2005 Auteur - Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir - USA - Oregon - Willamette Valley - Red

I have had this wine four times over the last six months and I feel I know it better than just about any wine I have tried all year. In a nutshell here is what I experienced. At the Pinot Days festival in May this wine was without flaw, eclipsing the masterwork Arcadian Dierberg Pinot Noir (VF 98). For me it was the wine of the event overshadowing all of the established "must have" producers. In August I tried it again at the broker trade tasting where I also tasted its new stable-mate, Sonoma Stage (VF 96) for the first time. The Shea was clearly superior then. Following this event, Laura Juhasz gave me a bottle to try at my leisure and I opened it spontaneously with some clients a week or two later, too excited to keep my hands off of it. I tasted it side by side with the Dierberg Estate (VF 96) and again, the Shea was exquisite. <br><br/> Here is another perspective - Auteur harvested this fruit from the fabled <b>Back Block</b> of Shea Vineyard, the only other producer to get this fruit is Dick Shea, the owner of the vineyard. You connect the dots. Ken Juhasz has created what I consider to be the most sought after Pinot Noir in 2006 and possibly a lot longer. Consider that many of the wines I once rated on a 20 point scale at the high end failed to convert to a 100 point wine when re-evaluated. It is the first Pinot Noir I have ever rated 100 points. <br><br/> A mere 16 months ago, I hadn't even heard of the winery or Ken Juhasz. I ramped my learning curve by tasting the releases as often as my broker had a bottle open. A waste of time? In a word, No...Pinot Noir is a wine where tasting is an iterative experience, revealing nuances that help create, over time a deeper appreciation of the whole. To paraphrase Kierkegaard, [Pinot Noir] can only be understood backwards, but it must be [experienced] forwards. I consider it a privilege to represent these wines. <br><br/> A deep ruby garnet in color, the nose is luxuriously deep honey spritzed lavender, slate, powdered blueberry cut with mineral, licorice, vanilla, sassafras and graphite. The hallmark of this site is the rich smoothness that seems to be at the core of all the vineyard selections. The weight of the wine is seductive on the palate having all of the delicate underpinnings of a classic such as Swan Saralee's Vineyard with multiple layers of complexity built on top of it. The wine maintains a sense of somewhat angular youthfulness at this tasting but over a period of 7 hours continues to unfold like an orchid. This needs to be tucked away for a couple years.

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