TN: 2007 A shitty Oregon Vintage?

2007 A SHITTY OREGON VINTAGE? - Lou’s (4/11/2013#

Last night a group of us met to taste the 2007 vintage Pinot Noir’s from Oregon. Lou has been organizing a five year retrospective since 2005 for these wines. Of course, 2007 was blasted by many of the critics which created a counter response from some who really appreciate the vintage for what it offered. I have not had very many, so this was a good chance to taste thru a cross section of them. The group was unanimous in that we did not like what was offered. If anything, my scores, as low as they are, were a bit higher than most. Of course, that doesn’t mean no one made good wines. The Thomas was a clear winner followed by Sineann. Just a bit back was Domaine Serene, but after that the wines dropped off precipitously. Many of the group rated no wines at the outstanding level #although I had two).

All the Pinots were consumed blind over the course of three hours. TK brought in some wines that he had been showing the last day that had been open 24 hours, but the rest were pop and pour. Bread and cheeses were served.

• 1991 Mayacamas Vineyards Chardonnay - USA, California, Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder
  This bottle had been opened the night before. Deep golden in color. The nose was still dominated by oak; fresh cut and vanilla. Also some lemon curd. On the palate, there is plenty of lemon fruit left. Slightly harsh on the finish. This shows some age, but if you like this style, it still has plenty to offer after 20+ years. A bit too much oak for my preferences.
• 2011 Maysara Winery Pinot Noir Roseena - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, McMinnville
  Copper/ruby in color. The nose is smoky with some rhubarb. On the palate, nice acidity. Cherries with a bitter finish. I bet this was better last summer. (86 pts.)
• 2011 Soléna Pinot Gris - USA, Oregon
  This was served blind. Silvery gold in color. The nose had an alka-seltzer quality to it which was nice actually. Minerally. On the palate, this has a thick, oily texture. Slightly sweet. Nice citrus flavors. I guessed Pinot Gris, but I think there must be some Gewurz blended in. It comes thru on the texture and the palate. Never had this, so I don’t know for sure. Very nice wine. (90 pts.)
  
  
  
• 2007 Sineann Pinot Noir Resonance Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
  This was my WOTN and finished 2nd in the tasting with 3 first place votes. There were some who did not like it. Ruby/purple in color. The nose has cherries and a powdered cherry drink quality (others called it dusty). On the palate, one of two with no signs of under ripe fruit. Nice slick texture. Good cherry fruit. Drinking well, but still offering further maturity. Bob Wood would role his eyes and say “Surprise, Loren likes Sineann”, but I did. (92 pts.)
• 2007 Scott Paul Cellars Pinot Noir La Paulée - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
  Light ruby in color, clear and bright. The nose has rhubarb, light cherries and a slightly green quality. Nice texture. Cherries on the palate with a slightly bitter finish, though not unpleasant. It had a somewhat manipulated quality that while hard to explain, kept it from an outstanding rating. (89 pts.)
• 2007 Domaine Serene Pinot Noir Yamhill Cuvée - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
  Ruby/purple in color. The nose is almost non-existent. Nothing off, but nothing really going on either. Smells like wine. On the palate, this is tart with some cherry fruit. Innocuous. Generic. A couple of people liked this more than I. (84 pts.)
• 2007 Thomas Pinot Noir Dundee Hills - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills
  The groups WOTN. The interesting thing is we could all pretty much guess is was the Thomas by the color. Pale ruby and thin. At the same time, this wine has more body than expected. Someone mentioned oak, which I did not get, but perhaps that is where the body came from. The nose has light cherries and a bit of a celery note to it. On the palate, this has layered cherries with some cherry candy. The palate tastes fully ripe, something most of these wines could not say. With 3 firsts and 3 seconds, this was the run away winner in the tasting. (91 pts.)
• 2007 Matello Pinot Noir Souris - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
  Dull ruby/brown in color. The nose had a bit of cherry powdered drink on it. Thin cherries on the palate. A vegetal streak. Bitter tart finish. Drinkable. (83 pts.)
• 2007 Expression Pinot Noir 44° Eola - Amity Hills - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills
  Easily the last place wine for the group and me. Purple/ruby in color. The nose is dominated by sulphur on opening. It did slightly blow off leaving funk and cherries. On the palate, this is tingly acidity with funk and green peppers. Some cherries. Not sure what is going on here. This did improve with air. (79 pts.)
• 2007 Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir Notorious - USA, Oregon, Yamhill County
  Ruby/purple in color. The nose is nice with sweet cherries. On the palate, there is some cherry fruit, but it tastes under ripe, bordering on green flavors if not quite there. Tart acidity. Its a nice wine, but this is not inexpensive either. (86 pts.)
• 2006 Brittan Vineyards Pinot Noir Basalt Block - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, McMinnville
  This stood out like a sore thumb. Turns out KS brought the wrong vintage. Purple in color with some brown/ruby this looked old (it actually tasted younger). The nose has cinnamon and cherries. On the palate, this is sweet. In retrospect, perhaps it is not RS, but just the vintage, but at the time, this was sickly sweet to me. Cherry fruit. The mid-palate is hollow as is the finish though which turns bitter after losing the fruit. Maybe our palates were just too screwed up by the differences here to appreciate the wine. (82 pts.)
• 2007 Owen Roe Pinot Noir Eola - Amity Hills - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills
  Ruby/purple in color. The nose has cherries, cherry drink mix, and a slight funk to it. Light and thin on the palate. Bitter cherry juice. A bit of vegetal notes. (81 pts.)
  
