WTN: Temperance

[Jenise]

2016 Vincent Pinot Noir Temperance Hill Eola - Amity Hills
Decent pinot, neither boring nor divine, that drinks well but lacks any compelling features including the stuffing to last into the next decade as apparently some CT contributors seem to think. 2036? Sorry, but no way.

2023 L'Ecole No. 41 Sauvignon Blanc Frenchtown Columbia Valley
This is L'Ecole's first vintage of a straight Sauvignon Blanc (vs. the SB-sem blend they call Luminescence), and frankly a disappointment. It's out of balance, too much acidity. I'll save my remaining bottle for next year and hope for better.

2018 Rasa Vineyards Founder's Reserve Columbia Valley Red Blend
Decanted for two hours prior to serving, and it needed all of it to lose an initial vinegar-y phenolic. But once it got over that hump it drank very well showing a lot more of the cabernet component than a bottle about six months ago. Not in its prime drinking window yet, but on the way.

[David M. Bueker]

Never had any Vincent wines from that far back, but all his 2018-2022 Pinots I have had (especially from the Ribbon Ridge AVA) have been utterly delicious.

[Jenise]

In other words, they show well young. This would have too. I think it's on it's way to fading out.

[David M. Bueker]

In other words, they show well young. This would have too. I think it's on it's way to fading out.

In other words I don’t know yet, and our palates have diverged enough that I can’t subscribe to your interpretation at this time.

[Jenise]

[shrug]

All I can say is another bottle two years ago was much more enjoyable, and this didn't give the impression of holding back. It just wasn't there.

[David M. Bueker]

[shrug]

All I can say is another bottle two years ago was much more enjoyable, and this didn't give the impression of holding back. It just wasn't there.

Understood. It's just in reading your notes there is a large number of wines that you pronounce past their time that surprise me quite a lot. Maybe I just like older wines more than you do.

[Jenise]

Yes, you recently balked at me declaring a 22 yr old Bordeaux past it's time. Oh well. But actually I love older wine, which is why I started accumulating wine in the first place. And I enjoy the tertiary flavors of mature pinot noir most of all. I was hoping this would be on that path, but it didn't seem to be.

How old is too old is a difficult question. As Jenise knows, a large part of my cellar is of venerable age but a lot of pleasant surprises come out of it. I expect that you store of older wines is similar, David.

I just opened a modest claret, an 86 Gressier Grand Poujeaux and while it wasn't bad, it had simply faded to a point where the fruit level was low enough for it to be bland. It is interesting reading CT notes - recently christened wine fanciers are used to lavish sweet fruit and if you gave them anything like a fully mature Bordeaux there's a good chance they'd declare it dead. I always try to find whatever virtue I can in an older wine before writing it off, but just being uninteresting is almost as bad as being truly dead.