In Oregon last weekend:
2018 Big Table Farm Pinot Noir Willamette Valley
PnP'd. Pretty, pretty nose tilting toward exotic red fruits and plums with a touch of ripe-California iodine on the palate that over the course of two hours gives way to interesting green notes of thyme and tomato leaf. Not a typical Oregon profile, but delightful.
2016 Robert Mondavi Winery Fumé Blanc Reserve To-Kalon Vineyard Napa Valley
Full throttle sauv blanc with big flavors of tarragon, lemongrass and asparagus. At five years old, this is prime drinking zone.
2011 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Louise Dundee Hills
Suzanne's bottle, opened at Cuvee. Not decanted. Warm red color, tart cherry fruit, earthy with some spice. Very lovely and Burgundian and barely middle aged, there's more complexity to come.
2011 Elizabeth Chambers Cellar Pinot Noir Winemaker's Cuvée McMinnville
Suzanne's bottle. Beautifully living out its best life in the tertiary dimension with delicate notes of Italian plum, Earl Gray tea and dried flowers. Best Oregon 2011 I've had.
2016 The Walls Vineyards Stanley Groovy Red Mountain Red Blend
Big, spicy and sweet with a finish that's almost cloying but not quite, having lost a lot of its early acidity. Too heavy for the duck dinner I took it to but surprisingly killer, in lieu of port, with the chocolate chip and Gand Marnier soaked raisin cookies our hostess Suzanne served later.