Very nicely done Tim. You hit a lot of WV winners. Excellent itinerary. Thanks for the report.
RT
Domain Drouhin Oregon
Another extremely scenic property, the views were amazing from the Drouhin propery. Rolling vineyard hills and expansive views of the valley below. It was a clear day, so we could see the white caps of both Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson. This estate is now producing 40k cases after the purchase of the Roserock vineyard in Amity Hills. It was a really cool gravity flow winery which had three levels and required no pumping of the wine from one place to the next.
The views were worth the visit, even if the walk-in tasting itself was just average. We started with the 2015 Arthur Chardonnay which was light and crisp with ample acidity and a clean finish. Next we tried the 2015 Roserock Pinot from Eola-Amity Hills. I got sweet strawberries on the nose, followed by red fruit, medium+ acidity, and some earthy character on the finish. The 2015 Dundee Hills Pinot is their largest production wine at 12-14k cases. It had a very dark color, juicy flavors of cranberry, strawberry, and cherry, followed by forest floor. The 2015 Roserock Zephirine Pinot has a hint of sweetness, but finishes earthy. Cherry with a hint of vanilla, this was not my favorite. The tasting finished with the 2014 Pinot Noir Laurene. It was a red/purple color, soft and delicate texture, a nice balance of fruit and acidty. The best wine of the tasting.
Crowley Wines
For our final stop on the trip, we met up with Patrick from Crowley Wines at their co-op winery in Newberg. This is a really cool gravity flow winery also. Patrick took us back into the barrel room to do the tasting, explaining that Tyson Crowley has now made wine for 24 vintages. They produce about 3k cases a year, of which 70% is Pinot Noir and 30% is Chardonnay. We started by tasting the 2016 Chardonnay which comes from Wente clones and is made in an oxidative style, meaning they donât add sulfur until the end of malolactic fermentation. This leads to a wine that has some ripe fruit flavors and less mineral flavors than if it had been made in a reductive style. Next, we tried from barrel the 2017 version of this Chardonnay which is still finishing fermentation. Lots of primary fruit, and not very complete or focused yet. The next barrel we tasted was made in a reductive style, and you definitely could tell a big difference in the two. This was leaner with more minerality. I definitely preferred this style.
Next we moved onto the Pinot Noirs. In general, I would describe Crowley as having a darker fruit style with a tad more fruit forward flavors. The 2015 Pinot Entre Nous is a darker color with sweet dark berries on the front end. The finish shows some nice earthy tannins. There was no stem inclusion in the 2015 wines, however most vintages see up to 50%. After this, we tasted from a barrel that contain 2016 fruit with 100% stem inclusion. It had a big, spicy red hot candy nose, lots of fruit on the palate, and a chewy texture. We followed this with another barrel sample (2016 Four Winds vineyard) with 0% stem inclusion. It was smoother, with a more traditional pinot profile. I definitely liked this better than the full stem inclusion.
We ended the tasting with two single vineyard pinot noirs from bottle. The 2015 Four Winds Pinot had a dark garnet color, a soft velvety mouthfeel, and lots of dark fruits (even some blue fruits mixed in). Only 120 cases produced. Compared to the 2016 from barrel, this is rounder and bigger. This 2015 La Colina Pinot from Dundee Hills was a red/purple color and had good fruit depth on the nose. The palate still leaned towards dark fruits, but this had a tart element that balanced out the flavors nicely. My favorite of the Crowley wines.
Tim, had a great time tasting with you, your wife and inlaws! Appointments like this are just so much fun. Tim had done all his homework, so we really got to just enjoy the good company and had some really fantastic conversation. Cheers man, fantastic write up!
I have to say, posts like Timâs are just so packed full of info, a real benefit for otherâs looking to visit the WV. I hope others take advantage of the legwork youâve done here!