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Prices Posted on our site are
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PINOT
NOIR & TERROIR
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| Glass #7 Clear. Medium+ garnet color. Sweet spice and oak notes...some toastiness...nice woodsy notes...mildly tannic. Good. |
Glass# 8 Clear, med+ garnet...nice, sweet oak...berries and vanillin....faintly showing a warm earth tone...mocha notes...nice oak. Woodsy. |
Glass #9 Darker color, ruby red. Sweet, ripe red and black fruits...nice oak, having a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg spice notes. Woodsy...toasty. The oak used in wines 7-9 would suggest they're made by the same winemaker. |
| Wine #4 Medium garnet color...bright berry fruit with light to med. wood notes...a touch of cedar and vanillin, sandalwood, berries...light to med. tannins and a hint of licorice after a while. | Wine #5 Clear. Medium+ garnet color. Mild oak scents with light spice. Cherry/kirsch notes and a touch of forest floor/wet earth. Light to med. tannins. | Wine #6 Dark color, a bit of alcohol being bothersome and suggesting very ripe fruit...a bit of plum and "eau-de-vie"-like notes. Big, plummy, ripe and somewhat astringent. |
| Wine #1 Clear. Garnet in color, with a touch of cherry, berry fruit notes. Dry. Mildly tannic with a hint of orange peel to the flavor. |
Wine #2 Clear. Medium+ garnet color. Sweet cherry fragrances with a light woodsy note. Some forest floor, earth notes to the fragrance. Mild tannins, a bit leathery and astringent. Lacks a bit of stuffing. |
Wine #3 Dark color. Ripe red and black fruit notes. Very light wood fragrances. This wine being deeper, richer and darker in color than glasses 1 & 2 would suggest a vineyard difference in this row. The dark color of the two wines above suggests they are from the same vineyard. |
A poll was taken and by a show of hands, 31 participants felt the wines were
poured with each horizontal "row" being made by the same winemaker and
each vertical "column" being of a particular vineyard.
Twenty-five tasters felt each horizontal "row" was from a particular
vineyard, while each vertical "column" was made by the same winemaker.
It turns out the wines were poured with the same winemaker in each horizontal
"row" and each vineyard poured in a vertical column.
Column 1, consisting of wines #7, 4 & 1 were from the Southeast Block of
Bethel Heights. The middle column were from the Jacob Hart Vineyard at Rex
Hill. The third column of darker-colored wines came from Chehalem's
"Ridgecrest Vineyard."
Row 1, the top tier of wines 7,8 & 9 were made by Harry Petersen-Nedry of
Chehalem.
Row 2, wines 4, 5, & 6 were made by Lynn Penner-Ash.
Row 3, wines 1, 2 & 3 were vinified by Terry Casteel.
Lynn Penner-Ash (left)
Terry Ca-Steel (middle)
Harry Petersen-Nedry (right)
Harry Petersen-Nedry writes in a Chehalem Newsletter of this experiment:
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Initial observations show distinct families of wines, although it is hard to know whether the family is vineyard or winery style. As the trials have progressed, we have shared ideas to challenge existing winemaking methods and move towards processes that let the site show through. For example, Cheryl and I obstinately held out in 1999 for later harvest on Southeast Block fruit. And Terry Casteel, although reluctant initially, was pleased with the results; Lynn Penner-Ash began questioning her selection of enzymes when she saw her fruit's extraction compared to the other two wineries'; and, Cheryl and I have reduced extraction based on finesse seen in others' wines. Winemaking tweaks aside, expressions of fruit from specific vineyards have been very similar. The fact that floral and more delicate elements come from each Southeast Block wine, very plump fruit from the Jacob-Hart, and more dusty, briery elements from the Ridgecrest 7-Acre, speaks to unique vineyard block characteristics, especially as subsequent vintages yield similar results. |
So....What did we learn from this event?
1. "Masters of wine will usually tell you they are masters of wine
and, therefore, know just about everything there is to know about
wine." (attributable to a participant in this exercise who shall
remain anonymous).
2. Harry Petersen-Nedry must drink more coffee than his two other
colleagues since his wine maps out on a "spider graph" as having more
caffeic acid and more caftaric acid than the wines of Penner-Ash or
Ca-Steel. My guess: this is the result of the oak barrels used by Harry
and not his frequent stops as the local java house.
3. The use of spider graphs proves "we're all nerds" according
to Harry Philosopher-Nedry. Though he wears spectacles, these are not held
together by rubber bands or paper clips. However, "Nedry" is
"nerdy" spelled sideways. Also noted, none of the three hyphenated
winemakers suffers from arachnophobia.
4. Talk of enzyme treatments was kept to a minimum for fear of turning the
tasting into a snooze-fest. Words such as "anthocyanin"
"epicatechin," "malvidin" and "polymeric phenols"
were uttered only in hushed tones so as not to induce a somnambulant
state.
5. Harry grows intensely colored fruit and makes wines
with more oak than the other two winemakers. Lynn uses a moderate amount
of wood while Terry's wines are less extracted than the others.
It was a wonderful opportunity, so should this dog and pony show arrive in your
corner of the world, do avail yourself of the chance to participate.
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Wine Tasting Today
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