2008 Ayres Vineyard Pinot Noir Pioneer

The Ayres 2008 Pinot Noir Pioneer is scented with ripe blackberry, roasted red meats, and game, tinged with tamarind, smoky black tea and black pepper. The palate impression here amplifies the sense of berry ripeness but brings a bit of wet horse hair along with the gamey note, suggesting that this bottling needs to be monitored carefully for potentially invasive brettanomyces, which together with the wine’s tannins may be a reason why its finish isn’t juicier. For now, though, this dense Pinot is fascinating and well worth revisiting. Kansas-born Brad McLeroy – for more about whom, and about whose vineyard, consult my issue 202 report – picked his Ribbon Ridge vines between October 22-24, 2011. He chaptalized for the first time in his career (for finished alcohols between 12.75-13%) and as in 2010 de-stemmed all the fruit (though in 2012 – as in 2009 – whole clusters were incorporated). Although McLeroy had added some tartaric acid in response to 2010’s high ratio of malic, in 2011 he abstained. “I love the purity of fruit and savory note we can get in Oregon, and you can get that especially in a cooler vintage,” ,” he says, adding that “2011 produced the reddest fruit I’ve ever gotten.” A proponent of post-fermentative maceration – which I am myself beginning to suspect is critical to tannin-control with fruit from Ribbon Ridge – McLeroy also lays significant stress on gentle basket-pressing, though he notes that “I smashed my gauge so I control at the press entirely by taste.” Tel. (503) 538-7450