  
  
• 2011 Adegas Valmiñor Albariño Rías Baixas Edición especial 10 años - Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas
  This had been open the night before. Still drinking very well though. Light golden in color. A lovely nose of clean, sea air with some citrus. A bit fatter on the palate than I like my Albarinos, but still nice. There is a refreshing tart acidity that helps cut thru the texture. Like to try a fresh bottle of this.
• 2009 Vinnico Priorat Tosalet Old Vines - Spain, Catalunya, Priorat
  This also had been opened the night before. Purple/ruby in color. The nose has strawberries and cherries with some cocoa powder. On the palate, it turns more to milk chocolate covered strawberries although not sweet in any way. This has held up well over night which would suggest that it could use some cellar time.
  
  
  
• 2007 Sineann Gewürztraminer The Precious - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley
  Iced tea in color, seems darker than I remembered it. The nose is very nice with orange peels and caramel. On the palate, this seems a bit past prime, but still nice. Slightly cloying, it could use a bit more cut to it. Still, an ounce was a nice way to finish the tasting. (89 pts.)

Bob Wood was, of course, remembered and I am sorry he wont be here to “concur” in my notes# At least I feel that liking both Thomas and Sineann would drive him crazy# At least none of us wore cargo shorts# We are looking forward to next years 2008’s#
#i#Posted from CellarTracker[/i]

I had the 2007 Matello Souris at Jory in Newburg about 6 months ago and it was delicious. Nice fruit, good integration and balance. I have subsequently had excellent 2007s from Belle Pente, Beaux Freres, Winderlea and Anne Amie. Not sure why the notes on the Matello would be so divergent. Sounds like the vintage might have been a bit uneven or maybe just bad timing?

Loren,
I had a much different experience with the 07 Dom Serene Yamhill. I bought almost a case on closeout a few years ago for something under $30. At the time thought it was well balanced but on the lighter side. I have opened two bottles in the last month and to me, it has put on more weight and has become much more interesting. A quite nice drink IMHO. (I can feel Bob Wood’s wrath and can just imagine what his response would be to my post! RIP).

Cheers
Tim

The 07 Cameron Abbey Ridge Chardonnay drunk last week was very good. No flaws here. I rate it shitty, not quite reaching the heights of really shitty though.

Thanks for sharing Loren. Where’s Lou Rad’s perspective to offset you and Jeff King? I’m sure Bob W would’ve approved of the theme, if not the all the findings.

RT

Haven’t tried the Sineann Resonance but a place near me was closing out the regular 2007 Sineann for $17 and it’s a very nice wine as well. It seems Sineann did well across the board with their PN.

Loren, I feel that Bob would want someone to say that your tasting group is nuts. So there.

What type of wines do you folks usually drink?

