2008 Lemelson Pinot Noir Stermer Vineyard

The Lemelson 2008 Pinot Noir Stermer Vineyard – which, like its 2010 counterpart, showcases only a portion of that site planted with Wadenswil Selection – delivers concentrated, sweetly ripe and still fresh, tart-edged black raspberry shadowed in the nose by evocations of its distilled counterpart, and pungently accented by sage, resin, cedar, and black pepper. There is a resonance and primary juiciness (as opposed to mere detached tartness) here that I missed in many of the other Lemelson releases that I tasted. According to King, this was significantly more tannic at the same stage than the 2010 is today. I wouldn’t call this enormously complex nor particularly Pinot-typical, but in its way, it’s impressive. (The corresponding 2007 showed too much volatility and astringency to be more than mildly recommended – and then for drinking soon.) Although he practiced environmental law for some years, Eric Lemelson was by then already smitten with Pinot and in a position to plant a vineyard in 1995 and build a state-of-the-art winery in time to receive its first harvest. The number of estate vineyards planted by Lemelson now stands at seven, several subjected to dedicated bottlings. Anthony King arrived here as winemaker from California in 2006. Mindful of the tannic proclivities I witnessed in the wines I tasted, King says he is sparing with punch-downs. He also notes that he put his wines to barrel after somewhat less settling in 2010 as his 2009s taste woodier than he had wanted, adding (and echoing many other winemakers I spoke with) that the inexplicable proclivity of Willamette Pinot Noir to reduce is what keeps him from putting wine into barrel “dirty” (i.e. without settling). The percentage of new oak varies from one- to two-thirds, though hearing the names of Lemelson’s favored tonneliers suggested to me one reason for the prevalence of smoky, toasty, and overtly wood resin character whose prominence bothered me in several of their wines. Apropos which, readers will perceive that I’m out-of-step with the generally highly laudatory consensus about these wines among my fellow critics, and I’ll be especially anxious to taste Lemelson releases again next year, having had no time to follow-up on my sole session in July. (Incidentally, this is among the many Willamette Valley wineries to label with that broad appellation, even where a more specific A.V.A. applies.) Tel. (503) 852-6619