Clear, medium garnet with no bricking. The nose started out with black cherry and earth. As it evolved we picked up green olive, oak, cedar, and plum as well. The whole time, the earth and the cherry kept taking turns in the lead. On the palate, black cherry, earth, a little briar, and some very fine tannins. The wine was elegant, well balanced, with a nice finish. This wine needed a lot of time to appreciate as it went through its evolution. 92 points.

Duke, I recently opened a magnum of the '99 Jessie's Vineyard. Beautiful Pinot Noir that is in its drinking window. I'm starting to become more of a fan of OR PN than CA these days as they have tended to have more earth tones.

jb

jb,
I was having a discussion about that very topic on Saturday with Davidn. I was saying that I saw many similarities between Oregon and Anderson Valley/Sonoma Coast/Russian River Pinots and David disagreed, saying that he found more earth in Oregon Pinots. That was certainly true when comparing the Swan and the Cristom last night.

From the wines I've tasted recently, I do think that 1999 was probably the best of the last five or six vintages in Oregon.