2003 St Innocent White Rose Vineyard Pinot Noir

Four years later, I'm not wild about where this wine has gone...

• 2003 St. Innocent Pinot Noir White Rose Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (8/7/2009)
  Bing cherries, mushroom, soy, in this light bodied wine. Pronounced acidity is a little off putting without some bigger flavors to balance it out and was certainly overpowered by grilled salmon and veggies. Judging by CT notes from a few years back and by this particular bottle, I'd say this wine's best days are behind it. Drink up. Tasted alongside 2003 Elk Cove Pinot Noir La Boheme which was significantly better. (84 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Randy,

Perhaps you should give the St Innocent White Rose another try around 2012/2015. I have preferred St Innocent wines to have a little more age, and the White Rose Vineyard is far superior to the 2003 Anden vineyard which I rated a mid 80's score.... with a finish like Bayer aspirin!

I have found the best OR PNs I've had required close to ten years to strut their stuff. Not so for California.

Thanks for the advice, latour67 and Board-O. Although that's my last St Innocent, I'll try to keep my hands off at least a few of my Oregon Pinot until they're 10. Live and learn.

Randy;

I've long been an advocate of cellaring Oregon pinots longer. I believe that many are drank far to young. Having said that, I'm not sure the 03 vintage fits so nicely into that scenario. The harsh heat spike that hit during harvest, and sent sugar levels soaring, caused a lot of problems for the winemakers. Some of the 03's, imo, are as good now as they are going to get with some going into decline. With perhaps a few exceptions, I don't believe most 03s will benefit from long term cellaring. You are correct in your "Drink Up" comments.

White Rose vineyard is atop the Red Hills of Dundee (purchased fruit by St. I.) and does produce much darker fruit and with different flavor profiles than the sedimentary soils of Temperance Hill. Wines from these two areas are not apples to apples in comparison, even if from the same winemaker. I find it interesting that Lemelson has dropped the Temperance Hill wines from their lineups recently. They had become disenchanted with the fruit they were buying there.

I did a tasting of the recent St. I. lineup and the White Rose was the top of their lineup in both flavors and potential hands down.

Sandy,

I always considered the Temperance Hill wines from St. Innocent to be the weak link among their single vineyard offerings.

VM

Hmmm... I want to do it right. Any thoughts on when to drink these Pinot Noir:

1998 Panther Creek Freedom Hill
1998 Elk Cove Roosevelt
1998 Archery Summit Arcus
1999 Rex Hill Reserve
1999 Archery Summit Red Hills Estate
2000 Cristom Reserve
2002 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve
2002 Le Cadeau
2003 Le Cadeau
2003 Brick House Dijonnais
2004 Le Cadeau Diversite
2004 Le Cadeau Cote Est
2004 Le Cadeau Rocheux

Randy;

Tom Mortimer often posts, he'd be the best person for info on his LaCadeaus.

The 2002 D.S. Evensted Reserve is a definite hold for 5-15 more years. This wine hasn't even gotten going yet. What a beauty it will be!

I would drink the 99 A.S. Red Hills Estate. It is drinking beautifully right now. The 98 Arcus can be drank with a good decant, but I'd probably wait another few years. I had this wine last week and it's still a very fresh and youthful.

quote:

Originally posted by Randy Sloan:
Hmmm... I want to do it right. Any thoughts on when to drink these Pinot Noir:

1998 Panther Creek Freedom Hill
1998 Elk Cove Roosevelt
1998 Archery Summit Arcus
1999 Rex Hill Reserve
1999 Archery Summit Red Hills Estate
2000 Cristom Reserve
2002 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve
2002 Le Cadeau
2003 Le Cadeau
2003 Brick House Dijonnais
2004 Le Cadeau Diversite
2004 Le Cadeau Cote Est
2004 Le Cadeau Rocheux

That is a tough list to decipher. I have had the Elk Cove Roosevelt in 2006, but that was a California year, very ripe. That was a drink me now wine. 1998 had more tannic strength (pre-Oregon climate warming). Might be worth trying, I would be interested to know what you think. I remember tasting a Cristom when it was released and it was way over the top tannic. Perhaps 10 years has tempered that vintage. If you have more than one, might be worth trying. If not, my best guess would be that it could keep. I recently tasted the 2000, and felt it had a few years of life left in it. Still a little rustic, but enjoyable.

I think the 1998s and 1999s are ready to go. We had a 2002 Le Cadeau recently and it was much better than a year ago.

quote:

Originally posted by Randy Sloan:
Hmmm... I want to do it right. Any thoughts on when to drink these Pinot Noir:

1998 Panther Creek Freedom Hill
1998 Elk Cove Roosevelt
1998 Archery Summit Arcus
1999 Rex Hill Reserve
1999 Archery Summit Red Hills Estate
2000 Cristom Reserve
2002 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve
2002 Le Cadeau
2003 Le Cadeau
2003 Brick House Dijonnais
2004 Le Cadeau Diversite
2004 Le Cadeau Cote Est
2004 Le Cadeau Rocheux

Hello Randy:

I would definitely open the 98 Panther Creek, the 99 Rex Hill and the 99 AS Red Hills soon. The Cristom is probably starting into its ready to drink phase as well.

The other 98 and 99s probably are ready but could last for a while longer, as can the others.

I think the 02 Le Cadeau should be entering into the drink me window also, but as was said above Tom would be a better judge of that.

Good Luck and whatever you do enjoy them...

Randy,

I recently poured our '02 Le Cadeau PN at an event and it was doing well, and the wine was very well recieved. I have no idea what the '02 will do in the future... this vintage still seems youthful, and able to go longer (if properly cellared), but I question whether it will improve from here on out... they are very good now.

The 2003 Le Cadeau seems to be fading a bit-- it doesn't have that big, "in your face", fruit that it had when it was younger. However, this one may surprise us if it behaves at all like the '02 wine. The '02 has been up and down over the years, and seems to get better every time I think it might die. So I guess I'd start drinking the '03s, but hang on to a couple to see what they do in the future.

The 2004 Le Cadeaus are all doing well right now. Again, like the '02, if properly cellared they should continue to do well, but I'd question whether they'll get much better than they are now-- all are pretty good. Enjoy.

Hope this helps.

Best!
Tom

quote:

The 2003 Le Cadeau seems to be fading a bit-- it doesn't have that big, "in your face", fruit that it had when it was younger. However, this one may surprise us if it behaves at all like the '02 wine. The '02 has been up and down over the years, and seems to get better every time I think it might die. So I guess I'd start drinking the '03s, but hang on to a couple to see what they do in the future.

Tom,

I don't see the 2003 Le Cadeau as fading at all. I do think it has gained some maturity, but for my taste, it still has big fruit and it's going strong. I'll try another bottle tonight.

I posted the notes for the 2003 Le Cadeau on the Le Cadeau Thread. Yes, there was a difference in this wine. I think it has shut down and should be cellared longer,IMO