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2009 Drouhin, Domaine Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Laurene
Pinot Noir: 750ml
$59.99
about this wine:
Named after Véronique Drouhin's elder daughter, Laurène is our flagship wine, and is produced entirely from Pinot Noir grown on the family's estate in the Dundee Hills. All of the fruit is handpicked into small totes, destemmed, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and then placed into barrels (French oak, never more than 20% new). Once the vintage is safely in the cellar, Véronique begins the process of selecting barrels which have an extra complexity, length and depth - barrels which will work together as Laurène.
In recent years, Laurène has been named one of the "Great Wines of America" by Paul Lukacs in his book of the same name and "perennially one of Oregon's best wines" by Portland Monthly Magazine (Sept. 2009).
points awarded:
ST 92 W&S 92 WA 91 WS 9291 points,
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, August 2012
The Domaine Drouhin 2009 Pinot Noir Laurene delivers rich dark cherry and plum fruit, its persistent but in no way superficial sweetness wreathed in bitter-sweet floral perfume and allied to a vaguely stony undertone. Almost velvety in texture, this nonetheless finishes with a grip that implies abundant if fine tannins. It doesn't - indeed, given its vintage, almost surely couldn't - approach the infectious sheer primary juiciness of the corresponding 2010; nor does it strike me for now as being any more complex than the highly impressive (and much less expensive) "classique" (i.e. Drouhin's principal bottling). But it's surely worth following for at least half a dozen years, during which time it might well reveal its superiority. "You had to be really cautious with extraction in this vintage," notes Bell of 2009, "because there was a lot of dry skin material in the cap." -David Schildknecht
92 points,
Stephen Tanzer's IWC, August 2011
Deep red. Spicecake, raspberry and dried rose on the fragrant nose. Fresh and energetic in the mouth, offering sappy black raspberry and floral pastille flavors and notes of five-spice powder and anise. Weightier on the finish, which features a bitter cherry quality, a hint of smokiness and clinging red fruit character. This is balanced to age over at least the medium term.
92 points,
Wine & Spirits, October 2012
This is woodsy and dark, with a black licorice note. The flavors are subtle at first, the cherry and wood notes mingling in a fine weave, the tannins persistent and a bit prickly until they settle out with air, becoming silky. It's a satisfying red to decant for duck confit.
92 points,
Wine Spectator, December 2012
Bright and sleek, offering pretty blackberry and red plum flavors that stay intense as the finish lingers effortlessly, with chocolate complexity, against refined tannins. Drink now through 2019. -HS
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