Consisting as usual of six ostensibly superior barrels (two new) from the estate vineyard – all in this instance from the same relatively elevated sector of what is throughout a gently sloping site – the Evesham Wood 2011 Pinot Noir Cuvee J projects high-toned red raspberry and cherry shadowed by their distilled counterparts, volatile to the point of nasal prickle, which some tasters will deem over-the-line. Fresh ginger, new leather, smoky black tea, smoldering incense and punk add pungent allure while reinforcing the sense of oxidative development. Between the effects of what by estate standards is relatively elevated new wood (besides drying tannins, those effects include a hint of caramel), and the tactile counterpart to the wine’s volatile elements, this is invigorating but a bit rustic. The same can be said for the tartness of fruit acids on display: they are invigorating but some tasters will find them grating or even slightly screeching. Is this simply one that – perhaps literally as well as figuratively – got away from Nuccio? It was due to be released shortly after this report goes into print and perhaps will have settled down by then; and will definitely prove fascinating short-term, not to mention deserve another look. Erin Nuccio – for more about whose 2010 acquisition of Evesham Wood from Russ Raney, as well as about the latter’s style and vineyard sources, consult my Issue 202 report – is finding his footing and increasingly setting his mark on the wines at this venerable address. That said, the delicacy of touch both in the cellar and eventually on your palate , the sense of elegant dynamic, and the very restrained use of new wood – as well as Raney’s signature yeast culture, spawned many years ago from a spent bottle of Henri Jayer Pinot – still characterize Evesham Wood Pinots. Nuccio hasn’t done anything to improve on this winery’s pricing – or, to be more precise, on his own bottom line – because they are almost ludicrously underpriced, making these consistently among the finest wine values anywhere in the U.S. much less the Willamette Valley. Too bad that – as Nuccio and Raney suspected already before the estate changed hands – some of its old vines are now cursed with phylloxera. There is no Temperance Hill Pinot this year, and it would be sad if that historic not to mention synergistic association with Evesham Wood were to go the way of Seven Springs, which was this estate’s other primary outside source of fruit until the purchase of that vineyard for Evening Land. But it appears that there’s no turning back the phylloxera in Evesham Wood’s traditional block at Temperance Hill either. Tel. (503) 371-8478