Friday, May 27, 2011

Compleating a Shea "Six Pack"

I just drove out to Broadley Vineyads in a horrid downpour (ah Spring!) and picked up the final piece of a wonderful auction item. This will be the first wine item on the docket and should do well.


INVESTING IN TERROIR
Dick and Deirdre Shea traded Wall Street for winemaking
Wine Spectator, December 31, 2008

It's easy to imagine Dick Shea, co-owner of Shea Vineyards with his wife, Deirdre, at his former career on Wall Street. He's clean-shaven, with jeans and work shirt as pressed as any business suit. When rocks from the gravel driveway get kicked onto the cement crush pad, Shea nudges them back into place.

Wanting things just so has served Dick, 61, and Deirdre, 55, quite well, as has their business sense. Shea Vineyard, located in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA of Willamette Valley, is arguably the best-known grape source in Oregon, supplying Pinot Noir for many of the state's top producers, including Beaux Frères, Bergström and Ken Wright Cellars. The 200-acre property contains 140 acres of vines, of which 135 are Pinot and 5 are Chardonnay. Since the 2004 vintage, Wine Spectator has reviewed 37 Pinot Noirs whose labels indicate that they were made with Shea grapes; 28 of them received 90 points or more on its 100-point scale.

Read more here 

It is easy to see why three bottles of wine from his vineyard brought $900 in our first auction and the line up we have here is pretty impressive:
2008 Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard
The 2008 , a classic representation of the famed Shea Vineyard. Scored 94 points in the Wine Advocate and 92 points in the Wine Spectator.
Bergström Wines believes in working with only Oregon's greatest vineyard sites that are consistently in the upper echelon of terroir, farming practices and wine quality, and we believe that the Shea Vineyard is one of these sites. We have invested in long-term agreements with Dick Shea for 10% of the entire Shea Vineyard to be harvested and vinified at Bergström and bottled under our label. This enormous investment into this great vineyard site ensures that we are capturing the true essence of the Shea Vineyard every year and consistently providing you with the best bottlings from this vineyard year after year.
This vintage started out cool and remained cool throughout the year. In fact, we had one of the coldest winters and the latest spring snowfall in Oregon's recorded history. We were well behind entering September and concerned that we would ever get enough heat to bring the fruit to physiological ripeness.
      After the sixth of October the mild wet pattern we had been experiencing broke and gave way to over 20 straight days of clear warm weather. Fall colors were the most vivid any of us have seen in Oregon. The prolonged dry spell gave all of our sites the opportunity to ripen slowly and evenly. 2008 has natural levels of acidity comparable to 1999 and like that vintage should age effortlessly.

 Ripe and full-bodied, this wine exudes both comfort and sophistication. Indulgent yet refined, starting with its bouquet, with aromas of plum, blackberry, anise, leather and vanilla. Followed by rich, spiced flavors, such as blackberry, black cherry, cocoa, orange peel, black pepper, currant, and earth. As always, the Shea drank beautifully in its youth, but has now had time to mature in the bottle and as anyone will tell you, if you have an '07 Pinot Noir from Oregon ,drink ONE and save the rest. It is excellent now but will get even better!
92 points from Wine Advocate- "The 2008 Pinot Noir Estate contains fruit from all of the vineyard blocks and clones on the property. Dark ruby red, it displays an inviting bouquet of smoke, spice box, rose petal, incense, black cherry, and black raspberry. This leads to an intense, layered, spicy wine with enough structure to evolve for 2-3 years, excellent volume, and a lengthy, fruit-filled finish. It will provide prime drinking from 2012 to 2020." Wine Advocate # 191 Oct 2010 (Jay Miller) 91 points from Wine Spectator Insider: "Bright and jazzy, delivering its cherry and raspberry fruit with a swipe of licorice and pepper, lingering nicely on the lively finish. Drink now through 2016." (June 30, 2010) This Pinot is made from grapes carefully selected from throughout Shea Vineyard. It is already quite accessable and showing layers of flavor normally not revealed until this great estate's wines have another full year of bottle age.  

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