WillaKenzie’s 2009 Pinot Noir Triple Black Slopes is named for four steep, undulating, south-facing and relatively high-elevation slopes, the fruits of whose high-density plantings of Dijon clones 777 and 114 spend 15 months in half new barrels. Abundant, ripe, lightly confitured, vanilla-tinged blackberry, dark cherry, and plum are happily mingled with saline, savory suggestions of roasted meat pan scrapings. There is evident but reasonably find-grained tannin to this rich, broad-shouldered Pinot, and while not particularly nuanced, its finish is strong, long, and – as already intimated – mouthwatering. It ought to hold up well for at least 6-8 years and perhaps will gain further complexity. After a rigorous barrel selection, the net result was around 500 cases, small by estate standards.
Former high-tech exec Bernard Lacroute acquired his dramatically sprawling 420 acres east of Yamhill in 1991; named it for the unique local marine sedimentary soil type; and began planting vines that would eventually reach 105 acres (two-thirds of them Pinot Noir), supplemented in 2000 by 25 prime acres five miles distant in the Dundee Hills that feature the Willamette’s other major soil type suited to viticulture, the basalt-based Jory, for which Lacroute duly named his second vineyard. Trained in organic chemistry, Auvergne-born winemaker and now co-owner Thibaud Mandet arrived at WillaKenzie in 2000 by way of stints in Champagne, Corsica, and Texas. Michael Rogers took over five years ago but was assistant vineyard manager for some years previous. This is one of those sure-footed, long-standing Willamette Valley wine growing teams whose consistency is admirable but doesn’t preclude an open and experimental attitude. Pinot is (thus far) always destemmed here, and there is a chamber in which, as Mandet puts it “we can get the cold, dry north wind of Burgundy” – famous for saving many a vintage – “at the flip of a switch.” Lacroute and Mandet feel strongly that acidification is not only undesirable but should never be necessary if the soil has been properly cared-for; enough canopy left to protect against possible over-exposure (“we learned from ‘03 and ‘06,” says Lacroute); and provided one picks at the right moment. Chaptalization, too, is eschewed, but musts are sometimes concentrated with an on-site vacuum evaporator. Having learned that, I was surprised when Mandet said he was totally adverse to adding water, “but then,” he added, “perhaps it’s because I’m French. In extreme circumstances, I would rather de-alc.” Fermentation is by inoculation, but the team here has high hopes for a culture of yeasts derived from their oldest vineyard, which was isolated and propagated for them in 2010, and which has already been subjected to an analysis that demonstrated both its efficacy and the hitherto unknown identity of two of its four strains. Fermentation in tanks and wooden uprights segregates parcels and clonal blocks because, as Lacroute puts it (without sarcasm), “In fifty years, we’re going to find out which vines work best where.” Punch-downs are mechanical but sparingly-applied, supplemented by occasional pump-overs and with limited post-fermentative maceration. Pinots are released only after a year or more after bottling, which normally takes place at 14-17 months and without filtration. (All WillaKenzie wines, by the way, are labeled with only the Willamette Valley appellation.)
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