This was most certainly an "event".

The fabled "Latour67" and his tolerant and charming wife invited the Stemors (YES! There is a Mrs. Stemor, and she actually made an appearance last night!) over to their chateau for some cheeses and Conundrum. Latour also guided Mrs. Stemor through his wine storage catacombs, to show her what MY wine obsession might eventually graduate to. She is, as you might imagine, both impressed and apalled.

We met up with BHVineyard and two of his business associates for dinner at our favorite local restaurant. Not only do we NEVER get charged corkage here, but their specialties include very creative tuna and other fish dishes, plus a wonderful rack of lamb. Perfect for Pinot Noirs from Oregon.

Enter BHV. He supplied the Oregon PN's.

-- '94 Cameron Abbey Ridge
-- '98 Cameron Clos Electrique
-- '98 Chehalem Rion Reserve
-- '98 Soter
-- '99 Cristom Marjorie
-- '00 Chehalem Ridgecrest Vineyard

Also, to add some further diversity to the dinner, we had
-- '89 Dominus (Latour67)
-- '96 Terreus, Pago de Cuava Baja
-- NV Campbell's Today (Latour67)
-- NV Chambers Tokay (stemor)

various and sundry Zins and Syrahs that I brought at one of BHV's associates request never got opened ... THIS time. Next time we're doing "real" wines, as he calls them.

Limited notes from me. Hopefully we'll get Latour and BHVineyard to sign up and post some comments.

The'94 Cameron Abbey Ridge was showing some minor bricking at the edges and its fruit was pretty well smoothed out. Even so, it has plenty of life and took a few minutes to open up. Drink now or over the next few years, as this was quite enjoyable and civilized. SM89

The'98 Clos Electrique , a blend of 13 different Pinot Noir clones, was ... interesting. Latour declared "Perm Relaxer! This stuff smells like a ladies hair salon!". A short while later Amy, our waitress, came in. We had been sharing generously with her and Chris (the wine manager) as per our usual practice, so BHV asked her what it reminded her of. "Well, my mother runs a hair salon", she said, "so this may be totally crazy. But it smells like Perm Relaxer to me." We couldn't believe it -- Latour nailed it with the Perm Relaxer descriptor, then we started wondering why he knew so much about such a subject ...
The wine tasted quite good once you got past the aroma. SM88

The'98 Soter was my WOTN, and my first "WOW" experience with Pinot Noir. It was dark, brooding, and serious, but didn't show spectacularly out of the bottle. With an hour of proper decanting, though, it really started to take off, continuing to evolve in the glass. It had colored, viscous legs that crawled all the way out of the glass and an enticing aroma to match. It showed dark fruits and pepper throughout, and a nice touch of vanilla -- with a long lingering and enjoyable finish. I couldn't get enough of this one ... I want more. SM94.

<< NOTE: As I was typing this, I recalled that BHV told me that this was available at the Ponzi Winery wine shop. Not anymore -- I bought the 5 remaining @ $50/. >>


The'98 Chehalem Rion Reserve was a worth pairing with the Soter, as it held its own nicely. An hour of breathing helped this one come into its own, with scents of plum and pepper. This one also showed nice use of oak, with an enjoyable touch of vanilla to the flavor. Nice color shade and intensity, nice legs. SM90.

We then matched the three '98's up together -- the Chehalem, the Cameron, and the Soter. The Soter seemed to be the unanimous choice by acclimation from around the table.

By the time we got to the'99 Cristom Marjorie , we might have lost our tasting edge. This wine, as with the '98's, was still young and tight. It was very good, but it wasn't 94 points. SM90.

The'00 Chehalem Ridgecrest was similarly abused ... too many PN's before it to be truly enjoyed on its own merits. Young, tightly wound and full of fruit, this one will age nicely for some years or be very enjoyable now if given enough air to allow it to open up. SM90.

'89 Dominus. Good! A well aged example of this wine, with black cherry and cedar showing nicely. Little aging was apparent in this wine's appearance, but it probably won't get much better. SM92. Probably WOTN Runner-up for me.

The'96 Terreus caused quite a stir around the table. It was like ink. We were all enjoying it, and appreciating the raw power that it showed. Several folks even declared it their WOTN, but not me. You already know MY vote.

We finished off the evening with the bottles of Chambers and Campbell's Australian Tokays. Both were excellent, but the Chambers seemed fuller and generally took the nod over its worthy cousin from Down Under.

Fortunately for us, a hotel shuttle came to pick up the out-of-towners and Mrs. Stemor, always on her best behavior, carted the rest of us home. And a good time was had by all.