From a high-elevation, east-facing site on the North side of the Chehalem range, the Dobbes 2011 Pinot Noir Quailhurst Vineyard Pinot Noir is rendered entirely from Dijon Clone 777 and received 60% new barrels. I hope that having been offered these last pieces of information prior to tasting did not cloud by palate or judgment, but I honestly find the sweetly-ripe elderberry and boysenberry fruit – adorned only by caramelized wood resin that supports it to a point, but then absconds with a bit of primary juiciness and engender a bit of roughness in the finish – pretty much as I had anticipated. Attractively ripe as far as it goes, this just doesn’t go all that far.
In what must be one of the fastest-ever growth-spurts in an industry where such phenomena are hardly uncommon, Joe Dobbes now presides over well more than 200 acres of vines; one of Oregon’s four largest wineries; and three labels (two which I have treated here as sub-labels of “Dobbes Family”); as well as a facility that custom-crushes for a wide range of clients. From 1985-88 he worked successively at Germany’s Erbhof Tesch, Elk Cove, and Lafon and Roumier, after which he held positions at geographically disparate wineries back in his native Oregon – culminating with a half dozen years at Willamette Valley Vineyards – before starting his own operation in 2002. This July was my first opportunity to meet him and taste a significant range of his wines. The Pinots here are typically pressed to barrel ahead of dryness and not bottled for 18 months – a bit longer even for the 2011s. Chaptalization was performed in 2011with frozen-must concentrate rather than cane sugar. Use of stems was very modest and selective, but a high proportion of otherwise intact fruit routinely goes into the fermenter. While Dobbes’ two whites and one Pinot that I tasted on this occasion from the Rogue Valley were commendable, I did not unfortunately have time to experience his Syrah bottlings from this region, where he has a long association with growers Don and Traute Moore (a Syrah and Grenache from whose sites I reviewed under their Griffin Creek label).
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