another option for Seth's Red Burgundy query - Oregon Pinot

Seth,

While I love Burgundies, I'm usually pretty chicken about walking through the minefield, at least with my own money. Especially when looking for inexpensive selections.

There are some great Oregon Pinot Noirs from small producers which have some Burgundian characteristics (mushrooms, forest floor, and assorted funky notes). They tend to be less fruit-forward than California examples. New world Pinots will never be Burgundy, but that's fine. Who knows, with some history behind them, people may compare Burgundies to Oregon. For the short amount of time they have been growing Pinot Noir, the future is tremendous. The current release for most wineries, 2002, is a great vintage, but the wines are pretty big and ripe. If you find any 01's or 00's, most were also fine examples. With every vintage, they are learning more about their vineyards.

Since the single vineyard wines from the following producers are all made in small quantities (usually 200 to 300 cases) they may be hard to find.

Since the Oregon wine industry is young, relatively small, and somewhat isolated, the winery owners/winemakers are very down to earth and friendly people.

Some Oregon P.N. wineries to look for:
Patricia Green Cellars (Great QPR, Patty makes great wine)

Belle Pente (the wines need bottle age or give them some aeration)

Brooks (especially the Janus bottling, Jimi Brooks knows what he's doing)

Chehalem (a relative oldie, for Oregon, but goodie)

Shea Wine Cellars (the Pommard Clone bottling is a nice value for Shea)

Sineann (BIG California style)

Bergstrom (BIG California style)

J Christopher (look for Pavillion Vnyd and Charlie's Vnyd)

Raptor Ridge

Cristom (stick with the single vineyard wines, the Mt Jefferson is just ok)

Domaine Drouhin (yes, Drouhim from Burgundy)

Willakenzie

Penner-Ash (another talented female winemaker, Lynn Penner-Ash)

Lemelson (made by Eric Hamacher)

Magnificent Wine Company (the name Charles Smith of Walla Walla's K

Vintner's gives his Oregon Pinots. The fruit is sourced from Archery Summit)

BTW, the quality of Pinot Noirs from cooler climate areas of northern California has improved dramatically in the last decade or so. The Sonoma Coast, Mendocino (esp the Anderson Valley), and the Russian River Valley. Most of these wines will be less Burgundian in style than Oregon wines.

Cheers,
Al

I am in almost complete agreement Al. Though I do admit to enjoying some of the fruit forward Californians quite a bit as well, but they do have nothing in common with Burgundy. Brought back a bit of Foxen from my recent SB excursion. Pretty good, but pricey, and for 2/3 or less of the price I prefer Andrew Murray's Syrahs.

Patricia Green is doing some interesting stuff, but I do not think most of it is for drinking tonight as it could age a bit. And that is the thing about Burgundy - while it is not meant to age for a long time, much of it is also not meant to be drunk upon release. One of the bottles in our wine tasting was in a completely dead phase, flat and barely noticeable, which I am sure it will emerge from in year or so at most.

Last comment: for our Burgundy tasting the host put himself in the hands of Sam's and they did pretty well. Of course, Al can also be a guide.

Al Ehrhardt wrote:Lemelson (made by Eric Hamacher)

Just for the record, Lemelson wines are not made by Eric Hamacher. Eric consulted in the design of the Lemelson winery, which was completed in 1999, but does not make Lemelson wines. They are made by Paul Pujol.

[quote="MikeK]
Just for the record, Lemelson wines are not made by Eric Hamacher. Eric consulted in the design of the Lemelson winery, which was completed in 1999, but does not make Lemelson wines. They are made by Paul Pujol.[/quote]

While Paul Pujol may be the current winemaker, since he started prior to the 2003 harvest, none of the Lemelson wines currently available are attributable to him.

Eric Hamacher, in fact, was not an official winemaker or consultant to Lemelson, but did play a crucial role in Lemelson's history. Besides consulting on the winery, he did make his 1999 and 2000 vintages of Hamacher there and there was a lot of dialog of opinions and methods between Thomas Bachelder (Lemelson's 1st winemaker), Eric Lemelson, and Eric Hamacher. Eric Hamacher and Eric Lemelson remain good friends.