The Brooks 2010 Riesling – issuing from Brooks Estate, Sunset View, and Cambus Bellas vineyards and not released until this year – displays alkaline and (to my mind prematurely) fusil notes on the nose so as to create a slightly dank impression. Tart green apple, brightly juicy lemon, and piquant lime peel flavors contrast with hints of caramel and canned peach. The feel is glassy and the finish hard, malic – almost a bit metallic – with its tartness detached, and to my palate not really refreshing. Although the winery thinks of his as a wine not only suited for late-release but also for cellaring, I’d drink it soon. I tasted this July with Brooks winemaker Chris Williams, for more detail about whom – as well as about the history and current operating procedures of this estate – consult my issue 202 report. (Wines from Williams’ own small but exciting Terue project can also be found – under that name – in the present report.) As had been the case last year, I found the Rieslings on which this estate puts great stock and about which a number of my journalistic colleagues have written flatteringly were not nearly on the impressive level of the Brooks Pinots – or indeed of their recently-introduced Gewurztraminer from Columbia Gorge fruit. (Because my views on Brooks Rieslings might be considered contrarian, I have elected to publish full tasting notes on certain wines whose ratings would ordinarily have relegated them to a mere mention in my text and to listing as “also recommended.”) “I try not to ever chaptalize,” says Williams – whose low-alcohol (at times astonishingly so) 2011 and 2010 vintage Pinots testify to his resolve under the greatest imaginable temptation – though he confesses that “I had to water-back a couple of lots from 2012 that would have just been big, huge monsters; but, man, I struggled with that because I had never, ever done it; and I’ve never done acid-addition either.” (Could you guess that Williams isn’t at all sure the already much-ballyhooed 2012 Pinots will prove more exciting than his 2011s?!) Incidentally, a new winery is planned for a vineyard location a short distance from the present facility, the old Eola quarters being noticeably cramped. Tel. (503) 435-1278