FYI-
October 18, 2010
Proposed Law Would Limit Interstate Wine Shipping
By ERIC ASIMOV
SEATTLE
IT.S just one more anonymous warehouse here in a mundane industrial district, but within its humble walls lie 23,000 temperature- and humidity-controlled square feet of Garagiste, one of the quirkiest, least-known retail treasures in the wine world. Least-known, that is, unless you are one of the 127,000 or so people who receive daily e-mails offering a trove of unusual bottles, described in beguiling detail by Jon Rimmerman, Garagiste.s founder and owner and guru of the wine disenfranchised.
Those e-mails beckon with obscure Bordeaux like Le Dé de Lamery, which, Mr. Rimmerman said, recalls Bordeaux before it became a corporate product; singular Sardinian wines from visionary producers like Dettori; and even new-school Washington State cabernets that may not exemplify Mr. Rimmerman.s decidedly Old World tastes but are fine values and good examples of the Washington style.
It may sound like any other independent wine shop, but more than 99 percent of Garagiste.s business comes through Internet orders, Mr. Rimmerman says, and more than 70 percent of its sales are shipped directly to buyers in other states.
Garagiste has plenty of customers in places like New York City and San Francisco. But for those who live in less-well-served areas of the country, Garagiste and other retail operations that do big Internet business, like K & L Wine Merchants in California and Zachys in Scarsdale, N.Y., are lifelines to the world.s wonderful diversity of wines.
Yet as welcome as these lifelines are, they may be threatened by a bill introduced earlier this year before the House of Representatives, the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010, or H.R. 5034, which has the potential to severely restrict direct interstate shipping of wine by retailers. Direct sales from wineries could be threatened, too, although the current language of the bill appears to focus more directly on retailers.
Proponents, including beer and wine wholesalers, say that that is not the intention of the bill, which would make it far more difficult for wineries and retailers to challenge state laws in the federal courts. Instead, they say, it would merely reaffirm the authority of the states to regulate alcohol sales, and diminish the authority of federal courts, which they say have been confusing and inconsistent. They also suggest that they are trying to prevent minors from illegally obtaining alcohol.
Opponents, however, including wine and beer producers, retail shops and importers, assert that states already have ample regulatory authority. They say the bill is meant to protect beer and wine wholesalers, who have been cut out of the loop by the rise of direct sales. Wholesalers have set their well-financed lobby to work for the bill and have liberally doled out campaign contributions to supporters.
Without getting too technical, the heart of the legal issue is the conflict between the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which repealed Prohibition and gave the states the right to regulate alcohol sales, and the commerce clause of the Constitution, which gives the federal government the power to regulate commerce between the states.
Three fairly recent developments have coalesced to force this arcane and confusing corner of the law into an emotionally charged spotlight.
First is the sheer quantity of fascinating but little-known wines from around the world that are now on the market, and the growing number of Americans who want to drink them.
Add to that the rise of Internet commerce, which almost overnight expanded retail choices far beyond local grocery stores and wine shops. Finally, there came a 2005 Supreme Court decision that struck down arbitrary state bans on interstate shipments from wineries to consumers.
These developments threatened the position of wholesale distributors who, in the three-tier system governing the sale of alcoholic beverages, buy from producers and then sell to retailers.
Mr. Rimmerman, 44, whose piercing olive-green eyes are framed by salt-and-pepper curls and long sideburns, set up Garagiste in a tiny office back in 1995, when Internet commerce was in its infancy. His first e-mails went to perhaps 30 people. As Garagiste grew, he said, he wanted to make sure that it was on firm legal ground, so he presented his plan to sell wines around the country to the Washington State Liquor Control Board.
.They said, .We think it.s all right, as long as you collect sales tax in-state,. . Mr. Rimmerman recalled. .They compared it to sending shirts across state lines..
And so Garagiste grew by word of mouth, building its base of ardent fans drawn by Mr. Rimmerman.s discoveries; his spirited, enthusiastic prose; his insistence on selling only one wine at a time, via e-mail, and shipping orders just twice a year, in the fall and the spring, to minimize harmful exposure to heat or cold.
States clearly already have the right to prohibit shipments of wine from out of state, so long as they also prohibit shipments originating within the state. Garagiste indicates on its Web site, garagistewine.com, the 33 states it will ship to and the onesit will not.
