Perpetually brokenhearted by Burgundy’s unattainable prices, we are always on the lookout for alternatives. On one occasion we tried “Pinot-adjacent” varieties: Cinsault, Xinomavro, Nebbiolo, Listán Negro… On a more recent occasion we explored a region that is Burgundy-inspired and Burgundy-influenced: the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Courtesy of the very lovely folks at A&B Vintners, we put together a little flight of wines, and put on our Burgundy spectacles to see how they fared. We had a couple of rules – wines in the quality “sweet spot” of £40-60 (full retail price), and a couple of Burgundies in the same price bracket for comparison. Oh, but you will say, “That is not fair, Burgundy is often rubbish at that price.” Well that is the point of the tasting! To show that perhaps somewhere in the world you can get much better Chardonnay and Pinot at an acceptable price.
Regrettably the tasting was inconclusive, needing more research. As it happens, we always welcome this kind of research, so we are not finished with Oregon yet.
But let us dive into the detail, where the devil likes to dwell.
We had a quick natter before eating anything at all: a splendidly fresh breakfast wine, the 2024 Hofgut Falkenstein Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Spätlese “Klaus”. Do not assume that because it is extremely light in colour it has no substance. It exudes a distinctive nose of elderflower and perhaps lychee. Impeccable acidity – searing in fact, but beautifully rounded out with a gentle sweetness. Lively long lime finish. Delightful!
Then the two Burgundies.
Pouilly-Fuissé Tournant de Pouilly “Cuvée Hors-Classe” 2020, J.A. Ferret (the lockdown vintage, as I like to call this year – most winemakers tell a good story about this year)
Lovely golden colour. Richly textured, creamy, nutty and intensely seductive. Weighty and voluptuous. Lots of throbbing stuffing. Takes me to the vineyard! It is what you want, is it not? To be transported to a place? To be properly stuffed? It was delicious and a relief, after two rather dispiriting, weedy Oregon Chardonnays. Oh dear, I am getting ahead of myself.
Givry 1er Cru L’Empreinte 2020, Domaine Joblot
Oh dear oh dear oh dear… One is tempted to say it is decent in its own right. Meaning, if you did not know it was a Joblot, or it was made from Pinot Noir. Maybe if you thought it was a rustic Languedoc peasant wine. Regrettably I am being generous. I will use it to cook boeuf bourguignon. Fellow taster Lizzy said of its aggressive tannins, “it’s like the bottom of a teapot”.
So bit of a mixed bag for team Burgundy.
Now on the Oregon front we started with the Eyrie Vineyard Chardonnay from highly regarded Arterberry Maresh. The 2018 vintage. So plenty of age on it. Initially it smells of nothing. And then a sort of flaccid melony smell. Fellow taster Richard said “astoundingly neutral”. Odd hints of banana. Davy exclaimed “tastes like New Zealand Chardonnay from the 90s”. To me, generic and forgettable. The following day, however, the nose had opened up, offering a vaguely lemony aroma and some grapefruit flavours. And some fairly decent freshness. But no excitement at all. Moving swiftly on to better pastures…
Chardonnay Block Three Ribbon Ridge 2022, Brick House
More going on on the nose than the Eyrie. A bit green in colour, slightly grassy. White pepper notes, a bit reminiscent of Grüner Veltliner. A bitterness on the finish. Toasted almonds, but not a very rounded nuttiness, more of a sharp nuttiness. To be clear, rounded is good, sharp is not. Taut, focused and lean. The acidity is somewhat overbearing. Not completely without elegance, I must say, but ultimately unexciting. Davy is entirely dismissive, saying “dull, boring vineyard”. I would not be so uncharitable, because these wines are made from the heart, and with love, and this is an important consideration for me. But I will take the Pouilly-Fuissé over these two any day.
I think the Chardonnay sample is way too small, and we should remain open to persuasion. But 100 coins on two of them, and neither memorable… Not a good start.
