Brooks’ 2010 Riesling Ara originates in 1985 Yamhill Vineyards plantings and their estate’s 1974 block and was only recently released, a reaction to this wine’s austerity that I can appreciate. That having been noted, the lime-peel pungency and cut; bright lemon; and alkalinity on display here offer a more generous – and somehow shimmeringly interactive – performance than in the corresponding “regular” bottling, and there is also greater sheer refreshment to an admittedly rather severely-penetrating, tart, and phenolically-pronounced finish. A saline, briny streak serves for some saliva-inducement in a wine I would pair cautiously with cuisine and about the potential of which to become more interesting or ingratiating with further bottle age I remain agnostic.
I tasted this July with Brooks winemaker Chris Williams, for more detail about whom – as well as about the history and current operating procedures of this estate – consult my issue 202 report. (Wines from Williams’ own small but exciting Terue project can also be found – under that name – in the present report.) As had been the case last year, I found the Rieslings on which this estate puts great stock and about which a number of my journalistic colleagues have written flatteringly were not nearly on the impressive level of the Brooks Pinots – or indeed of their recently-introduced Gewurztraminer from Columbia Gorge fruit. (Because my views on Brooks Rieslings might be considered contrarian, I have elected to publish full tasting notes on certain wines whose ratings would ordinarily have relegated them to a mere mention in my text and to listing as “also recommended.”) “I try not to ever chaptalize,” says Williams – whose low-alcohol (at times astonishingly so) 2011 and 2010 vintage Pinots testify to his resolve under the greatest imaginable temptation – though he confesses that “I had to water-back a couple of lots from 2012 that would have just been big, huge monsters; but, man, I struggled with that because I had never, ever done it; and I’ve never done acid-addition either.” (Could you guess that Williams isn’t at all sure the already much-ballyhooed 2012 Pinots will prove more exciting than his 2011s?!) Incidentally, a new winery is planned for a vineyard location a short distance from the present facility, the old Eola quarters being noticeably cramped.
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