.It.s a negative step for commerce,. Mr. Rimmerman said of the House bill, .a broad-based threat to Americans. right to freedom of choice..
Wholesalers argue that they are not acting to protect their own financial position but the rights of states.
.Our main concern is making sure states can continue to effectively regulate alcohol and maintain the system that serves the public well by balancing competition with an orderly market,. said Rebecca Spicer, a spokeswoman for the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
The bill, though, which is unlikely to come up for a vote until next year, would clearly mean a narrowing of choices for consumers.
For his part, Mr. Rimmerman is considering contingency plans. For example, he is considering applying for retail licenses in other states so he can essentially distribute wines to himself, and sell to customers in those states.
.It.s easier to deal in guns than in wine,. he said.
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
Sorry Bob,
None of these are ten bucks.
Cheers,
Jim
October 12, 2010
Zinfandel Steps Back From the Abyss
By ERIC ASIMOV
Correction Appended
SAD to say, I don.t drink much zinfandel these days. That wasn.t always the case. When I first awakened to the joys of wine back in the 1980s, I was excited about zinfandel. All right, I was excited about any wine, but zinfandel in particular intrigued me. It was full of gorgeous fruit, yet rarely too tannic or too sweet. The grape was singular, grown almost nowhere but in California. It was pure pleasure, and I remember enjoying many wonderful bottles with friends.
Yet tastes evolve, and wine styles do, too. As much as I gravitated away from the fruitiness of zinfandel, I think zinfandels veered away from me in the 1990s, becoming for the most part huge, dense, powerful monsters, pushing past 16 percent alcohol and overwhelming any food in their paths.
Zinfandel became a wine of obligation rather than a wine of choice. Rarely did wine authorities recommend zinfandel because it went well with, say, spareribs or turkey. No, they said to drink zinfandel because you should drink an all-American wine on Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. That advice always struck me as silly. Unless you want to take a swift nose dive into oblivion, the last wine you want to drink through a long day of feasting and family is some high-octane blockbuster.
But, as I said, wine styles evolve. Might zinfandel, like other American red wines, be taking a few tentative steps back from the portlike abyss?
It may be too early to say that with real authority, but after the wine panel recently tasted 20 bottles of Sonoma zinfandel, I can say that we found more balanced, lively wines than any of us were expecting. For the tasting, Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Harriet Lembeck, a longtime wine educator in New York, and Charles Puglia, a sommelier at Jean Georges.
This isn.t to say that we encountered no oaky, extreme beasts. We did, and certainly, a significant group of people enjoy this style. But where once zinfandels could safely be categorized as either colossuses or what was politely termed .claret style,. a continuum now exists, with many wines occupying the middle ground.
.I was pleasantly surprised by how many wines were restrained, refreshing and had good acidity,. said Charles, who, for the record, doesn.t serve many zins from his post at Jean Georges but said that he enjoys them nonetheless.
The more restrained style was best exemplified by our No. 1 zinfandel, the 2007 Porter Creek Old Vine, a graceful, lively, complex wine. Since you asked, the Porter Creek was listed at 14.7 percent alcohol, which even those who appreciate lower-alcohol wines concede is something of a sweet spot for zinfandels. It.s difficult to produce good zinfandel below 14 percent without manipulations, although our No. 3 wine, the 2007 Nalle Dry Creek Valley, clocked in at 13.8 percent, the lowest in the tasting. It was graceful yet well flavored and lacked nothing, except for unbridled power and amplitude.
When a wine is well balanced, though, alcohol does not stand out. Our No. 2 bottle, the 2008 Seghesio Old Vine, was pure, fresh and peppery. Clearly, it was a big wine, yet none of us were aware of just how big it was: 15.5 percent. It wore its size extremely well.
Nonetheless, my preference is almost always for less alcohol, if only so I can drink more wine without feeling its effects too quickly. I wouldn.t presume to tell a winemaker how to make a wine, but it is a factor when I decide what to buy and drink.
Of course, not every wine is as well proportioned as the Seghesio. The difference between its 15.5 percent and the 15.8 percent of our No. 9 wine, the 2007 Gamba Old Vine from the Russian River Valley, may not seem great. But the Gamba, made in a sweeter, jammier style, was overwhelming by comparison. It.s a well-made wine, and many people like this style, but it.s not for me.
