PinotReport
/ April 2002
TASTING
REPORT: Ken Wright's Dynamite Dozen
Tasting
Notes: Ken Wright Cellars
(Listed alphabetically by vineyard name)
We
tasted 12 bottlings from Ken Wright's 2000 vintage. All
wines were tasted blind and scored before knowing anything
other than the producer. Our notes and comments follow.
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Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Abbey Ridge Vineyard 2000
Deep rich ruby color; spicy cherry,
nutmeg aromas, toasty oak. Rich, ripe bright red fruit and
spicy notes, balanced toasty oak. Abbey Ridge Vineyard is
located at the Northwest end of the Dundee Hills and is
one of the older Ken Wright vineyard sources. The vineyard
was planted in 1977 and sits at an elevation of 650 feet
with a southwest facing. Soils in Abbey Ridge are largely
the Jory type -- a volcanic basalt-based soil. The vineyard
is owned and managed by Bill & Julia Wayne.
365 cases made
$50 Score: 89
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Arcus Vineyard 2000
Very deep,
rich ruby color; spicy, anise, licorice aromas, very fruity,
young, lots of red raspberry and cherry. Very forward and
fruity right now but balanced with good structure. Arcus
Vineyard is in the Dundee Hills and sits at an elevation
of 350 feet. Soil in the vineyard is the volcanic Jory type.
Arcus is owned and managed by Archery Summit Winery.
200 cases made
$50 Score: 91
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Canary Hill Vineyard 2000
Deep rich ruby
color; toasty oak aromas along with some black cherry on
the nose; big, full, good structure, lots of complex black
cherry, plum and cola flavors, long full finish. This wine
has the structure and balance to age well. Canary Hill Vineyard
is located in the southern portion of the Eola Hills and
was planted in 1982 and 1983. The site has a southeast facing
at an elevation ranging from 450 to 550 feet. The vines
are vertically trellised and the reddish-brown soil is a
mixture of Jory and Nekia types. Canary Hill is owned by
Dick and Nancy Daniel.
650 cases made $50 Score: 92
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Carter Vineyard 2000
Medium-deep
ruby color; earthy aromas, lots of extract, earth, wood,
tannin and depth; fruit is a little buried. Needs time to
develop. Carter Vineyard is lower at 350 feet than the nearby
Canary Hill Vineyard and has a leaner soil profile with
mainly Nekia soil. The vineyard was planted in 1983 and
is owned by Jack and Kathleen Carter.
320 cases made $50 Score: 90
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Elton Vineyard 2000
Medium-deep
ruby color; toasty oak, spice and cherry on the nose; big,
full tannins, lots of extract and structure, fruit is subdued
but black cherry notes are there. This is one worth waiting
for. Elton Vineyard is located on the eastern side of the
Eola Hills. The vineyard has an east-southeast facing and
sits at an elevation of approximately 250 feet. Elton is
owned and managed by Dick and Betty O'Brien.
150 cases made
$50 Score: 93
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Freedom Hill Vineyard 2000
Medium-deep
ruby in color; earthy, black fruits on nose; big full and
toasty on palate with balance and black cherry flavors.
Freedom Hill Vineyard was planted in 1980 at a site in Oregon's
Coast Range just south of the city of Dallas. The soils
are sedimentary in origin and nature. Freedom Hill is owned
and managed by Dan & Helen Dusschee.
365 cases made $50 Score: 91 |
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Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Guadalupe Vineyard 2000
Very deep in color, black/purple;
earthy, black fruits on nose; big full and toasty on palate,
lots of black cherry and earthy flavors. Guadalupe Vineyard
was planted in 1989 at an elevation of 350 feet. Soils are
of the Willakenzie type—a shallow, well drained top
soil over siltstone. Guadalupe is owned by Jim Stonebridge
and Kathleen Boeve.
680 cases made
$50 Score: 93
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley McCrone Vineyard 2000
Deep ruby-purple
in color; very ripe black fruit aromas, big, full, intense,
lots of black fruit, spice and toasty oak. Clean and well
balanced with lots of depth and a full lingering finish.
McCrone Vineyard is located in the Yamhill Foothills at
an elevation of 400 feet with a south to southwest facing.
