Chehalem’s 2011 Pinot Noir Ridgecrest Vineyard brims with penetratingly-bright, tart-edged elderberry and piquant huckleberry, incorporating aromatic allusions to fresh and distilled red berries as well. At more than a third new wood, I don’t register any obvious influence or interference such as detected from the higher level in the corresponding Wind Ridge Block. A hint of salinity and brown spices adds appeal to the infectiously juicy finish of this Pinot bound to merit repeated attention through at least 2017.
“I waited as long as I could to pick Pinot,” relates proprietor Harry Peterson-Nedry of 2011, when his team engaged in a flurry of harvest activity that finished-up November 2; and he is one of the many to find what was achieved not just an improbable success, but a collection of Pinots likely to go down as among the Willamette’s most exciting ever. I wish I could personally be that enthusiastic about his 2011s in particular – the 2010s at a similar stage struck me as altogether finer – but there is certainly a lot to like among them; and Peterson-Nedry’s avid explorations of multiple white wine grapes – of which I tasted 2012s as well as some later-released 2011s – again prove meritorious. (Consult my issue 202 report for an account of veteran Peterson-Nedry’s background and the character of his three estate vineyards.) Peterson-Nedry’s daughter Wynne – with whom I tasted this year, and about whom I also wrote briefly in issue 202 – is clearly in command of the details in both the estate’s vineyards and cellar. Although a proportion of whole clusters with stems is usually retained in the Ridgecrest fruit, in 2011 all of the Chehalem Pinots were entirely de-stemmed. Musts were very selectively – and then minimally – chaptalized, with the finished alcohol levels ranging between 12.5-13%. Despite their lateness of harvest, these Pinots were as usual – with the exception of the “Reserves” – bottled the following September. (Note that I’ve replaced the word “three” with the Arabic numeral 3 in the name of Chehalem’s “3 Vineyard” bottlings since that is how it appears on their new labels, which, incidentally – in my un-professional design opinion – are uniquely eye-catching little masterpieces of information density without clutter.)
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