Zinfandel is made all over California, yet it is most closely identified with Sonoma County and, more specifically, Dry Creek Valley, a beautiful area of green hills and twisting roads northwest of Healdsburg. We might well have chosen to taste zinfandels only from Dry Creek Valley, yet that would have meant ignoring Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Valley and Rockpile, an appellation established in 2002 on the northwest edge of Dry Creek Valley. Each of these regions is a source of noteworthy zins.
Imagine our surprise when three of our top four wines, and five of our top 10, were labeled Sonoma County, a catchall term used most often when the grapes from two or more appellations are blended. This may belie the usual assumption that the more narrowly defined the source of the grapes, the better the wine ought to be.
The county appellation wines also tend to be less expensive. Our best value, the juicy, exuberant 2007 Old Vine Sonoma County from Ravenswood, was $15, about half the price of Ravenswood.s single-vineyard zinfandels.
By the way, Ridge, one of the great names in Sonoma zinfandel, made our list, although with a fairly little-known bottle. Its 2008 East Bench, a new Ridge vineyard in Dry Creek Valley, was lively, balanced and pleasing. But fans of Ridge are far more familiar with its zinfandels from Lytton Springs in Dry Creek Valley and Geyserville in Alexander Valley. Neither of these was in our tasting.
How can that be? Well, both of these wines are traditional field blends. That is, the zinfandel vines were planted with other complementary grapes, like petite sirah, carignan and mourvèe. While the wines are predominantly zinfandel, they don.t always reach the 75 percent threshold mandated in California for a wine to carry a varietal label. In the most recent vintage, neither the Lytton Springs nor the Geyserville met that requirement, so we did not include them. Call us fussy, but at least we.re consistent.
Tasting Report
Porter Creek Sonoma County, $35, *** ½
Zinfandel Old Vine 2007
Lively, complex, graceful and full, with aromas and flavors of mint, berry and minerals.
Seghesio Sonoma County, $30, *** ½
Zinfandel Old Vine 2008
Big, pure and lively, with peppery berry and earthy, minty accents.
Nalle Dry Creek Valley, $29, ***
Zinfandel 2007
Graceful and well balanced, with spicy wild berry and a touch of oak.
BEST VALUE
Ravenswood Sonoma County, $15, ** ½
Zinfandel Old Vine 2007
Exuberant, juicy and dense; powerful yet balanced.
Williams Selyem Russian River Valley, $72, ** ½
Feeney Vineyard Zinfandel 2008
Dark, dense and opulent with a rich, silky texture.
Ridge Dry Creek Valley, $22, ** ½
East Bench Zinfandel 2008
Lively and pleasant, with pretty aromas of spices and berries.
St. Francis Sonoma County, $20, ** ½
Zinfandel Old Vines 2007
Fleshy, with well-integrated flavors of berries, anise and earth.
Murphy Goode Sonoma County, $18, **
Zinfandel Liar's Dice 2007
Fresh, with aromas of dark fruit, earth and plenty of oak.
Gamba Russian River Valley, $45, **
Gamba Estate Vineyard Zinfandel Old Vine 2007
Huge and almost overwhelming, with mouthfuls of jammy fruit.
Rosenblum Rockpile, $40, **
Rockpile Road Vineyard Zinfandel 2006
Rich, full and dense, with baked, jammy fruit.
Correction: October 13, 2010
An earlier version of this article had an inaccurate description of federal law on labeling alcohol content of wine. It also misstated how high the alcohol content of the Nalle could be and how low the alcohol content of the Porter Creek could be.
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
Dear friends of the vine:
It's time to Howl and Wine!
Save the date --- incredible evening ahead on SATURDAY OCTOBER 30TH at Kallsen Manor aka "The Palace Club" (1906 Palace Avenue, Saint Paul MN 55105 --- map here).
It's time for another wine party ... who needs employment to have a good time???? Not me! 6:30pm start, going deep into the evening for all you restaurant folks. Rules: bring a good to great bottle of wine to share with friends and (if you wish) something simple to nosh on (cheese, charcuterie, bread, anything finger-oriented). Costumes are optional, but we hope to see many Robert Parker, James Laube, and Jancis Robinson look-alikes in the crowd (maybe even a Jack Farrell or two -- find your bowties). Live it up!!!
We will have a ghoulish blind tasting area, lots of snacks and water, a bonfire in the backyard, and the vinyl spinning in the garage ... dress appropriately. Get a sitter ... this will be the "big kids" night out before you fuss over the little kids on Sunday.