Also, I understand where you are coming from on some of those findings. For example, the Yamhill cuvee is Domain Serene’s lowest level cuvee. We’ve discussed ad nauseum on this board that some of the lower tiers of wines, or producers that frequently make leaner wines, struggled with underripe fruit, high acids, and green notes. I’ve found that the top tier producers and their higher end cuvees tend to do quite well in similar tastings. I think with 2007 especially, there is a pyramid of quality, and not a ton of space at the top.

That said, I prefer most of what I’d consider top-tier 2007s to their 2006 counterparts. 2008 is a whole different ball game, with a superior breadth of quality. Even so, I thought some got a little thick. I’d target some of the more restrained producers in 2008 and 2009.

Richard,

Based on this batch of wines, I was pretty disappointed. Overall, I found a number of these wines somewhat muted on the nose, light in color & body, and shallow on the palate. The Solena Pinot Gris was the only engaging wine (90pt), while the pinots were all scored in the low- upper 80s

FWIW, I had the Thomas, Owen Roe, Domaine Serene, and Sineann as my top four in that order.

Pretty much all of us have been together for the past 8yrs doing 5yr retrospectives and this ranked along the 2003 vintage in performance. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any 2007 St. I or Cristom which have always shown well in the past.

Cheers,

Lou

Much appreciated.

Enjoyed these notes.
This is maybe an obvious statement, but Oregon Pinot Gris just doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, right? I feel like every time I pop a bottle I’m thoroughly impressed, and usually haven’t spent more than $18 or so.
Re: 2007 pinots, I loved the Lazy River Vineyards bottle sold at the Carlton Winemakers Studio. Well priced in the low $30s, too.

Lou, they’ve hypnotized you! That Souris showed really well 2 years ago at the big 07 tasting at PGC. The 07 Thomas has been one of the more substantial PNs of the vintage IMHO. You’ll wake up when I count to 3.

1…

2…

Thanks for chiming in!

RT

P.S. Sipping an 07 Belle Pente Reserve at the moment. You guys would hate it.

2007 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir

Opened a day ago for my wife, but I didn’t try it until tonight. Nice nose of red pinot fruit and underbrush. Red cherries on the palate that become just a bit tart on the finish. Medium+ body, smooth tannins and good acidity. Long finish. Certainly not a big wine, but an enjoyable bottle that is coming into a good drinking window. I really like this and the Yamhill mentioned above. If you like them big, YMMV. It may put me in the AFWE crowd, but I do like these pinots. If I want something bigger I’ve got other choices in the cellar, but glad I have these too.
Cheers!

I have gone through quite a few 07 Cristoms and have found them to be shitty in the most delightful way

Surprised at the oak in the Mayacamas. Not had the '91, but have had several from the 80s and mid90s without oak. Mayacamas and Montelena are probably my favorite classic CalChards, but I think of latter as more likely to feature oak.

I really enjoyed the 2007 Hamacher and the Hamacher H Pinots. Quite shitty.

+1, regarding the regular '07 Sineann. The Schindler Vineyard Pinot is the pick of the '07 Sineann liter, IMHO . . . even better than the Resonance.

My bad! I actually have the 2007 Schindler. I should have brought that instead!!!

Sorry, but Oregon Pinot Gris has a tendency to be a flabby, insipid, flavorless wine. I don’t think it’s a matter of not being able to make good ones, winemakers think folks like that style (insipid and flabby), have other priorities (like Pinot Noir), or are just too lazy. I’ve had about five that I thought were worthwhile (86 Ponzi, 87 J&J Cellars, 99 & 01 Elk Cove, and 09 Eyrie) until 2010. In that vintage a bunch of folks made good ones, mainly because the fruit didn’t get as ripe as they normally let it get, so the resulting wines were dry with a nice streak of acidity that highlighted the lime/grapefruit qualities along with the more usual lemon and melon flavors. Some folks learned from that and made good wines in 2011 as well, while others went back to making the same old insipid plonk they made before. It sounds like Laurant learned from 2010.

I had an 07 DDO Laurene last week that was delicious. Also had an 07 Biggio Hamina Deux Vert Syrah that was complex, savory and aromatic, albeit with the weight of an OR pinot; an interesting animal I quite liked.