Ha! Just the topic. It’s been hashed and re-hashed a million times here. The same questions come up (“What does taste like Burgundy even mean?”) and we go through all that all over again.
I’ve never been particularly keen on the comparison. I find it happens, the conversation anyway, with California Pinot Noir more than Oregon. For which I am thankful. There are no definitive answers as the question itself is nebulous as we all know. There are producers that make higher acid/higher tannin wines which, in general, is likely what the OP is getting at but even within a single producer’s realm there are likely to be wines that would fit or not fit the bill.
I don’t taste other Oregon producers’ wines and think “Gevrey” or wherever. I get that I am not a typical consumer. I think it’s hard to drink 1-2 wines from anyone and make definitive assessments about the style without knowing the mindset that goes into it. In many ways Burgundy is as much a mindset as it is a physical location. Oregon has only decades of history and most wineries are well less than that in age. There are people and places that are working to bring a mindset of place to both the farming and the winemaking. In that I think one can find the comparisons that are perhaps most relevant. Whether that action can manifest itself within a bottle is still a matter of skill, experience, effort, quality of raw materials and so on.
I realize that is as unhelpful an answer to a question as there can possibly be and folks are attempting to be helpful and put out names of producers whose wines they find attractive. It’s great. My “uh oh” post was simply my personal response to this heavily traveled road.
I did have a bottle of Marcus’ 2013 Whistling Ridge Vineyard the other night. For those not familiar, my vineyard is adjacent to WR and we received fruit from there from 2003-2012 so to say I know the site is an understatement. Marcus took over a greater extent of the farming and operations there in 2013. He offered to let us keep the blocks we were getting. I don’t know if he would agree, especially, several years later but we were getting, if not the best fruit there likely, at the time, the healthiest vines. We felt it was better for him to have access to those sections if he was going to take on the sort of oversight that has been very helpful to that site and the couple that own it.
Anyway, short story made extremely long, I texted him to say it was very good but not quite “end of the world” good and I would need something else given the circumstances. I have quite a bit of his wine actually so that should not be too hard.
Great advice! I would not say they are Burgundy-like per se, but that they have similar taste, and maybe more, similar, “texture” profiles to some of the Burgundy that I love. That Heritage blend is the bomb!
I buy and drink quite a bit of Oregon Pinot. While they are great wines to me, none of them really taste like Burgundy to me. Just too much fruit for Burgundian Wines. And this is even at the top. Some of Mo Ayoub’s wines are close but still somewhat fruitier than Burgundy.
Mark, you ask for suggestions. The three or four winemakers/growers on this thread are a perfect place to start. They all make super wines, and are very accessible, wines and the winemakers alike, in my experience at least.
First there are the Burgundians who have set up shop in Oregon, like Drouhin, Jadot (Resonance), Nicholas jay (Meo Camuzet ), …I have enjoyed many older Domaine Drouhin wines and they can be marvelous. The Nicholas Jay wine and Resonance are fairly new. I like what I have tasted. Didn’t Belair Ligier create Chapter 24?? Have not tasted those.
Second, I have drunk a fair amount of Beaux Freres wines. I drank an 06 Upper Terrace not too long ago with a Burgundian friend. We both agreed that if we were presented the wine blind we might say it was a grand cru from the Cote de Nuits.
Third, I used to sell Cristom in the UK, where it was and still is favorably received. Steve Doerner the winemaker has his own way of making wine and the results are great.Is the wine Burgundian?? Dunno.
Some others:
a/I ve had older Ponzi reserves…terrific
b/Is Eyrie Burgundian?? All I know is that their 75 inspired the Drouhins to buy land in the Dundee Hills…
c/I really like Brickhouse wines…ditto BethelHeights…
Sadly I don’t go to Oregon like I used to, so I am a little out of date
Respectfully, I don’t think the “top”, if I understand you correctly, is where the less fruit driven producers are. Over the years, as we do not have vineyard classifications, many of the top producers offer richer, fuller styles of wine. Without disrespect Ken Wright, Penner Ash, Shea, Archery Summit, Antica Terra(full, rich, and delicious), Domaine Serene, Sineann, and Bergstrom(until Josh and Carolyn decided the wines needed to be more restrained).
