Belle Pente Belle Pente Vineyard Pinot noir 08

Review:

2008 Tanzer - 92 points - Vivid ruby-red. Cherry-cola and black raspberry aromas are complicated by notes of potpourri and musky herbs. Suave and seamless on the palate, offering sappy cherry and floral pastille flavors and notes of cola and tarragon. Gains weight with air and picks up a spicy nuance that carries carries through the long, clinging, sweet finish. I'd come back to this in about three years. - Josh Raynolds

From the winery:

Two thousand eight marks a milestone for our estate vineyard - all of blocks are now at least 10 years old! As the vines move from infancy into adolescence, we are finding it harder and harder each year to "sort" the individual lots into a hierarchy of wines. This year proved especially difficult since a majority of the barrels "wanted to be" Estate Reserve. But after an arduous evaluation process, we were finally able to separate the "merely" really, really good from the truly great.

The Estate Reserve will be released next summer, but for now you have this delicious "junior" version to consider. It is a very expressive young wine with heady aromas of dark red & blue fruits, accented by herbs and woodsmoke. The palate is focused and long, medium bodied, with good underlying structure and perfect acid/tannin balance. This is a very attractive expression of the best attributes of Yamhill-Carlton Pinot. It can be enjoyed now, but will generously reward several years of patient cellaring!

2007 Vintage Tasting Notes

A beauty when it was released, the 2007 Belle Pente Vineyard Pinot noir has gotten even better in the last year. The vineyard is now 12 years old and in its prime. The glorious fruit is the envy of Brian's neighbors.

Brian's style is more Thomas or Cameron than California - like much of the best of Burgundy, he does what we think produces the most character and complexity in Oregon Pinot - he dry farms. It takes much longer for the vines to produce fruit without irrigation, but when they mature, the roots (as much as 20 feet deep) pick up minerals and perfume from the soil, and the tougher conditions stress the vines such that the plant produces very intensely flavored fruit. You can intensify a Pinot in many ways, but dry farming uses nothing but the soil and time to create an unforgettable style, and Brian's are some of Oregon's best. - Jean

A very expressive wine with heady aromas of dark red & blue fruits, accented by herbs and woodsmoke. The plate is focused and long, medium bodied, with good underlying structure and perfect acid/tannin balance. - the winery

2006 Vintage Tasting Notes

An exceptional Pinot noir in the Burgundian style, Brian continues to offer some of the best priced highest quality Pinots in Oregon.

2006 Tanzer - 92 Points - Vivid red. Sexy aromas of strawberry and raspberry preserves, potpourri and incense. Lithe, finely etched red berry and bitter cherry flavors are impressively precise, gaining in sweetness with aeration. Finishes sweet, with a strong echo of candied rose. Very nicely balanced pinot.

The 2006 vintage was a "defining moment" for our young estate vineyard. The four vineyard blocks planted in 1998, which contribute the majority of the fruit that goes into this bottling, really came into their own in 2006, producing what one of our well known neighboring winemakers described as an "archetypal" Yamhill-Carlton District Pinot Noir!

Although we started producing this wine in 2002, this is the first year that it is really living up to it's potential and delivering on the promise of our terrific site. The nose is deep and complex, with herbal notes of thyme, anise, and lavender accenting the wild black cherry and ripe blackberry aromas. On the palate, the wine is smooth and suave, structured yet lively, and impeccably balanced.

As a "typical" 2006, this wine is immensely pleasurable now, and will reveal even more charms after a few years in the cellar. No longer merely a junior version of our Estate Reserve, this bottling has attained it's own identity and character. - the winery