If you have any ’98 Oregon pinots in your cellar, dig ‘em out and pull the cork! Based on my recent tasting of more than a dozen ‘98s, the wines are entering maturity and are in beautiful drinking condition.
'98 was the first of a string of great Oregon vintages that ran all the way through 2004 -- vintages where there was little or no rain at harvest. '98 followed weak vintages in '95 - '97, a series of rainy harvests that produced thin, tannic and lean wines in general.
'98 was also a time of a major change in winemaking and viticulture in Oregon. Since that point in time, vineyard and winery technique has progressed to the point where some believe that Oregon has become "vintage proof" -- capable of making great wine every year, regardless of weather condition (note to the optimistic -- remember the '95s).
While the '98s were ripe and fleshy, they also had substantial tannins. After their baby fat wore off in about 2000, the wines entered a dumb phase. In fact, some tasters have declared the vintage to be "over the hill" at this stage.
My tastings say otherwise; the best wines have started drinking well only in the past two years. Based on this evaluation, I recently undertook a retrospective of the ‘98s. If critics of the vintage were correct, I could expect over-the-hill wines. But if my personal sense of timing was correct, the wines would be glorious.
We assembled a dozen friends and clients and a dozen wines and sat down to taste. The wines were all upright for 2-3 days prior to the event. The corks were pulled and the wines decanted off of the sediment only 15 minutes prior to tasting. The wines were not exactly randomized – those wines scoring big from the critics were placed near the end of the flight, while less-known wines were consumed first.
The first two wines were the Brooks “Janus” and the Westry “Abbey Ridge.” Both are in early maturity, with sweet, supple fruit flavors at the high end of the flavor spectrum, showing complete integration of flavor and the beginning of those desirable sur maturite aromas and flavors. They continued improving over the next hour and more.
As we moved through other wines, the story was much the same. The Torii Mor “Eason” was lovely, as was the Hamacher, Shea “Block 21” and Lange Freedom Hill. Some of the wines, like the Ponzi Reserve and the McKinlay Special Selection, were a bit more youthful – showing delicious integration of flavors but not yet giving off the tertiary aspects of old pinot noir.
The Witness Tree “Vintage Select”, and Evesham Wood “Le Puits Sec” were also tasted with excellent results.
The youngest wines of the tasting were those loaded down with the largest dose of wood tannins. The St. Innocent “Seven Springs” and the St. Innocent “Freedom Hill” were both still quite structured compared to the less-wooded wines, showing barrel toast, wood tannins to such a degree that the fruit was strongly flavored by those optional elements. Both of the St. Innocents need more time to throw off their tannin, but I worry about the fruit lasting long enough. These two were the least of the entire tasting due to the woodiness, although the “Seven Springs” bottling still shows impressive fruit concentration.
To summarize, start drinking those ‘98s! The wait was well worth it. In fact, the ‘98s are the best older vintage of Oregon pinot to drink now, period. All previous vintages are now well past their prime (excepting individual, high-quality wines) and subsequent vintages are not yet mature.
And to those who question whether Oregon wines can age, I say: is eight and a half years long enough for you? I guarantee that many of the ‘98s I tried will be as good or even better at the ten year mark. It is now fair to generalize that ’98 was the beginning of the era of ageable Oregon pinot noir.
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