Located in the Eola Hills very near and planted at the same time as his own Canary Hill site, though at lower elevation, Wright's 2010 Pinot Noir Carter is strikingly complex and intriguing in aroma, featuring pit-accented cherry; pungent citrus oils, peat, and dried green herbs; as well as mushroom, all of which reconvene on a zesty, bright, tart, firm palate, carrying into a finish of vibratory intensity. There is more than enough primary juiciness here to banish any sense of drying that might otherwise have been induced by the wine's firm tannins. And here I feel on pretty confident footing in predicting at least the better part of a decade of interest.
Louisville native Ken Wright has long since become one of the iconic and most influential figures of the Oregon wine scene, a go-to for countless winery start-ups as well as valuable projects to benefit the Willamette wine community. Wright's career evolved from one of negociant-winemaker (founder of Panther Creek) and farmer of other people's vines to that of vineyard owner. "It was twelve years before I bought my first vineyard," he notes, "because before that I was in the exploratory phase of trying to find the best sites in the valley." Today, in addition to the three vineyards he owns, Wright holds 15- to 30-year leases on five others, and 80% of the vines that supply him are farmed by his own extensive (and in places site-specific) team. Wright is passionately vocal on myriad aspects of Pinot production, but one he emphasized especially in our recent session was "nutrition-based farming," which he characterizes as "a whole nother level beyond biodynamics" focused on "the uptake of minerals," which he believes is especially critical in the Willamette to encouraging ideal ripeness. It's thus the soil's microbial life he nurtures, he says, in order to get at the vine, with annual block-by-block soil and tissue analyses employed to establish what's needed and what's been accomplished. Wright makes clear that he sees ripeness as reflecting optimal harnessing of the sun's energy in the form of sugar, but indicates that he considers the use of must concentrators a more than acceptable alternative to chaptalization if grapes don't reach an optimal level of sugar. I was left with an uneasy impression from most of Wright's recent line-up of ripeness to be sure, but variously allied to phenolic stridency; firm, at times rustic tannin; or opacity of flavors. Wright appears from my limited research and my conversations with him to be the source of a considerable consensus that, in his words "as a result of doing single vineyard bottlings for so long, a pattern has emerged that basalt sites " Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills - generally tend to be more fruit-focused - (whether) red, blue, or black - and marine sediments (exhibit) more spicy and floral. And since these marine soils, mostly sandstone, are so dry, that triggers a hormonal response in the vine much earlier in the year to begin the process of ripening; where with (eroded basalt) volcanic soils there's more clay, more water-holding capacity, and so the vine remains vegetative longer. And for whatever reason - I don't quite understand that - we have higher acidity in the volcanics.- I don't share that consensus - I can't say that my admittedly limited experience even entitles me to judge it - but I wanted readers to be aware of it.
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