“Like most years,” says Boedecker of his 2010 Pinot Noir Stewart, “this incorporates most of our Dundee Hill fruit; but because it was such a cool year, there were a couple of surprises” when the blend was put together (which he and his wife always do blind). ‘A decent chunk of our (Clone) 115 from Shea went into this, which is unusual, because it’s usually a really big, structured block” – fitting the personality Pappas chooses for her “Athena” cuvee – “but this year was very red-fruited and silky.” Bright, juicy cherry and tart rhubarb dominate, with hints of nutmeg and cinnamon as well as piquancy of cherry pit attractively extending a sappy, savory finish that combines invigoration, refreshment, saliva-inducement and a sort of cyanic glow. Tannins are fine-grained to the point of disappearance. I expect this will perform impressively through at least 2018 and quite possibly gain in complexity and acquire a flattering patina without relinquishing its fundamental virtue of energetic, juicy brightness.
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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