While I still consider the widespread association in the Willamette of Jory soils with red fruits and WillaKenzie soils with darker berries (as opposed to considering ripeness, clone, and other factors more relevant to determining position on a red-black axis), the WillaKenzie 2010 Pinot Noir Pierre Leon and its Jory Hills Vineyard counterpart could easily be used to buttress received opinion. Blackberry and cassis dominate here, and the brown spices, resin and caramel from barrel are better integrated than was the case in that Jory bottling. Bright, juicy primary fruit; a seed-crunching tang yet against a polished background; and a savory, mouthwatering undertone of meat stock and roasted red meats come together for a complete, seamless, and sustained performance. This ought to perform admirably through at least 2018.
“We really pushed the envelope in 2011 to achieve full ripeness,” explains Thibaud Mandet, “so we picked a lot in the first week of November, and continued until the last week of November.” This suggests that he and his partner, WillaKenzie founder Bernard Lacroute, may have set the record in this extreme harvest. “It was a little bit stressful,” adds Mandet with evident understatement, “because as you know the days are getting shorter and cooler, and the weather can change suddenly. But luckily it stayed dry and breezy compared with many vintages. In the end we did only a little bit of chaptalization.” “Of course,” adds Lacroute, “this all depends on maintaining the health of your vines and fruit, because if you get a little bit of rot inside the clusters, it’s ‘game over,’ and you’ve got to pick.” Amazingly, considering the lateness of harvest and the fact that the 2011s here also went into barrel late and were slow to undergo malo-lactic transformation, Mandet and Lacroute elected to bottle their top tier of Pinots a couple of weeks earlier than usual, already in February and March of this year. The 2010 vintage was late here too by long-term standards, but nonetheless finished on November 1, at which point in 2011 most of the harvest action still lay ahead. What’s more, alcohol levels – naturally in the mid to upper 13% – were nearer normal. But then, 2010 yields were very low. Whether the phenolic evolution in 2011 was superior, I won’t be able to judge until next year, because most of the WillaKenzie Pinots are only released and shown to me in their third year. In lieu of acidulation, incidentally, Mandet says he will often harvest a small portion of a given vineyard early to generate a higher-acid lot that can then be used for blending. Additional experience this July with WillaKenzie’s very limited reserve bottlings certainly showed me the potential here for positive bottle maturation as well as for moderation – given time – of both vintage extremities and new oak influence. (Mandet and Lacroute were not, however, ready to show me their 2009 Reserve; and indeed, the 2008 is only just being released. For more about this estate and the personalities and vineyards behind it, consult my introduction in Issue 202.)
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