Scents of sandalwood, toasted almond, fresh cherry, red raspberry and plum greet the nose from Chehalem’s 2011 Pinot Noir Corral Creek Vineyards whose tartness on a glassy but juicy palate is allied to cyanic fruit pit piquancy, chewy tartness; and bursting, berry seed-crunching impingement for a strong sense of invigoration. This spare, faintly reductive but high-energy and gripping Pinot ought to be worth following through at least 2016, and I would be inclined to give it at least another year in bottle before revisiting. (Here, too, is an instance where I have to wonder whether screwcap closure accentuates the reductive and tactilely aggressive aspects of the wine – not that this is necessary a bad thing, since some tasters might not want to see them dialed-back, nor was this wine crafted with immediate consumption in mind.) “I waited as long as I could to pick Pinot,” relates proprietor Harry Peterson-Nedry of 2011, when his team engaged in a flurry of harvest activity that finished-up November 2; and he is one of the many to find what was achieved not just an improbable success, but a collection of Pinots likely to go down as among the Willamette’s most exciting ever. I wish I could personally be that enthusiastic about his 2011s in particular – the 2010s at a similar stage struck me as altogether finer – but there is certainly a lot to like among them; and Peterson-Nedry’s avid explorations of multiple white wine grapes – of which I tasted 2012s as well as some later-released 2011s – again prove meritorious. (Consult my issue 202 report for an account of veteran Peterson-Nedry’s background and the character of his three estate vineyards.) Peterson-Nedry’s daughter Wynne – with whom I tasted this year, and about whom I also wrote briefly in issue 202 – is clearly in command of the details in both the estate’s vineyards and cellar. Although a proportion of whole clusters with stems is usually retained in the Ridgecrest fruit, in 2011 all of the Chehalem Pinots were entirely de-stemmed. Musts were very selectively – and then minimally – chaptalized, with the finished alcohol levels ranging between 12.5-13%. Despite their lateness of harvest, these Pinots were as usual – with the exception of the “Reserves” – bottled the following September. (Note that I’ve replaced the word “three” with the Arabic numeral 3 in the name of Chehalem’s “3 Vineyard” bottlings since that is how it appears on their new labels, which, incidentally – in my un-professional design opinion – are uniquely eye-catching little masterpieces of information density without clutter.) Tel. (503) 537-5553