Welcome back to Sip Northwest’s Bar Tab, our editor’s weekly selection of what to drink in the Northwest now. This week, we dig into the tasting notebook for scribblings from a recent trip to the Chehalem Mountains and Dundee Hills. When Pinot Noir is largely the sole allegiance in this wine nation, the significance put into soil is what separates those simply enlisted in the varietal from those leading the forces. The following Pinot Noirs exemplify the latter. Come on in, belly up to the counter, exam a cup full of dirt and order a digital drink on us.
Domaine Nicolas-Jay 2014 Nysa Vineyard, Dundee Hills || This relatively new and rightfully hyped winery is led by Burgundian superstar Jean-Nicolas Méo and music-media executive Jay Boberg, but much of the real success is brought to the bottle by associate winemaker Tracy Kendall’s deft and delicate hand. In a progressive tasting showing prior vintages of this vineyard designate not crafted by Kendall, the young UC Davis enology and viticulture master reveals this as a superior bottling to its predecessors. Homing in on the basalt-based volcanic Jory soils of the high elevation, 26-year-old vineyard, this wine is procured from original own-rooted Pommard clone vines. The elegance is due credit to both land and winemaker, with dusted baking spices, red fruits and streaks of mineral amid the youthful acid and tannic structure.
Alloro Vineyard 2011 Riservata, Chehalem Mountains || A standalone in a valley where vineyard is often adjacent to winery, Alloro Vineyard is one of the few that pulls from a single estate vineyard, which houses the production site. The 78-acre property is composed of windblown, fertile loess soil known as Laurelwood, with vines located on a southwest-facing slope — a dream come true for UC Davis-trained winemaker Tom Fitzpatrick. With terroir as the focal point, this seemingly disastrous vintage evolved into a spectacular, barrel-select bottling, with purity in black fruits of dark cherry and blackberry, accented by a spice box of black pepper, tobacco, cedar and sweet herbs. Acidity provides a buoyancy in this lush wine, finishing broad and spicy. Fantastically aromatic, get lost in locating the idiosyncrasies of this wine.
Domaine Roy et Fils Maison Roy 2013 Petite Incline, Willamette Valley || Sourcing largely from nearby Jory-rich Dundee Hills vineyards until the estate vines are mature, this Dundee-based vineyard winery is no stranger to the region or its key variety. Second generation wine folk Marc-André Roy and Jared Etzel, sons of landmark biodynamic winery Beaux Frères founders Robert Roy and Michael Etzel, are at the helm of Domaine Roy and its kid-sister label Maison Roy. With 13 acres dedicated to Pinot Noir in the hazelnut orchard-turned-vineyard, the team aims to pull estate fruit next fall. A youngster in the lineup, the 2013 Petite Incline is a self-proclaimed “pop and pour wine,” accessible from the start with juicy and bright fruits of strawberry, red currant and raspberry, caped in cardamom, rose petal and mineral. The lightest bodied Pinot in this list, tannins are lean but shaping with zesty acid in the finish for an “intro” wine that exceeds expectations.
Purple Hands 2014 Holstein Vineyard, Dundee Hills || This isn’t a new story: Cody Wright is of royal Willamette Valley blood. Son of master winemaker Ken Wright and Oregon wine business maven Corby Stonebraker-Soles, with bubbles guru Rollin Soles as his stepfather, Wright’s upbringing was one of grape-sorting, fermenter-cleaning and forklift-driving pedigree. Taking no shortcuts (although the connections couldn’t have hurt), Wright worked his up way in his parents’ vineyards and wineries while doubling up on vintages with Australian and New Zealand producers, until he opened his own with wife Marque in 2005. The site-specific winery sources from a number of praised vineyards, including the Holstein Vineyard, the high-density, Jory clay soil site that sits at 700-feet in the Dundee Hills. Hand-macerated and undergoing native fermentation in small open top fermenters, this wine is a true expression of the site and its fruit. The meaty, inky Pinot doesn’t shy off the leather, chalk, cola and wet rock notes, but triumphantly marries those qualities with orange rind, blackberry, black cherry and cocoa with powerful grace. Hungry yet?
