Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir Four Winds Vineyard 05

Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir Four Winds Vineyard 05
$26.99 - Case price (any 12 or more bottles) Price: $29.99 Patricia Green Cellars Pinot Noir Four Winds Vineyard 05: A vineyard with a terroir that always produces a unique Pinot noir. For 2005, it's dense and dark, mingling boysenberry and blackberry fruit flavors with hints of a brambliness and hints of licorice, game and barnyard. This vineyard proved in 2004 why this is not an easy business to be in. We farm this site as we have since 1997. In 2004 the Pinot Noir crop was wiped out relatively early on in the spring. For months we knew that we were not going to get fruit from the site but we were still going to have to farm as if we did so that the vines would be clean and healthy for the next vintage. Running up 5 figure costs for something for which there will be no return is neither great for business nor very much fun. However, we were rewarded with a nice, clean and beautiful crop in 2005. This is a site in the Coast Range foothills west of McMinnville. It is quite isolated and can be tricky and persnickety farming. It was easy to curse it in 2004 but we have such nice wine from it in 2005 that it is easy to forgive. This has always been the singularly most individual wine in the cellar. This vineyard site has as distinct a flavor profile as any New World Pinot Noir we have tasted. There is always some tannin to it but less so than most wines from this appellation. As the vineyard has aged, it is 12 years old now, the whole package has become more refined and less rustic leading up to this wine which has a distinctly more suave element to it than any previous bottling of Four Winds. If you have liked this wine in the past you will think it is dynamite now. - the winery Not currently available to order. May be out of stock or sold out. Inquire at 541-752-7418 or store@avalonwine.com

Detailed Info, Previous Vintage Notes, Reviews:

2003 Tasting Notes (There was no 2004 Vintage)

Distinctive aroma and flavors of game and forest floor distinguish this wine. Concentrated blackberry and cherry fruits and luxurious texture dominate the flavors. Limited supply of 2003 vintage, and there was no 2004 vintage of this wine. Sold out except for a bit for Wine Club members. In contrast to the raucous Goldschmidt, the (Jean recommends) Patricia Green Cellars Pinot noir Four Winds Vineyard is a sophisticated, nuanced wine that rewards the serious Pinot noir lover. The scent includes a subtle toasted hazelnut quality, with a viscous texture enhancing notes of violets. Hints of white pepper and red plum form the body of the flavor, with a fascinating long finish with lots of different hints of herbs and spice. Very lovely wine that will reward the lover of complexity.

2003 notes From the winery: "If this has been a wine you have made a point of getting to know you should really take this opportunity to get reacquainted for a couple of reasons. This first is that the vineyard turned 10 in 2003 and that has led to the wine showing more fruit, more complexity and more completeness than ever before. The second is that due to weather related conditions far beyond our control in 2004 there is no Pinot Noir from the vineyard in the vintage (however, in a not so subtle reminder from Mother Nature that we are really just farmers, the Chardonnay from 2004 was unaffected by the weather and came in with a bumper crop of ripe, healthy fruit!).

The Coast Range foothills setting leads to maritime influences beyond those of probably every other vineyard in Yamhill County. This leads to grape-growing on the edge. To make great wine you have to live out on the edge a bit. Sometimes you lose that battle.

In 2003 though, quality-wise at least, we were big winners. While going from 10.6 tons in 2002 to 6.2 tons in 2003 was a shocker (or so we thought at the time) considering there is over 5 acres of Pinot Noir we were thrilled with the ripeness and purity of fruit we received. Oh, there is still the distinctive Four Winds quality bubbling around in the wine offering the edge of game and forest floor that makes this wine stand apart from our other Pinots. In 2003 though all this takes a big back seat to the concentrated blackberry and cherry fruits and luxurious texture. The wine is really quite remarkable. Given that there is no Pinot Noir from 2004 you would think we would really need to raise the price a lot on this wine to defer our farming costs and make our bankers happy. Apparently we are too stupid to do that. Same price as before. 360 cases this year. Remember, none next year. 2001 tasting notes:

From the winemakers: "When you get to this wine you know we are as all about terroir as we can be. Gone are the sweet, high-toned mid-palates and perfumy cherry noses. This site is set toward the Coast Range in western McMinnville and it is a different experience altogether. Four Winds is an isolated vineyard that Jon Steinhart and Julie Donnelly planted back in 1994. We have been fortunate to work with the site since its first harvest in 1997. We have farmed this vineyard to capture the qualities that set this site apart not only geographically but also within the context of our cellar. Being closer to the Coast Range and at an elevation of over 700 feet this site has a good deal more maritime influence than any of our other sites as well as a good deal more weather. These factors along with the mix of Nokia and Jory soil and the blend of Pommard and various Dijon clones all contribute to making this vineyard's wine quite distinct.

The immediate distinction is in the nose. This wine has that certain gaminess, that gout de terroir, that barnyardy quality that the occasional Pinot Noir can get. If you like rock 'em, sock 'em West Coast Pinot Noir fruit bombs this is probably not your thing. If, however, you like the off-beat villages of Burgundy such as Fiixn, Auxey-Duresses and Pernand-Vergelesses than this might be up your alley. On the palate the sauvage nature of the aromatics gives way to ripe blackberries, bramble, peppery spice and toast from 36% new oak. The mouth feel is very round with loads of plushness and just a hint of tannin on the finish. This is an interesting little vineyard whose wines have gained in complexity each year we have made them. 345 cases this year."

Avalon says: exceptional value- amazing for the price, wonderful earthy sauvage quality.

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