It's always been intriguing for me how different wine can be. And I don't just mean varietals, or vintages, or vineyards. I mean the same damn wine. Specifically, I talking about open two different bottles of the same wine. Same wine exactly -- it might even be two bottles from the same case. And for reasons that are inexplicable, these two (perhaps more) actually taste a bit different.

I'm not talking about only this bottle of wine, I'm speaking generally. I've had various wines over the years (obviously). And sometimes I'll have more than a single bottle of the same thing. And sometimes I might even buy a case. And no, I don't mean opening the bottles years apart. I mean they even taste different weeks and days apart. So, there's something else going on.

And then there's this Drouhin. Domaine Drouhin has essentially three tiers to their Pinot Noir: "Willamette Valley", "Laurene" and "Louise" (lower end to high end). And the funny thing here is that all of them are created the same way. It's only barrel tasting and such that make this barrel "Lousie" and another "Willamette Valley". So perhaps there's even some differentiation from bottle to bottle? I think so.

This bottle -- the Domaine Drouhin "Willamette Valley", 2007 -- is a case in point. I've tasted about four bottles of this. Two were basically so-so, and two were fabulous. I'm blogging this now because this last bottle -- the fourth one -- was really stunning ... almost haunting. But what gives with the ones earlier that were not so memorable? Nothing against Domaine Drouhin -- I've experienced this with others, including St Innocent (another favorite of mine).

I'm not saying I have the answers, but it's been bothering me that there can be such a difference bottle-to-bottle. It makes me wonder about reviews generally. Why on earth did bottle XYZ get such a rating when I hated it so much? Maybe I got the not-so-memorable version and the reviewer got lucky ... or maybe vice versa? Anyway, food for thought.

This particular bottle, anyway, was really nice. The nose was oak, vanilla -- yet not sweet. Dust. Hazelnut. Pepper. Cherry and rose and strawberry. Yeah, definitely rose! The floral element was extraordinary. The taste was a little smoke, red cherry, and strawberry. It ends strawberry with hints of something like blueberry. Then -- and this is a French vintner who only happens to be making wine with Oregon grapes -- it turns very earthy. The finish is Burgundian for sure; elegant, and not rich.

This was just an exquisite bottle of wine.

Cost:   

Rating:    9.0