Goodfellow

I’m a burgundy guy and I’ll be the first to say I know little about domestic wine, even less about Oregon or Willamette. But we took a weekend to come up and explore, the highlight being a tasting with Marcus Goodfellow of the eponymous winery. He graciously gave us much of a morning and a tasting of his Chards and Pinots, including a 3 vintage vertical of House Block. We were two couples and I didn’t take notes, as I wanted to listen to Marcus and also not geek out the other couple and my wife. But we were all uniformly blown away by the wines. Just beautiful wines that have great structure, balance, and finesse, not fruit bombs or hot messes, but lithe classy wines that for me evoke Dujac. Aromatics were incredible and foreshadowed the palate and long finishes. Each cuvée differed but remained true to style. Very “transparent” and clean, there’s some super winemaking happening at Goodfellow. And Marcus gifted us a Syrah that married well that night with a mushroom themed dinner. Really a great tasting. Happy to come home with a case of his wines.

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Really looking forward to our next Willamette visit where we actually have a tasting with him! They were extremely gracious and as accommodating as could be during Covid.

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High praise, I will look forward to sourcing these wines. Mahalo for your your input Alan.

Aloha,
Mark

Glad you enjoyed your visit Alan. Some beautiful wines and a passionate, kind and generous winemaker. Great team too at that winery.

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I’ve really enjoyed seeing notes from Alan and others that traditionally have a more Burg-centric palate. Great that Marcus is getting the exposure. Beyond what’s in the bottle, Marcus is just so knowledgeable and passionate about wine. It rubs off. And as others have said he’s an absolute gentleman.

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Alan, what years were you tasting?

couldn’t agree more with your thoughts on both Marcus and the wines. Those Deux Vert Syrahs aren’t slouches either! this is the wine I bring out when someone tells me they like burgundy but not new world pinot to convince them there are amazing things happening in the Willamette.

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Great praise indeed. Thanks for sharing Alan!

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17-19, the Deux Verts Syrah 2013.

High praise. I’ll seek some out and give 'em a try…

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I just signed up with Goodfellow last week and received a mixed case to try, 2 chardonnay and 10 pinots. I opened the chardonnays on successive nights, my first Goodfellow bottlings. The 2018 Dundee Hills was a solid wine, but I really enjoyed the 2018 Whistling Ridge chardonnay. Looking forward to exploring the pinots over the next couple months.

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Alan, thx for posting . What were your thoughts/expectations/preconceived notions prior to the trip??

Well Alan, because of this thread I opened a 2017 Heritage No. 9 Durant Pinot.

Just wow.

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openminded, not expecting Burgundy, of course. Wife always orders a Willamette Pinot by the glass at restaurants and I’ve always sniffed or taken a sip. I probably expected more fruit and was happy to see that they weren’t too fruity or too fat. I was bowled over. I’m too old to start collecting a new area, as I like wine w two decades or more on it and must face both actuarial reality and cellar capacity but a case here and there to show support can certainly happen. I like what is happening at Goodfellow. Was impressed by Lingua Franca, less so by Drouhin and Bethel Heights. I don’t want to drift much from Goodfellow but at Drouhin, I didn’t appreciate the staff member repeatedly telling me what I would taste in the wines—running a string of 10 or more adjectives for each—followed by an exhaustive list of all the foods and a list of ingredients to cook with when drinking the wines. It felt like a crash course in cooking with wine and I learned nothing about the vineyards, winemaking, or anything of importance at Drouhin.

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Their pinots are awesome. Some of my favorite being made in the US.

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He sounds like a good fellow.

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Marcus’s partner Megan is also a real Joy

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Just ordered 2 of each wines from the spring mailer. Megan was kind enough to give me the release pricing. Cannot wait to try the chardonnays and pinots.

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Have a few at home still - always great experiences with Marcus’s wines!

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