The 2009 Pinot Noir Lange Estate is sweeter-fruited and more seamlessly rich than its 2010 counterpart, at the same time with cyanic fruit pit piquancy offering welcome counterpoint. Vanilla, pistachio oil, cardamom, cinnamon, and cocoa powder add allure on an expansive, silken-textured palate, while in a long finish iodine and saline-sweet savor akin to lobster shell reduction stimulate the salivary glands as well as the desire for the next sip. The sense of primary fruit juiciness retained throughout this wine is inexplicably greater than I experienced with a couple of the Lange 2010s (though I don’t fancy that as something that can be achieved through time in bottle). I imagine this beauty will be worth watching for 6-8 years, but don’t miss out on some now. Singer-songwriter Don Lange and his wife Wendy arrived from Central California to start their Dundee Hills winery a quarter century ago, prompted by what he describes as a Pinot-centric “hobby that had grown out of control,” and the tasting of a bottle crafted by their soon-to-be neighbor Dick Erath. “We drank it, called him on the phone, and he said ‘Come on up,’” Lange recalls. “A couple of weeks later we were up there; and by that summer we had moved and we were busy doing this project. Both of us ended up working in Dick’s tasting room to make ends meet.” Today, 45 of the Langes’ 60 acres – representing three nearby locations – are planted, five of them with Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. The original Pinot plantings were with Pommard, Wadenswil, and a selection from Bien Nacido; more recently some of the Dijon clones have gone in, including those on their Redside Vineyard, which only produced its first fruit last year. Son Jesse took over as winemaker in 2004, with Wayne Cook assisting him as vineyard manager. Pinot is almost entirely destemmed. “One thing we don’t do a whole lot of is cold-soaking, which puts us in the vast minority,” remarks Jesse Lange, whose fermentations normally start up spontaneously within two days, and as he points out, don’t seem lacking in color, even in vintage 2010. Small open-top fermentors and two punch-downs a day is a typical regimen, permitting each small block to be fermented and followed individually. “Another thing that we do that I’m not sure anybody else does or not to the degree that we do,” notes Lange “– and I haven’t found a better way to do this – is that we hand-bucket the wine out of the fermentor and into the press.” (In fact, a couple of other growers I’ve noted follow this gentle, labor-intensive procedure, which keeps seeds entirely from the press in order to, as Lange suggests, achieve superior texture.) Settling is minimal before the young wine is put to barrels, which range from 20-50% new according to cuvee, though I must say that I found their consistent toastiness (officially “medium”) a bit awkwardly evident in a number of wines I tasted. All of the Pinots are bottled just before the next harvest. “I’ve never seen the ratio of malic to tartaric acid as high as it was in 2010 and 2011,” says Jesse Lange, but he didn’t add tartaric in either year, or in 2009. “My experience in California’s Central Coast with knee-jerk acidification turned me off on that,” chimes in Lange senior. Tel. (503) 538-6476

Dark and fruity, somewhat like a California Pinot Noir, this tastes riper than its 13.6% alcohol would suggest. The fruit is ripe and hints at oranges and prunes, with plenty of power. A palate-pleaser, big and blocky.——P.G.(3/1/2012)—— 88