Given that all of Eyrie's Chardonnay originates in vines from its original vineyard and first decade, the wine they label as 2009 Chardonnay Original Old Vines Reserve represents a selection of the best barrels. Even in this warm vintage, picking did not take place in this vineyard until late October, and despite that fact there is no lack of vivacity and primary juiciness preserved, complimenting the textural creaminess and nuance conveyed by a long stay on the lees. Fresh pear and apple are tinged with orange rind and green herbs. There is a deep savor here of subtly smoky toasted nuts and some of the same - albeit more deeply buried - scallop-like sweetness and salinity that were found in the "regular" 2010 bottling, all making for an utterly mouthwatering finish. It should be well worth extending the pleasure of this wine's company for a decade.
Still located at the abattoir-turned-winery in McMinnville in which pioneer David Lett vinified his first, 1970 crop - and, with remarkably few exceptions, still utilizing antique, if refurbished equipment - Eyrie is today under the direction of his son Jason, who after training in ecology as well as oenology and experiencing a protracted off-again, on-again association with his family's winery (including a decade in New Mexico as a research ecologist and a period establishing his own winemaking reputation at Bishop Creek), returned to Eyrie to direct operations in close collaboration with his father during the latter's last three seasons. In addition to the recently expanded original vineyard site first planed in 1966 - which I toured with manager Jeremy Saville (formerly Jason Lett's assistant when he directed Bishop Creek) - Stonehenge and Daphne are located to the north, high up in the Dundee Hills just above Domaine Serene's Winery Hill; in between is Rolling Green Farm; and Three Sisters is also not far away, off to the east of Archery Summit at the edge of the Dundee Hills A.V.A., all of these microclimatically diverse satellite sites - ungrafted, continuously farmed without drip lines and organically - having been first planted within a decade beginning in 1979 and thus unsurprisingly favoring the same Pommard, Mariafeld and Wadenswil Pinot selections that had already by then established this estate's reputation. Tiny lots and - in the late stages of fermentation - gentle but still frequent punch-downs are among the continued norms at Eyrie Pinot; a preference (with reds) for spontaneous - and hence, generally much slower - fermentation as well as a bit of experimentation with whole clusters and stems represent recent innovations. Barrels are still being renewed at the glacial pace set by "Papa" Lett, and interestingly, Jason now favors entirely those from Rick DeFerrari's nearby Oregon Barrel Works (whose products at least season the mix in a number of other prominent Willamette cellars). Late release, that rarity in the wine world at large, remains routine here, despite which - not to mention despite this estate's renown - prices remain for the most part amazingly reasonable.
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