Winery - Belle Vallée
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This opens with tart, tight leaf and beetroot flavors, which overlay quite soft, round and riper fruit. The integration of earthy tannins with the fruit is a little disjointed; what shows most clearly are the leafy, herbal plant flavors. There’s plenty of stuffing here; perhaps this is one of those wines that will warrant a higher score with additional bottle age.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Herbal flavors descend into stemminess, with the aggressive tannins swamping the fruit. The finish is hard, earthy and tasting of green tea.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Pungent, minty and quite tannic, this young wine needs more time to pull its flavors together. There’s a nice whiff of vanilla cream wrapped into the finish.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is a fun wine, with flavors like cherry candy and milk chocolate. Light and insubstantial, but it will be quite nice chilled as an apéritif.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A big bruiser, somewhat of a surprise for a Rogue Valley bottling. The alcohol is at 15.2%, and the fruit is quite ripe, extracted, plummy and lush. There’s nothing subtle going on here, but the fruit stands up to the alcohol and the tannins, and in a rough and tumble way the wine delivers the goods. No wimpy wines indeed!
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Apart from its impenetrable faux “wax” capsule, this top shelf offering from Belle Vallée is difficult to distinguish from the winery’s Willamette Valley cuvée, except for its lofty price. It’s light, insubstantial and one dimensional, pleasant to drink but without the depth or detail that you would expect from a prestige bottling.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The winery’s reserve Pinot Noir is of a piece with its other two offerings. Light, tart, cranberry-flavored red fruit, lots of acid, lots of tannin and not much in the way of extract. The wine disappears quickly once it hits the palate.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is the least expensive of Belle Vallée’s current Pinot Noirs, and far and away the best value. It’s bright and spicy, fragrant with sweet-smelling berries, cherries and grapes. Forward and fruity, it is a fine choice for sipping on the deck.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Despite its hefty 14.9% alcohol, this still carries distinct scents of pickle barrel, dill herb and a bit of canned bean. Somewhere in there is some reasonably ripe, cherry-flavored fruit, but then it hits a wall of thick, chalky tannins. It’s just not very well balanced.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Very crisp, clean and leesy. This is made in a style that seems to emphasize the flavors of the yeast, giving a mouth-cleaning freshness to the flavors.
0 out of 0 people thought this note was helpful.
