Winery - De Ponte Cellars
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is an intriguing mix of herb, leaf, root and fruit. The nose opens with plenty of that classic Oregon tomato leaf character, followed with beet root and bark. But there’s also sweet plum and currant, cherry and berry. It’s big, potent, flavorful and still coming together, but all the components are there for an ageworthy, detailed wine.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Concentrated raspberry and cassis flavors, almost liqueurish in their intensity, open this pure and delicious wine. It combines the sweet appeal of the best California Pinots with the structure and steely underpinnings of Oregon fruit. Youthful and firm, its best years are surely ahead.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A reserve that is also a finesse wine. De Ponte’s regular 2006 Pinot Noir packs plenty of juicy power; what’s added here is not more jam, but more detail. The wine is layered, the tight berry and currant fruit flavors threaded with mineral and chocolate, spice and coffee. Delicious already, it should cellar well for another 8–10 years.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A super reserve designation (just a single barrel was made), De Ponte’s Shirley’s Gran Reserva spends 18 months in new French oak. It is stylistically in step with the Family Reserve, but in 2005 the fruit may have gotten just a little riper, creating a wine that is close to Russian River status and style. What stands out especially is the structure—vibrant and racy, taut and energized, a pile of ripe fruit on a base of steel beams.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Nice and firm, with full, bright flavors of black cherry. Still quite tangy and wiry, yet it packs the impression of considerable power. Polished and well made.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Clear and bright, cherry in color, scented with cola, and showing nicely mixed flavors of brambly fruit, cola, herb and especially fresh rosemary. This captures the style of the cooler vintage without sacrificing balance or nuance.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
De Ponte Cellars’ reserve Pinot Noir is full-bodied and flavorful, with ripe, varietal fruit and the winery’s classic styling. Layers of herb and streaks of cola are deftly mixed with the brambly wild berry fruit.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
In 2007 the winery’s Estate bottling seems to capture a bit more nuance and detail than the reserve, though admittedly it does not have quite the same concentration. For those who prize finesse, this is the wine of the vintage. Herbal and resiny, it’s like sniffing a fine wine in a pine forest. It balances raspberry and sour cherry fruit with the tart and herbal “wild” side of Oregon Pinot. Penetrating and complex.
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