2017 Biggio Hamina Cellars, Pinot Noir “Biha” Van Duzer Corridor AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon.
The brilliant ruby hued Biha Van Duzer Pinot, made by Todd Hamina, at Biggio Hamina Cellars is a beautiful and racy Pinot Noir with layers of bright cherry, strawberry, pomegranate and tangy plum fruits bursting from glass along with delicate rose petal, cinnamon, orange tea and dried herbs. I hadn’t had the Biggio Hamina Cellars wines before this bottle and now I know I have been missing out, this is intriguing stuff and it just got better and better as the evening went on and impressively it was the next day that things really got going, especially aromatically and texture wise without losing its exciting drive and vibrance. Hamina comes with tons of Willamette experience including time at some famous places, his CV includes stints at Archery Summit, Beaux Freres, Chateau Benoit, Elk Cove, Maysara and Patton Valley! That should get your attention and his Biha should be on your radar for value, plus he makes the wine for Claygate, Noel, Schönetal Cellars, Gypsy Dancer, Primavera and a couple blends for Longplay, all of which I plan to check out. He style seems a mature approach to natural or minimalist winemaking with the use of indigenous yeasts, or as he puts it, spontaneous fermentation without imputes or additions, employing neutral French barriques and bottling without cold stabilization or filtering to allow the grapes and vineyards to show their distinctive character.

The Biha line is Hamina’s and partner Caroline Biggio’s single AVA collection, plus one general Willamette Valley offering of value Pinots with his 2017s being from Chehalem Mountains, Eola-Amity Hills, Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton as well as this Van Duzer Corridor, which I highly recommend, it has whetted my appetite for the rest of Biggio Hamina wines. This Van Duzer Pinot joins a elite set of quality bargains from Oregon along with Hundred Son’s Old Eight Cut Pinot, Love & Squalor, Bow & Arrow’s Rhinestones (a Gamay and Pinot Noir blend), Purple Hands’ basic Willamette Valley Pinot and Johan’s Farmlands Pinot to name a few, all of which are very different, but offer big bang for the buck. Hamina, like many of this newer generation is committed to more restrained use of new barrels, saying in a perfect world he’d use tons of whole cluster and no new oak and here you can taste the merits of that formula with the whole bunch and stem inclusion crunchiness and purity of fruit, which I admit I am a huge fan of. The Biggio Hamina Biha Van Duzer 2017 has loads of exciting flavors, savory zing and a polished or satiny mouth feel with no overt French oak needed, making a Pinot that goes great with an array of cuisine, I enjoyed it with smoked salmon. As new discoveries go, this one is was incredibly pleasing and I plan to explore more of these small production hand crafted Biggio Hamina wines!
($25 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive

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