Oregon Pinot Blind Tasting

I did a private blind tasting and wanted to list my thoughts and those of others involved in the tasting.

Tasting of 2006 Oregon Pinots:
#1 Rocco Private Stash Pinot Noir - smells of anise & licorice. Tasted reduced and like an '04, woody, like faux butter, and crayons. Lack much of a nose and didn't have a long finish.

#2 DDO (Domaine Drouhin Oregon) Willamette Valley Pinot Noir - smells of strawberry, tastes of Tide laundry.

#3 Ken Wright Abbet's Claim - smells of maraschino cherries, processed fruit and tastes of toasted marshmallow, broccoli, and peat. It has a very short finish and obvious volatile acid.

#4 Bergstrom Bergrtom Vineyard - Smells of sea salt and bananas (acidic acid), and tastes of cedar & fish skins linger.

#5 Archery Summit Red Hills Estate - deep in color with good clarity. Aromas of cherry and minerality (cement). Tastes of chocolate liquors, anise, and cloves. This is the wine I think I'd most prefer to sit down with.

Tasting of 2005 Oregon Pinots:

#1 Melville - deep in color, excellent clarity, aroma is vegetal like asparagus. Tastes strong of licorice and anise. Lean, dill, & peat mossy.

#2 Domaine Serene Evenstead Reserve - aromas of currants and raspberries. Tastes of chocolate and boysenberries. Fairly clear, smooth texture, light in color.

#3 DDO Laurene - Very reduced tasting! Nice rich deep color, very clear, but filmy in texture. Tastes of the ocean, salty sand. Aroma is a strong floral cherry blossom & burnt toast.

#4 Archery Summit Arcus Estate - This wine has a great thick midpalate, tasted of truffles and a bit weedy. A bit over extracted and lacks elegance. This wine will be really great in 3 years I think.

#5 Francis Tannahill "the Hermet" - Has soft acidity, is clear, but light in color. Tastes of fennel and mint, with fresh bing cherry aromas.

Bonus wine:

2001 Sine Qua Non No. 6 - Lost its color long ago. It is effervescent, numbing my tongue. Very astringent. This is such a cloudy wine, it was very unpleasing. I thought Sine Qua Non was a bit overrated with it's cult following before, and will continue to think so now. It isn't fair to call this an Oregon Pinot when they are buying Oregon fruit and making it in California with Cali style. I'm hoping their other wines were better, 2001 was a decent year for so many others though. I will say, we were all so excited to have a bonus wine, until we tasted it. We all felt pretty good financially though, none of us need to seek out another bottle for our own cellars, at $270, I'm glad I don't desire to purchase this wine.