Daily Glass: Oregon Pinot Delight
If you like Pinot Noir, you already know that Oregon Pinot Noir is one of the best Pinot Noir wines in the world. Wonderful Pinot Noirs are produced everywhere, yes, but Oregon definitely holds its own. Heck, according to Ken Wright, it is better than Burgundy, the hallmark of Pinot Noir wines. “We can see the Burgundy Pinot Noir in the rear view mirror,” Ken said in my interview with him for the Stories of Passion and Pinot series on this blog.
Hey, I’m not trying to start here some sort of scuffle “which Pinot Noir is better” – I only want to share a wonderful experience I had with an amazing Oregon Pinot Noir, luckily even with some age on it.
I got literally double pleasure writing about this wine, as not only does this wine come from one of my favorite producers (sigh, who has now retired), but I also had a great interview with this producer for the same Passion and Pinot series – Vidon Vineyard.
I was in Bellevue, Washington, for work, and had a chance to meet my good wine friend Wendy, who happened to live just 5 minutes away from the hotel where I was staying. When we figured out that we would be able to meet, Wendy said, “I will get some older Pinot for you from the storage”. She knows that I love Pinot Noir, but I also know that she is a fan of bigger wines (think young Cayuse), so I didn’t know what Pinot that might be.
Seeing her with a bottle of 2014 Vidon Vineyard Brigita Clone 777 Estate Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains made me very happy.
11 years old Oregon Pinot Noir under a glass enclosure (Don Hagge, proprietor at Vidon Vineyard and ex-NASA scientist, was religious about using glass corks) – a great opportunity to learn how well Oregon Pinot Noir under a glass enclosure ages. Plus, it is Vidon Pinot Noir, and you don’t need to ask me twice to drink Vidon wines.
The reason Wendy picked that wine is because she finds Pinot Noir wines made from the 777 clone to be a bit bigger than your average Pinot Noir, so she gets to enjoy the wine too. I have to tell you that after a glass of the Pinot, she switched to the 2 years old Cabernet Sauvignon from Darby – a great Washington producer, but I need a good dollop of time with his wines to be able to enjoy them.
The Vidon Vineyard Pinot Noir was just a pure pleasure in the glass. Brilliant garnet color, the classic Pinot nose of plums, cherries, violets and a whiff of smoke – the aromas you can enjoy for a while without taking a sip. The palate followed with succulent, fresh berries, plums and cherries, a touch of smoke, sapidity and umami, roll-of-your-tongue beautiful and seductive “ha, I know you want another sip” elixir, perfectly balanced with the finish you can reflect upon.
We decided to get a Thai food takeout for dinner – I had mildly spicy beef drunken noodles, and to my great surprise, this Vidon Pinot Noir perfectly complemented the food.
That’s my story. There is a bit of a sad part here, as Don Hagge sold his winery a few years back, and it doesn’t look like the new owners will uphold the level of perfection Don was so attuned to. If you have Vidon wines in your cellar, don’t be afraid to keep them a little longer. And if by some miracle you will come across Vidon wines in wine stores – buy whatever you will be able to, as you will not be buying wine – you will be buying pleasure.