Most of the wineries offered as options on this list make wines CONSIDERABLY more restrained than any of the “top” producers, with perhaps the exception of Beaux Freres. Mike Etzel has specifically expressed in a personal conversation that early on they were making more extracted wines with significant new wood, but have moved back from that(how much he didn’t say). I would also offer that my most stylistically old world vineyard is Whistling Ridge, which shares a fence line with Beaux Freres.
We also share a fence line with Patricia Green Cellars, and IMO, their estate wines are far more Burgundian than their other vineyard sources.
Does anybody really think that a WV wine will taste just like Burgundy? But it makes to me, and I recommended wines to people for many years before making my own, to state the type of wines you like already in looking to explore a new region.
I would guess that the OP received FAR better advice for his personal preferences by asking in the manner he did, than if he simply asked for a “good” Oregon Pinot Noir, where his answers could have ranged from Sineann to Eyrie.
And while I had nothing to do with Oregon’s donation of ventilators, and am extremely proud of our state’s leadership, I would reiterate that returning support by supporting a Burgundian’s project in Oregon is probably not what Mark was intending. I’ve seen, and paid, Burgundian pricing. They are probably better off than many of the small Oregonian owned wineries are.
To return support to Oregon via wine, here are a few good options:
Love & Squalor-the wines are delicious. But Matt also just bought a building and the equipment to fill it in 2018. He’s a good guy, and made his wines in my winery from 2011 to 2017. While he hasn’t said anything to me, that timing has to be tough.
Grochau Cellars-John Grochau makes some lovely, not over the top, but not necessarily Burgundian wines. He also has a facility with a number of other small producers, so helping him helps more than just John.
Crowley Wines-Tyson is a good friend and great guy. He had an amazing restaurant presence in Portland. He also makes an absolutely fantastic Chardonnay from Four Winds vineyard. Tyson was the assistant winemaker at Cameron many years ago, and learned Chardonnay from the best. Four Winds is a tremendous site, and if Tyson had a presence on the boards, I would expect that his Four Winds would he in the same conversations as WS Ex Novo, Clos Electrique, or my Richard’s Cuvée.
Just ordered a couple bottles of Domaine Glennon, made by Marcus Goodfellow here.
Per Envoyer: This wine sees about 70% whole cluster fruit, fermented with native yeast, and sees a long elevage in 450 liter barrels with about 1/3 new oak This Pinot Noir is bottled unfined and unfiltered, with only 13% alcohol. This sounds great in words, but how the wine delivers is another story. Simply put, this is a red Burgundy lovers Pinot Noir. This wine is one of the most incredibly elegant, balanced, and sophisticated young Pinot Noirs’ I have ever tasted from Oregon. Aromas of red flowers, red berry, red cherry, spice, forest floor, and earth explode from the glass. The refined palate has a polish with every aspect in perfect harmony.
Seems a good fit, or at least stylistically in my wheelhouse. At $35, worth a look.
I’ve had a number of Burgundies (more than a handful but definitely a minority) that really reminded me of Oregon. Oregon wines have a softness that is more difficult to find in Burgundy. On the other hand, I’ve had few Oregon wines with the tannic structure and “bite” that is much more prevalent in Burgundy. When I find Oregon wines with that structure, they tend to come from the Ribbon Ridge AVA. I’ve noticed it in some of the wines from Marcus, Jim, and Brick House. Outside of Ribbon Ridge, Eyrie probably comes the closest, IMO.
I’ve probably mixed up OR Chards with Burgundy more than Pinots in blind tastings. That said, it can be very hit and miss, same producer different vintage/vineyards can be uniquely characteristic of OR or tough to differentiate. There are so many names. Cameron has fooled the most people in my limited circles but once you get tuned in to the Pinot “funk”, that becomes a tell. I’ve been fooled by Eyrie, Patty Green, Thomas, Cameron, Goodfellow, Crowley, Bethel Heights and many others. Kind of a wine-by-wine thing. I’ve largely given up looking for Burgundy in OR and find myself satisfied when the styles are roughly “Burgundian”…which as Jim notes is primarily an acidity thing (and balance!).
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