The 2015 Pinot Noir Ridgecrest Vineyard has a pale to medium ruby-purple color and a fragrant red and black cherry nose with suggestions of anise, tar and black tea. The medium-bodied palate is structured with soft, plush tannins and a lively acid line, supporting the generous red berry flavors and finishing a little spicy.

The 2013 Pinot Noir Ridgecrest Vineyards was cropped between 2 and 3.2 tons per acres and matured for 11 months in 44% new oak. The bouquet is well defined and pure with lifted dark cherries and blueberry aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red and black fruit, touches of bay leaf and black tea, although I feel that the finish needs more flesh and depth to match the quality of the aromatics. Give it a year or two to see what develops in bottle.

The 2012 Pinot Noir Ridgecrest Vineyard, from vines planted between 1982 until 1989, was picked October 10-12 and matured in 39% new oak for 11 months. This includes 18% whole-cluster fruit (unlike the previous two years.) It has a slightly rustic, herbaceous bouquet with overt woodland scents infusing the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with angular tannin. The whole -cluster element does lend this some freshness and poise, although it requires more cohesion toward the dark plum, blackcurrant and coca finish. Probably a year in bottle with help this knit together. Fine.

Chehalem’s 2011 Pinot Noir Ridgecrest Vineyard brims with penetratingly-bright, tart-edged elderberry and piquant huckleberry, incorporating aromatic allusions to fresh and distilled red berries as well. At more than a third new wood, I don’t register any obvious influence or interference such as detected from the higher level in the corresponding Wind Ridge Block. A hint of salinity and brown spices adds appeal to the infectiously juicy finish of this Pinot bound to merit repeated attention through at least 2017. “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

Chehalem’s 2010 Pinot Noir Ridgecrest Vineyard offers another instance in this collection of tart red berries allied to rhubarb in a penetratingly bright, invigoratingly tart and firmly textured performance. In this instance we have something downright brash – if infectiously energetic – that I’d want to re-taste in a year or two before attempting a prognosis regarding its bottle evolution. “The Ridgecrest Pinots take another six months to a year after the others to open up,” opines Peterson-Nedry, who won’t release this until after the corresponding Crowley and Stoller bottlings. The affable, insightful, and tireless advocate of Willamette Valley viticulture, ex-chemist Harry Peterson-Nedry planted Ridgecrest Vineyards – the path-breaking viticultural incursion on Ribbon Ridge – in 1980, bottling his first estate wine a decade later. In 1993, Bill and Cathy Stoller became partners with Peterson-Nedry and planted their own vineyard in the Dundee Hills. In 1995, Peterson-Nedry purchased from friends – and subsequently re-grafted a significant portion of – Corral Creek Vineyards on the side of Parrett Mountain, where the present utilitarian winery is located, and since then, another slice of Ribbon Ridge contiguous with Ridgecrest, dubbed Wind Ridge, has come into production. Peterson-Nedry has been an eloquent proponent of Willamette Valley white wines, as well as of a style of Pinot designed to capture bright fruit, what he calls “fine-boned structure,” and elegance, and avoid any heavy or cosmetic impression; though in 2011 (which I tasted from barrel) and 2010, it strikes me that this vision has occasionally been followed to a fault, and many tasters might welcome in some of these wines a bit more flesh and fat; slightly better-buffered tartness; or a bit more depth. Peterson-Nedry is unafraid to chaptalize and notes that “we are strong believers in making sure that we have pHs and total acidities that are appropriate,” which, for example, meant most 2009s and certain lots from 2010 were acidified. “We’re not afraid of acid,” he says, driving home the point, “We have an acid style.” The fruit is generally destemmed and given a week (at times closer to two weeks) of cold soak. Fermentation is spontaneous and in a wide range of vessels, including some wooden uprights, with both punch-downs and pump-overs, though both sparingly. The young wine is settled for 2-4 days before going to barrels, not more – and usually less – than 30% of which are new, for typically 10-11 months. Since 2008, bottling has been exclusively with screwcap, with which Peterson-Nedry says he has been conducting trials since 1994. After pursuing an unrelated scientific career, Peterson-Nedry’s daughter Wynne took an oenology degree at U.C. Davis in 2008 and has found her way via New Zealand, Burgundy, and California back home to Chehalem where she recently assumed winemaking responsibility from her father’s decade-long right-hand Mike Eyres, who will be returning to his native New Zealand. Tel. (503) 537-5553