Last weekend

Last weekend one of the local distributors had a meet and greet at his warehouse with Jim Anderson, who is part of the ownership/winemaking team at Patricia Green in Oregon. He and Patricia had previously been the wine making team at Tori Mor. We were treated to a great selection of their current vintages a one off sauvignon Blanc called Panama White 2006. This was a neat wine. The 2006 growing season had been very hot, so the winery team was occupied harvesting their Pinot Noir fruit when they would normally have been been picking the Sauv. Blanc. Thus this fruit was harvested at almost 20 brix and was destined to produce a really hot wine. It was decided to ferment the juice in neutral oak This gives the wine much more body than is normally found in Sauv Blanc and gives it a hint of creaminess while still maintaining some of the citrus more common to the grape. Though this wine is over 15% alcohol, it is smooth without a hint of the heat that one would expect. This, with the wonderful Pinots should have been enough, but Jim also brought six older vintages including a 1997 Balcombe vineyard from their time at Tori Mor. This twelve year old Pinot was still fantastic and still had great fruit. For all of you out there who were under the impression that Pinots did not age this wine shows that they can hold up beautifully. I am finding that there is a whole crop of American Pinot producers capable of making wines that will age. Let me know if you find a good age-able Pinot , I always enjoy finding new ones.