Barely-ripe cherry and plum mingle with resinous herbs and arbor vita on the nose of Siduri’s 2011 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, which represents 82% of Siduri’s fruit from this vintage. These themes vie on a firm palate with hints of toasted wood and brown spices from (30% new) barrel for a slightly inharmonious effect, given the tart-edged nature of the fruit. A smoky, resinous, tart and almost smarting – though undeniably bracing and persistent – finish ensues. I would plan – pending revisiting and reassessment – on drinking this over the next couple of years.
I tasted the two 2011 bottlings from Adam and Diana Lee – for more about whose work in Oregon see my issue 202 report – as well as their promising 2012s (including no fewer than four anticipated vineyard-designates) from barrel. Adam Lee was frank about the substantial roles he assigned, in rendering successful 2011s, to chaptalization, saignee, acidification (to compensate for a low tartaric-to-malic ratio) and enzymatic additions (principally to compensate for low yeast-nutrient levels). He acknowledges that early crop-thinning (to one cluster per shoot) had a tendency to make already large berries even larger but opines that given how the season turned-out, thinning early was still the best way. He thinks the Chehalem Mountains’ Laurelwood soils in which several of his vineyard sources are vested were disadvantaged in 2011 by their water-retentiveness.
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