Boedecker’s 2009 Pinot Noir Shea – from the same blocks as the corresponding 2010, but the proportions of Wadenswil and (here strongly dominant) Clone 115 roughly reversed – exhibits welcome and paradoxical primary dark berry juiciness considering how the 2010 shows today, and that this is the hot and dehydrating vintage. To be sure, though, there is a suggestion of confiture to the blackberry, cassis and boysenberry on generous exhibit here, to which hints of cinnamon and ginger add allure. Rich and expansive, with its tannins entirely tucked-in, this finishes with sweet and spicy persistence, if also a hint of heat. This year, I visited and tasted with husband and wife team Stewart Boedecker and Athena Pappas at their Portland facility, in an impressively neatly-kept “industrial” district that appears to favor wineries, breweries, and other artisanal endeavors. (Vienna may always retain the largest vineyard acreage of any major metropolitan area, but I can imagine that Portland might eventually rival if not surpass the Bay Area in number of urban winemaking facilities.) Boedecker opines that “2011 was a lot like 2010 in that things weren’t ripening and weren’t ripening ... and then, it seemed as though something in the plant just flipped and within a few days all of the flavors came up at once.” That said, believing that green wood spelled risk, they elected to de-stem all of their 2011 fruit, whereas from 2010 – whose Pinots they are currently selling – a significant share of stems (and yet-higher share of intact berries) was incorporated. “We didn’t have as high a malic fraction of acidity, though, in 2011 as in 2010,” Boedecker adds, so buffering was less of a concern and no tartaric acid added to the musts. A few lots from 2011 were chaptalized by a half a percent, but mostly Boedecker and Pappas worked – and stuck – with fruit of around 13% potential alcohol. (For more about the Boedecker background and regimen, consult my issue 202 report. I have once again treated white wines vinified and marketed under the name “Pappas Wine Co.” as representing a sub-label of Boedecker Cellars, and hence reviewed them under that heading.) Tel. (503) 866-0095

The 2009 Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard displays an attractive aromatic array of spicy red fruits, exotic spices, rose petal, and sandalwood. On the palate it is plush, easy-going, and pleasure-bent. It can be approached now but will drink well through 2019+. Boedecker Cellars is the winery of husband/wife team Athena Pappas and Stewart Boedecker. The wines are all produced from contracted fruit, fermented with native yeasts, aged for 9 months in a percentage of new oak, and then racked into neutral oak for additional aging. The wines are bottled in Stelvin screw caps in their new winery in an industrial section of Portland. Many of their wines are held back for an additional year of bottle aging.Tel. (503) 288-7752; www.boedeckercellars.com

Supple, generous and transparent, this features cherry and orange peel flavors bubbling up through refined tannins, persisting into the long, well-modulated finish. Drink now through 2017. 125 cases made. -HS