Oregon pinot vintage update?

WINE TALK
21

Thanks Jim for doing what you are doing with 2016 Morte Cook. Great cause. We have four dogs instead of one or two because of animal rescues. One of them was so abused that he is certifiably insane. There was a great podcast recently about Ira Glass and his demented lifestyle due to his demented dog-highly recommended.
And Marcus-thanks for your input. You will see me as a customer soon.

22

Thanks Marcus, I know why I like your wines so well. Also I need to move in next door to Ron. I though I was buying too many wines. [wow.gif]

23

Fantastic thread.

24

Thank you Dennis, and

I think we both need to move next door to Ron!

You, he, and Trimpi should write an Oregon newsletter though. You guys know the people and the wines as well as anyone.

25

For those newer to Oregon Pinot, what was it about 2008 that made this vintage so heralded? Thus far I can deduce that it wasn’t a warm or cold vintage. Just unusually “agreeable” weather?

Happy to take the board recommendations to continue to let these sleep as we purchased just a handful of these when we were there last Fall - some Biggio Hamina and Brick House.

26

Also for someone who is newer to the region, tasting through a wide variety of producers ‘15s really helped me understand how important producer can be in these vintages. I tasted so many that were on the very duper end, and certainly a handful I’d call “spoofilated”. Goodfellow, Belle Pente and Biggio Hamina in particular though I thought really handled the vintage well, and made some yummy wines.

27

Marcus, thanks for the complement. Much easier to consume/enjoy and snipe on a wine board than write for public consumption! Every vintage has its exceptions. And every taster has their preconceptions, expectations and biases. We’re both fans of blind tasting and how it can shake things up. You, Jim, Todd and other Berserker participating winemakers work incredibly hard to pursue your passion. It’s patently unfair for some numbskull with a corkscrew and a keyboard to make light of it. Your first-hand input and winemaking experience add essential content to the board. Merci.

RT

28

Jason, the funny bit about 08 is that it came after 07. 2007 was derided by critics who tasted early release wine from the same crappy producers who make schlock every year. In 07 the bastards made particularly wretched swill. Then we were all thrown under the bus.

The wine critics recognized their bad call on the 07’s by overcompensating with praise of the 08’s. Now, 08 had nice weather and a long hang time. I, myself, am beginning to wonder if long hang time makes a vintage shut down post bottling. This is a big question and I am not particularly sciency, so when I entertain these notions I do so without facts. This leads solely to opinion…

I thought my 08’s were closed for a long time, and they are screwcapped (which completely retards the aging process). I reco you drink my 08’s in the winter months and let them breathe for a couple hours.

29

Thanks so much for the great contributions from all (and the kind words). This is why people keep coming back to this board.

30

Jason,
In short, in addition to what Todd said, the 2007 vintage was not liked by the critics. When the first 2007s hit the shelves they were really not that good. I am a huge fan of the 2007 vintage. Locally, it took a little while for the public to warm up to even trying the wines. Once there were some with a little bottle age (literally mid-tier releases with 2 more months in bottle), you could get people excited about them. Yet, you had to like pretty wines. Over 8 month I probably poured 40-50 different 2007 Oregon Pinot Noir at Friday night tastings. Once people started trying the wines, I think people realized they were good and vintage variation and the winemaker you liked produced truly outstanding wines. By the time the mid range and “fancier” bottlings were released the new vintage of 2008 was starting to be released. If I remember correctly, 2008 WV wines were being dropped earlier. The 2008 is probably more mainstream and were quaffable wines on the most basic level and really what the general public looks for in a wine vs what the 2007 had to offer.

31

The International Wine Cellar actually gave some decent reviews to many Oregon wineries on their 2007s. Perhaps not as high a scores or as glowing in nature as other vintages but solid reviews and scores. Just saying.

32

In all fairness Jim, close to half the wines weren’t that good. For many producers it was the first tough vintage they’d ever seen, and it showed. This is not to say there aren’t some beauties, there are. Bob Wood was spot on with the whole gig. Shitty.