Pinot Noir Weber Vineyard 2022, Arterberry Maresh
We are trying another wine from these people. I must say this does have a lovely light colour. But it smells of things that are not grown-up: cranberries, bubble gum, jelly beans. I find wines that smell of children’s sweets hard to take seriously. “But the palate is vinous” acknowledges Davy. It does have a lovely lightness and acidity – that is true. But it is somewhat artificial and reminds one of the carbonic maceration you get in Beaujolais nouveau: the experience is like having depth replaced with an annoying superficiality. Why would you do that? Here is the thing, though: the wine was vastly improved the day after, making me think we should have decanted this to expose it to oxygen. There was a nice peppery savouriness the following day, that made the experience far more succulent and serious. So this is a wine of two halves and at this point I think I will refrain from judgment. If there is a next time, I will decant. I am sorry my guests did not get to see this.
Pinot Noir Antoinette 2018, J. K. Carriere
Now this one was a bit confusing initially… The nose was dark and inky like for example a Syrah. And it does have some peppery, beefy notes, initially. Which is not what you expect from Pinot Noir. There is an attractive creaminess though which softens the pepper. But unlike some of the other wines we tasted today, this one presented a seamlessness, a wholeness that the others did not. It is pure, with very fine tannins, excellent grip, and a long, luscious finish. Overall an accomplished wine and one hopes (judging by the fact it is already 8 years old and looks and tastes young), a wine with longevity that will reveal more in the coming years. The Editor said, accurately in my estimation, “Speaks of a place, and shows harmony between nose and palate.” There you go, the first properly good red wine.
Pinot Noir Carter Vineyard 2021, Kelley Fox Wines
This one – also the most expensive wine – caused a huge debate. On the nose it is spectacular. Delicately perfumed, lofty and ethereal. Just what you want. But it is brief and frustrating, and sort of fell apart quite quickly. We were trying to compare it with the Antoinette, which had more life in it despite (or because of) its additional three years in bottle. Much as the wine lacked interest on the palate, I cannot ignore the fact that its perfume was haunting. This wine shows serious intent, and the vineyard has something special. But a little more structure and grip would go a long way. The Editor, on a roll here with his customary sagesse, “Pinot Noir should not do that”, referring to its lack of vitality. I will suspend judgment for now. I want to believe in Kelley Fox and will come back for more when I am ready.
Oregon ended here. Davy kindly threw in a Burn Cottage Pinot Noir from Central Otago, New Zealand, the 2019 vintage, but it was deeply disappointing and dull. Davy flatly said “I do not care about this wine” and we moved on.
At this stage we were on the cheeses. We thought it would all end on a Sauternes, the 2008 Château de Fargues. Sadly however this wine has little to recommend it. It is completely unbalanced in favour of sweetness. It is cloying, soupy, completely lacks definition, fruit or excitement. It perhaps saw better days 10 years ago, but honestly, good Sauternes lasts a lifetime, so it is a mystery why this wine is so soporific.
The mediocrity of the Fargues took us to another place. Let us open something proper! I turfed out a Château Prieuré du Monastir del Camp Rivesaltes from my birth vintage, 1967. A vintage that was mostly rubbish in the classic regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone and Rioja but not, as luck would have it, in Piedmont (the ’67 Barolos are still immense) or in Rivesaltes. As Davy would say, wehay!
Thick, oily, unctuous, spicy, treacly. It is oddly and fascinatingly evasive, telling a different story every time you put your nose in the glass. The density, the cascading unctuousness, the sheer violence of the wine’s conviction – it reminds me of the aggression I got from a Croft 1908, soaring from the glass, as if some genie wanted to escape after years of being trapped. The hugeness and the immensity of this wine are irresistible qualities. As for the specifics… where to start? Orange peel, marmalade, all manner of spices such as nutmeg, allspice, cloves, then cashew nuts and hazelnuts and walnuts, and then the weird and wonderful, like old furniture, boot polish, abandoned attics… Texturally, it is extraordinary: at once silky, but then furry. It does everything this wine – it is sensational.
There you go, nice end to a long lunch of pork and cheese.
