My recent trip to Oregon’s Willamette Valley provided first-hand confirmation that the 2008 vintage has produced a bevy of excellent pinot noirs that will appeal both to patient collectors and to those who can’t keep their hands off young, exuberantly fruity wines. (Bottles that serve the purposes of both groups of winos are one of the advantages of Oregon pinot noir in the first place.) While the most ageworthy 2008s possess the depth and balance to reward at least a decade of patience, few of the wines I tasted at the end of April were closed down or showed forbiddingly tannic character, even those that had recently been bottled and might be expected to be sullen.
The 2008 growing season was marked by a cold winter and a damp, cool spring, which slowed maturation of the vines. As spring segued into summer, the vines were as much as three weeks behind their normal schedule. But as the summer warmed up, so did the ripening of the fruit, and there were no scary heat spikes to cause sugar levels to race ahead of acidities. Thus, from early on, 2008 promised to yield balanced wines.
There was the predictable rainfall at the end of September and in early October, but the precipitation was light, and it was followed by sunny, warm days and cool nights. These near-perfect conditions ultimately allowed for harvesting to occur at a relatively leisurely pace, under cool, dry condition. Producers were able to pick with unusual precision and vinify smaller lots.
The year featured a very late harvest for Oregon’s grape-growers, with picking often beginning toward the middle of October and extending through the end of the month. By contrast, in 2007 and 2006 the grapes were pretty much all in by the end of September or first week of October. This makes 2008, overall, the latest harvest since 1999, and for some growers the latest harvest ever. Sugar and acid levels were healthy—neither too high nor too low—so most producers I met with said that there was little need to adjust their musts by acidifying, chaptalizing or adding water to facilitate the fermentations. The bottom line, as far as what is—or should be—in the bottle is complex and energetic wines without roasted character, which is exactly what most pinot lovers crave.
Most of the producers I visited didn’t seem to be in a rush to get their 2008s into the market, in part because there’s still a good amount of 2007 still waiting to be sold but also because they believe that ’08 is a seriously good vintage. They want their wines to have every advantage to show well immediately after release, when lots of corks will be popped and (snap) judgments made by impatient customers. “Whatever extra bit of bottle age we can give the wines will only be for the good,” more than one producer told me.
Compared to the prices commanded by most upper-tier producers in California, many of the best 2008 Oregon pinots are going to look like relative bargains. A great number of these wines will be priced in the $30-$40 range and some for even less. Even at the high end, few Oregon pinots sell for much more than $75, and while that’s hardly cheap, these wines will seem look like bargains compared to the prices we will no doubt see for the hotly anticipated 2009 Burgundies.
We’ll publish extensive tasting notes on the 2008 Oregon pinot noirs from nearly a hundred wineries, as well as additional notes on some excellent late-release 2007s, in the July/August issue of the International Wine Cellar.
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