We left The Columbia Gorge Hotel right after their special breakfast and drove to the Newberg area, bypassing Portland. Our first appointment was at Sineann (pronounced shih-nayne) where we were greeted by a very busy owner/winemaker, Peter Rosback. It was bottling day. I felt a little bit like a child watching the movements of the bottling equipment, til Peter jolted me out of my trance by saying, "Let's taste some wines." The facility is shared with Medici Vineyards and this day was Zinfandel bottling day. The wines:

2000 Medici Chardonnay Rich. Not overly oaked. Crisp. 89

2002 Sineann Pinot Gris Nose of tropical fruit. Nice. 89

2002 Sineann Pinot Gris, Covey Ridge Vineyard Big and rich. 90

2001 Sineann Pinot Noir Nose of cherries and cedar. A little rough around the edges. needs time. 87-89

2001 Sineann Merlot Chocolate and coffee. 88-89

The following wines were barrel samples and notes are brief and numerical scores were omitted due to constraints of time:

2002 Medici East Vineyard Pinot Noir The vines are 27 years old. Already showing some complexity.

2002 Medici Lower Vineyard Pinot Noir These vines are 15 years old. Not as fruity. Thinner.

2002 Medici Upper Vineyrad Pinot Noir These viones are 5 years old. Tasted very similar to the Lower Vineyard.

2002 Sineann Wy East Vineyard Pinot Noir Rich

2002 Sineann Covey Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir Concentrated

2002 Sineann Residence Vineyard Pinot Noir Wonderful. This is a truly special Pinot Noir.

2002 Sineann Phelps Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir Tannic and concentrated.

2002 Sineann Merlot Tannic and promising.

2002 Sineann Cabernet Sauvignon The grapes in this wine were grown near a wildfire and the wine has a smoky taste and nose.

2002 Sineann Cabernet Sauvignon Champoux Vineyard, Baby Poux Block Outstanding!

2002 Sineann Champoux Vineyard, Block 1 Also outstanding, maybe a small notch below the previous wine.

2002 Sineann Zinfandel These vines are 100 years old and are the oldest vines in the Northwest. The vineyard is located near The Dalles, OR. Rich and ready

2002 Zinfandel Port CJ Delicious

The last wine was tasted from a bottle, not a barrel:

2002 Sweet Sydney I didn't write this down, but I believe this was named for Peter's child. It is a Zinfandel ice wine. Very special. 94

General impressions: This is one of the best wineries we've visited. Across the board the wines are well-made and worthy of purchase.

One correction. The barrel sample referred to as 2002 Residence was actually 2002 Resonance. I guess I heard the name wrong when Peter told it to me.

Bought 2 Sineann Resonance based on your review.

Resonance is the former Reed & Reynolds vineyard, a 20 year old dry-farmed vineyard about 4 miles west of Carlton. It's not really pronounciation-friendly and Peter can barely say it himself.

Almost all the 2002 Pinot Noir barrel samples we tried in the Willamette Valley were promising. I'm no expert on PN barrel sample tasting, but I expect 2002 to be a great vintage for the area.

Has anyone tried the 2002s from the bottle? These are starting to pop up retail here. Thanks.

DdB, you'll notice my opinion of the Resonance Vineyard Pinot Noir, which I incorrectly called Residence in my intial post in this thread. I liked the barrel sample so much, I bought two bottles of this wine, but I intend to let them age for a while.

I think the Resonance Vineyard is one of the bottlings due in and I will pick a couple up based on your reco. Thanks.

I bought two bottles of the Resonance around the holidays, popped one last Friday night, and ordered another six pack on Sunday. It is delicious and very complex. Thanks Board-O...I also ordered two of the Baby Poux and am anxiously awaiting arrival.

Dave... Welcome back. Where you been?????

DAVE!

How have you been? Where have you been? Regards to Mrs. DaveMcI.

Board-O:

Greetings, and hope that you and Joyce are doing well.
I think I will be in Fair Haven, NJ in a few weeks, is that close
to you and the gang?

I just looked up Fair haven. It's near Sandy Hook. Any chance you could make it into NYC. Is Mrs Dave accompanying you?

Had the 2002 Sineann CJ Port. 20% alcohol distilled from the old zinfindel vines of the Pines Vineyard on the Columbia River. I agree with Board-O. Delicious and delightful after dinner drink. Too bad I only bought 2 and one bit the dust last night.

Harvey S just gave the Resonance an 85. I think he has been sniffing glue again. There is no way that is an 85 pt. wine

That's outrageous. It's 92 points at least in my book.

If it is the 02, he's sniffing glue. Ooops, I'm a poet and didn't know it.
Really, I had 4 after visiting Peter Rosback at Sineann and otu of the goodness of my heart sent Board-O 2 of them. I am stupid. Harvey should have come out with the 85 points a long time ago, because the Resonance is long gone from about any source. Maybe Harvey could have made more available for me if he had this assinine rating sooner.

Mark:

I may be able to track down a few if you are interested. Send me a PM

Don't think I don't appreciate it, Mark.

If Harvey Steiman scored the '02 Resonance an 85, it's yet another in the myriad of reasons to ignore him. latour67, my wife, and I all tasted the '01 Bethel Heights Flat Block Reserve at the winery. Independently, we all scored it 90 and 91. Steiman gave it a 73. All I can figure is that he tasted a dmaged wine and didn't know it.

It was the 2002 that he gave an 85 to, I rechecked. I believe the Resonance got the lowest rating of all Sineann PN's rated.

If this was the NFL, I would be heaving the red flag onto the field right now for a challenge.