Polished and silken as well as brimming with ripe, juicy cassis and purple plum, the Brittan estate 2008 Pinot Noir Basalt Block is at this point reinforcing my impression of this vintage’s typical bottled results as persistently fruity and pure, lush and alluring, but lacking a bit in complexity and in particular in expressions of things animal or mineral, axes along which Brittan Pinots normally plow deeply. Nor is there any of the kinetic excitement here such as accrues to other wines from this vineyard. “This wine has simply never come close” in bottle, remarks Brittan, “to how well it tasted in barrel. I do not understand it.” Faintly alkaline and smoky black tea suggestions add interest to what is without question a soothing and lusciously delicious not to mention fruit-filled finish. I would tentatively plan on enjoying this over the next couple of years.
I received an extensive tour this year of the breezy, basaltic 180 degree hillside south of McMinnville that veteran California winemaker Robert Brittan – at 25 acres and counting – continues to plant, aided by his wife and industry veteran Ellen; and assistant winemaker Vince Vidrine. (Important details on this site and its various blocks as well as on Brittan’s approach and future plans can be found in my Issue 202 introduction to his estate.) I had the simultaneous opportunity to taste a near-complete set of Brittan Estate wines to date. (Their author felt that his inaugural 2006s were showing diffidently so they were omitted. In one instance where my note testified to significant changes since tasted for Issue 202, I published a re-review.) A personal encounter with these singular wines should be high on the to-do list of any wine lover – not just Pinotphile – who hasn’t yet had the experience. Over and beyond his Pinot Noirs (soon to be sourced in part from old California vine selections), Brittan’s estate essays in Chardonnay and Syrah have been nothing less than revelatory. And there will in future be Pinot Meunier, as well as a field blend featuring a diverse range of head-pruned Mediterranean varieties. That said, Chardonnay and Syrah may have met more than their match in 2011 and Brittan had already determined at the time of my visit not to bottle the former. Brittan’s Gestalt Block features incredibly dense and heavy (possibly quite young) basalt rock that is structurally entirely distinct from the sort that’s found elsewhere on his property and underlies much of the Willamette Valley; and other things are equal enough that it’s hard to avoid crediting geology with a decisive role in accounting for the unique characteristics of Pinot Noir from this block. Speaking of geology’s potentially explanatory role, I know of very few wine growers who are as keenly interested or involved in studying the interfaces between rock and root; soil, microflora and plant metabolism than Brittan, who comes from a family full of scientists. And speaking of flora, Brittan’s projects for studying and encouraging diversity of flora and fauna across his property – but especially the microorganisms that populate his grapes’ skins – are far-reaching and quite possibly of profound importance for understanding and promoting wine quality. Most organic viticulture as practiced today, he opines, “dumps huge amounts of sulfur on the vines that almost completely obliterates anything that grows on those clusters and brings a huge sulfur load into the winery. This is one reason we see so much reduction, especially in Willamette Pinot Noir.” Since there’s no aquifer on Brittan’s huge hillside, he is also keenly interested in dry-farming, although drip-lines are utilized in order to get vines past infancy, and were also employed briefly across the property during the dry summer of 2012. The 2011 vintage Pinots were harvested in late October and early November at just under 13% natural alcohol, and not chaptalized. For practical reasons of impending 2012 harvest, Brittan still bottled them,
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