2011 Archery Summit Pinot Noir Renegade Ridge Estate

Archery Summit’s 2011 Pinot Noir Renegade Ridge – which received 50% new wood (though a very different – and, I’d say, finer – mix of tonneliers than the corresponding Premier Cuvee) – evinces a concentration of sour cherry strongly influenced by its pit, and laced in very vintage-typical fashion with high-toned citrus oils, as well as sassafras. Firm in feel but satisfyingly juicy, this picks up a peppery bite as well as mouthwatering salinity that lend invigoration to a lingering finish. The tannic grip here doesn’t interfere at all with drinking pleasure, and I expect that this will show well through at least 2017. This March, Archery Summit experienced its fourth changing of the winemaking guard, as Chris Mazepink – previously at Benton Lane and Shea – replaced Anna Matzinger, about whose influence and successes there I wrote at length in Issue 202, and who was responsible for the 2011s I tasted this summer. I was surprised to hear Mazepink characterize the 2011 vintage as “slightly fragile and frail as a whole” – he much prefers 2010 – but he admitted to limited experience; and he puts great emphasis on textural richness. Still, his characterization certainly doesn’t apply to many wines that I tasted for this report, even if there were instances in the present collection where I had a sense that perhaps more fermentative extraction and exposure to new wood had been attempted than was in a wine’s best interests. (Since five out of seven wines here are routinely bottled before the following harvest, they in fact received a significantly shorter than usual elevage this vintage.) Matzinger, incidentally, stuck by her selective but often substantial inclusion of stems and whole clusters. (Considerable detail concerning the Archery Summit vineyard sites and what I now must refer to as Matzinger’s legacy can be found in my Issue 202 introduction.) Tel. (503) 864.4300