2012 Maison L’Envoye, Pinot Noir, Two Messengers, Willamette Valley, Oregon.
The Maison L’Envoye wines are made by the next generation of Etzel, Mike Etzel Jr, his dad Mike Etzel senior is of course the man behind the iconic Beaux Freres, he is helped along by famed Burgundy winemaker Louis-Michel Liger-Belair giving this project excitement and pedigree. These wines by Maison L’Envoye are lush, richly flavored and complex with mineral, spice, loam and truffle notes, and this Two Messengers is wonderfully balance, and even though it is the entry level wine for this project, it is a lovely effort, maybe the upper end “Attache” ($39.95) might give a bit more and will be certainly worth looking at, I just am highly impressed with this one. The nose is deep with blackberry, violets, dried rose petals, blueberry and red spices leading to a palate of raspberry, plum and black cherry fruit, flinty stones, mocha and anise with hints of wild mushrooms, strawberry and tea spices. This is beautiful wine, easy to love and showcases the vintage, this is a super new wine to search for and start collecting, drink now through 2018.
($30 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive
