The 2015 Pinot Noir Corral Creek Vineyards has a pale ruby-purple color and nose of warm cranberries, pomegranate and rose hip tea with touches of forest floor and cinnamon. Medium-bodied, finely structured and very refreshing in the mouth, it has soft, rounded tannins and a savory finish.

The 2014 Pinot Noir Corral Creek Vineyards spent 11 months in barrel with a single racking (55% new wood). It has a ripe, dark cherry, bilberry and wilted violet petal bouquet that opens nicely in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine definition, a little woody at the moment, but there is sufficient fruit in the background to absorb the oak. It is fresh, succulent and there is a pleasing saline finish. This is recommended.

The 2013 Pinot Noir Corral Creed Vineyards was noticeably paler in color than its peers. The nose offers light brambly red fruit that feels a little smudged. The palate is medium-bodied with "stringy" tannin and it feels a little hollow towards the simple finish. Agreeable Pinot Noir, but not one I would choose to keep long-term.

The 2012 Pinot Noir Corral Creek Vineyards comes from vines planted in 1985, clone unknown, but possibly Pommard or Wadenswil. Picked October 13-14 at around 24 Brix and matured in 40% new oak for 11 months, it has a rather broody redcurrant and red plum-scented bouquet that is a little withdrawn on first acquaintance, but seems to awaken with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with appealing, sweet coca-tinged red berry fruit. The oak feels a tad domineering toward the finish and shaves off some varietal character, but it possesses decent length. I would be intrigued to taste the 2013 when it comes–the cooler growing season might actually favor this vineyard.

Scents of sandalwood, toasted almond, fresh cherry, red raspberry and plum greet the nose from Chehalem’s 2011 Pinot Noir Corral Creek Vineyards whose tartness on a glassy but juicy palate is allied to cyanic fruit pit piquancy, chewy tartness; and bursting, berry seed-crunching impingement for a strong sense of invigoration. This spare, faintly reductive but high-energy and gripping Pinot ought to be worth following through at least 2016, and I would be inclined to give it at least another year in bottle before revisiting. (Here, too, is an instance where I have to wonder whether screwcap closure accentuates the reductive and tactilely aggressive aspects of the wine – not that this is necessary a bad thing, since some tasters might not want to see them dialed-back, nor was this wine crafted with immediate consumption in mind.) “I waited as long as I could to pick Pinot,” relates proprietor Harry Peterson-Nedry of 2011, when his team engaged in a flurry of harvest activity that finished-up November 2; and he is one of the many to find what was achieved not just an improbable success, but a collection of Pinots likely to go down as among the Willamette’s most exciting ever. I wish I could personally be that enthusiastic about his 2011s in particular – the 2010s at a similar stage struck me as altogether finer – but there is certainly a lot to like among them; and Peterson-Nedry’s avid explorations of multiple white wine grapes – of which I tasted 2012s as well as some later-released 2011s – again prove meritorious. (Consult my issue 202 report for an account of veteran Peterson-Nedry’s background and the character of his three estate vineyards.) Peterson-Nedry’s daughter Wynne – with whom I tasted this year, and about whom I also wrote briefly in issue 202 – is clearly in command of the details in both the estate’s vineyards and cellar. Although a proportion of whole clusters with stems is usually retained in the Ridgecrest fruit, in 2011 all of the Chehalem Pinots were entirely de-stemmed. Musts were very selectively – and then minimally – chaptalized, with the finished alcohol levels ranging between 12.5-13%. Despite their lateness of harvest, these Pinots were as usual – with the exception of the “Reserves” – bottled the following September. (Note that I’ve replaced the word “three” with the Arabic numeral 3 in the name of Chehalem’s “3 Vineyard” bottlings since that is how it appears on their new labels, which, incidentally – in my un-professional design opinion – are uniquely eye-catching little masterpieces of information density without clutter.) Tel. (503) 537-5553