Please reply to THIS address to RSVP (party(a)jasonkallsen.com) Note: this is NOT my normal address so don't save it as such. I'm using this email address only to keep the party RSVP's straight.
Hope to see you Saturday the 30th. I'll be sending a follow up reminder only to those that RSVP.
Jason Kallsen
Looks like Wayne's e-mail has been hacked.
DO NOT open the link in the e-mail.
As usual, NEVER click on links in cryptic messages such as this one.
When in doubt, throw it out, notify the sender in a seperate "clean" e-mail,
or better yet, call him/her.
Best,
Jim
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
Oregon's '08 Pinots have a vintage year. Really.
Jon BonnéSunday, September 26, 2010
Rows of grapes line a hillside in the Yamhill-Carlton Dis... Still-ripening Pinot Noir grapes hang on the 15 acres of ... Left-right: 2008 Alchemist Cellars Willamette Valley Pino... Left-right: 2008 Aubin Cellars Verve Stoller Vineyards Wi... More...
Of course we'd heard the hype. When a vintage gets touted with zeal, a wine writer's inner nag is tripped.
The 2008 vintage from Oregon? Well, sure it's just that stupendous. And yes, I did just see a unicorn prance by. Also, my cellar is guarded by a leprechaun and the 2009 Bordeaux are absolutely worth the money.
On Oregon's '08s, at least, I'm happy to report there's no suspension of disbelief required. The wines are gorgeous, as we discovered in our recent panel tasting.
Quite simply, it has been several years since we had such winning results. I was joined by Eric Railsback, sommelier at RN74 in San Francisco, and Debbie Zachareas, owner of Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, both of whom sell an awful lot of Pinot. Of some 48 wines tasted, we wound up with 20 to recommend.
So these wines are a pleasure. I rather like the description from Harry Pederson-Nedry of Chehalem Wines, one of Oregon's senior winemaking voices, of what '08 yielded: "a perfect spherical wine." In other words, a wine whose elements feel complete and harmonious.
That's doubly good news because Oregon Pinots have largely avoided the price inflation that has befallen the grape. The wines aren't cheap - excellent Pinot never is - but only three of our 20 recommendations exceed $40, and there are plenty at $30 and less with cellar potential.
The '08s are marked by an elusive combination: They taste fully ripe and brim with fruit - yet achieve that with alcohol levels that rarely top 14 percent. It was a dominant theme in our tasting; as I went back to check alcohol levels, I saw an abundance of fleshy, ripe wines that landed just above 13 percent.
Yet, restraint in the wines doesn't necessarily mean delicacy. The more traditional the winemaking, the more the wines are still slightly knotted and in need of time. But the flavors are transparent and clear, mostly unhindered by too much new oak.
And there is more. If grapes were modest in their sugar levels, their flavors developed fully and slowly. That elusive mix is the signature of ageless Pinot - powerful flavors without undue weight.
"There's a lot of stuff packed into them," says Steve Doerner of Cristom, whose use of whole grape clusters and indigenous yeasts yields some of the Willamette Valley's most long-lived wines.
"It'll be fun to taste those wines in five, 10 years, because all the complexity will be able to show itself a bit more."
An easy glide
Indeed, the 2008s are generally so good that it is difficult to go wrong in choosing one. You get the feeling that Oregon vintners are almost weary of the praise; they'd rather talk about the challenge of the brittle 2007s or the robust 2009s.
Tough luck. When you find a year like this, you break out the cymbals. The 2008s are just plain gorgeous. And if Pinot is that most hair-pulling of grapes, the '08s were an easy glide.
"We didn't have to work as hard," says David Paige, winemaker at Adelsheim Vineyard. "The '08s had real structure and classic Pinot Noir body and complexity whether you knew how to coax that out of the grapes or not."
Thing is, winemakers fretted for most of the year. The season began with cool temperatures and then a heat spike, leading to a very late fruit set, in which the vine develops nascent berries and seeds. That in turn led to drastically reduced crops. Peterson-Nedry got less than 2 tons per acre versus a more typical 2.5.
So there was less fruit to work with, which of course means there won't be quite as much of the '08s around.
The year didn't seem particularly auspicious through the summer, either. But in September, during a spate of moderately warm, clear weather, typically finicky Pinot fruit pulled off a hat trick: Flavors matured while crucial acidity remained and sugars stayed in check.
