Brooks Winery Pinot Noir "Runaway Red" 08
Brooks Winery Pinot Noir "Runaway Red" 08 - Always a great deal, this is a fun, easy to love Oregon Pinot at a great price.
The color is ruby red from rim to the center. Very Pinot Noir. On the nose, beautiful aromas of minerals, dusty black and bing cherries, cherry pipe tobacco, earth, raspberries, blackberries, black pepper, and a basket full of wild strawberries pour from the glass.
As the wine sits in the glass more dark and complex aromatics of game, cloves, blueberries, orange peel and dried herbs emerge.
In the mouth, the wine mirrors the aromatics with a focused attack with ripe acidity and bright red and blue fruits. The wine continues on the palate with ripe, dusty tannins and juicy red fruits. The wine is young right now, but the mid-pallet offers richness and complexity. The wine finishes clean, pure and long.
Classic, succulent, balanced and juicy the 2008 Runaway while built for near term drinking will have no problem aging for years to come. - the winery
Jim Brooks was working behind Willakenzie Estate (his former employer) moving barrels of wine around, on that section of road that is real steep behind the winery--- it was after dark, and cold, and he was tired, and as he drove the tractor up to the barrel, to pick it up with the fork, he heard a metallic "snap!" and then, nothing happened, so he continued.
Anyway, halfway around, the barrel fell off the tractor and rolled down the hill, through the fence, broke off the fence posts, through the vines, and landed in the creek! Miraculously, the bung stayed in!
So here were Jimi and Laurent, Willakenzie's winemaker, and other people, wrestling this 65 gallon barrel out of the creek in the cold and rain, rolling it back up the hill (steep hill) in the dark (very steep hill). This barrel had a mind of its own!
Thus the name "Runaway Red"- Pinot noir from the selfsame barrel, with a special label to memorialize the occasion. And guess what- it's dang good- a little wierd, but dang tasty. Nice rich flavor, good fruit, nice aromatics. A good "house" pinot noir for your house with a cool label and a great story behind it!
MORE INFORMATION
The Concept-
It is an effort to provide a very good wine at a very affordable price. It is not political nor is it politically correct. It is a wine for today, for tonight, for now. It is a Pinot for the people.
The Wine-
Runaway Red is a pinot Noir blend from various vineyards as well as negociant wine purchased from quality wineries in the northern Willamette valley. It is made to be enjoyed earlier than most Pinots with less than 10% new oak and less than the normal dose of sulfites. As with all my wines each fermentor is treated separately and approached individually to bring as much character and intensity to each lot. Bright and hopeful. A true Bolshevik of a wine. A bit rustic and ready. Red fruits, cherry and hints of mushroom and earth. The attack is fruity and bright with a good middle full of strawberry flavors finishing with bright clean acidity and very soft tannins.
"This isn't about Trotsky. It isn't about revolutions. It is about my first harvest. An extra barrel. The middle of the night. It is about the morning air beginning and the metallic snap as the barrel skidded off the rack and rolled out into the darkness. It is about the horrible accelerating, the splash and a gut wrenching disappointment. It is about find the barrel nestled, intact, between the shoulders of a creek. This bottling is about pleasant surprises, deep laughter and good friends. Enjoy!" - Jimi Brooks, 2001
