Thanks! Rusty the pinot file!
2011 Big Table Farm Wirtz Vineyard Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
12.6% alc., 119 cases, $45. This vineyard is old by Oregon standards as
it was planted in the early 1970s. Brian likes to say he was still
wearing diapers when the vines went into the ground in this vineyard. ·
Moderate reddish-purple color in the glass. This wine reminds of cherry
pie baking day at cooking school. Deliciously flavored with ripe
cherries and baking spices with a hint of sandalwood and wintergreen.
Crisp and juicy with a long, spirited finish. Hard to put your finger on
the reasons for it, but this wine grabs your interest and holds on. An
old vine treasure. Score: 94pts
2011 Big Table Farm Resonance Vineyard Yamhill-Carlton Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
12.9% alc., 287 cases, $48. This vineyard is the warmest site in the
Big Table Farm lineup. Typically this wine needs a few years to mature
and this is evident in this vintage as well despite spending a year in
barrel and a year in bottle. · Moderately deep reddish-purple color in
the glass. A well-mannered wine with aromas of dark cherry, marionberry
and spice that fill the glass. While the core of black cherry fruit is
delicious now, the wine is relatively primary at this stage. Still, it
is obviously a classy and sophisticated offering. The tannins are firm
but balanced and the finish is juicy and well-endowed with grandiose
fruit flavor. Hold for 2-3 years or decant if you must drink now. Score: 93 - 94pts
2011 Big Table Farm Brooks Estate Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills Willamette Valley Riesling
11.4% alc., 91 cases, $28. Barrel fermented to dryness with native
yeasts and complete malolactic fermentation. · Moderate golden yellow
color and slight haze (unfiltered) in the glass. Lovely aromas of lemon
zest, wet stone, buttered brioche and paraffin. Very flavorful with
pleasing notes of lemon and grapefruit with a touch of spice and a
subtle petrol note. Slightly creamy in the mouth with a firm grip of
lemony acidity on the bright finish. I don’t drink much Riesling, but I
know a great one when I taste it. Score: 90pts
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And some excellent reviews and scores by david schildknecht - from robert parkers wine advocate... : )
2011 Big Table Farm Pinot Noir Cattrall Brothers Vineyard
93pts- David Schildknecht
Drink: 2013 - 2022
An extraordinarily Volnay-like nose and palate of porcini and morels
steeped in fresh red fruits and tinged with spices characterizes Big
Table's 2011 Pinot Noir Cattrall Brothers Vineyard. The alliance
displayed here of textural tenderness and underlying richness with
levity and sheer refreshment is irresistible. Moss, wet stone, and
mineral salts lend further mouthwatering intrigue to a lusciously as
well as invigoratingly lingering finish. Many growers advised me that
any of their colleagues who claimed not to have chaptalized in 2011 were
lying; but I'm quite sure the 11.9% alcohol in this late
October-harvested Pinot from immaculately and organically tended vines
is "natural"! Expect this umami-rich, delightfully distinctive elixir
to perform with dazzling versatility through at least 2022. ("Brothers"
is new to the label this year, incidentally, but the vineyard is none
other than that described at greater length in my Issue 202 review of
the 2010 Big Table Cattrall as well as of Ransom Wines- rendition.)
2011 Big Table Farm Pinot Noir Wirtz Vineyard
93pts
- David Schildknecht- Drink: 2013 - 2022
Wild ginger-, sassafras-, walnut- and lemon rind-inflected red berries
scent and flavor Carver and Marcy's 2011 Pinot Noir Wirtz Vineyard whose
infectiously juicy brightness, incisive spiciness, zesty piquancy, red
raspberry seed-crunch and cyanic cherry-pit glow are further augmented
by a sharp and subsequently musky bite uncannily akin to rose radish. I
imagined a significant contribution of stems in the fermenter given the
great support, complexity, the vibrancy that attends the tannins here,
but it turns out that nearly all of the fruit for this bottling was
de-stemmed. Finishing with vibrant and invigorating persistence, this
buoyant (12.6% alcohol) beauty ought to perform gloriously through at
least 2022.
2011 Big Table Farm Pinot Noir Resonance Vineyard
91pts
- David Schildknecht
Drink: 2013 - 2020
Representing Carver's and Marcy's largest as well as (at 12.9%) highest
alcohol lot of its vintage, their 2011 Pinot Noir Resonance Vineyard
features a luscious strawberry and red raspberry melange subtly marked
by oak resin and caramel. The tannins here are noticeable but
well-integrated, and musky allusions to peony and narcissus waft all the
way through to the wine's long, lip-smacking finish. I imagine that
this will perform well through at least 2020 and may well gain
complexity along the way. (I learned just before going to press that
next year's will be the last Big Table Resonance Pinot, now that the
vineyard has been purchased by Jadot.)
2011 Big Table Farm Pinot Noir Sunnyside Vineyard
91pts
-
David Schildknecht -
Drink: 2013 - 2020
Carver and Marcy's 2011 Pinot Noir Sunnyside Vineyard issues from a site
southeast of Salem planted with Wadenswil already in 1970, that they
have tapped here for the first time and report being meticulously and
tirelessly farmed by the same family since the 1980s. Red currant and
sour cherry give a juicy, tangy, berry-crunching vintage-typical account
of themselves on a polished buoyant palate, with invigorating notes of
cress and a mouthwatering lick of salt adding to the refreshing and
sustained finishing appeal. This may well gain complexity with some time
in bottle and ought surely to perform admirably through at least 2020.
2011 Big Table Farm Pinot Noir - Willamette Valley
90pts -
David Schildknecht
- Drink: 2013 - 2018
Bringing together fruit
from numerous sites including those also subjected to single-vineyard
bottlings, the generic Big Table 2011 Pinot Noir reflects a roughly 50%
share of whole clusters in the fermenter. Juicy wild cherry tinged with
rose hip, hibiscus, geranium, mint and orange rind make for a refreshing
and metaphorically cooling performance that's also delightfully buoyant
(at 12.6% alcohol) and texturally tender. This exemplifies not just its
vintage's delicious peculiarities but also virtues that - among red
wines, at least - only Pinot Noir can deliver. I suspect this will
delight through 2018.
2011 Big Table Farm Chardonnay
90pts -
David Schildknecht
- Drink: 2013 - 2016
Representing a new wine for them, Carver and Marcy's 2011 Chardonnay
comprises two barrels from old vines at Wirtz assembled with three from
the first crop off of a new vineyard neighboring to, and shared with,
Seven Springs. Silken in texture, and delicate in both its (under 13%
alcohol) weight and its evocations of lemon oil, apple blossom, fresh
lime and raw hazelnut, this lingers soothingly as well as refreshingly.
It will be fascinating to follow for at least 2-3 years, though
potential owners should bear in mind that it has been neither filtered
nor cold-stabilized. (The barrels for this cuvee, incidentally - like
many of those employed at Big Table as well as at Coleen Clemens - are
ones first utilized by Marcassin.)
