2008 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard

Vlossak’s 2008 Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard – which I tasted alongside his young 2011s – is penetratingly scented with smoky Latakia and burley tobaccos, sealing wax, kirsch and prunelle distillate, leading to a palate of depth and resonant richness, but preserving ample primary juiciness of fresh cherry and plum. Hints of cardamom and cooked ginger add to the appeal of a sustained and sappy if faintly warm finish. It’s author thinks this “needs” another decade, but my intuitions would be to enjoy it through 2015. Founder-winemaker Mark Vlossak – for much more about whom, and about St. Innocent, consult my issue 202 report – compares 2011 with the low-alcohol, high-acid Pinots he bottled in 1999, but not by way of dwelling on similarities; on the contrary. “I basically told people not to drink them,” he says of his 1999s, “and I’m still not drinking them. Every time I open ‘em I just think they’re way too young. Some may just be starting to come ‘round. But 2011 is completely different. Back then a lot of the vineyard was dying of phylloxera. We still had wide spacing. Now we have younger vines but with much denser spacing and more leaves to do the job.” Vlossak notes that “the highest alcohol I got in 2011was 13%, and I didn’t chaptalize anything that came in over 12.5%. The largest sugar buy I had ever made until now was 50 pounds, which means that basically I’d never really chaptalized anything. And I bought around 1,700 pounds of sugar in 2011!” Fermentative extraction and pressing were both gentler than usual – and “usual’ here, Vlossak has repeatedly sought to assure me, signifies an already light touch. I found two Vlossak’s whites tasted ahead of his latest Pinot Noirs surprisingly glassy in texture and tart, especially considering the noticeable degree of alcoholic ripeness achieved in the 2012 Pinot Blanc. Tel. (503) 932 2129