My Day In The Willamette Valley - Part 1, Brick House

This and the next few posts will be some quick and dirty summaries of what I tasted yesterday as I ventured forth into the wilds of Yamhill County.


Brick House was having an Equinox event to celebrate the release of the 2009 Boulder Block pinot noir, so what the hell. Out I went with no plans beyond that. The day got very, very long so I'll report in stages.

When I pulled up to BH I thought I had the wrong day. A couple of cars and that was it, and it was already 12:30. Hmmm.

Right day. First pour out of the gate was the 2009 chardonnay. As Rich Trimpi says, if you don't like white Burgundy, you won't like this. Just wonderful, full of white peach, Granny Smith apple and minerals, and a steal at $25. 

Next up, the Boulder Block pinot. This is from a part of the vineyard that is a vein of volcanic, as opposed to sedimentary soil. Whereas Ribbon Ridge usually shows black fruits, this wine shows red fruits like the Dundee Hills, which are also volcanic soil. This is a real beauty and doesn't show any of the heat of the vintage. I don't think it will make the long term, but over the next five or six years you couldn't do better.

Alan also poured two not-yet-released wines, the '09 Cascadia chardonnay and the '09 Evelyn's pinot. They were both so tightly wound any attempt to review them would be futile. 

For those of you who are worried about Doug's business because of my reported lack of people . . . well, don't be concerned. By the time I left about 20 people had shown up including a first for me - a couple being driven in a Lincoln Town Car by a liveried driver. Had I seen these in Napa? Hell yeah . . . all the time, but here? At Brick House or any of the other low-key places I frequent? Not until now. We're headed down a bad, bad path that's probably unavoidable.