A lovely meld of peach and lemon, green herbs and brown spices (reminiscent of cinnamon basil) characterizes Eyrie's 2010 Pinot Gris, which, as usual here, initially underwent several hours of skin contact in the press, and like its Pinot Blanc counterpart underwent malo and a long stay on the lees in tank that result in flattering creaminess without any sacrifice of vivacity or primary juiciness. Predictably, there is a bit more grip here than in its blanc sibling, with piquant peach kernel and a smoky aura extending the finish. But the same lovely sense of levity (here at 12.6% alcohol) prevails. Even allowing some leeway for distributor mark-ups that might lift its retail price above that charged at the cellar-door, this represents one sensational value, singular for its genre and almost certain (for any few who care to test my prognosis) to remain deliciously versatile for another 8-10 years. At 8,000 cases, Jason Lett points out with a grin, production of this wine now equals exactly that specified in his father's original business plan ... for the entire estate! Not a bad calling card.
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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