2008 Evesham Wood Pinot Noir
Oregon's Famed Willamette Valley Delivers
Grace, Texture AND VALUE!
The Perfect Pinot Noir for the Holidays
Our favorite domestic Pinot Noir of 2009, Hands Down
Today's offer represents our first venture into Oregon's famed Willamette Valley. If this is a bit shocking given the world-renowned quality of these wines, explaining ourselves is easy enough. Two big issues have always gotten in our way: availability and price.
Today, however, we have found our Willamette Valley gem.
While the price was incredibly fair (especially given the quality of the material - we're talking about a cuvee that uses a healthy dose of fruit from the Temperance Hill Vineyard, made famous by Mark Vlossak at St. Innocent), we had to muscle our way in to get an allocation big enough to offer.
Still, given the quality and price on offer today, we expect a sell-out before the sun sets. (We wish we could source more, but we'll just have to wait till next year.)
This is a wine that has quickly become one of our favorite domestic Pinot Noirs at any price...
at $20 the value here is astounding.
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The 2008 Evesham Wood is a heady Pinot Noir that jumps out of the glass - the product of a picture-perfect vintage that allowed for mind-boggling hangtimes and therefore fruit of uncommon ripeness and complexity. (See below for more.)
The wine opens with a pungent delivery of perfumed strawberries, red and black berries and plums all framed by a deft touch of wood that adds a touch of spiciness and is seamless and integrated beautifully into the wine. While the upper registers are soaring and gorgeous, a core of dark earth, minerals, flowers, herbs and iron provide a solid foundation and plenty of intrigue behind the expressive and lavish fruit.
Not since Baileyana have we come across a wine that so perfectly integrates the luxurious mouthfeel of great domestic Pinot Noir with an energy and liveliness on the palate that speaks of Burgundy. If the wine has a generous mid-palate heft, the textural signature of the Willamette Valley, there is restraint - and this is important.
This wine does not try to push the envelope and what it gains therefore is a modesty, a wonderful poise and balance. (Take it for what it's worth, but the winery does cite Henry Jayer's renowned Burgundies as being one of their sources of inspiration.)
2008 will go down as one of the best Oregon vintages in recent memory. A comparison can easily be made to the 2005 vintage in Burgundy: The 2008 vintage in Oregon produced wines not only with excellent ripeness, but also with great balance, structure and purity. 2008 in Oregon allowed for almost mind-boggling hangtimes (some producers were still harvesting on Halloween) that contribute to the complex depths and the near-perfect architecture that Evesham Wood Willamette Valley offers up.
Russ Raney, the winemaker at Evesham Wood, has pursued serious winemaking with few compromises. Along with being certified organic, Evesham Wood is a member of both Nicholas Joly's Renaissance des Appellations (a group of winemakers focused on biodynamic techniques) and the Deep Roots Coalition (an advocacy group that promotes wines made from non-irrigated fruit.) With water becoming a more precious resource everyday, this is not only good for the wine by ensuring that dilution isn’t an issue, it's good for the earth.
Obviously the timing couldn’t be more fortuitous. If any time of the year demands wines of absolute quality at more gentle price points, it is the holiday season. It should be mentioned that Pinot’s legendary versatility is a great asset this time of year; whether being used as a cocktail wine or being paired with holiday hams or roasts, this is a grape that has you covered.
This is one of the value finds of the year and while we've sourced as much as we could, we have about half as much wine as we did for our Joly Coulee de Serrant offering - which sold out in about 4 hours! This will go quickly - all orders subject to confirmation! Stock up now by either replying to this email or calling the store (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Stephen Bitterolf
Wine Buyers
Crush Wine & Spirits
Special Email Price: $20.45
Compare at up to $24.99
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