Bottled already in March, the J. F. Carriere 2011 Pinot Noir Provocateur (whose immediate predecessor, reviewed in Issue 202, constituted a blend of 2009 and 2010 fruit) is widely sourced, most notably from Anderson, Black Walnut, Brooks, and Lewis vineyards. Sappy, tart cherry and wild plum are threaded with and saline suggestions of smoked meats for an impression of energy and juiciness through to a tangy finish. Texturally a bit spare, its 12.5% alcohol (like that of this year’s other Carriere Pinots) conduces to a pleasant impression of levity. I would plan to enjoy this through 2015.
I offered some details in Issue 202 concerning Jim Prosser’s methodology and diverse sources, but this year paid my first visit to his impressively immaculate and deftly designed cellars, their barrels stored inside twelve foot-high corrugated highway tunnels buried into a Parrett Mountain Hillside. Prosser utilizes open cylindrical stainless steel fermenters he says are designed to achieve enough mass to support the sort of relatively high-temperature fermentative regimen he prefers (and to nest neatly into one another when not in use.) Nine of his own thirty-some arable Jory acres surrounding the winery were recently planted to Pommard and Wadenswil selection of Pinot, after initial failure pointed to the necessity of a deer fence. Prosser found his 2011s “a bit stand-offish” on the occasion when we tasted them together, and noted that the putting on of weight that he anticipates in his top Pinots over their first three years in bottle will be especially beneficial and important with this vintage. With one exception, though, I was already highly impressed with them. Prosser, incidentally, was one of those Willamette vintners whose impressive 2012s I tasted through from barrel, and some of his comments about them as well as about 2011 can be found in my general introduction to this report.
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