), neighboring Sojo, and other sites in EAH on similar geology. Our geo shows some of those pie spices v. the Dumb Ox went more leafy bay spice and floral. Looking to see if I can find other correlating wines.
Wine 19: Longplay Jory Bench*
Aroma: Vinous, spicy, pretty.
Palate: Tight, silky tannin, luscious acid level.
Wine 20: Beckham Estate*
Aroma: Stony and fresh.
Palate: Raspberry leaf and rasbberry v. cherry fruit made this wine an outlier on the fruit profile, warm alc, slightly bitter finish > high/warm location? (ultimately I think we were told these were also younger vines).
Flight 5: Dundee Hills
Wine 21: Alexana*
Aroma: Svelte, some dark umami aromatics.
Palate: Dense, cocoa powder, liqueur, meat, monolithic. This is a nuclear shelter wine. It’s going to take some time for things to soften and shake out.
Wine 22: Scott Paul Paulee*
Aroma: Violet, pretty floral nose.
Palate: Dense, hot, cherry cough syrup. Really interesting juxtaposition of aroma/body.
Wine 23: Scott Paul Audrey*
Aroma: Iris, pretty floral nose once again.
Palate: Seaweed freshness, red apple peel/firm but fine tannin.
Wine 24: Arterberrry Maresh*
Aroma: Dense.
Palate: Dense, floral, fruit, spice, coconut, red plum. Full package.
Wine 25: Arterberry Maresh Weber*
Aroma: Dust, stone.
Palate: Stoney, lush acid, bright fruit.
Group 6: EAH and Van Duzer
Wine 26: Johan Nils*
Aroma: Stone dust.
Palate: Light fresh fruit but also some spice, appealing mouth feel and exit.
Wine 27: Johan 3 Barrel
Aroma: Bright, rubber.
Palate: A bit fleshy.
Wine 28: Vincent Crowley Station/Silvershot
Aroma: Brett. Figgy, stewed, baked, basalmic – but not offensively so.
Palate: Also fleshy, but cooked fruit character.
Wine 29: Cristom Louise
Aroma: Flawed / EA.
Palate: Flawed – did not taste.
Wine 30: Cristom Sommers
Aroma: VA lifted.
Palate: Oak and Bitterness.
Flight 7: Dundee Hills
Wine 31: Westerly Oracle
Aroma: Bright, light, milk chocolate, hot, oak.
Palate: Elegant but hot.
Wine 32: Westerly Abbey Ridge
Aroma: Ripe red fruit but some aroma of pickle juice, dill.
Palate: Bright acid, good texture to fruit.
Wine 33: Cameron Abbey Ridge
Aroma: Reductive.
Palate: Acid is awkward, did not revisit.
Wine 34: Cameron Reserve
Aroma: Reductive, dill pickle
Palate: Warm, did not revisit.
Wine 35: Archery Summit
Aroma: Soy, umami.
Palate: Ellagitannin, black tea, cardamom grip.