2005 Tualatin Estate Pinot Noir (Estate Grown)

Should wines be given a second chance?

I pondered this as I sit here after having given a wine a second chance, something that had I thought about it earlier in the week would not have happened. The wine this evening I am talking about is the 2005 Tualatin Estate Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley Vineyards. Let me make it clear - I love Willamette Valley Vineyards, and since my time in Oregon, most of my wines have come from there. As a member of the wine guild, I do feel a certain amount of loyalty to them, but, I was quite taken aback when I opened this bottle of wine on Thursday and took a sip.

My most recent post talked about red wines, wines that I didn't like as much, and my writing more about those. I got a response from a friend of the Oregon Wine Blog, the Beer Blog, commenting that we might be less prone to write about wine we dislike for numerous reasons. All the same, I was certain that this Pinot Noir would be the first on that list, but not completely.

I first opened this bottle of wine on Thursday. I let it sit open for about 15-20 minutes while I decompressed from the day. I poured a bit into the glass and was immediately struck by the color. It was a very distinct cranberry-grape color, which I liked. I took the nose on it to really be able to bring about the oak, or something wood (I am not sure what kind of apparatus it is aged in) with some some of the spices. I swirled the wine and noticed the nice coat it gave my glass. Then came the sip...I found my first glass of this wine to be very harsh, very strong, and reminiscent of why it is I am less prone to reds over whites. The aftertaste was lasting and it was almost as though I had taken some cold medicine. I thought it might have been my first sip of something that I did wrong. After pouring more into my glass, I would realize this was not the case. I continued to drink my glass of wine, "You never leave a man behind" is a favorite saying of someone here on the Oregon Wine Blog when referring to glasses of wine. I drank about 3/4 of my glass before I decided I was done with this wine for the evening.

That brings us to today. I think it completely okay to start the week off with a glass of wine or two in my apartment, as long as I am responsible. I decided, almost reluctantly, to give the Tualatin another chance, despite having a white wine chilled (I will write about that one later). I recently purchased a vacuum sealer for wines - it is not responsible of me to put away a whole bottle of wine every time I open one - and used it for the first time when I closed this bottle on Thursday. I opened the seal and poured my glass of wine. The color and coat were the same. The nose seemed to bring out more of a cinnamon scent with the wood, and then I took the plunge.

With a little trepidation, I took the sip and was relieved. The flavor and richness that was on my palate this evening was what I remembered this wine tasting like when I first tried it before. The flavor is one that still lingers, but it is no where near as strong as it was on Thursday. There is just a lite tingle that you feel at the back of the cheeks. While hard to describe, I like the spices that I taste with this wine. And while we sometimes talk about what we are eating or would eat while drinking our wines, I am going to be a little less conventional this evening. As I drink my Pinot Noir, I think that it would go well with some chocolate brownies. The sweet sugar of the brownies would be a good offset with the subtle and after-swallow lite tartness of this Pinot Noir.

I was very happy that I decided to give this wine a second chance, and would encourage others to continue to try old wines, even those that might not have made a good first impression. While I am not saying this is my favorite Pinot Noir, that will come later, I would rank this one in my top 5...for now :-)

Apex II Late Harvest Semillon

In our last Creme' de Cru wine shipment from Willamette Valley Vineyards we received a small 375ml bottle of Apex II Late Harvest Semillon from Apex Cellars out of the Yakima Valley Washington. This Late Harvest Semillon is a sweet, but not too sweet wine. Although not from the great state of Oregon, this wine was sent to me from our favorite Oregon winery as a part of a club shipment.

When I opened the bottle of wine the first thing I noticed was the synthetic cork in the bottle. This small interesting bottle, with a rather faux modern label, had a black synthetic cork. Following the synthetic cork the wine had the typical late harvest thickness. However, upon the first flavor the thing I most noticed was its lack of extreme sweetness like most other late harvest wines. This wine was, as stated, sweet but not too sweet.

Being at a friend's house with her cat has largely blocked my nose from enjoying this wine's nose. However, the sweet flavors have all been experienced. The sweet honey flavor is complimented by a creamy backdrop of apricots and peaches. This sweet wine was enjoyed in the company of friends and a good suspenseful movie. A great warm summer evening wine for the enjoyment of good times with good friends.

-Cheers!

Willamette Valley Vineyards

Today brought a trip to Willamette Valley Vineyards, perhaps one of my favorite wine producers due to their great service, famous Pinot, and diverse portfolio of varietals--all done well. In fact, I'm such a fan, I'm a stockholder (see the bias coming out?) WVV is the largest producing winery in the state of Oregon and was one of the founders of this appellation. They are known for their Pinot Noir's, they have a darn good Pinot Gris (Wine Spectator best buy), a good Riesling, and an up-and-coming Chardonney. For the dessert wine conniosuers, can't beat their semi-sparkling muscat frizzante...marketed under the Tualatin Estate label.

The trip today was to pick up the most recent shipment from the Oregon Wine Guild premier cru, a wonderful wine club that bring a red and a white every other month, with no membership fees, free reserve tastings, and a 20% discount on the shipments plus all wine purchased through the winery. Today's shipment included the 2006 Riesling as well as a 2004 Griffin Creek Cabernet Franc. Of course, stopping by the winery, a tasting was required. For some reason they were opening the really good stuff for us--we got into the 1998 Freedom Hill Pinot and the 1999 Karina Vineyard Pinot, in addition to the standard fare. After the winery, a group of us proceeded to the Vina's for a BBQ, and that is where we cracked open the wine that I'll be reviewing today -- 2002 Griffin Creek Cabernet Sauvignon.

Griffin Creek is the label WVV uses mostly on the bigger reds, as the grapes come from the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon so the Willamette Valley label can't be used. This cab is a gorgeous dark red, almost burgundy, and as could be expected from a big red like this had good legs on it. The nose had strong peppery notes, and on the second glass after it had opened up a bit I started picking up some toffee and leather aroma. Upon tasting, it has a warm spicy feel with a lingering finish. After opening up, I detected a jammy fruitiness that could be overpowered by the bold spice if you aren't careful. For the technical details...the wine retails for $35, fermented in 100% stainless and barrelled in 50% new oak. It's 14.6% in alcohol and 886 cases bottled. This is a great wine meant to be consumed with heavy food.

That's it for now--you'll be reading more about WVV in the future though (we have a lot of their wine to drink).