Yet another Cristom wine of this vintage to harbor a strongly aromatic as well as tactile sense of brown spice impingement, their 2010 Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyard reminds me of many 2011s in its alliance of tart-edged but ripe plum and cherry with raw ginger, sage and sassafras, as well as smoky black tea and the powdered baking spices to which I already alluded. Illustrating a carnal dimension to which the authors of this wine have repeatedly pointed, savory raw beef as well as smoked meat emerge on the palate and contribute to a mouthwatering as well as intensely tactile and sappy finish. This is another one of those Cristom 2010s that strikes me as staining at the bit to be off galloping for the next dozen or more years. Steve Doerner – for much more about whom, and about this estate, see my Issue 202 introduction – reported from 2011” the lowest brix in our estate’s (20 year) history, lower even the cool vintages from the ‘90s” and he chaptalized to the greatest extent, typically bringing the wines up by nearly a point in alcohol, to around 13%. Some wines were acid-adjusted (adding tartaric to compensate for the high malic that was going to turn lactic) and – unlike most other strong protagonists of this approach that in the Willamette is above all associated with him – Doerner backed off a bit on the share of whole clusters and stems that went into the fermenters. As a measure of the Cristom team’s confidence in the 2011 vintage, they not only rendered from this vintage a four-barrel “Signature Cuvee,” but also an “estate blend” utilizing a barrel from each of their vineyard sites. As usual, though, with one exception it is the Cristom Pinot Noirs of three calendar years prior that were presented to me to taste there this summer. It’s no wonder that the team here is keen on a 2010 vintage in which they managed to achieve power and structure, as well as in which flavors clearly developed superbly before must weights climbed significantly. Doerner refers to a certain “delicacy” in the wines; maybe, but tasting the 2010 vintage Pinot collection here left me not just exhilarated but pretty nearly wrung out! Tel. (503) 375-3068