"Too alcoholic" and "too soon" sum up most of the wines in tonight's tasting of early release Oregon Pinots, all products of a warm 2006 vintage and the winemaker's urge to keep the cash flow flowing.
2006 Scott Paul Cuvee Martha Pirrie Willamette Valley
Pleasantly featherweight on the palate, this pale Pinot suffers from noticeable alcohol on its long finish. Think generic Burgundy of the humdrum sort. The label says the alcohol is 13.9 percent, but we stopped believing labels about the same time we lost faith in the tooth fairy.
2006 Domaine Coteau Eola-Amity Hills
A fruitier nose and palate does a little better job of handling the obtrusive alcohol. Tannins need a little time, but why bother.
2006 Broadley Vineyards Willamette Valley
Good soft mouthfeel but not a lot going on here. The word "boring" comes to mind and yet considering the modest price it's probably not fair to knock this perrenial favorite Northwest restaurant wine. We are no doubt missing something but Broadley Will Valley seems to us to taste much the same every year.
2006 Patricia Green Four Winds Yamhill County
Just a whiff of this tells you it's special, and that's confirmed by a mid-palate blessed with delectable fruit and firm texture, and the fruit gets even better on the finish. A lovely Pinot for a modest price and showing promise for the mid-term. Hold it a couple of years.
2006 Patricia Green Estate Old Vines Ribbon Ridge
What a shame to put a wine with this much complexity on the market at such a tender age? Spices, pepper, acid, tannins, fruits -- all sorts of flavors are out of control on the palate and finish. We'll need to revisit this down the road in hope it all comes together.
2006 Bergstrom Cumberland Reserve Willamette Valley
Pricier than the other five 2006s but still Bergstrom's entry level wine. Such a big wine at this stage of its life is a challenge to decode. A more or less closed nose surrendersmere hints of seduction and there's only a shadow of typical Bergstrom glory on the palate and finish. What lies in store remains a mystery beyond our ken.
2005 (sic) Cameron Clos Electrique
Our host slipped in this 2005 to show how Pinots improve with an extra year in the bottle, but this wine may not be the best teacher as Camerons take a few years to begin come around. But there's good honest brett on the nose and good mouthfeel, tannins and fruit. What a difference a year does makes, even with a slow ager like Cameron.