{"id":18373,"date":"2017-08-18T11:51:55","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T11:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=18373"},"modified":"2017-08-18T13:04:57","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T13:04:57","slug":"brooks-pinot-noir-and-riesling-from-this-top-oregon-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/riesling\/brooks-pinot-noir-and-riesling-from-this-top-oregon-estate","title":{"rendered":"Brooks: Pinot Noir and Riesling from this top Oregon estate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"OLYMPUS
The view from the Brooks tasting room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brooks<\/a> is one of Oregon’s unsung stars. Their 14 000 case production is split among many small lots, with the largest fermentation in the winery occurring in 2.5 ton fermenters. They source from a range of growers. They’ve also focused more on a direct to consumer model, which allows them to sell small production wines more easily. They now have 1400 direct customers, up from 200 in 2014 when they moved to their new winery. This has allowed winemaker Chris Williams to do more single-vineyard bottlings. Just before IPNC a group of us gathered to taste through a range of their Pinot Noirs and Rieslings.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Brooks Rastaban Pinot Noir 2008 Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon
\n<\/strong>First made in 2003; from 2008 has been from the estate vineyard. Deeply coloured with some richness. Nice savoury, grainy, slightly tarry edge. Developing nicely in a rich style with sweet, textured black fruits and some stoniness. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Rastaban Pinot Noir 2010 Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon<\/strong>
\nRich and rounded but with nice supple tannic structure. Tight and focused with a savoury sternness. Has depth but also freshness and elegance. Subtle earthy notes and good acidity. Very stylish. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Rastaban Pinot Noir 2011 Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon<\/strong>
\nFloral and leafy with a sappy, herby edge. Good structure with fine spiciness. Has some grip, too. Lovely savouriness under the fruit with some warmth on the finish. So expressive with a subtle mushroom character. It’s drinking perfectly now. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Rastaban Pinot Noir 2012 Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon
\n<\/strong>Lush but fresh with a silky personality, showing sweet black cherries and plums. Supple and elegant with an alluring sweetness to the fruit. Lovely sweet fruit core. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Rastaban Pinot Noir 2015 Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon<\/strong>
\nThere’s a distinctive warm, waxy, slightly nutty edge to the supple cherry and plum fruit. Fine grained with lovely meaty hints. Fine grained. 92\/100<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Brooks Janus Pinot Noir 2015 Oregon
\n<\/strong>This was a ripe vintage. This wine is 75% estate. Such a lovely floral, red cherry nose. Alluring and elegant. Warmly fruited on the palate: ripe, sweet, rounded cherry fruit with some cherry pie sweetness and richness. Textural and even a bit creamy. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Temperance Hill Pinot Noir 2015 Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon<\/strong>
\nVivid cherry fruit with a subtle earthy edge. Textured palate with some grainy structure. This has structure and weight and an appealing spiciness. Supple and stony. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Crannell Pinot Noir 2015 Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon<\/strong>
\nSilky and rounded with smooth black cherry fruit. This has a warmth and lovely smoothness. It is ripe but balanced with some autumnal notes and a hint of sweet apple. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Toluca Lane Pinot Noir 2015 Oregon<\/strong>
\nRipe and sleek and smoothly textured, but it also has some freshness. Elegant, smooth cherry fruit with some ripe plums. Nice fine-grained tannic structure and a warm finish. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Old Vine Pommard Pinot Noir 2015 Oregon
\n<\/strong>This is from 5 acres farmed biodynamically, planted in 1973\/4. Herbs and a hint of undergwoth on the nose with some sappy edges. Supple, structured and elegant with some warmth and also some stony notes. Very pretty and expressive. 95\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Sunset Ridge Pinot Noir 2015 Oregon<\/strong>
\nSupple with hints of spice and earth. Grainy tannins. Nicely structured with fine floral notes. This has a distinctive savouriness and also some sweet berry fruits. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Sunny Mountain Pinot Noir 2015 Oregon
\n<\/strong>Smooth and finely spiced with some earth and tannic structure. Lots of weight here with grippy tannins as well as sweet fruit. Nice fine spiciness. 93\/10<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Riesling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Winemaking is whole bunch pressing, juice settled for about a day, and usually a spontaneous ferment. But some is inoculated: Chris says he always likes to keep an inoculated portion with the Riesling.<\/p>\n

Brooks Ara Riesling 2008 Oregon
\n<\/strong>This is beautiful. Citrus, stone fruits, minerals and spices, with hints of wax and mint. So delicious and intense with lovely focus and fine spicy notes. Thrilling. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Ara Riesling 2010 Oregon
\n<\/strong>Honeyed, stony and mineral with lovely intensity. Lemons and a hint of green apple. Keen acidity. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Ara Riesling 2011 Oregon<\/strong>
\nVery intense and lemony. Dry with a linear personality. Acidic and pure with subtle honey and stone characters alongside the lemony fruit. 91\/100\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brooks Ara Riesling 2012 Oregon
\n<\/strong>Fine, fresh, expressive nose with lovely citrus notes and some ripe apple. The palate shows lovely weight, with fine lemony notes. Such purity and balance here, with lovely ripe fruit. 93\/100
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brooks Ara Riesling 2016 Oregon
\n<\/strong>Detailed with crystalline citrus fruits and nice texture. Very fine and pure with lemon and a hint of melony richness. Great balance here. 93\/100\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brooks Estate Riesling 2016 Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon
\n<\/strong>Lovely generosity: lemony and pure with some green apple hints. Juicy with nice texture. This has a bit of richness as well as nice acidity. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Meyer Riesling 2016 Oregon
\n<\/strong>Such finesse: incredible purity and freshness with really expressive, textured, integrated citrus and pear fruit. Very fine. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Hope Well Riesling 2016 Oregon<\/strong>
\nThis is very aromatic with sweet floral, grapey citrus fruit, showing some mandarin richness. Smooth and quite sweetly fruited, this is attractive and ripe. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Orchard Fold Riesling 2016 Oregon<\/strong>
\nFresh and stony and detailed. Has nice pear, apple and melon fruit with appealing smoothness and a spicy, lively finish. Just a hint of mint, too. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Yamhill Riesling 2016 Oregon
\n<\/strong>Very bright tangerine and lemon notes, as well as some melon richness. Lovely textured here with a hint of spicy richness. So lively. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Brooks Cahiers Riesling 2016 Oregon
\n<\/strong>Floral tangerine, melon and grape notes on the nose. Honeyed and rich with nice delicacy and good acid. Delicate citrus fruit dominates. Real finesse. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com<\/a><\/p>\n

See also: extended tasting notes on the Brooks Janus Pinot Noir and Ara Riesling<\/a>; a review of my first visit to Brooks<\/a>, with some background<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brooks is one of Oregon’s unsung stars. Their 14 000 case production is split among many small lots, with the largest fermentation in the winery occurring in 2.5 ton fermenters….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,60,28],"tags":[372,378,363],"class_list":["post-18373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oregon","category-pinot-noir","category-riesling","tag-oregon","tag-pinot-noir","tag-riesling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18373"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18393,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18373\/revisions\/18393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}