Rock Creek is a second label for Michael Beckley, known for his Quercus Wines.

Rock Creek 2005 Pinot noir is an ageable wine whose balance, complexity, and rich flavors offer all the hallmarks of a cellar selection. Combined with a really reasonable price, we predict that the Rock Creek will greatly reward the patient Pinot collector.

Tasted upon release in September 2006, the wine is tight, with a silky texture, lively acidity, and fine grained but aggresive tannins. Flavors include black raspberry, blackberry, and other black fruits, and big white pepper and dried wild thyme notes in the long finish. Extremely limited, Michael made this one for the serious Pinot collector.

Rock Creek is a second label for Michael Beckley, known for his Quercus Wines.

When he founded Quercus Wines (aptly named for the oak genus used to make wine barrels), Berkley determined he would run it as closely as he could to how a small Burgundian producer operates, "without," he added, "the family involvement." Quercus is a one-man band.

"I try to emulate the hands-off technique from Burgundy, gently herding the wine to its final destination," said Beckley. "I don't have any delusions that Oregon is Burgundy-it is still Oregon, with its own unique grape-growing atmosphere.

"But the [winemaking] techniques are interchangeable," he added. "They generally mimic what has been done in Burgundy for hundreds of years." An analogy Beckley might draw is to the way a jazz standard is played differently each time it's approached by a new musician. The song is the same, and there are traditional methods with which to play it; the interpretation is unique.

Beckley believes that, in winemaking, some traditional methods are marks of integrity, and that, "many dedicated, small producers of all kinds of reds will use these techniques now."