2009 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Cuvée Laurene

The Domaine Drouhin 2009 Pinot Noir Laurene delivers rich dark cherry and plum fruit, its persistent but in no way superficial sweetness wreathed in bitter-sweet floral perfume and allied to a vaguely stony undertone. Almost velvety in texture, this nonetheless finishes with a grip that implies abundant if fine tannins. It doesn’t – indeed, given its vintage, almost surely couldn’t – approach the infectious sheer primary juiciness of the corresponding 2010; nor does it strike me for now as being any more complex than the highly impressive (and much less expensive) “classique” (i.e. Drouhin’s principal bottling). But it’s surely worth following for at least half a dozen years, during which time it might well reveal its superiority. “You had to be really cautious with extraction in this vintage,” notes Bell of 2009, “because there was a lot of dry skin material in the cap.” It’s hard for me to believe that Domaine Drouhin recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, as it hardly seems that many years ago when, at a press conference in Washington, DC, I challenged Robert Drouhin, sworn terroirist, on the faith he was putting in an untested site, even granted that its neighborhood was already showing serious promise. Few could argue today that he and his family chose unwisely, and even if it has taken a while for a significant number of other prominent Burgundy producers to follow their lead, the bridgehead the Drouhins established – not to mention the quality standards they’ve set – has been critical in focusing the world’s attention on the Willamette and encouraging the annual International Pinot Noir Celebration that quickly became a feast of mutual admiration and promotion between Oregonian and Burgundian vintners. Tasting with winemaker Arron Bell (who worked his way up from the beginning of his career within the Drouhin estates) and touring Domaine Drouhin’s roughly 180 contiguous vine acres (including the former Lundsberg hazelnut orchard now under lease and planted to vines in 2008 that have already shown startlingly promise) impressed me with the energy and incisiveness being applied to innovation and experimentation ... a characterization that should not be taken to imply impatience, as witness the fate of this estate’s sole rather unsuccessful block, immediately adjacent to the winery and its tourist traffic. The vines there were pulled-up in 2007 yet will still not be replaced for another two years in an effort to let the soil truly rest and rebuild itself. One Drouhin experiment has involved covering the vineyard surface with burlap (bet the Terroir Police back in Burgundy wouldn’t permit that ;-), in Bell’s words “as an experiment in bouncing-back light and polymerization of tannins within the berries.” Back-to-back tours of vines and 2011 components also demonstrated vividly not just the exceptional promise of that vintage here but also the way in which, as Napa vintner George Hendry once memorably put it to me, “terroir operates powerfully over very short distances.” That said, given the size of their entire property, the sometimes spontaneous, sometimes inoculated fermentative lots with which the Drouhins work (utilizing pump-overs as well as punch-downs, and usually extending skin contact past dryness) are typically 3-4 tons capacity. But they include, to my surprise, horizontal fermentors (with a rotating auger inside) that Bell credits with several of the domaine's very finest successes. “Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, right?” he asks rhetorically and humbly. Bell believes a newly-purchased basket press is going to add significantly to textural refinement in future years – this at an estate where “P” already stands almost as much for “polish” as it does for “Pinot”! “We’re always looking for mouth weight, but with focus and finesse,” Bell explains, and along with Veronique Drouhin and the rest of the domaine’s team has worked to analyze those combinations of vine material, parcel, vinification, and elevage found to have consistently reward that search. Each of the several bottlings essayed by Domaine Drouhin represents a barrel selection guided and tempered by experience with the performance of the estates diverse sites, so in choosing the lots that will constitute, say, a given vintage of their prestigious cuvee “Louise” – or indeed, whether there will even be “Louise” in a given vintage – they are in the process of constantly collating their experiences and honing their expertise. (Incidentally, if barrels from the aforementioned – leased – Lundsberg property make the cut in 2011 for a prestige cuvee, as I’m inclined to believe they ought, then it might not officially count as an estate bottling.) Bottling takes place here relatively early by local or for that matter Burgundian standards, typically after 11-13 months (though occasionally, as in 2008, as long as 15-16). The estate, incidentally, is pragmatic and un-dogmatic as regards acidulation or watering. Tel. (503) 864-2700

Deep red. Spicecake, raspberry and dried rose on the fragrant nose. Fresh and energetic in the mouth, offering sappy black raspberry and floral pastille flavors and notes of five-spice powder and anise. Weightier on the finish, which features a bitter cherry quality, a hint of smokiness and clinging red fruit character. This is balanced to age over at least the medium term.