In our trip to the Willamette Valley earlier this year, we drove up to Willakenzie Estates before they’d opened for the day and had to turn around to head elsewhere. After hitting Penner Ash, the 6th stop on what seemed like a never ending tour of pinot noir, we decided to skip Willakenzie.
Yesterday, I found out that was a big mistake. Willakenzie’s winemaker was tasting at McCarthy Schiering, and I had a chance to try five of their pinot noirs. Willakenzie is very self-consciously modeled in Burgundian style, but I can’t criticize them too much for trying to imitate the French – they are French. The owners are French, and the winemaker who was pouring was Thibaud Mandet. From the brochures they had, it looks like the winery itself is impressive – a park-like estate with vineyard blocks tucked in between forest groves.
Here are some notes on the wines:
- The first was an entry-level pinot (I believe it was the Pinot Noir Willamette Valley) that Mandet said was meant to be “approachable.” It was relatively inexpensive (for Willamette Valley anyway) – $22.50, but I found it unremarkable. The delicate fuit flavors of pinot noir hadn’t been fully developed, and I also found it fairly acidic.
- In the middle were two wines at $33.00 that I really enjoyed, one slightly more than the other. The first was the Aliette, named for Thibaud’s grandmother. As we stepped up to this one, the fruit became more pronounced. It’s still a very delicate wine – it’s not the bombastic fruit I’m used to with Washington wines. You really have to let this one sit on your tongue for a long time to get all of the flavor it has to offer. The Aliette, though, was perhaps a bit too polite for me – the Pierre Leon (named for his grandfather) had slightly stronger fruit and a little bit more of a tannic sting. We bought a bottle of each of these and drank the Pierre Leon the same day. I still have a hard time getting used to pinot – even the Pierre Leon is fairly watery in consistency and ruby in color, versus the dark purple, heavily structured Bourdeaux varietals I’m used to. It has a slightly citrusy nose. But the longer you let it sit on the tongue, the more flavor comes out, and it has a long finish with a cherry aftertaste. I would definitely buy it again.
- The best was by far the Pinot Noir Triple Black Slopes. The Triple Black Slopes are apparently the steepest part of the vineyard, rising at a 45 degree angle. I had only a small taste, so it’s hard to provide detailed tasting notes (I’m going to have to start carrying a notepad everywhere I go), but it was incredible. It was more tannic again and had earthier and more spicy flavors to complement the delicate fruit of the pinot noir. The price was the big obstacle – $55. I’m sure it’s a fair price – harvesting on terrain that steep can’t be easy – but still more than I want to spend on a single bottle.
All in all, I was really impressed. When we toured the Willamette Valley, the wines started to run together after a while. Most fell into a broad category of more or less textbook pinot, with one exception to the excessively light and watery side (Erath) and one exception to the excessively tannic and dark side (Archery Summit, which seemed like it was trying to treat a Burgundy varietal like a Bourdeaux-style wine). Willakenzie manages to preserve all the fruit highlights of pinot while giving it more structure, while not going overboard. Happily, we’ll have a chance to correct our previous oversight soon and visit the winery. We’re headed down to Portland next weekend for a spring release at my current favorite winery.