Planted in 1992, the site has Willakenzie soils. McCrone
Vineyard is owned by Don and Carole McCrone.
220 cases made
$50 Score: 92
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Nysa Vineyard 2000
Very deep,
rich ruby color, muted notes of spice and oak on nose, seems
closed now; tart red fruit flavors; more tannic but seems
less forward than others. Nysa Vineyard was planted in 1990
and is owned and managed by Michael Mega. The vineyard sits
with a southeast to northeast facing in the middle of the
Dundee Hills, roughly between Domaine Drouhin and Archery
Summit and has Jory soil.
285 cases made $50 Score: 86
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Shea Vineyard 2000
Deep ruby-purple
color; complex nose of red cherry and blueberry and spice;
balanced, good structure, great fruit and spice; blueberries,
red cherry and earth. Dynamite. Shea Vineyard was planted
in 1989 and is located just west of the Chehalem Valley
in the Yamhill Foothills. The site lies at an elevation
of 350 feet and the soils are primarily Willakenzie. Shea
Vineyard is owned by Dick Shea.
560 cases made $50 Score: 94
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Wahle Vineyard 2000
Medium-deep
ruby color; deep and complex spices, earth, clove aromas—these
notes carry to the palate; very big and full but with the
fruit and structure to match. Will age well. Wahle Vineyard
was planted in 1974—one of the Yamhill Foothills'
first vineyard plantings. The site lies at 425 feet and
is made up primarily of Willakenzie soil. Wahle Vineyard
is owned and managed by Betty Wahle.
135 cases made $50 Score: 93
Pinot
Noir Willamette Valley Whistling Ridge Vineyard 2000
Deep ruby-purple
color; closed on the nose, hints of blackberry and anise
on the nose; very big flavors, black fruits, earth, anise
with good structure and a balanced finish. Whistling Ridge
Vineyard is adjacent to Beaux Freres on the southwest end
of the Chehalem Ridge. The elevation is 450 feet with a
southern facing. Whistling Ridge is owned and managed by
Dick Alvord and Patricia Gustafson.
110 cases made $50 Score: 92 |
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About
Our Tastings
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Generally,
there are two types of tastings that appear in each issue
of PinotReport. The first are our regular "New Releases"
tastings of Pinot Noirs new on the market. The second are
our "Tasting Reports" that focus on a particular
appellation, producer or style. The mechanics behind both
of these tasting types is the same.
How
We Taste
We taste wine
in flights of usually no more than 10 wines. These flights
are organized appropriately based on the particular type
of tasting. We generally taste no more than 30 wines in
a tasting session. Ringers and duplicate wines are inserted
in tastings to measure consistency and whether the Editor
is paying attention. All
tasting unless otherwise noted is done blind by the Editor.
From time to time other tasters may participate, but their
scores and comments are not part of the official tasting
record. The tasting coordinator (who does not taste) arranges
and bags all wines, which are then scored and comments
recorded before bags are removed.
Our tastings are done under controlled,
consistent conditions. We do not under any circumstances
use tasting notes from large tasting events or other sub-optimal
tasting venues in our published tasting reports. |
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Wine
Prices and Sourcing
Wine prices vary all around the country
and can often vary significantly within the same city. We
make every effort to only publish a winery's suggested retail
price. This price in many cases will be higher than you
can find in your local store. The wines we taste either
come from the wineries in the form of tasting samples (always
finished bottles ready for market) or wines we purchase
at retail or at the winery.
Our
Wine Ratings
The wines we taste are rated using
a 100-point rating system. We fully understand the ongoing
debate over the use of the 100-point system and while we
respect the rights of those who simply despise the system
to continue to do so, we believe that the scale has value
when used with the accompanying tasting notes as a relative
guide to wine quality that has the added benefit of being
familiar and truly intuitive for most consumers. Here
is PinotReport's 100-point scale:
96-100 Superior; it doesn't get better.
90-95 Outstanding; approaching the best
80-89 Above Average; a fine Pinot.
70-79 Average; OK if it's all you have.
60-69 Below Average; not recommended.
50-59 Undrinkable. |
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| Wednesday,
May 15, 2002
Copyright 2002 by Gregory S. Walter. All rights reserved. |
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