With the beginning of summer more and more winemakers want to get together and show me the upcoming releases for Fall and beyond. Today I was finally able to get together with Kenneth Juhasz, owner/winemaker of Auteur, for lunch in Calistoga and a chance to catch up with the 2007 vintage Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Kenneth brought a pair of Chardonnay, one each from Hyde and Donum Vineyard and five different bottlings of Pinot Noir - Ophelia (the only blended wine in the lineup) along with Hyland and Shea Vineyards out of the Willamette Valley followed by Sonoma Stage and Manchester Ridge from Sonoma Coast, and Mendocino Ridge, respectively.
We began by tasting the Chardonnay served with Hog Island Oysters that showed off the impeccable structure of the Hyde Vineyard yet were a bit overmatched by the Donum Vineyard's powerful Old Wente clone's oily concentration. Believe it or not this was my first chance to taste Ophelia, Kenneth's ORCA blend of Shea, Hyland and Sonoma Stage.
Getting into the Pinot Noir designates is where I usually find the boldest strokes of greatness from this producer and we went through them in succession from Hyland, Shea, Sonoma Stage and Manchester Ridge. As these are all impressions of wine in barrel that will not begin reaching the market for at least another 6 months I have evaluated them with a range that envelope my impressions.
My experience with Auteur over the last five vintages has taught me a few things:
- The wines seem to get better every vintage
- The evaluations of the barrels are always exceeded by the finished wine
- Patience, patience What you don't understand now, leave the bottle open for a couple days
All of the samples had just been pulled from barrel this morning and were presented in 375mL format and were initially sampled at room temperature.
2007 Auteur Chardonnay, Hyde Vineyard; VF 93-95
Polished lemon and mineral intensity on the nose with a supple creamy core of pear and lemon. The wine goes through no malo-lactic fermentation, retaining a vibrant intensity to the silky long finish.
2007 Auteur Chardonnay Donum Vineyard; VF 92-94
From the oldest 30+ year-old Old Wente block at Donum, this will be the last vintage from Auteur. Rich color decidedly deeper than the Hyde showing a shimmering nose with minerally white peach that is proniunced in its forwardness. The palate carries the peach, lemon and pear theme beautifully.
2007 Auteur Pinot Noir Ophelia; VF 92-94
A delicate nose of salt, geranium blossom, verbena and wet quartz. The palate is nicely focused and creamy with a solid core of acidity balancing the concentrated black cherry and blackberry
2007 Auteur Pinot Noir Hyland Vineyard; VF 84-86
The wine smells and tastes a little smoky but shows nice texture throughout the palate. This will bear close watching in evolution as it is a clearly an abberation of the Hyland profile.
2007 Auteur Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard; VF 94-96
Wow, beautifully rich nose - carbon, dried violet flowers black raspberry and licorice already in a surprisingly integrated form. Black raspberry, licorice and plum are evident on the palate yet to attain the polish that is a hallmark for this wine.
2007 Auteur Pinot Noir Sonoma Stage Vineyard; VF 95-97
A little lilac and forest aromas, the palate is already showing nice intensity for such a young wine. Intertwined black cherry, raspberry, pomegranate and violet come through vividly.
2007 Auteur Pinot Noir Manchester Ridge; VF 98-100
It is scary to think this wine won't be out for another nine months. It is already better than 80% of the 2006 releases in the market. Mind blowing is the way to describe the aromatics in this wine - geranium, violet, white raspberry with a hint of sweet fig. The palate is the most evolved of any of the barrels already showing layered flavors with the foundation of complex cherry, lavender. mineral and red cherry.
I've said it before - Kenneth Juhasz is creating what are likely some of the most important Pinot Noir in America yet he seems to be doing it with relative ease and I hasten to add, a great deal of humility. During lunch when I was deep in thought with one of the Pinots, I turned to him and said "Kenneth, you should be required to make wine with one hand tied behind your back".
At the conclusion of the lunch Kenneth offered to send all of the ungassed samples back with me,however since they had only been under cork for an hour before coming to me, the corks had expanded and refused to go back in the bottles. I was forced to keep all of the samples bolt upright (uncorked) in my car back to the office and then carried them home the same way. After being open to air for nearly 12 hours the wines had gained additional dimension. I will taste all of these wines again prior to release to determine a final review, but with the exception of the Hyland at this juncture the Auteur portfolio seems in very good shape.
If you are going to the Pinot Days event in San Francisco this Sunday, look for Kenneth's table near the front. I could tell you what he will be pouring but that would spoil the surprise!
