WTN: 2005 Soter North Valley Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Oregon. $15.00 a glass at Endless Vines. 13.6% alcohol.
Deep red color, deep hue, somewhat restrained aromas of very good Pinot fruit with just a hint of spice and earth, forward fruit tastes, dominating hints of earth and spice, medium mouth feel, very light acidity, long single note finish. No EGA. A pretty wine for sipping, rather inchoate personality to my taste, more California than Oregon. 3*.
Notes: Winemaker: http://www.sotervineyards.com/ 1300 cases.
"North Valley Pinot Noir is a blend of our privileged estate vineyards and a few select sites here in the North end of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Close relationships with local growers, careful farming, and Tony Soter’s 25+ years winegrowing experience make this a truly superb and versatile Pinot Noir. Our goal is to produce an accessible, affordable, and ample counterpart to our more structured estate-grown wines.
"2005 will forever be defined by the careful preparation of the viticulturalist and the picking decisions made by the winemaker. In late September 2005, we could see a series of storms on the horizon for October. Because of our low yields, the moderate altitudes of the vineyards, and Soter’s meticulous crop-thinning, the grapes were packed with flavor and ready to pick. At Soter Vineyards we made the decision to pick 100% of our grapes before any rain fell in our valley. It proved to be a propitious choice. All of these grapes were farmed without pesticides or residual herbicides, and were certified as sustainable by Oregon’s L.I.V.E. program.
"The wine was fermented with a significant amount of whole clusters, and was aged in 33% new French oak from the finest Burgundian coopers. It spent 10 months in barrel, and was gently racked only into the bottling tank, where it remained until bottling in September 2006. Tony said about this wine that “I have made bigger, more extracted wines with lesser material, but in this case I decided to aim for ‘stylistic higher ground.’” The result is a Pinot that wraps you in silk rather than beating a bass drum."
For the Record:
Lafouge, Gilles et Jean 2005 Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru Climat du Val. Chamber Street Wines; $29.99. "Gilles Lafouge thinks that the Les Duresses is the best of his three 1er Cru vineyards for early drinking. It has lovely pure strawberry fruit with herbal highlights, and soft tannins. it should drink well for another 5 years or so.... The Climat du Val has darker fruit, with more prune and plum and hints of violet. DL" Corked. 1*.
