2007 Westrey Pinot Noir Justice Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (3/13/2009)
Prior to this, the only other pinot I have had from this young vineyard was St Innocent, which I have really liked. Although the 2007 St Innocent is not released, I would suspect one of the differences would be the oak. This seems to be easier on the oak compared to early SI Justices. At first the aromatics leaned toward a bit of dill which quickly turned to sweet spiced cherries. A slight resemblance to SRH on the nose. Purity is the word for the palate. Seamless. With the early primary fruit at the front I didn’t get much complexity but right now this is refreshing and tasty. Had some whole cluster components although I don’t think they use any. (90 pts.)
2007 Westrey Chardonnay Reserve - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (3/27/2009)
This wine is about 40% Justice Chard so I must be on a Justice kick. This is a wonderful chardonnay. Nice balance of richness and crispness. Acid and cream mixed in with a bunch of apples. Aromatically I would just call this enticing. Hard to not gulp it down now but I think for my tastes, this could use 4 or 5 years. (92 pts.)
2000 Westrey Zinfandel Layne Vineyard - USA, Oregon (3/22/2009)
I like old wines and I like old zin but this was pushing the edge for me. I knew this might be past its prime but for $12 why not try it. Nose has gone to a bit of a weird place. Very sherried. Not all together uninteresting and still smells like zin but it is suffering. On the palate it was a bit to much for me after 1 glass. The fruit is there but the oxidization and sherrie thing wore me out. (82 pts.)
Cheers,
Jason