2018 Whole Cluster Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Vineyards
Harvest the same grape from same soil in the same place during the same seasons doesn’t guarantee the same results. After each harvest, the winemaker usually gets a somewhat different wine. That’s what happened with this ’18 Whole Cluster. Whole Cluster Pinot Noir is our comfort wine, which maintained a consistently dark cherry taste for decades. The ’18 is a dryer, more mineral Pinot Noir. Sometimes, what we get the unexpected. Then, we act surprised if something changes. As pouring and drinking wine leads us into unusual worlds. We, being civilized humans, live in man-made houses/places; we drive and walk on concrete pathways; we get at-the-finger foods from a store, and we bathe with chemistry soap. How weird that we verbalize about wine “au naturel”. It’s “earthy, heavy berry, oaky tannin, fruity”, etc. In our actual everyday world, many wine drinkers have picked strawberries in the field; plucked apples or plums in an orchard; chopped down an oak tree, smelling its wood, or stacked wet bales of hay? From what we’ve been taught, most of us say what we’ve heard other wine drinkers tell us about varietals. Willamette Valleys’ ’18 Whole Cluster remains quite good, very drinkable. I liked it. But it’s a step toward the heavier Cabernet Sauvignon & Syrah red wines. Serve this ‘18 chilled, enjoying another adventure in wine.