Wehay!
If that Burn Cottage and Joblot Givry had been any more heavily manipulated, they would have ejaculated.
Learn from this, Ricard old bean, any Chardonnay with even pretentions of grandeur is worth decanting.
I only really buy Chardonnay from Chablis, Pouilly-Fuissé and Kumeu River. P-F is getting more expensive, the one we tasted here is now quite expensive, but it remains the cheapest of the three and still often shows high quality.
I need to buy another decanter then, or at least have more jugs handy!
Chardonnay and, especially, Pinot are just poor value these days wherever one goes in the world. The Editor was quite right to say that the alternative to Pinot is Syrah (Côte-Rôtie, Cornas, or South Africa).
I’m not so sure The Editor’s point about Syrah was properly debated. I need more clarity on the precise parameters of the proposition because instinctively I don’t think the word “alternative” was properly unpacked. And not all of the interpretations I can think of for the word lead to Syrah.
Ricard, when we meet in November, I will demonstrate that a £50 Cornas has just as much terroir expression as any Burgundy, and is far better wine and therefore better value than the Pinots we tasted here (especially the utterly awful Burn Cottage and Joblot Givry – provided by ME!). It may not have the florid sex appeal of *some* Burgundies, but, if you know the Cornas’ of Gilles’, you will know they are rather attractive!
Burgundy may be over-priced, but I think Pinot is in general. Everyone wants to get that magic taste, and that demand inflates prices for what are, all too often, not that interesting wines,. That taste exists in a difference aspect from another grape in other regions.
Why do I not have the ability to reply to your replies? Curse you, WordPress!
He meant in the ‘expressive of origin-sense And you can really taste it when you try different Cornas or Côte-Rôtie lieux-dits. The Cornas we will be tryibg in November is from Chaillots and the Côte-Rôtie is Maison Rouge; both will sing beautiful songs of place and loveliness.
I know you like your Pinot so have an abundance of sweet fruit, Syrah does not do that (although you did like the Pinot that had Syrah qualities to it). I started drinking Burgundy far enough in the past that I love the slightly savory character it can display; these wines are closer to Syah in flavour-and structure-expression – and still speak of their origins.
The quest for ever-fruitier Pinot in Burgudy, and the rejection of the old savory styles is yet another reason I am drifting away from Burgundy.
Splash the wine into a clean jug, then – using a funnel – pour the wine back into the bottle. Or a different bottle if you are being foxy. As long as the wine is not too cold, 30-40 minutes after this double-decant will give adequate Oxygen exposure, and you only need one jug for multiple wines!
Yes I am familiar with this technique, not just from seeing you do it, but from you famous article about decanters: https://elitistreview.com/2021/08/16/decanters-are-crap/ An Elitistreview classic!
I have got this bloody site to allow one to reply to replies.
An enhancement to this is if one has to decant reds a long time before one drinks them. Fridge the red wine down. Then double decant it as described above. The low temperature of the wine will slow the oxidation reactions and the wine will be at a good temperature and with a reasonable degree of decantation by the time one has travelled from Winchester to North London. Was not that Vins de Vienne Côte-Rôtie Grandes Places singing with beauty when we got to yours the time before last, Ricard? This was the technique I used. I will do this with the Gilles 16 and Maison Rouge before we set off to 10GS in November, Ricard, the wines will be refulgently delicious!
Glad you approve of jugs, Ricard. I think jugs are wonderful and I wish I got to handle them more often.
I do like a bit of refulgence in my wines, I do.
Almost as good a effulgence!
Thank you for this. Despite the underwhelming quality of the wines (except for the Ferret), it was an interesting set of notes. Davy, I am enjoying the variety of content offered by your guest writers.
I asked the right people to contribute to the site, Jonathan old bean! When I was looking at some information to work out the massive degree to which my IQ will have decayed since I went mad, took powerful drugs and got old, I read somewhere that, in order to write a coherent magazine article (which is what Elitistreview articles are), one needs an IQ of at least 130. You clever chaps, chaps!