Spotlight

Patricia Green visits on March 18th!

Please join as we welcome
                                    PATRICIA GREEN
      FROM PATRICIA GREEN CELLARS, Newburg, Oregon
          Thursday, March 18th from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
                              at our Store on Grove Ave.
for a tasting of her small production Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Here are the wines we’ll be tasting:
2008 Patricia Green Cellars Chardonnay
2008 Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir Estate
2008 Patricia Green Cellars Four Winds
2008 Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir Reserve
2008 Patricia Green Pinot Noir Cellars Notorious

Here is some specifics about the winery and the wines we’ll be tasting:
Patricia Green Cellars is located in the Ribbon Ridge district of Yamhill County on the 52 acre estate purchased in 2000 by Patty Green and Jim Anderson. The winery, and thus the two friends, are noted for producing a tremendously broad selection of Pinot Noirs from far flung vineyards representing some of the better sites in the Ribbon Ridge, Dundee Hills, Chehalem Mountains, and the Eola Hills growing regions. We look to produce Pinot Noirs that show the distinctions of the sites we work with. All of the vineyards we either maintain or purchase fruit from are extremely well-tended sites that seek to grow the best fruit possible through rigorous attention to detail on every single vine. To ensure that our sites truly show the characteristics of the soil, micro-climate and clonal material none of them use irrigation.

2008 Estate Vineyard: With 8 vintages behind us on this property we have begun to feel truly comfortable with the demanding management of this particular vineyard, the fruit that comes from it and the resulting styles of wine that we are seeing on a regular basis. The two sets of plantings (1994-1990 and 1997-2001) continue to show enormous distinctions between one another giving us these two unique bottlings. The Estate bottling consists of 11 separate sections of the vineyard that were planted in the 1997-2001 window. The heart of the wine is Pommard clone but the aromatics, which are higher toned and more delicate than you might think for a wine of its pigmentation, come from the 18% of Wadesville clone that we are fortunate to have in the vineyard. The ultra dark tint comes from the few barrels of Dijon 777 (5%) that we have.
This bottling is designed to show off the inherent power that younger vines display in the Ribbon Ridge Appellation. There is a darkness that runs through this wine from its color, to its aromatic profile, into the flavors and down into the tannins that finish it off. While other qualities resonate in flashes such as violets and bing cherries in the nose and rose petal and loam in the mid-palate the background of power and darkness is always there. While this wine is not truly a powerful wine as it is quite graceful it has a brooding character that gives it quite a bit of depth. This is a terrific expression of the type of subtle power wines from the Ribbon Ridge Appellation contain. Sort of like Baryshnikov doing Swan Lake in a leather jacket while carrying brass knuckles. 1,890 cases bottled.

2008 Notorious: This is our smallest bottling of the Notorious blend since the quantity-challenged 2004 vintage when we also bottled just 6 barrels of wine under this particular label. This blend changes each vintage based on what we think are the most exotic barrels the cellar has to offer. In 2008 we chose a blend of 3 barrels from Balcombe Vineyard and 3 barrels from different sections of our Estate Vineyard. We chose based on the superbly rich, dense, creamy and full-bodied natures of these barrels. This wine is a marvel in 2008. What is truly recognizable even at this youthful age is the length of this wine. There is so much substance that is so well-balanced that it carries on and on. Buy it for its concentration, depth and exotic fruit but cellar and savor it for it length and complexity. This is a beautiful, beautiful wine.
This is, as always, our only wine that is made in 100% new Cadus barrels. As always this wine is a textural experience beyond any of our other wines. The richness of the wine, the lavish fruit, the spice and tannin from the barrels and the rigorous selection of the absolute best stuff results in a wine that is exotic, nuanced, layered, pleasurable and nearly hedonistic in its youth. This wine is especially age-worthy and will still be a vibrant, primary wine for many, many years in the cellar. The past three vintages have all received 92 points from The International Wine Cellar and we expect no less from this bottling. 135 cases bottled.

2008 Four Winds Vineyard Pinot Noir: This vineyard site had been in our hands since 1997. In 2007 we decided that the combination of the political pressures on being a farming employer and the financial skittishness of farming economics was incentive enough to turn the management of this site over to Andy Humphrey of Ana Vineyards. Of all the sites we have worked with over the past 10 years none has gone under as big an evolution as Four Winds. Located well west of McMinnville in the Coast Range foothills this is one of the most westerly situated vineyards in all of Yamhill County. This is no doubt why the nature of the vineyard has undergone such a dramatic change over time. While it is in the bounds of this new appellation the preponderance of vineyards in the appellation cluster around Highway 18, east and south of this site. This makes it unique and provides little in the way of comparison since when it was initially planted it was the sole vineyard out this direction.
This is not only the best bottling of Four Winds we have ever done (by a long shot) it is one of the best wines of the vintage. It is simply incredible in every way. From the electric black/purple pigmentation to the wild berry/smoke/earth/licorice aromatics to the sheer intensity and concentration of flavors to the massive texture supported by firm tannins this wine is a rock star. This bottling has not always been everyone’s cup of tea. Those who have liked this have loved it and those not so attracted to it tended to find it distastefully earthy and odd. This wine will not be nearly as polarizing. There is a lot to love about this wine because there is a lot of stuffing packed into this wine. This is a dynamo. We waited patiently for these vines to show the benefit of some vine age and we think we are beginning to see the fruition of that patience. Didn’t hurt that this came in at slightly over 1 ton to the acre either. Stock up if you have been a fan in the past or jump on the bandwagon if you haven’t been a disciple in the past. 320 cases bottled.

2008 Reserve Pinot Noir: The Reserve program has evolved from an every-so-often produced bottling to the mainstay of our production. Starting at 200 cases in 2002 we ramped this up to 2,350 cases in 2007 and bottled just over 1,800 cases (along with 200 cases of 375 ML bottles) again in 2008. This bottling allows us to accomplish two things that are very important to us as a winery. The first thing is that it allows us to use barrels from our vineyard designated sites that we think don’t represent what we think that site’s profile truly is. Sometimes that is based on vine age, clonal material or location within the site. This allows our vineyard designated wines to be true expressions of the site on a year in and year out basis. Secondly, it allows us to create a blended wine that has a degree of consistency to it each vintage that is of high-quality and will retail for less than $30. We are wine consumers just as we are winemakers and we understand the absolute necessity for good quality Pinot at more of an every day sort of price.
In our minds this is far and away the best bottling of this we have ever done. The mix of wines is sensational incorporating barrels from stalwart vineyards such as Balcombe, Whistling Ridge, Winderlea, Ana, Croft and Ana into regular sites such as Cattrall, Croft-Williamson, Bradley, Four Winds and Estate. In fact, more than 60% of this wine comes from vines planted prior to 1990. To us this wine is a perfect reflection of this vintage. There are wonderful sweet, flowery aromatics, the wine is purely red-fruited with Griotte cherries and Oregon strawberries making up the mid-palate and there is just enough acidity and tannin to give the wine balance, depth and length. This is meant to drink well when young (and it does) but there is no doubt that this will be a surprisingly age-worthy bottle of Pinot Noir. This is a wine that is worth stocking up on for every day enjoyment and some medium-term cellaring. A classic, true-blue Oregon Pinot Noir!

March 13, 2010 2:58