Thanks for the note. It’s been quite popular in its inaugural year. This is Dick Erath’s original vineyard, planted initially back in 1968. A plethora of “California “ clones were planted here over the past 20 years when J Winery owned it. This bottling includes Calera Clone, Mt. Eden and Dijon 943 as well as more traditional Oregon stuff like Pommard and Wadensvil. It’s a unique blending of clones, certainly for us and likely across the valley. If you count Ribbon Ridge as part of the Chehalem Mountain AVA we made 14 Pinot Noir bottlings, a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc in 2021 from the AVA.
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Agree w/James on all accounts! The 1997 Torii Mor was fantastic and had a lot of life left in it. The 2019 was nice as well, but a baby at this point. You will be rewarded it you can hold onto those for awhile!
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Shouldn’t that be in the meme thread?
FYI, WTSO has the 2021 Chehalem Mtn Vineyard Wadensvil Clone up for $24.
I was very taken with the 2021 Highland - Coury Cuvee in a blind tasting two weeks ago. I posted notes here.
I think you meant to write “Hyland.” And of all of PGC’s many PN, it is in my top few favorites. I’ve bought it every year since it’s inception in 2017.
Opened two of my 2013s, to compare and contrast. Both the Lia’s and the Bonshaw:
Half hour in the decanter, then back into the bottles.
I’ve still really new to Oregon Pinot Noir (and Pinot Noir in general) but both of these wines are nicely perfumed with both fruit and tea on the nose, and are both fairly intense on the palate with fruit still very present and gaining in richness over time, along with friendly tannins. They seem both young and old, if that makes any sense. The nose on each has evolved and shifted throughout the few hours I’ve been tasting these two wines. The Bonshaw’s nose at one point reminded me of driving home with my favorite Jersey pizza in the rig, which is one of my favorite aromas in the world. 
Glad I picked up an almost-case of these 2013s. As good as these two are . . . I hope to be able to show some restraint here . . . . 
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The 2013s have really outperformed expectations. The wines are still primary and fruit dominated at this point and that did not seem like what was going to be the case at the harvest. This is an interesting dichotomy as it pairs sort of the top and “bottom” of our spectrum. The Estate Vineyard, Bonshaw Block is certainly one of our top bottlngs and every we do it (most years but not all) it places itself in the very upper threshold of the cellar (the 2023 already seems poised to do that). The Lia’s is, with a couple of other wines, our least expensive single vineyard Pinot Noir (I think the 2013 was $30, the current release is $37). Good to know that at 10 years they are in seemingly similar places evolutionarily speaking.
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By the end of the evening I was . . . in love, again. Everything I was hoping for with a 2013 PGC Pinot Noir. Liked them so much I woke up today and ordered six more of the 2013s from Courtier. 
Looking forward to this PGC journey the coming years.
I’ve also really been liking iOTA’s 2013s and 2011s I’ve been drinking these past few months. So, I am wondering: do you think any of the PGC wines from subsequent vintages will end up in a place similar to where these PGC 2013s sit right now?
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Well, each vintage has its own thing of course and I think the specific nature of the 2013s would be hard to re-create. I think we have better vintages subsequent to 2013 (and better sites, farming, winemaking practices, etc.) so I would say we have better wines but if what turns your crank is the sort of fruity/bloody/iron-y thing the 2013s have then the answer would be nope.
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Thanks for the breakdown Jim, always such a treat to have you post here. We had another one last night amongst semi wine nerds, all preferred it as WOTN over some other OR Pinots that cost a lot more.
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This has garnered a few very generous comments and was, apparently, seen as one of the nicer wines of the post-IPNC tasting.
The thing is we nearly didn’t bottle it at all. It was exceedingly light for months on barrel and really dominated by the 2 or 3 (can’t remember) new barrels. I don’t mean light in a good way. Like nothing to it. It just didn’t seem like it was going anywhere for the longest time. Not bad but not captivating. IIRC we didn’t place an order with our label company that included it. Then in the late spring, post-ML, it began to grow in every way. Eventually it filled out, got significantly darker (not that that is necessarily important but it just did) and developed texture that indicated it was certainly worthy of being bottled as a Durant standalone. One of the fun but maddening things about winemaking.
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Did you experience something similar with the barrels that made up the 2013 Berserker Cuvee’? If I recall, that Cuvee’ was about 600 cases (i.e., 24 or 25 barrels).
No. That was a different thing entirely. That was a case of barrels being really good but not having a natural home. Above Reserve but no real place other than to put them together and hope for the best. And that happened.
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That’s what I keep saying as I eye my last two bottles of 2008 and lone 2005 PGC Etzel. These wines are great, and have a very long (rewarding) life when stored well.
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2015 Estate Old Vine Pinot Noir.
Drank over three hours. Visually still youthful, dark magenta, clear rim. Not getting much on the nose. Palate is ripe cherry, raspberry, pomegranate, some mild baking spices and menthol. Medium bodied, tart acidity to balance the fruit. Integrated tannins provide a bit of texture and structure. Very nice, good spot to check in, should continue to evolve over the next 5+ years and hold for many more.
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I do think the 15s present as a less of a hot vintage than it kind of was. I think certain vineyards and wines will be quite long lived and delicious.
I do look back on that vintage and think about what I would do now and the level things could have gotten to. But that’s experience. Glad I at least have it now.
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Decanted my 2013 PGC Freedom Hill Coury Clone PN for right around an hour, poured back into the bottle and put the bottle (open) back in the cellar for an hour or so. This wine is really nice. Plenty happening on a perfumed nose, including fruit and black tea, and nicely followed up/combined with intense juice on the palate. So nice. Really happy (and lucky) I was able to find these 2013 PGCs and be introduced to some with a bit of age.
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