33

I completely disagree with Wine Spectator’s vintage scores. The '07 and '11 are my favorite vintages. '07 was a crazy weather vintage but it finished cool and producers that pruned enough produced some excellent wine. '11 was another crazy year. I guess I just like wines from crazy weather years but it takes a good winemaker to make them. It was probably the latest harvest on record. I have a few '07s left and my recent experience tells me I need to drink them up. I think the '07 in particular and to a lesser extent the '11 vintages fooled a lot of people. Luckily some of the better producers still have these vintages in their libraries.

34

Todd, the odds of success were much better than 50:50 at the first Berserker Post-IPNC 2007 Vintage tasting, not to say that poor wines weren’t made.

2008, in comparison…Bob Wood claimed: “My dog could have made good wine in 2008.”

In contrast to Travis, I found a lot of the 08 Pinots to be brutish…ripe with gripping tannins and forceful acidity. The structure dominated. I don’t recall ever tasting young Pinots like them…before or since. Also, IIRC, there was talk of the weather being perfect, lovely fruit, and the least stressful harvest in a decade. My trepidation comes from many of the wines not opening up and the ripe aromas/flavors becoming increasingly prevalent.

RT

35

The post ipnc tasting is usually a top of the crop type affair Richard.

The 08’s showed nice enough early, especially in contrast to the 07’s that still needed fleshing out, but then came the lock down…

36

Yep. '15 was the first Oregon vintage I bought in volume. Thankfully I bought most at the winery after tasting because many I’ve bought retail have been disappointing. Producer definitely mattered.

37

Richard
I am only referring to the basic blends that are released first, towards the tail end when the best 2007 are arriving. It was a long time ago, but the 2008s made me happy like 2002 did.

38

You just made my day.

I think there’s a growing set of producers who understand that too much is as bad(or worse) than too little in the wines.

To your earlier question about 08. It was a late wet spring, and bud break was very late. So there was a lot of worry(especially given the previous vintages wet weather) about the probability of a negative harvest. When October hit and it was just gorgeous day after gorgeous day and picking was easy, clusters were small, ferments were smooth, and wines were opposite 07 in intensity, most of us(myself included) saw a truly great vintage.

I do think it is an excellent and long lived vintage. But the wines are a bit fuller and less dynamic than I had hoped(keep in mind I was hoping at a VERY high level.) The early baby-fat fruit made them look quite successful but as they closed down, and that baby-fat fruit subsided, they closed way down. Tannins were prominent. And, IMO, the beautiful fall days tempted me(I won’t speak to other producers here) into letting fruit hang to where the wines moved past the red fruit spectrum and into mostly dark flavors. Most of my wines have been opening up and starting to show some of the more delicate aromas again, but only just recently and still in the early stages.

That said, the universe gifted me with 2010 two years later. A similar growing season to 2008 bit a storm in October that forced picks a few days ahead of what we were allowed in 2008. Bear in mind that I had just bottled the 2008s 5-6 months before harvest 2010. They were selling like mad and that baby-fat was still there, so without the storm it’s doubtful I would have picked when I did(some fruit at 20.5 Brix the high was 22. But the wines were awesomely pretty and I have been pulling the trigger earlier ever since.
Which helped 2015 for sure, and has resulted in the best three vintages (for my taste) that I have seen in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

39

+1

They tasted great early(and by that I mean ripe with firm tannins and ripping acidity!) That’s why we all have so many sitting in the cellar…Rich too [wink.gif]

They tasted like the closest thing I had ever seen in Oregon to what I believed young Great vintage Burgundy to be like.
Nothing is ever gone on the internet, so it will be interesting in 10 more years to look back and see what we were saying today and how it matches up with the way the wines are in another decade. I doubt any of us will have enjoyed the 20 year investment of time much either way(unless the bottles skyrocket in value and we can sit around and write “baller” posts about our 08 Willamette Valley wines…)

40

FIFY

…I love 07, 10, and a lot of 2011s as well, so please don’t take my correction as disrespectful. Just that we thinned and then still had to take the time to pick through the fruit cluster by cluster.