A happy ending
Then came October. Those sunny, slow-ripening conditions endured well into the latter half of the month, which allowed vintners to hold off at a time when the threat of rain usually hastens the harvest.
"We were all on pins and needles wondering if it was going to be too late," says winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash of Penner-Ash and Alexiana.
That is the stuff of classic vintages, and indeed similar conditions - a late harvest with a slow, easy finish - have been the hallmark of great Oregon years like 1993 and 1999.
If there's any complaint with the '08s, it's the wound-up, reticent quality some currently show. We encountered plenty of ebullient fruit, but I suspect we would have had even more wines to recommend a year from now.
That's not actually a bad thing; on balance this vintage should endure beautifully in the cellar. But, says Peterson-Nedry, "it does take longer than big flashy quarterback and cheerleader vintages, like 2006, to open up."
Outlook for '10 vintage
One final thought: The tale of 2008 - a fretful wait, with redemption in late September as sugar levels stayed in check and a long, slow, glorious October endgame - seems to be setting itself up in Oregon again this year.
For that matter, many California Pinot vineyards are in similar shape after a worrisome wait through the cool summer. Flavors are developing without sugars rising too high. If good weather holds into October, that could mean a banner 2010 vintage in both states - at least for winemakers who want to make restrained, transparent Pinot.
So fret not. After years of watching Pinot mutate into an outsize creature, this is a year for fans of its classic lines to take heart.
2008 Acrobat Oregon Pinot Noir ($20): Acrobat is King Estate's affordable second label, and while the 2009 is already out, you can still find the '08 in good supply. Great ripe flavors for the price, with soft-edged cherry, a tobacco accent and solid citrusy highlights.
2008 Adelsheim Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($32): This longtime Oregon name offered its best releases in years with the 2008 vintage, showing a coiled-up power at low alcohol levels (13.5 percent or less). This more affordable blend is taut with leather and huckleberry aromas. As it unwinds, a darker mineral edge will provide a great underpinning to ripe fruit. The 2008 Elizabeth's Reserve ($50) is even more dramatic and unique, with edgy blue fruit flavors, great acidity and classic dried-leaf accents.
2008 Alchemist Cellars Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($25): Ryan Harms and his Union Wine Co. are better known for their Kings Ridge value wines. But this new higher tier shows off a classic, juicy Oregon expression with aging potential. There's restraint in the ripe cherry flavors, edged with bright red berry and a subtle musk and nutmeg spice. Remarkable nuance for the price.
2008 Alexana Dundee Hills Pinot Noir ($38): This is the Oregon project from the owner of St. Helena's Revana label, with the wines made by longtime talent Lynn Penner-Ash. Big and ripe, with lots of generosity. Marked by a loamy edge to its strawberry jam character, with lots of tense mineral on the palate and a raft of brown spice and birch bark.
2008 Amity Estate Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($35): Under winemaker Darcy Pendergrass, Myron Redford's pioneering label has produced a classic 2008. Accented by scents of fennel seed and moss, there's lots of racy but rich fruit - raspberry and watermelon skin, with a refined tannic edge. Very much in Oregon's more restrained style, and harnessing mid- to late-October harvests.
2008 Anam Cara Cellars Nicholas Estate Chehalem Mountains Pinot Noir ($29): Nick and Sheila Nicholas maintain their own estate site on a southeast-facing slope near Newberg. This spicy, expressive take is full of bright, tenser notes (perhaps from nearly 40 percent use of the more structured 667 clone). It's an energetic wine, heady with fennel, toasted spices, moss, bright raspberry and a lemon-peel edge. Layers of bright Pinot fruit deliver immediate pleasure, but clearly have potential to evolve.
2008 Andrew Rich The Knife Edge Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($45): With a wide array of wines, Rich is one of the Northwest's most omnivorously talented winemakers. This limited release shows a muscular style, but there's still terrific restraint to it, with more fresh strawberry fruit and plum skin-like grip. The very pretty, refined tannins show Rich's ability to offer finesse in a great year.
2008 Aubin Cellars Verve Stoller Vineyards Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($30): Jerome Aubin brings fruit from one of Oregon's most successful vineyards to Oakland for this appealing bottle, due in October. Beautiful woodsy scents of birch bark and dried mushroom, with ripe strawberry and a bright, tangy finish. A raft of dense tannins adds to its appeal with food.
