1983 The Eyrie Vineyards Pinot noir "South Block Reserve"

 

David Lett is the father of Oregon pinot noir, inspired by traditional Burgundian winemaking practice. His Pinot noir stands in the more delicately perfumed style. In 2005, Jason Lett took over from his father as winemaker and vineyard manager and continues his family’s pioneering legacy. Tight and austere while young, these wines often begin to blossom only at 5-10 years of age. The philosophy of the Eyrie Vineyards, from the beginning the wines have been made exclusively from grapes grown without the use of insecticides, herbicides, or systemic fungicides.  The vines are grown on their own roots and are not irrigated.

In 1979, in Paris, and the following year in Beaune, The Eyrie Vineyards 1975 Pinot noir bought international attention to Oregon, a wine region unfamiliar to almost anyone except a handful of hardy pioneers; Oregon won recognition as the New World home for pinot noir.

Willamette Valley is one of the United States' most important non-Californian AVAs with the Pinot Noir as the first lady . The wine region of the city of Portland, with the Willamette River, a tributary of the larger Columbia River that marks Oregon's northern border with Washington. The climate can be considered as maritime, with ocean breezes sweeping in through a series of gaps in the mountains. 

The Willamette Valley became an AVA in 1984. 

In 2002,  six new AVAs within the Willamette Valley were created to celebrate the diversity of the terroirs and aspects. Those are the Dundee Hills, McMinnville, Eola-Amity Hills, Yamhill-Carlton District, Chehalem Mountains, and Ribbon Ridge sub-AVAs.

1983 Pinot noir South Block Reserve

Planted in 1968, the South Block occupies a small corner of the first vines planted at Eyrie – a mere 10 rows of Pinot noir. A spot on Oregon’s Dundee Hills AVA. It was the first American Pinot noir to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of Burgundy’s best vintages in competition. Not only did the results bring acclaim to The Eyrie Vineyards – it showed Oregon’s potential as a wine-producing region to the world.

Ruby center color with a progression of orange fades, definitely the color showing the age. Confectionery black cherry and dry plump "Umeboshi", balsamic notes, and soy sauce integrated with the presence of the ripe fruits profile, potpourri, and earthy black mushroom. Lots of things going on the nose. The palate is still rich and complex with pronounced tertiary characteristics, earthy minerality, and a very good spine of acid. Chapeau ....



Best
raffaele mastrovincenzo

Blog 
--------------------------------------
wine / spirit / lambic / drinker
 Melbourne / Abruzzo  

Comments

Post a Comment

A drinker

Chablis Climats and Lieux-dit

Image
Climat: from the Greek Klima via the Latin Cliamtis.  Precisely delimited plots of land which benefit from specific geological and climate conditions...  Lieux-dits a designated area of land with a historical particularity from a topographical point of view of an ancient story... These two terms in wine always as an interchange used; however, you can find several Lieux-dits within a single Climat... Chablis is a really good example of how these two concepts work together.   See the map above and you can see how many Lieux-Dit compose a climat, in this case, 1er Cru. For example Montmains 1er Cru, a famous block of vineyard on the left bank of the Serein river at the bottom holds two famous Lieux-dit called Forets and Butteaux; according to the INAO, this can be a label on his own or as Montmains 1er Cru.  Vaillons 1er Cru got several different names, those are: Sechet, Les Lys, Les Epinottes, Ronciers, Mellinots, Beugnons and Chatains.  Another good example is the
Podcast

Domaine de la Cras, Marc Soyard "Coteaux de Dijon"

Image
In 2013, the city of Dijon purchased a 160-hectare agricultural property called Domaine de la Cras, located just outside the city. They decide they want to release the land to farm the vines were planted there. So they taught to create a kind of competition open to winemakers:  The criteria were:  - The vineyards had to be farmed organically.  - Had to be a young winemaker with no existing family vineyards.  - Also interested in opening the Domaine to the public for educational visits.  - The conditions that the winemaker pay a yearly “rent” of 2000 bottles per year to the city of Dijon.  Marc Soyard was chosen; a young winemaker from Jura with no family past in winemaking or background on wine.  Marc works for six years at Domaine Bizot in Vosne Romanee as chef de culture "vineyard management" also he helped Jean Yves in the cellar and was able to learn the winemaking process.  Messieurs Soyard at Domaine de la Cras as the same hands-off natural philosophy
Podcast

Cahors Simon Busser - Corbières Maziere Fabrice Monnin

Image
SIMON BUSSER from the village in Prayssac, in the AOC Cahors: Cahors is a small town in southwestern France, located 160km to the east of Bordeaux. The climate here is subject to multiple influences; from the Atlantic coast which bring a continental climate, and the Mediterranean from the south which gives a maritime influence. We can divide the AOC into two different terroirs the "Causses" based limestone plateau that produces more tannic, mineral lived wines. The other vineyards profile is the one that influenced by the river Lot with a more gravelly slope which makes more approachable wines on the fruity spectrum profile.  Cahors is home of Malbec, Bordeaux grapes mainly Merlot, and also a small amount of Tannat more present in the neighborhood Madiran AOC.  Simon Busser has been training with Olivier Cousin in the Loire. He returns to his village Prayssac and start to looking after his father’s vineyards. He works his small vineyard with a horse, as Cousin taugh
Podcast