Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Watching the grim scene from Paris.
Very impressed by the deep color, powerful nose and extremely young but obviously promising palate.
This is my first experience with this property. Impressive.

13.5% alcohol.

These seem to be very limited production, 261 cases of the Justice Vineyard for example, are these wines difficult to acquire each year?

Most of the vineyards utilized by St I are in Eola-Amity Hills just North of Salem. Momtazi is further north in Mcminville and this biodynamic vineyard has a very different darker fruit yet alluring style compared to the other vineyards.

Mark is also very talented with all of his whites. Try one out if you see them.

Not impossible to find, there is no mailing list but one can order on their website with a nice case discount. There may be an appealing offer on Cyber Monday.

I am opening a 2002 Seven Springs PN tomorrow. It will be a good day.

This wine is a real revelation for me, Glenn, I'm really liking it. I also got the Justice and Freedom Hill bottlings, how would you compare those to this?

Justice and FH are more structured while Momtazi has a distinct profile and spice that I cannot peg as my 2 experiences with this vineyard were a few years back, but I took notice of the quality each time.

Many people poopoo Biodynamic but I feel it can elevate the quality of a vineyard. My grandfather had a saying about eating chicken soup when sick, "It might not help but it couldn't hoyt."

It seems very… "pure."

I don't often drink Oregon Pinot, but when I do I prefer St. Innocent.

I think I'll pick up a few more bottles of this and the others from 2012 and, I predict, for years to come. I've been meaning to explore Oregon pinot for years.

You are indeed the most interesting man in the world Blanquito. Any thoughts on the old BWE archive? One of my 36 goals for 2016 is to bring BWE "to new heights."

153 death toll and counting. Timmy, check in and let us know you are alright.

JimHow wrote:You are indeed the most interesting man in the world Blanquito. Any thoughts on the old BWE archive? One of my 36 goals for 2016 is to bring BWE "to new heights."

I'll be seeing my brother in a week and I will get his advice at that point. For the tech savvy, I think it should be pretty straightforward to compile the old site...

St Innocent is definitely my favorite Oregon Pinot, but there are many good-to-excellent producers if you get hooked, Jim. I have really enjoyed Belle Pente (especially the Murto vineyard bottling), Hamacher (though I haven't had more recent vintages), and Domaine Drouhin.

I like the only St Innocent wine I had, very great. And of course, supplier by Stefan in a BWE convention.

Nic

I think this wine is every bit worth the $34.99 I paid for it. This is real top notch pinot, rivals some Burgs I've had at twice the price.

Yes Hamacher and DDO are well regarded established producers.

Although I have not tried their recent releases Evesham Wood is also an ageworthy traditionalist style.

My latest discovery is Walter Scott for off the charts Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc and very good PN. They are even offering a few barrels of Seven Springs PN on prearrival now! Ken Pahlow was the asst winemaker at ST I for several years and these fairly priced wines are very high quality. Quantities of their best wines are tiny.

http://www.walterscottwine.com/

Happy to see this post...I am friends with Tahmiene Momtazi she is a wonderful young lady who is the wine maker for her family vineyard Maysara...I need to pop the latest Jamsheed

http://maysara.com/about-us/

And yes...pray for France

Yes, Jim; SI provides excellent value. I have more SI than wines from any other producer. In blind tastings we have done, SI PN sometimes comes out ahead of Grand Cru Burgundies.

Momtazi has a lovely dusty character when you catch it at the right time. It took me some time to appreciate its quality, but now I love it. Justice is often old world and regal. I think the vines in Justice are mostly pretty old. I loved Justice from the first time I drank it. I have drunk less Freedom Hill than Momtazi and Justice and am still trying to get a sense of place from it.

Last night we drank 2012 SI Zenith and 2008 Temperance Hill with our French friends in front of a muted TV with CNN on. Zenith is a cut below what you have, but still nice. 2008 SI PN is great across the board. Temperance Hill is another vineyard that I do not yet have a handle on. We also drank '03 du Tertre. I wanted to compare it to '00 du Tertre, but the 2000 I opened unfortunately had issues with brett, so I fridged the bottle for cooking. The '03 was a bit thin and not as good as most '03s we have drunk recently. I had stored it in my warmest location and it aged too quickly, I think. We ended with '04 Malescot St Expery, which is a fine and concentrated Margaux even if it tilts toward the modern side.

BTW: The deals at SI are better if you join their wine club. You have to be a member of their club to buy Mark's Special Selection wines. I think it was a 2005 St Innocent 7 Springs Special Selection that you liked in DC. If you join, tell Mark and Felice that you are a friend of mine.

Ok thanks for the tip I will do that!

I just placed another 6 bottle order. I really liked that bottle last night, I can see myself embarking on an annual tradition of purchasing a mixed case each vintage.

http://www.stinnocentwine.com/NewFiles/pnmom12.html

http://www.stinnocentwine.com/NewFiles/order.html

15% case discount.

I think I'll try to get that case discount on the Momtazi Vineyard.

Ha I just got a call from John Fitter at MacArthur's he was confirming that I indeed was intending to place the same 6 bottle order I placed earlier in the week.

Mix in some singles of Temperance Hill, Shea, Zenith, Justice and Freedom Hill for the case discount. A lesson in terroir.

The 02 Seven Springs is funky at the pop and is blowing off nicely. This should get good around dinner time.

'02 Seven Springs is wonderful. Hope your bottle is great, Glenn.

Jim, On the SI web site a current special is

Momtazi Vineyard Special: One each Pinot noir, Momtazi Vineyard 2012 & 2013, and two half-bottles each of 2012 and 2013
Regular price $148

The price for club members is $111. If I had use for half bottles else I might take some of these. Instead I'll order a case each of '12 & '13 Momtazi. I stupidly bought only 6 of the '12 Momtazi because I bought a case of '12 Momtazi Special Selection. The '13 was not released when I ordered my other '13s.

How is the 2013 vintage in Oregon?

I have not tasted any 2013s reds yet. The whites are excellent. The 2013 SI Pinot Blanc is especially impressive. stefanJr has liked the reds he has tried.

In the last ten years the only vintage I would avoid is 2011. 2007 is next weakest.

The 02 Seven Springs took many hours to open up and unfurl its glory. This bottle had the most funk of any of my bottles hence the need for lots of air. When it did arrive the red cherry, earth and mushroom elements blended with the high acidity and remaining tannin structure to effortlessly sail on my taste buds. The light to medium bodied texture is starting to soften into a velvety state and this wine easily will last to age 20.

One of my top 5 OR PN experiences.

Very good, Glen. Good bottles of '02 SI 7 Springs are just about as good as OR PN gets.

I saved a few bottles of '07 SI PN and opened one for lunch today; a Momtazi. IMO '07 is the second worse vintage for OR PN in the last 13 years (my experience before then is too little to make calls). The Momtazi is OK and, with air time shows that dusty quality. It is thin, but, unlike the '13, is not too acidic. It will hold for a while longer, not that I see any reason to do so beyond academic interest. I did the right thing by drinking most of my '07s early.

The 07 Evesham Wood Le Puits Sec a couple of years ago was awesome. Some of the 07's I tried early on were disjointed or worse.