2008 Benton-Lane Estate Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($25): Winemaker Chris Mazepink took advantage of the late growing season to craft a winning profile for this larger production blend from one of Oregon's long-established producers. A curious profile of brambly berry, lily and menthol, with a racy edge. There's a bite to the finish, but that will give it added character with food.
2008 Brandborg Benchlands Umpqua Valley Pinot Noir ($22): Most Pinot is in northern Oregon, but Terry and Sue Brandborg continue to impress with their parcels in the Umpqua Valley, several hours south. We've liked the Benchlands before, and the '08 is a study in subtlety: softer sweet berry and watermelon, with bright mineral highlights and a certain finesse. Tangerine and thyme accents round out the high-toned fruit. Pretty and thoughtful.
2008 Broadley Vineyards Shea Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($50): The Broadleys tend toward a deep, opulent style for their single-vineyard bottles. Add in the nonpareil Shea vineyard and the vintage and you have a weighty effort that succeeds in finding an oak-edged sweet spot. Dark, chewy and bursting with blackberry and black cherry notes. Powerful stuff.
2008 Brooks Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($25): Winemaker Chris Williams found just the right balance of robust cherry fruit and a raspberry-like brightness in this sleek, aromatic blend, harnessing 35 percent new oak. Heady nutmeg and tree-bark scents. A minty, almost camphor-like accent and minerally tangerine kick lift the fruit. Keep an eye out for the musky Janus ($35) when it arrives next year.
2008 Chehalem 3 Vineyard Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($27): This popular bottling from Harry Pederson-Nedry and his team is blended from three of their top sites (Stoller, Ridgecrest and Corral Creek). At just 13.4 percent alcohol, it's a model of the subtle power of the 2008s, showing off its classic Oregon profile: a tangy orange edge and earthy tree-bark notes that give depth to strawberry and ripe plum-skin flavors. Vibrant and simply delicious.
2008 Cloudline Oregon Pinot Noir ($19): Cloudline is less a second label for Domaine Drouhin Oregon than a leveraging of winemaker Veronique Drouhin-Boss' talents to craft an affordable table wine. It's a perfect meeting of great vintage and great price. Light on its feet, with tightly wound huckleberry fruit, dusty ripe cherry and a proper grip.
2008 Cristom Mount Jefferson Cuvee Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir ($30): Steve Doerner latest release of the Mount Jeff is a standout of a wine that remains one of the best deals in Oregon. The '08 is elegant and spicy, with aromas of black tea, tangerine peel and the matsutake mushroom note that always seems to mark this wine, balanced by an innate brightness - gorgeous raspberry and mineral, with fine, broad tannins that provide terrific length.
2008 Domaine Drouhin Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($40): Drouhin is the most evident link between Oregon and Burgundy, and in a year like this, Veronique Drouhin-Boss' more traditional winemaking (just 20 percent new oak) yields an effort that will be rewarded with at least a couple of years in the cellar. Dark and brooding, with a Pommard-like tone edged by aromas of damp forest leaves. Gorgeous raspberry and beetroot highlights, with a refined tannic presence that shows its aging potential.
2008 Penner-Ash Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($45): Lynn Penner-Ash extended her growing season almost into November for this blend of a dozen vineyard sources. There's lots of barrel power from 35 percent new oak for a dark, wood-inflected profile full of brooding cherry fruit and the potential to flourish with a few years' aging.
2008 Seven of Hearts Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($24): Byron and Dana Dooley have crafted this approachable, early-drinking take in a generally wound-up vintage. Lots of ripe fruit here - a slightly jammy, soft-edged strawberry presence, with a charming lemon-peel bite on the finish.
2008 Sokol Blosser Dundee Hills Pinot Noir ($38): The Sokol Blosser family first planted vineyards in the Dundee Hills in 1971, making them among Oregon's early Pinot pioneers. Their benchmark cuvee is shining in such a great vintage; it's big, wound up and full of potential. A forest-floor note amid opulent cola, nutmeg and deep, ripe cherry, with a good bit of tannic guts.
2008 Solena Estate Grande Cuvee Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($25): Laurent Montalieu's label typically focuses on individual sites, but this affordable blend shows a deeper, richer style evident in its dark cherry flavors. There's a winning, earthy bite that reveals its bigger size.
Jon Bonnés The Chronicle's wine editor. Find him at jbonne(a)sfchronicle.com or twitter.com/jbonne.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/26/FDBG1FI9JN.DTL
This article appeared on page J - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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* Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
* james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *
