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WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 9:12 pm
by Jim Grow
This wine the 2011 WillaKenzie Pinot Gris from Oregon just blew me away with the overall quality. The color was a very pale straw and the nose was muted white fruit but the palate just exploded with very SPICEY pear fruit and excellent acid to balance. Consumed with spicey Md. crabcakes it was an excellent match. My only bottle but I will certainly be looking to pick up some more as this wine might age very well too. My only slight complaint was that it did not have the viscosity (it did have some legs) and mouth feel of a high quality Alsatian Pinot Gris but that is just picking at nits!

Re: WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 12:19 am
by Jon Leifer
sounds good to me, Jim..will keep an eye out for it..Love Pino Gris, love crab cakes

Re: WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 1:57 pm
by Hoke
Having recently had another bottle of this, I concur, Jim. WillaKenzie is making some damned good wines.

If you like that, also try Helioterra Pinot Gris. If you can find it.

I met the woman who makes it (Anne Hubatch) prior to tasting the wine. I asked her which hers emulated, the tasteless Italian plonk, the California sweet and fruity or the Alsatian bold and full of character. She smiled and bounced right back at me.

"Neither. Think Northern Italian."

I tasted her wine. She was right. Northern Italian-ate. Crisp and bright and lovely. Been a fan of it ever since.

Re: WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:25 am
by Joy Lindholm
I just got back from Willamette Valley, and while I didn't have the pleasure of trying the Willakenzie Pinot Gris, I did get to try many other fine examples of 2011 Pinot Gris from the area. 2011 was a really tough vintage, most winemakers there will tell you, and they had the latest harvest in 40 years - some picking through the end of November. But this made for some really elegant, mineral and acid driven wines, and wineries like Chehalem, St. Innocent, and Torii Mor have some lively Pinot Gris from this vintage. We also visited Evesham Wood, and the winemaker, Erin, is making an orange wine from his Pinot Gris of 2011. We tasted out of barrel and I almost couldn't believe it was PG. It had the color of a vibrant rose, and all the aromas and flavors to match. Such a unique wine.

Re: WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:47 am
by Dan Smothergill
Thanks folks. I just happen to be in Portland for the AWS Conference. You have given me some Pinot Gris to look for. Any others?

Re: WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:10 pm
by Joy Lindholm
Dan Smothergill wrote:Thanks folks. I just happen to be in Portland for the AWS Conference. You have given me some Pinot Gris to look for. Any others?


Other Pinot Gris, or other local wines in general?

Re: WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:54 pm
by Hoke
Dan Smothergill wrote:Thanks folks. I just happen to be in Portland for the AWS Conference. You have given me some Pinot Gris to look for. Any others?


Stop by and say hello at the Cognac Seminar, Dan. And Peter May will be pinotaging at the same time.

Re: WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 4:29 pm
by Bob Henrick
Hoke wrote:Having recently had another bottle of this, I concur, Jim. WillaKenzie is making some damned good wines.

If you like that, also try Helioterra Pinot Gris. If you can find it.

I met the woman who makes it (Anne Hubatch) prior to tasting the wine. I asked her which hers emulated, the tasteless Italian plonk, the California sweet and fruity or the Alsatian bold and full of character. She smiled and bounced right back at me.

"Neither. Think Northern Italian."

I tasted her wine. She was right. Northern Italian-ate. Crisp and bright and lovely. Been a fan of it ever since.


Hoke, I might get smacked down for this, but have you ever had a Stone Wolf pinot gris. It's made by our own Linda Lindsay. Her 2007 which she hand bottle and brought to Mo'Cool for me remains to this day the best USA PG in my experience. It also won some really big west coast awards. 2009 I believe was the last vintage I have had, so I guess I should contact her for replenishment.

Re: WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 8:10 pm
by Hoke
Bob Henrick wrote:
Hoke wrote:Having recently had another bottle of this, I concur, Jim. WillaKenzie is making some damned good wines.

If you like that, also try Helioterra Pinot Gris. If you can find it.

I met the woman who makes it (Anne Hubatch) prior to tasting the wine. I asked her which hers emulated, the tasteless Italian plonk, the California sweet and fruity or the Alsatian bold and full of character. She smiled and bounced right back at me.

"Neither. Think Northern Italian."

I tasted her wine. She was right. Northern Italian-ate. Crisp and bright and lovely. Been a fan of it ever since.


Hoke, I might get smacked down for this, but have you ever had a Stone Wolf pinot gris. It's made by our own Linda Lindsay. Her 2007 which she hand bottle and brought to Mo'Cool for me remains to this day the best USA PG in my experience. It also won some really big west coast awards. 2009 I believe was the last vintage I have had, so I guess I should contact her for replenishment.


Bob, I haven't. Had her Pinot...but it was her Pinot Noir, not Gris.

Re: WTN: A Very Excellent Pinot Gris

PostPosted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 10:25 pm
by Bob Henrick
My first experience with Stone Wolf was in 2002. She sent me a care package to Mo'Cool containing a 2001 pg, an entry level pn, a reserve pn and a bottle of her matriarch series pn. Of the latter there were less than 100 bottles produced, so you might get the idea that IMO she is a special lady, and her wines "ain't" too bad either!