2014 Teutonic Wine Company Pinot Noir 'Battle of the Cracken', Chehalem Mountains
"Lush and ripe", borrowing the winemaker's words, but that's compared to most Teutonic wines and no one else's. Compared to the deep ripe wines most will have made in a vintage like '14, this wine will show as pale, conservative and precise. Low alcohol (13.1), wild yeast, high elevation vineyard. Complex and wonderful. An ISOB pinot-geek's pinot--I purchased more.
Teutonic Wine Company was begun some ten or so years ago by Barnaby Tuttle and his wife Olga. I have been salivating over his wines for a year or three now as his distributor in this area happens to be a good friend and is justifiably nuts about what Barnaby is doing. Originally a wine buyer for a Portland restaurant who built the best German Riesling list in that city, he makes pinot, riesling and gewurz from some of the highest elevations in Oregon, looking for cool climate complexity and extended hang time (he once waited until December 3rd to pick some Riesling grapes which he says resulted in one of the best wines he's ever made).
When Barnaby came to my house for dinner last weekend as a guest of the distributor friend, he brought the pinot noir below. What a find! I've just placed an order for more.
2013 Kelley Fox Wines Pinot Noir 'Mirabai' Willamette Valley
Brought to my table by Barnaby Tuttle of Teutonic Winery. WOW, what a delightful pinot noir. A mauve-y shade of light red with an ultra balanced, silky, quietly powerful, unfiltered, untampered-with palate presence involving red fruits and spice. Only 12% alcohol. Exceptional.