2009 Pinot Noir Mineral Spring Ranch

A nearly confectionary manifestation of cherry and almond paste informs the nose and plush palate of Soter’s “regular” 2009 Pinot Noir Mineral Springs Ranch, with smoky black tea, wisteria, licorice, and mineral salt accents adding appeal to a satisfyingly juicy if (even at barely over 14% alcohol) very slightly warm finish. As Soter remarked while we tasted this, “It’s hard to imagine a much greater contrast in the Pinots between the character of 2010 and that of 2009.” For my money the former has delivered more distinctive and distinguished success. Soter also notes that he and James Cahill are at pains to see that in those years when a white label bottling is essayed the consequent “skimming” does not diminish the quality of his normal bottling, and in the case of 2009 I would in fact prefer to drink this bottling today, though perhaps its white label counterpart will better stand the test of time. Either should last at least a decade. Tony Soter has been making wine in his native state for long enough now that this iconic figure of California wine history can be said to have achieved a similar status in Oregon. His 30 acres of Pinot Noir vines and two of Chardonnay planted on the self-contained, east-west oriented and unusually fast-draining as well as sun- and wind-exposed ridge that is Mineral Springs vineyard, can be said to have reached maturity, a sign of which is the ripping-out of drip lines at the time of my visit that were helpful in establishing the vineyard but whose use Soter is convinced are unnecessary for the future. (Even in torrid July 2009 – which happens to have coincided with my own previous and memorable visit – he reports that they were scarcely utilized.) “Grass is the brake and the throttle for vines,” quips Soter by way of explaining his green rows and organic methods, and adds that while he continues to prepare small amounts of “green manure,” he has thus far not added any such nitrogen supplements to Mineral Springs. “This site tends toward early and complete lignification of stems,” notes winemaker and long-time Soter right-hand James Cahill, which explains his successful employment in recent years of 25% or more whole clusters – and not only in ripe vintages like 2009 – a technique Soter and Cahill are convinced conduces to enhanced fragrance and finesse. I’m already confident in making certain points about vine selection that I’ll nonetheless defer until the introduction to next year’s Oregon report; but that said, let me at least note that Soter’s employment of old heirloom selections he brought with him from California (and that long informed special bottlings under his Etude label) has without question been instrumental in the delicious distinctiveness of his Mineral Ridge bottlings. Besides conducing to complexity, notes Soter, “these vines feature loose, small-, often seedless-berried, and consequently disease-resistant clusters, and they self-regulate to low tonnage, requiring only a finessed thinning for uniformity; whereas with clones we end up throwing a lot of their fruit on the ground.” As a bonus, Soter found that these tiny berries more easily retain elasticity and hence phenolic quality in the Willamette Valley than they did in more heat-prone Northern California. (Heirloom selections cover 15 of the 22 acres Soter typically utilized for still wine, the rest featuring a mix of traditional Pommard selections and Wadenswil – a pair he in fact favors for his sparkling wine-destined parcels – and selected Dijon clones.) Revealing something of his stylistic vision for Pinot, Soter suggests that “the most successful wines are nowadays being measured by their phenolic concentration and their sheer ripeness; but we’re giving something up and on the wrong track to the extent we do this. I want wines that have a place to go – ones whose precious incipient aromatics turn into bottle bouquet and that have more aging potential.” The wines I tasted in June deliciously illustrated where Soter’s Pinots head over time in bottle. Methode Champenoise wine at Soter Vineyards might have begun as a way to employ young vines and to placate a predilection for pink bubbles by the estate’s and proprietor’s leading lady, but to say that the results proved serendipitously synergistic would be an understatement. Today, Soter struggles to keep up with demand, and by the time he finished planting Mineral Springs (having relied early-on in large part on the northerly Beacon Hill Vineyard that was formerly part of his estate) his notion of the optimum vine selections of Pinot and proportion of Chardonnay for sparkling wine (including an envisioned blanc de blancs) had been duly considered. Soter adds still Pinot from barrel to his pink bubbly, “but it soon became clear,” he explains, “that the grit (i.e. of tannin) not the color is your limiting factor, and that demands a certain measure of compensatory Chardonnay.” Nowadays, the modest number of barrels (or sometimes steel drums) of Pinot required for coloring represents vines and mini-lots grown and vinified expressly for that purpose, which explains why a relatively hefty dosage can be added – thus enhancing vinosity without adding excessive “grit” – but also why the percentage of Chardonnay in the cuvee will drop markedly from the 2007 vintage on. The finishing, lightly-sweetening dosage, too, involves as he puts it “reaching into the cellar for some fresh Chardonnay or Pinot, because we’ve found that this is much more satisfying than dosing the sparking wine with itself. We pick relatively late and at relatively low yields and high brix for a commercial sparkling wine producer,” he notes, “because we want to capture some real flavor,” but emphasizes that careful attention must be paid to selecting parcels and lots whose sugar, acids and phenolics will eventually enhance and not burden the finished sparklers. “The safe zone” – by which Soter alludes to the minimum ripeness needed to achieve interesting flavors and the maximum allowable brix to accommodate unproblematic secondary fermentation – “still leaves some room for risk-taking.” Tel. (503) 662-5600

Deep, bright red. Intensely perfumed bouquet evokes candied raspberry and cherry, with smoke and Asian spice topnotes. Ripe and lively, offering energetic red and dark berry flavors that put on weight with air. Silky tannins build on the long, sweet, floral-accented finish. I've little doubt that this wine will reward cellaring but I find it awfully appealing right now.