Emerson Vineyards, Pinot Gris, 2006
We drink a lot of Oregon wines, but this is the first time we crossed paths with Emerson Vineyards (if you can't find it locally, you can order it direct: emersonvineyards.com).
Sort of ironically, Emerson is located in Monmouth Oregon which remained an anachronistic prohibition hold-out for decades. The city of Monmouth only lost its "dry" status in 2002! In other words, you couldn't drink alcohol there until about 6 years ago! Crazy.
Anyway, this wine is really lovely. Denise first discovered tangerine and cilantro on the nose. But it was a lot more than that. It was floral, herbal, and mineral -- all at once. We had a pregnant mom at the tasting (no, silly, she didn't drink it) -- but we did use her nose (pregnant women can usually taste and smell in the extreme). She found this to smell like kumquat and quince. She added that there was that smell you get when you open a bag of dried apricots. We also noted a musty smell (in a good way); "smells like grandma's attic" was a comment.
I got a lot of mineral on the taste. It tasted like gravel, and I really liked that. With that mineral was a definite green apple and lime. Mixed in there was herbs -- maybe an oregano. Okay, the pregnant mom ventured a small taste; and she said it "tastes like perfume -- very floral."
Albee described it as having a evanescent quality, which he really liked. The finish came in a flash. For me the experience was a bit different -- it went from green apple to grapefruit quickly, but that mineral/gravel lingered on for me.
Cost:
Rating:
8.0