2007 Et Fille Wines Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard Jim's Block

From an old Wadenswil block on this historic property and a harvest on whose optical description the Mozeico asked me not to quote them, Et Fille’s 2007 Pinot Noir Maresh Vineyard Jim’s Block in their words “tasted green for the first year or two and has taken time to come around.” But come around it certainly has, joining what has struck me this year as an amazingly long list of quite successful not to mention still vibrant exemplars of this “vintage from hell.” Dried cherry and Virginia tobacco, cinnamon and nutmeg, dried herbs and smoky black tea inform a pungent nose and sappy palate, finishing with cut and invigorating persistence. This is likely to drink well for at least another couple of years. (Interestingly, it saw 50% new barrels, a level that Et Fille wines seldom approach nowadays.) Et Fille is the 2003 creation of two-decade Oregon home wine-making veteran Howard Mozeico and his daughter Jessica, whom I met with for the first time this July, and who vinify at August Cellars. They source from six different vineyards, but planted their own small “test vineyard” at 1,000 foot elevation near their family’s Parrett Mountain homestead all the way back in 1986-87. They say the upshot of the test, though, is that under present climatic conditions their tiny crop ripens properly only one year in three. A multiplicity of small fermentative vessels and yeast cultures are employed, and the fruit is generally de-stemmed. Tel. (503) 449-5030