Boedecker’s 2009 Pinot Noir Shea – from the same blocks as the corresponding 2010, but the proportions of Wadenswil and (here strongly dominant) Clone 115 roughly reversed – exhibits welcome and paradoxical primary dark berry juiciness considering how the 2010 shows today, and that this is the hot and dehydrating vintage. To be sure, though, there is a suggestion of confiture to the blackberry, cassis and boysenberry on generous exhibit here, to which hints of cinnamon and ginger add allure. Rich and expansive, with its tannins entirely tucked-in, this finishes with sweet and spicy persistence, if also a hint of heat.
This year, I visited and tasted with husband and wife team Stewart Boedecker and Athena Pappas at their Portland facility, in an impressively neatly-kept “industrial” district that appears to favor wineries, breweries, and other artisanal endeavors. (Vienna may always retain the largest vineyard acreage of any major metropolitan area, but I can imagine that Portland might eventually rival if not surpass the Bay Area in number of urban winemaking facilities.) Boedecker opines that “2011 was a lot like 2010 in that things weren’t ripening and weren’t ripening ... and then, it seemed as though something in the plant just flipped and within a few days all of the flavors came up at once.” That said, believing that green wood spelled risk, they elected to de-stem all of their 2011 fruit, whereas from 2010 – whose Pinots they are currently selling – a significant share of stems (and yet-higher share of intact berries) was incorporated. “We didn’t have as high a malic fraction of acidity, though, in 2011 as in 2010,” Boedecker adds, so buffering was less of a concern and no tartaric acid added to the musts. A few lots from 2011 were chaptalized by a half a percent, but mostly Boedecker and Pappas worked – and stuck – with fruit of around 13% potential alcohol. (For more about the Boedecker background and regimen, consult my issue 202 report. I have once again treated white wines vinified and marketed under the name “Pappas Wine Co.” as representing a sub-label of Boedecker Cellars, and hence reviewed them under that heading.)
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