Ayoub Pinot noir 07
Ayoub Pinot noir 07 - A huge mid palate of concentrated flavor - on the darker side compared to many of 2007 Pinots. Loads of blueberry, oak spice, hints of vanilla cream and black currant, finishing with scrumptious black cherry and brown sugar. When first opened, the acidity is prominent, but it softens nicely with time in a decanter. Like many of the high-end 2007 Pinots, this will enjoy a long life in your cellar, and pairs well with food in the near term.
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 91 points: "The 2007 Ayoub Pinot Noir was made by Josh Bergstrom. Sourced from low yields of 1.8 tons per acre, it was fermented with native yeasts and aged for 11 months in 35% new French oak. Dark ruby-colored, it offers up an expressive nose of smoke, black cherry, and plum. Sizeable for the vintage, it offers a big mouthful of sweet fruit, good concentration, and plenty of depth. This lengthy effort will evolve for 3-4 years and drink well through 2020."
Mo Ayoub's vineyard is in a great neighborhood. With a four-acre parcel tucked into the prime Pinot land of the Dundee Hills, Mo is a stone's throw from Maresh, Rambouillet (Dusky Goose), Winderlea (Goldschmidt), and many other oustanding vineyards. 2007 is the final vintage of Ayoub made by Josh Bergstrom.
Tasting notes from the winery: The 2007 Ayoub Pinot Noir has dark color with surprising levels of intensity, concentration, and finesse from good physiological ripeness. It is consistent with the unique style of the vineyard - boasting amazing aromas of raspberries, black cherries and nutmeg, presenting remarkable structure, silky tannins and minerality. The wine is heightened by bright acidity, hints of complex earth and pepper that provide a long and layered finish. This wine will reward patience and will benifit from time in the cellar. It has great potential to age in the bottle for 10+ years. This is a very exciting vintage showcasing Oregon's cool, classic style.
400 cases were made.
MORE INFORMATION
Previous Vintage tasting notes
2006 Vintage tasting notes
The Ayoub Pinot noir 06 received 91 points from Robert parker's Wine Advocate:"The 2006 Pinot Noir, sourced from Mo Ayoub’s estate vineyard in the Dundee Hills AVA, is medium ruby-colored with an expressive bouquet of cedar, spice box, cherry, and raspberry. This leads to a layered wine with savory flavors, outstanding depth and concentration, and incipient complexity. Drink it over the next six years."
Fresh blackberry, black raspberry, and black cherry scents rule in the nose, with sweet black stone and berry fruit flavors following through in the mouth. Smooth, silky tannins bolster heaps of fresh, fresh fruit and a just discernable, sophisticated acidity heightens and lengthens the long, layered finish. Hints of minerals, slate, and a lilting violet floral element add to the mix. This is the third vintage of the Ayoub Pinot noir we've offered. The 2006 shows a multiplicity of flavors and intricate hints of fruit, mineral, spice, and floral elements. Ayoub Vineyard's vines are clearly maturing, yielding a Pinot with every bit as much sweet fruit as before, but with an additional level of quality that separates this site from others. Says on the bottle: Produced and bottled by Bergstrom Wines.
2005 Vintage Tasting Notes
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Previous vintage 92 pts Wine Spectator What a crowdpleaser! Lush, toasty vanilla nose with buttery black cherry pie and pie spice notes. Flavors are huge- black cherry, vanilla oak, endlessly reiterated with variations of different cherry flavors - vanilla, butter, black cherry, plum, currant, soft warm blackberry, pie spice, and toast. THe finish features seamless tannins, and a blanaced natural acidity that keeps the wine in balance and prime for cellaring 4-8 years. WOW! Less than 200 cases made. -jy - tasted 10-14-06.
The Ayoub Vineyard is located in the heart of the red hills of Dundee. It is farmed by hand with great respect and care for the land, vines and natural surroundings. The steep sloped southeast-facing four acres site, with its red clay volcanic soil, is ideal for producing high quality Pinot Noir. It is densely planted resulting in low-yielding vines to increase the flavor of the fruit.
The 2005 Ayoub Pinot Noir has a richer flavor profile and greater concentration. It was produced solely from the Ayoub Vineyard and to keep the quality high, the vines were reduced to a low yiled of .9 Tons/Acre - producing only 220 cases! We like to think of each bottle, as something prized, appreciated and hard to find.
The Ayoub wine expresses the unique characters of Ayoub Vineyard and the broad complexity of the fruit it produces. To reveal the purest expression of the wine, the clusters are carefully destemmed and fermented as whole berries in small lots, using indegenous yeast. After an extended maceration of the fruit, the wine was gently pressed and aged in 70% new and 30% older French oak barrels for 11 month.
The 2005 Ayoub Pinot Noir is rich with bright red and black fruits, complex earthy notes that the Dundee Hills are known for, and a uniqueness to the vineyard site that consistently provides subtle hints of exotic spices, dried mushroom and tobacco. This wine demonstrates a robust body, while possessing the texture of fine satin in the mouth, and has a long finish that really exites the palate. You can enjoy the wine now, although it has great potential to age in the bottle for 10+ years.
2004 Vintage Tasting Notes
Wine Spectator 92 points! Congrats Mo! Good work!
Wine Spectator says: "Has intensity and depth with remarkable elegance, with gentle blueberry and cherry fruit mingling with delicate hints of cinnamon and nutmeg as the flavors linger attractively. A lovely, graceful Pinot that lingers effectively. Drink now through 2014. 250 cases made.
Made from fruit sourced from the owner's Estate vineyard in the Dundee Hills. It's a delectable, huge wine that has opened and integrated remarkably int he last six months.
Ayoub Pinot Noir is rich with bright red and black fruits, complex earthy notes that the Dundee Hills are known for, and subtle hints of spice and tobacco. This wine demonstrates a robust body, while possessing the texture of fine satin in the mouth.
Mo's relatively young vineyard is a labor of love, and the wine shows his attention to detail. The packaging is gorgeous. This is a worthy offering, and one that we hope will be followed up by new vintages from the vineyard that meet and exceed this first wine.
To reveal the purest expression of the wine, the clusters are carefully destemmed (not crushed) and fermented as whole berries. After an extended maceration of the fruit, the wine is gently pressed and aged in French oak barrels.
