J. Christopher Wines Cuvee Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, USA

杰伊·克里斯托弗黑皮諾干紅葡萄酒

點擊次數：1281

The 2013 Dundee Hills Cuvée Pinot Noir was cropped at 2.5 tons per acre between September 27 and October 4, spending 18 months in barriques (25% new oak). It has a lifted nose of red berry fruit, briary and rose petal scents mixed with damp undergrowth, all nicely defined. The palate is well balanced with crisp acidity, bright red cherry and strawberry fruit, elegant and nicely poised all the way to the finish. This is a delightful Pinot from Jay Somers.

The 2012 Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Cuvee comes from five vineyard sources, including Bella Vinda and La Colina. Picked October 11-18, 100% destemmed and matured for 20 months in oak barriques, it has a focused and vibrant bouquet with clean redcurrant and black plum fruit, with just a slight tinny quality coming through. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, understated on the entry, but very nicely balanced with a focused and elegant, feminine finish. There is a sense of suaveness about this Pinot Noir that ticks all the boxes.

The J. Christopher 2011 Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Cuvee unites fruit from, most prominently, Bella Vide, Baptista Maresh, Le Pavillon, and Abby Ridge, being as such a reflection of the prime Worden Hill Road stretch. There are a thousand cases, three times what there were of the previous vintage, marking this bottling as – along with the generic Willamette cuvee – the core of the J. Christopher program. Almost stridently bright in its evocation of sour cherry, red currant and rhubarb, this is strongly shadowed by high-toned kirsch distillate, lemon oil and sealing wax. An undertone of dried blood and iron-rich tonic of some sort seems to mysteriously creep in here as well. And amazingly, there is a fine sense of textural richness running parallel to all of the energy and tart acidity on display, and a finish of impressive, penetrating persistence as well as sheer refreshment. “I tried out a lot of blends, and tasted the wines for hours and hours each time, trying to get this a bit more forward and approachable,” says Somers. “But I kept coming back to this (blend). And for me this is what Dundee was in 2011, and the whole purpose of my A.V.A. series of wines is to capture the A.V.A. in that vintage.” I suspect this will prove deliciously versatile through 2018 if not beyond. Jay Somers – for much more about whom, and about his J. Christopher project with the Mosel’s Ernie Loosen, consult my Issue 202 account – picked from October 21 through November 2, 2011. He chaptalized certain lots – though not those from the estate’s immediate Calkins Lane neighborhood – and finished alcohols vary between 12.8% and 13.2%. As usual here, an extremely restrained regimen of punch-downs or pump-overs prevails. All of the Pinots received – and typically will receive in future – one-quarter each of new, once, twice, and thrice previously used barrels, so as to put the emphasis on terroir character, while keeping other things close to equal. A full tier of A.V.A.-designates was bottled, which – as with the vineyard-designates – did not occur until April and May of this year. “I’ve been making wine here (in the Willamette) for a long time,” says Somers, “and something I’ve learned is that we have cool vintages from time to time” – prior to 2010 he adduces 1997, his second commercial vintage – “and my feeling is that you have to go with the vintage, and not try to screw with it too much trying to make the wine what you want to make, but something it’s not.” As Somers remarked to me apropos his A.V.A. series – though this could be applied to all his work – “We’re not constructing wine, but representing something with it.” Incidentally, the first two barrels of Pinot came off of the two-year-old estate vineyard in 2012, likely destined for that vintage’s Chehalem A.V.A. blend, with the return of Appassionata (the name formerly used for a late-bottled, late released cuvee, henceforth for the estate vineyard) likely to come with 2013. Tel. (503) 554-9572

Comprising fruit from a cru-classe trio of red clay Jory sites – Bella Vide, Maresh, and a single barrel of precious Abby Ridge whose inclusion Somers deemed almost miraculously efficacious (else he would not have sacrificed it) – J. Christopher’s 350 cases worth of 2010 Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Cuvee displays the smoke-tinged ripe cassis and elderberry familiar from the corresponding generic bottling, here with a faintly caramelized sense of richness; mingling of licorice and bittersweet, medicinal herbal concentrates; and an evident abundance of fine tannins that should help see it through the next half dozen or more years. Following international internships and five years with John Paul at Cameron, reflective and experimental-minded Jay Somers founded J. Christopher wines in 1996 with conviction in the principles of biodynamic farming and what he calls “Old World” stylistic sensibility. Meeting a deep-pocketed, multi-talented soul mate and commercial partner in Ernst Loosen of the eponymous Mosel estate, Somers now finds himself in the enviable position of presiding over a newly-constructed and superbly-equipped winery surrounded by a newly-planted former pasture dubbed Appassionata Vineyard (mixed volcanic and sedimentary) whose aspect and proximity to some of Newberg’s best sites (including David Adelsheim’s founding vineyard, not to mention the cluster a mile west on Calkins Lane) can’t help but fire even a jaded wine lover’s imagination; and the wines – given their vibrant style and on the whole extremely reasonable prices – can’t help but stimulate an appetite of more than one sort. Among many unique aspects of J. Christopher is a passion and ambition for Sauvignon Blanc, which Somers and Loosen have backed-up by planting three acres of their home vineyard’s 20 acres with that cepage, the rest being Pinot Noir including – unsurprisingly, given Loosen’s international experience and Somers’ at Cameron – highly, dare I say “colorfully,” diverse vine material including heirloom selections of both Californian and Oregonian origin. Pinot is destemmed – though future deviations from that norm are envisioned – and ferments spontaneously “which at our ambient temperatures,” notes Somers, “can take anywhere from 5-10 days.” Extraction is solely via punch-downs and the wine is pressed within a couple of days of reaching dryness; then minimally settled before going to barrel, 25% new. In the newly-dug and exceedingly cold caves, malo is taking place on a Burgundian schedule; in fact, had only recently started when I visited in early June. On occasion (such as in 2009, but not 2010) acid will be added. Alcohol is naturally around 13% on the 2010s and “even in 2009,” Somers claims that without adjusting most lots “we managed to keep everything under 14%, which was astonishing.” I tasted all of the 2010 Pinots here (save for the generic) as definitive blends shortly ahead of bottling. Tel. (503) 554-9572

The 2009 Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Cuvee emits a bouquet of fragrant red fruits. Intense, elegant, and succulent, it is a prototype of what could optimally be achieved in this vintage. J. Christopher Wines (the winery of guitar aficionado Jay Somers) has not been reviewed in these pages since the 2001 vintage. Given the quality of this collection of wines, he must have been in hibernation or taking lessons from the elusive John Thomas. Better late than never! The following wines generally are aged for 16-20 months in 25% new French oak. Tel. (503) 231-5094; www.jchristopherwines.com