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2006 Ken Wright Canary Hill Vineyards - Printable Version

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- TheEngineer - 04-29-2008

HAd dinner at another good restaurant in Portland. This time at a local Italian restaurant called Serratto.

This wine opened very disjointed and it took a long time to come around. Nose was rather alcoholic initially but rounded out with a nice pure red and darker fruits. This wine has good structure, nice acidity, pretty and well put together. Seems to be more built along a more structured design


- dananne - 04-29-2008

Ken Wright is our favorite winery/winemaker by a country mile. I haven't gotten my hands on any of his '06s, but we've had a couple of the '05s, which were stunning last year. In general, though, his wines can stand to age a bit. We've got a '99 that we're going to open soon, and we've tasted several of his wines at or over 10 years that showed remarkable vibrancy. That having been said, I've always found his wines balanced and approachable on release, so I was surprised by your note on the Canary Hill. Oh well, if I can get my hands on any of his '06s, I'll skip that one!


- TheEngineer - 04-29-2008

DA, the wine only showed that way for the first 30-45 minutes. After that it was as you described and I agree with the notion that it was built to handle aging. Of the three Oregon pinot that I had this week I liked the Ken Wright the most followed by Penner Ash, followed by Adelshiem (sp).

Thanks for giving me a chance to re-state. I agree my notes did not look as positive.

[This message has been edited by TheEngineer (edited 04-29-2008).]


- dananne - 04-29-2008

Thanks for the additional info. If we're ever fortunate enough to meet up at some offline, I'd love to share some aged Ken Wrights with you and get your take. I'm sure we could toss more than a few glasses back! [img]http://wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

We'd rank those three in the exact same order, and we've had numerous wines and vintages from each. Regarding Adelsheim, for our tastes, it has a tendency to be too (for lack of a better word) "poopy."


- TheEngineer - 04-30-2008

DA,

I agree! I've gotta get me some clients down in Atlanta...came close a few times.... gotta try harder. Just got more business in CA and the PAC West Coast...gonna be more opportunities to get out to the wineries out there [img]http://wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]


- TheEngineer - 05-02-2008

DA,

I've been wondering about this one for a bit. The bottle was a 1/2 bottle and am wondering if that's why it took longer to opened up. I did the standard thing, pout out a bit into the body and then let stand. When it opened up, it was a really nice bottle, the best of my trip...short that it may be. I'm going back out in perhaps June and will definitely ask you about which wineries to go and visit!


- dananne - 05-02-2008

From my experience, half-bottles usually seem to open up sooner, and they seem to bottle age faster, so I don't think that was it. The thing that I find befuddling isn't that it opened up and became a nice wine, but that it wasn't more approachable at first crack. Wright wines usually age well, but they are usually nice and balanced juice coming out of the gate. I'm wondering if it was just something particular to the vineyard or vintage for '06. Canary Hill is in the southern Eola hills, beyond McMinnville (closer to Salem), so the profile may in fact be different than his bottlings from sites in the northern WIllamette. Also, Canary Hill are known for their structure and ability to age, so maybe that's it.

As for the upcoming trip, I'd be happy to give my suggestions based on our experiences in '05 and '06.