TN: 2006 Windy Oaks Estate Pinot Noir Proprietor's Reserve S

• 2006 Windy Oaks Estate Pinot Noir Proprietor’s Reserve Schultze Family Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (5/18/2010)
  14.3% alcohol. Medium ruby. An expressive nose of complex pinot spice. Black cherries, strawberry, forest floor, asian spice on the palate. Bright fruit flavors but great balance and a lively mouthfeel. Lingering aftertaste. Really a nice effort by Jim and Judy! Very enjoyable. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Good to hear. Was planning on opening one soon. Pop and pour?

Jim, yes, pop and pour. I’d recommend decanting just a little bit as this is continuing to evolve and improve.

Windy Oaks is a good example of a California Pinot producer striving to move from a modern to a more traditional style. It is easy to appreciate the complexity and balance of this wine.

As with Wells Guthrie at Copain, this is a fascinating journey to follow.

From what I’ve gathered from talks with Jim S., his philosophy of wine making has always been “traditional” and the fruit he gets from his vineyards have been pretty consistent each of the recent years.

Why do you think there is a conscious move ?
What elements in the wines or winemaking have you seen as different from older vintages to current ones?

Cary, sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that Jim is changing his philosophy. More that WO is an example of a CA winery making wine in a more traditional style.

I’ve only tasted a few Windy Oak wines. I thought they were very good, but heavily marked by oak. What was the wood-o-meter reading for this one?

I believe this is true, but they are made to age a bit first, and the oak integrates quite nicely.

We just had a bottle of this and several of us agreed it was the best of the Windy Oaks lineup. Drinking really pretty well now…

Nice note, Mike. I really need to seek out some of these wines.

Or 5-10 years from now when I open mine in Orange County

Still have 1 2001 left. Planning on opening that sometime next year. Had a 2002 about a year and a half ago and it was incredible. The Reserve’s are worth putting away and forgetting about.

Dammit, I envy those with older WO bottles. Just can’t seem to hold off opening them for that long!

That’s what the Cuvee’s are for.

Even the recent 07 Terra Narro’s too.

True. I’ve had young Proprietor’s Reserve wines that showed excessive oak. The PRs (like Dehlinger pinots) really demand age. Not just oak integration - they have the structure, balance, moderate alcohol and acid to really improve with bottle age. This bottle was much better on day two than day 1. Treat them like Dehlingers.

I have several more 06s and plan patience with them.

Oak? In Windy Oaks??

Many years ago (03, I think), trying to think of some viral marketing tactics that might help raise the Windy Oaks visibility, I convinced Judy Schultze to send a bottle of the '01 Reserve to Fla. Jim Cowan, who I then thought to be an important influencer on the various wine boards.

I cleared it with Fla. Jim, who was game for it. I didn’t know of his oakaphobia, however, and after opening it with friends he suggested in an email to me he would NOT be a good one to post a TN about Windy Oaks!

My one attempt at viral marketing!