Although the wines are just starting to be released, the press has already been kind to the 2008 vintage in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Harvey Steinman, from Wine Spectator, has already proclaimed it as “Oregon’s Miracle 2008 Vintage” and has said, “This may be Oregon’s best vintage yet.” We are not likely to disagree with such praise as we release our first 2008 Oregon Pinot Noir (c’mon, we aren’t stupid), but we also realize the proof of greatness truly is in the bottle.
Throughout much of the 2008 growing season, the vintage did not look so positive. Ripening was consistently behind normal, sometimes a few weeks behind and at other times appearing more than a month behind normal maturation. We worked very closely with our growers to do our part to overcome this, dropping the crop to 1 cluster per shoot prior to flowering. That is quite risky as bad weather at flowering could have left us with virtually no fruit whatsoever. This certainly helped, but what truly saved the harvest was an incredible period of fantastic weather in early October. The first few weeks of October in Oregon are often spent dodging raindrops but in 2008 the skies cleared, the temperatures warmed, and the grapes ripened, and we were allowed to harvest almost at leisure at optimal levels of ripeness.
We believe that the 2008 Siduri Chehalem Mountains Pinot Noir is a superb introduction to this highly
acclaimed vintage. Not only is it a blend of some fantastic wines but we have endeavored to price it very fairly. The Chehalem Pinot Noir is comprised of fruit from the Muirfield, Beran, and Arbre Vert Vineyards. These vineyards possess the type of character that comes in part with age….with Muirfield being the youngest vines at 17 years old. Both Arbre Vert and Beran sport vines that are 30+ years old. The wine shows red cherry and clove flavors, with a smooth, velvet-like texture. On the mid-palate the wine closes down slightly, due undoubtedly to its youth, but the finish opens up again and is lingering, long, and fine-grained with lively acidity carrying the fruit flavors on and on. This wine certainly drinks well now, especially with food, but will be even better with 6 months in the cellar.
Cases: 1285
Released: November 2009
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