The Utter Failure of the Great Communicator - 4th Time in Our History

"The 2019s are light-bodied and delicately styled, with the best wines offering ethereal, highly detailed perfumes—a coin flip from the gregarious 2018s, which have powerful, ripe fruits and fuller frames. I tasted several hundred wines on a two-week trip this November and was stunned by the best 2019s, many of which are the best examples I’ve tasted from a particular producer or vineyard. The best wines offer exceptional purity and aromatic complexity. They are intense yet weightless, with seamless tannins and energetic acidity. " - Erin Brooks, Wine Advocate

2019 Martin Woods Pinot Noir Jessie James Vineyard 

 - Elite Burgundian Style Tannins

 - So Fine Grained, So Nimble, So Juicy and So Pure

 - Small Berries, Amazingly Dense 

 - Dizzying Spice and Sour Cherries

 - Gorgeous Mineral Tones

 - Layers of Honey 

 - Scenes in Nature  

 - Palate: Ridiculous

 - Bright, Tart and Tangy 

 - Palate: Terrific Tiny Berry / Cherry Fruit Intensity

 - Opulence and Great Freshness

 - A Very Serious Wine

 - A 30+ Year Wine

I'm making wines for the geeks, the people in the trade, the winemakers, the people who love, appreciate
and really get wine." - Evan Martin

I've only done what I'm about to do three times before in Fass Selections history before. So take heed as I'm about to be as transparent as I've ever been.

 I'm proud to say that I'm generally proud of the E-Mails that I write. But sometimes, I mess up and I own it. 

 - I owe it to my customers

 - I owe it to the winemakers.

I'm offering the same wine I offered a few months ago because the offer performed disappointingly in relation to the quality of the wines. Below is why I think you didn't buy it in offer #1 

Why You Didn't Buy 2019 Martin Woods Pinot Noir Jessie James Vineyard

1) This is $48 and pricey for an Oregon Pinot that does not have a score. I get that. But it's pricey for a reason. Oregon is having its moment now and quality is almost doubling every vintage. For $48 this is a value in that context.

2) You aren't buying this because it's from me. I sell European wines and one domestic estate. I get that some of you have trust issues because of this but I say you need to trust me more on domestic wines as can you imagine how picky I am for domestic wines?

3) This is $75-$100+ in Burgundy or from a "known" producer's village wine. 

The Wine Advocate has just come out with its "sneak peek" of the 19s from Oregon and the scores are through the roof.

I've never seen such high scores for Oregon Pinot Noir.

Martin Woods was not reviewed in this sneak peek but Evan Martin's 19s are as profound a set of wines across the board as I've ever tasted. This 2019 Jessie James needs to get into as many hands as possible as it's a profound wine and it WILL get a high score and when it does it will be sold out and then I won't have any. So this is your last shot at a truly profound wine before it gets scored and it gets all scooped up.

The Judgement of Portland

As all wine geeks know, the Judgement of Paris refers to the famous 1976 blind tasting in Paris where Napa wines stood toe to toe with the best in Bordeaux. It was a watershed moment for American wines and gave international credibility to American wines. A decade or so later, it mostly went all too pot for us, but that's another story.

I think that the takeaway from the Judgement of Paris is that talented and properly motivated American winemakers can make classically styled wines that can compete with the best in France. We mostly choose not to make classically styled wines but there is nothing wrong with our soil.

I'd been waiting for the proper American Pinot Noir to introduce to the list since our founding. I finally discovered it in Oregon (whose capital is, of course, Portland).

Martin Woods

Many of you were introduced to the brilliant wines of Evan Martin through his 2018 Jessie James single vineyard Pinot Noir. That’s the wine where I said to myself that Evan is the man! This bottling is very special. There is something about this site that is very special. The wines it creates have that extra excitement, extra refinement, those perfectly fine grained tannins and fruit that almost have too much clarity while also being super nimble and graceful. The 18 I think needs 3-4-5 more years as well to fully express itself and doesn’t show super well until it’s been open for 3-7 hours. Evan’s wines need time. Time in the bottle and time in the decanter as they are like Russian classic literature. They take time to unfold and have many many layers. Having had multiple bottles of the 18 Jessie James did not prepare me for the 19.

