Famous Winemakers, Insider Wines

by Jean Yates
January, 2006

Lovers of fine Oregon wines are familiar with Mike Etzel and his highly rated Beaux Freres Pinots, Ken Wright of Ken Wright Cellars, Lynn Penner Ash and her Penner Ash Wine Cellars, and Peter Rosback of Sineann.

But did you know that these and other wine makers make small amounts of wine under other labels? Wine that is often as good as their famous products, and sometimes costs considerably less?

Here's a selection of Oregon Pinots made by famous winemakers for small, largely unkknown labels. They're real "insider wines", treats mostly sold locally here in Oregon.

The Wines

Carlton Cellars Roads End Pinot noir 04 $40.46/$44.95

Ken Wright (Ken Wright Cellars) makes this wine for Dave Grooters, his friend and co-worker (Dave has managed vineyards for Ken and joined him in developing a new winery in Carlton). Ken makes his only blended Pinot noir (all of his other wines are single vineyard selections) for Carlton Cellars Winery with fruit from Canary Hill, Nysa, and McCrone vineyards.

The 2004 vintage is rich and lush, a really enormous wine, even larger than the 2003 Pinot. The wine is just a bit more fruit-forward than the 2003, with a tad more structure in the finish. The tannins are quite well integrated and quite smooth. Aged in 65% new Cadus French Oak, this wine should age for 4-7 years.

Wine Spectator says of the 2002 vintage (rating 92 points): "Ken Wright is the single-vineyard Pinot Noir king of Oregon, but for Carlton Cellars he blends Nysa, McCrone and Canary Hill. Generous and brilliantly focused, presenting its blueberry, plum and subtle spice flavors with digital clarity. Tannins are very fine and it all lasts impressively. Best from 2005 through 2010.—H.S. 

Carter Vineyard Pinot noir Hillblock 04 $35.87/$39.85

The 2004 Hillblock, made by Ken Wright (Ken Wright Cellars), is filled with black cherries and plum in the nose, along with the rich, earthy notes typical of Carter Vineyard. The mouth has bright, red pie cherry flavors in the front of the palate, diffusing to deeper, dark cherry flavors and hints of cinnamon and clove in the long, sweet finish. The wine should age for 7-10 years, and we expect this smaller than usual vintage to disappear quickly.

Wine Spectator gave last year's 2003 vintage 92 points. Although not quite as forward as the 03, it's a lovely, approachable wine that shows all Ken's skills as a winemaker. If not as fruit forward as the 2003, the structure and balance of the splendid 2004 vintage made a deeply satisfying wine with majestic complexity.

Dusky Goose 03 $43.16/$47.95

Lynn Penner Ash, former winemaker at Rex Hill and c-owner of Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, makes this wine for Dusky Goose from one of Oregon's best, if little known, vineyards. Her Penner Ash Goldschmidt Pinot noir sells out way before release and gets high ratings from the wine mags. Dusky Goose is minimally marketed, but is a very similar wine, one of the best available from Oregon.

The fruit from this vineyard (formerly Goldschmidt, now Dundee Hills Vineyard) produces a unique scent, an amalgam of red raspberry, dried cherries, plums, and vanilla spice. Plush flavors of dried cherry, black cherry, candied cherry, blackberry, sweet ripe fruit, hints of spice, hints of herbs, and a seamless, shot silk texture impress the taster.

The balance is perfect - expressive tannins balance the rich fruit and the wine, concentrated as it is, maintains good acidity for aging, with a long finish of ever changing spice, cherry, berry, and cedar. This wine will age for ten years with continued impressive drinking for the consumer. 

Ana Vineyard Pinot noir 03 $34.16/$37.95

Made by Mike Etzel of Beaux Freres for the owners of Ana Vineyard, this wine was panned by Wine Spectator, unfairly in our opinion. This is, in many ways, the same wine as Beaux Freres' Belles Soeurs Pinot noir 03, a wine that received 93 points from Wine Spectator. It's made from the same small vineyard's fruit, by the same winemaker, in the Beaux Freres facility. Frankly, we find the wines remarkably similar.

There are Intriguing foresty, herbal notes in the nose, like the scent of a forest floor on a warm day. The flavors are delicious, it's a medium to full-bodied Pinot noir with loads of fruit. The wine has a dark ruby color with sweet black cherry aromas and has a lovely soft palate with fine tannins. 200 cases were made.

From the winery: "The 2003 Ana Reserve is a delicious, medium to full bodied pinot with loads of fruit. It is a dark, ruby color with sweet black cherry and rose petal aromas and has a lovely soft palate with well-integrated tannins." 

The low rating from Wine Spectator may have kept this very worthy wine from selling out, and we say it's an excellent deal, and $7 less a bottle than thesold out Belles Soeurs.

DePonte Pinot noir 03 $31.91/$35.45

You may not consider Isabelle DuTartre a famous name in Oregon winemaking, as she's much better known in her native France. Isabelle, a friend of Veronique Drouhin (Domaine Drouhin), helped make five vintages of Domaine Drouhin Pinots. Isabelle lives in France, traveling to Oregon to make wine for this small family owned estate winery We love this wine. Isabelle is known as a whiz at barrels, using oak in ways that enhance and optimize Pinots. Her wines are exciting, fresh, and very reasonably priced.

Avalon's manager Marcus Looze says: "Darker and more intense than the 02 with black raspberry blackberry and black cherry fruit. cocoa powder and black fruits in the nose. Rich and silky in the mid-palate, ark chocolate and barrel spice on the lasting finish. A very well balanced wine for the vintage that offers classic pinot characteristics with bolder dark fruit, all in a graceful package."

De Ponte Winery Pinot noir is bold, ripe, dark, rich, beautifully balanced, a scent of cherry pie with hints of cedar and spices leads to rich, big black berry and stone fruit flavors, with finegrained, well balanced tannins. Interestingly, Isabelle is known as one of France's leading experts on wine barrels, and her use of oak in this wine is perfection.

Medici Pinot noirs
Sampler of Medici Blocks l,ll from 1999 through 2002
Four Pack $103.75
Twelve pack $278.00

Peter Rosback is well known for his Sineann wines, including a range of Sineann single vineyard Pinots that sell out rapidly every season. But he also makes the Medici wines, part of his deal with Hal Medici, at whose winery Sineann is based.

The Medici Pinots are all made from the Estate vineyard, a steep, southwest facing slope of 20+ year old wines that surround Peter's winery. Not well known, we at Avalon like these wines as much or more as Peter's bold, huge Sineann wines. And the prices- well, for the price, you get a lot of wonderful wine.

We're offering two samplers of Peter's Pinots made from Blocks l & ll of the vineyard. An affordable treat, this "vertical" of wine from 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 would make a fun event with friends - try them and see how a vineyard changes with each vintage, and with age. Same winemaker, same facvility, same vineyard, yet lots of subtle and not so subtle differences. And all of the wines are lovely to drink, with the 2002 receiving a 91 point rating from Wine Spectator.

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