- 200-400 Cases Micro Lots from Cool Sites
- Burgundian in Approach
- A Focus on the Specific Terroir of Each Site
- Stunning Levels of Precision
- Not Trying to Please the Average American Palate AT ALL
- They all lasted 6 days OPEN
2018 Martin Woods Pinot Noir "Jessie James Vineyard"
- Like the Dense Volnays of Former Fass Star Thomas Bouley
- Nose: Incredibly Precise Aromas
- Spice, Soppy Mid Season Cherries
- Superb Earthiness and Startling Minerality
- Very Burgundian Balance Between Fruit, Minerality
- Palate: Terrific Tiny Berry / Cherry Fruit Intensity
- Elegant with Superb Structure
- On Day 2 and 3 - Mindblowing
- Deep Black and Red Cherries, Plum, Spice on the Nose
- Palate: Tangy, Dense, Sweet
- Structured with Massive Dark Black Cherry
- Intense Minerality
- Will Last 30+ Years
"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
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Today is an offer that is technically 7.5 years in the making as the saying goes but it actually happened pretty quickly in an 8 week span.
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 Back Story
A great customer who e-mailed me one day and said I have an Oregon producer that would be perfect for your portfolio. It caught me off guard. We are known for being only about European wines from 3 countries (4 if you include Switzerland). But I liked all the wines he bought. He was committed to a very particular style of wine that I love but is only part of what I like to drink. His palate is uncompromising. Lots of our Alto Piemonte , Valtellina and some Langhe, but more up North and his everyday wines were the underpriced and affordable but great bottlings which I love.
So now, after seeing what he drinks and combining that with being pitched an Oregon producer from
this guy, I was more inclined to pursue it. Some people on this list are big time Oregon wine drinkers and champions and they also drink all the wines we sell so I'd always had that in my head that Oregon wine could be better now in the ten years since I tasted it last. Everywhere in the world there are great new winemakers popping up every day so why couldn't it happen in my own backyard?
Evan Martin
So I decided to talk to Evan Martin of Martin Woods winery in McMinnville Oregon about our company and find out about his wines. We linked up on a Saturday and chatted. I knew after that conversation that when I tasted the wines he was going to send me they were going to be special. Focused is the word I'd use to describe him. He has an almost zen-like focus on his craft plus an encyclopedic knowledge and memory. His recall of all the decisions about a wine through the entire cycle of vineyard growth and cellar management was eidetic.
The guy is uncompromising and he has a vision. He's worked at some of the top estates in Oregon including Bergstsom, Belle Pente and Beaux Freres.
The Winery
I have never had anything like these wines. Never before. So many things about them were unique and I'll be writing about them in today's offer and future offers. Martin Woods is a Pinot Noir specialist and is making 200-400 cases of these micro lots of single vineyard Pinots from cool sites. These have cool climate Pinot Noir written all over them in a large sharpie. It's unmistakable. The most amazing thing about the Pinot Noirs is that Evan told me to keep the wines open for 5-6-7 days and they would greatly improve. I find it can be good for you to drink Pinot Noir over 3 days (red burgs and German Pinot) but even on 75% day 3 is pushing it. So I filed it but was still going to do it as a winemaker knows more about his wines than anyone else. He was 100% correct and his Pinots only improved day after day after day. They all lasted 6 days and on day 7 something was lost a little. For me, for most of them days 3-5 really were when these wines excelled. I had today's wine go from a 9.3 when opened to a 9.5 on day 6. This suggest an aging curve of 25-30 years. And I will 100% day these have to be the some of the longest aging Pinots in America. You will all see. That makes these just some of the most exceptional value Pinot Noir we sell from France or Germany. I would buy a case of this wine today and just keep on checking in on it every 5 years or so. The evolution will be legendary. I still cannot get over that these wines improved this much over this long period of time. Gaining more fruit, more velvety tannins soaked with fruit, while always gaining more mineral and earth tones. But the fruit, once fully realized is extraordinary. If there is one estate in our German portfolio they remind me of it is Ziereisen. But the terroir is obviously different than what they have over at Ziereisen. But they both make, dense, structured, spectacularly fruited, incredibly ageable and elegant Pinot Noirs. The restraint in the Martin Woods Pinots is ridiculous as well. All the fruit is presented so neatly while showing a beautiful sense of place. These are journey wines and every wine he sent me I'm going to offer over the coming months. Besides Pinot he makes small amounts of Gamay/Cabernet Franc which are just lights out. Plus a brilliant Riesling "Grosses Gewachs" and a Smargad level Gruner Veltliner. But I had to start with the Jessie James as it's one of the most profound Pinot Noirs I've ever tasted from America. I had no idea Pinot could be this good in America, and specifically Oregon.
The Wine
The 2018 Martin Woods Pinot Noir "Jessie James Vineyard" for $44.99 a bottle on a 4-pack is an extraordinary wine and an extraordinary value. It's also the best domestic Pinot Noir I've ever had. This wine is a slow burn.
It's 24 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.
On open is the nose is reticent but very promising. 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 10 minutes this nose really gets going. Love the nose. Reeks of terroir.
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. I gave this a 9.3 on Delectable initially. After air (7-9 hours) the fruit gets deeper, sappier, more vivid and sweet. The finish extends and extends to profound levels. After 10 hours open my score went up to 9.4.
Then on Day 2 and 3 it became mindblowing. This is the biggest and beastliest of all of Evan's single vineyard Pinots. 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 ling. My score finally settled at a 9.5 after 4 days.
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.
2018 Martin Woods Pinot Noir "Jessie James Vineyard" - $46.99
($179.96 4-pack)
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