The 2019 Vintage in Oregon

Jessie James 19 was a better vintage in Oregon in that it was as cool climate a vintage as a cool climate region can have. Think 2001 in Burgundy. Think 1998 in the Northern Rhone. Think 2014 in Baden for Pinot Noir. Think 1996 Piedmont. Think 2008 Chablis, Mosel or Champagne. That’s what’s 2019 Oregon is. 

Why These Wines Fit Our House Style

These wines fit exactly into the Fass Selections style like some of our best estates in France and Germany. The different part is where they come from. They come from Oregon. Yes, we have started working with our first domestic producer. It's a huge moment and I need to totally come out to front and say I've tasted maybe 70 bottles of domestic wine over the last decade. I'm illustrating this because what we look for here is a style. I'm not selling this because it's American wine - I'm selling this because it's spectacular, underpriced wine that fits our house style to a T.

 - Fresh wines of place. The vineyard, the place is special. 

 - And then to summarize the taste profile, it would be fresh, with terrific fruit but never vulgar, always infused with lots of mineral and earth, terrific acids, always balanced and exceptionally pure, restrained wood when it is there.

 - We also love wines that almost all improve open in the bottle for 2-3 days.

That's the Fass Selections style. 

The 2019 Martin Woods Pinot Noir Jessie James Vineyard is a benchmark wine and the single greatest Oregon Pinot Noir and single greatest domestic Pinot Noir I’ve ever had. This can be had for $47.99 a bottle on a 4-pack and there is no doubt in my mind this wine can age for 20+ years and likely needs 5+ to get to a 9.7 or 9.8 on Delectable. Today it’s a 9.6. Easy. This wine is genius for many reasons but the one that makes it’s the best domestic Pinot I’ve ever had is that the tannins are so exquisite. The tannins are so fine grained, so nimble, so juicy and so pure. They remind me of the tannins one finds only on the best of the best Burgundies. The clarity of the fruit must also be mentioned as this fruit is as clear as the sky on a crisp autumn day. The wine is a work of art. A Masterpiece. This is THE Pinot Noir bottling at Martin Woods. His flagship wine. I love them all but there is something special about Jessie James. 

This is 25 year old vines and is from two Pinot clones. The famous Pommard clone which gives depth of fruit and a Swiss clone that is very important in Oregon as it gives energy and freshness. The vineyard has been organic since 2015. The wine is amazingly dense and that's because it yields very small berries with thick skins which is the holy grail for Pinot Noir. It is co-farmed with Beaux Freres. The soils are volcanic and which really give this wine tremendous distinction. Vineyard looks like Burgundy and this is sourced from mid slope which is the key. This wine is a slow burn and I think it's best to open 24 hours in advance. 

Nose has dizzying spice and sour cherries. Gorgeous mineral tones. Layers of honey. Fields. Scenes in nature. Late spring it smells like. A stunning aroma. After air it gets more complex and alive. The aromas are so precise. Spice, soppy mid season cherries, smoke and really smells like the volcanic soil it comes from. Superb earthiness and startling minerality. It's so transparent in a Burgundian way but only because the earth and mineral are just as important as the fruit and spice aromas. the After 50 minutes this nose really gets going. Love the nose. Reeks of terroir. 

The palate is ridiculous. Pure velvet. But bright, tart and tangy but in such an off hand way. Wow this is juicy and so refined. There is the tiniest hit of opulence which really brings this home. Right at the beginning of the midpalate. Wonderful texture and oh so nimble. A fine line of structure ensures a long life. Palate has terrific tiny berry/cherry fruit intensity. It's tightly wound and super focused on day 1. Elegant with superb structure and so ultra refined. Intense and very young. This needs mega air but has length, a nice hit of opulence and great freshness. A very serious wine. Huge tannins and structure and what sap. Grand Cru all the way. 

Then on Day 2 and 3 it became even more mindblowing. This is the biggest and beastliest of all of Evan's single vineyard Pinots yet it’s also the most refined. An absolutely epic and prodigious wine. Nose is deep black and red cherries with plum, spice, such a sense of deepness. Tangy, dense, sweet and structured with massive dark black cherry fruit and intense minerality. So deep and so resonant. Very fresh. Very long.

This is a wine that will last 30+ years and is as good as it gets for domestic Pinot. Aren't you curious what an Oregon Fass Selections' Pinot Noir will taste like after all this German and French stuff? You will not be disappointed.  

2019 Martin Woods Pinot Noir Jessie James Vineyard - $49.99

($191.96 4-Pack)