Recently Gabriele and I found an excellent, and relatively affordable, Oregon Pinot Noir. It’s the 2015 Evesham Wood Mahonia Vineyard. I heard about the wine from a trusted source for all things Pinot Noir, the Prince of Pinot.
Dr. Rusty Gaffney started the Prince of Pinot after retiring. He uses the 100 point system for rating wine, and I’ve come to respect his scores. When I saw that he gave a 96 score to an Oregon wine that retails for $36, I wanted to try it for myself:
$36. Vineyard is located in the South Salem Hills and planted in volcanic soils. Non-irrigated vines. ·Moderate garnet color in the glass. “Oh, my God!” aromas of fresh cherry, exotic spices including clove and allspice, fertile earth and a hint of gingerbread. The flat-out delicious red cherry core is in sync with a lovely Wassail spice accent. Seamlessly composed in a mid weight style, with welcome vibrancy and a lasting echo of scent and fruit on the finish. I especially liked this wine for its uniqueness. A wine-gasm that is a must for Pinot lovers. Score:96. Reviewed February 21, 2018
Wow! Thankfully, Virginia is a state that allows for direct wine shipments. (Which partially makes up for spirits being controlled by the archaic ABC system, but that’s a topic for another post.) We totally agree with the Prince’s review, except we’d swap out cherry and put in raspberry as the dominant fruit. This combines with earth and spice and integrated in a beautifully smooth velvet texture. The 2015 Mahonia Vineyard is just a fantastic Oregon Pinot at a reasonable price point for a single vineyard wine.
We also tried another single vineyard Pinot Noir from Evesham Wood, the 2015 Sojourner Vineyard Eola Amity Hills. It was also $36 and also excellent, but quite different from the Mahonia Vineyard. This wine was very restrained and almost delicate, with more cherry on the nose than in the glass, not much spice and a tart finish. It was a lean and Burgundian wine, a style Evesham Wood is known for.
We’ll be trying some other Evesham Wood Pinots, but the Mahonia Vineyard is a slam dunk. Get some for yourself before the prices go up. And enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.
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