2017 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir Estate- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (9/16/2021)
GORGEOUS spice in this…sassafras, red licorice, bouquet of red roses…pure fresh crushed Pinot fruit…candied raspberries and cherries…silky smooth and seamless…there is a nice dryness to the sweet fruit with saline red licorice and crushed stone minerality…fantastic brightness and breadth…well integrated vanilla cola and some smoky barrel spice…finishes with a refreshing sour tart raspberry and that killer array of perfumed spice. SO good! Will be buying more of this! (94 pts.)
Ha…I came THIS close to saying in my note that this is what a Roy Piper Pinot would be like! Pure and unblemished…wonderful liqueured red berried fruits that are perfectly ripe and balanced to dryness…expressive spices and florals. Although the color on your grapes look like your wine will be way darker?
I think the hue might be a touch darker if I don’t use stems but it won’t be black or anything like that.
Sanford & Benedict is a rock pile and if you look at the grapes on that vineyard they are very dark, even more than Napa Cab. But because there is much less coloring material in Pinot it should still be translucent. The bag of destemmed S&B grapes I cold soaked for 3 days as a test were still red in color, just deeper red. I do not plan to make my Pinot like I make my Cab. My view after being in the biz for 17 vintages is that Cabernet is “sculpted” and Pinot is “chaperoned.” I think I’ve learned how to sculpt but whether I can be trusted to chaperone is yet to be determined.
Well…the bottle I had is $50 at the winery, and WS looks like $48-52. Single v’s get up there close to $100. I’m getting it at local Costco for $36, which is a steal imo.
Would love try the whites as well…and those seem as pricey.
Enjoyed a 2016 of this bottling while in Bend a few weeks ago. Blew away the Domaine Serene a friend brought.
Picked up the bottle we enjoyed at Good Droppe Wine Shop for $36. Also bought a bottle of 2011 Dusky Goose that was nice as well. Pretty cool to find wines with some age at local retail.
AVNI is the appellation blend, can find below $40. The Estate Pinot is around $50, The Plow Pinot is around $60, and Mimi’s Mind is $85 (these are round numbers).