Evening Land, St. Innocent 2009 Pinot Noir

 

The previous posting took a look at a couple of Oregon pinot noir costing $20 or less from the 2009 vintage. Here, we take a step upward to an:

Evening Land 2009 “Eola-Amity Hills” Pinot Noir ($27) and a

St. Innocent 2009 “Villages Cuvée” Pinot Noir ($25).

Here’s the quick bottom line: if you have been or currently are drinking pinot noir from Oregon’s excellent 2008 vintage, both of these wines are, like the two pinots mentioned in the prior posting, likely to be at least a bit disappointing. The best I can say about them is that they are Worth Considering to see if you like the particular style of one or the other. As for us, once was enough.

Two of us blind-tasted these wines over the course of two nights, but after the first time around, it was easy to tell which was which.

The more expensive Evening Land was noticeably fruiter in a somewhat grapey fashion. Over time, some barnyard-type earthy notes appeared both in the pronounced, up-your-nose bouquet and on the palate.  In sharp contrast, the quieter St. Innocent was characterized by a prevalence of non-fruit flavors that we were unable to put a name to. To me, they seemed a little odd.

Both of these wines were just a touch heavier than medium bodied, both were devoid of noticeable tannins (the kind that coat the back of one’s mouth) and both had adequate but not pronounced acidity. The Evening Land was a little less acidic than the St. Innocent if that is an important consideration.

As for flavor, the Evening Land was oriented toward red fruit plus some spice.  And, as mentioned above, a bit of earthiness appeared as the wine encountered more and more oxygen.

In addition, the grapey aspect that didn’t particularly appeal to me had diminished somewhat on the second day, suggesting that perhaps this wine really needs more time in the bottle to be at its best.

The same could be said for the St. Innocent pinot, which also appeared to be developing a more interesting flavor profile – still heavily non-fruit – on the second day.

In fact, all four of the Oregon 2009 pinots that I have so far written about have seemed to need more time. 

The message so far seems to be: stick with the Oregon 2008s, which hopefully you’ve stocked up on or can still purchase, for as long as possible, buy 2009s much more cautiously and keep them in your cellar for awhile before consuming them.

For the record, both of these wines are listed as being 13.5% alcohol by volume.