Last tasted from barrels (old demi-muids) in July, the pieces that will have become Tunnell’s 2012 Chardonnay Cascadia – from several clones (some top-grafted to older vines) – display fresh apple laced with candied lime peel and garlanded with honeysuckle. There is a lovely sense of lift and primary refreshment allied to textural caress and subtly creamy lees-enhancement. This is going to be a deliciously versatile wine for enjoying through at least 2017. (I won’t of course report until next year on Tunnell’s 2012 Pinots, but can’t help mentioning already that from barrel they are an extremely impressive group.)
Willamette biodynamic pioneer Doug Tunnell – for much more about whom and about whose property and portfolio consult my Issue 202 introduction – brought in all of his 2011s in the last days of October and first days of November at close to 12.5% natural alcohol, and they were then chaptalized (in part simply to extend fermentation), but remain just under 13%. With the exception of his “Moe’s” bottling from Momtazi Vineyard in McMinnville, Tunnell utilized a higher share of whole clusters and stems in 2011 than he had in 2010. He claims that it’s critical to combine the use of stems with extended maceration even after reaching dryness, which supports a hypothesis I’ve developed since last year that the many vintners who refer to Ribbon Ridge Pinot as inherently tough are probably pulling their young wine off of the skins as it takes on obvious tannins rather than, as it were, letting it get over a hump. “It took me time to understand this,” says Tunnell. “You watch those tannins climb, and climb, and climb. But don’t pull the trigger; restrain yourself! Then they start coming together.” The chance to taste additional older wines with Tunnell on this recent occasion has enhanced my respect and admiration for his work as well as encouraged my belief that the wines he is crafting from recent vintages are going to number among those Ribbon Ridge Pinots that serve as future benchmarks for what is possible with this grape in the Willamette Valley. (Incidentally, Tunnel could not locate even a single bottle of his “basic” 2011 Pinot Noir Select for me to taste in July and I failed to subsequently connect with one.)
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