Tasting Notes: Willakenzie Estates

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.

Would you like some pinot noir with your pinot noir?

I recently made a trip down to the Wilammette Valley for some R&R and decided to visit some wineries. It had been 3-4 years since the last time I was down there, and it was interesting to see the changes. The biggest difference is that there are a lot more wineries than there were before. Last time around, I only remember visiting Sokol Blosser and Argyle. It was hard to find a lot of wineries with tasting rooms. This time, it seemed like there were a lot more wineries open to the public. My wife and I hit Erath Vineyards, Archery Summit, Domaine Drouhin, Penner Ashe, Bergstrom, Adelsheim, and Ponzi (which doubled as an excellent lunch stop). Of these, I think I’d give Domaine Drouhin the nod as favorite–the Laurene Pinot Noir was excellent.

The other big change was the prices. Archery Summit won the prize here, with a $15 tasting fee and an asking price of $150 for a bottle of pinot noir. Have people bought into the “Oregon has the same climate as Burgundy” argument this much? Or is it a lingering effect from “Sideways” that people are willing to pay that much for a bottle of pinot noir? The winery claimed that it was designed to be cellared for a minimum of 5-6 years. They’re probably right, but I don’t have that type of patience. It was exceptionally dark and tannic, and it could certainly use some time to open up and mellow out. If you’re a pinot drinker (I’m typically not), all of the delicate flavors you look for were overwhelmed by the tannins. Their $85 pinot was, in my opinion, a better option, though still sky-high in price.

In my book, if you’re charging more than $50 for your wine, it has to deliver a life-altering experience.  Right now, I have one wine that I’d say accomplishes that, and it cost less than $50. On this trip, I think almost everything we bought was over $50. It felt like Napa or Sonoma.

A couple of things about the Willamette Valley hadn’t changed. The really established wineries aren’t open to the public other than by appointment. Last time around, we were really excited to visit Sineann, which produces an incredible old vine zinfandel (if you don’t mind bombastic fruit and an almost syrupy consistency). This time, we were going to try to visit Dusky Goose, which allegedly produces the best pinot noir in Oregon. No dice!

The other thing that hasn’t changed is the single-minded focus on pinot noir. That’s no surprise — the Willamette Valley gets a lot of rain and cool weather, so it’s not like anyone’s going to start growing cab sauv there anytime soon. Still, by the time we’d hit Penner Ashe, I was done. We’d had plans to visit Willakenzie, but by that point, I was burned out on pinot noir for the day.