2014 Brooks, Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon.
The Brooks basic Willamette cuvee is one of the best deals in Pinot, period, and the 2014 especially is a great value and a stylish terroir driven wine, this is one to stock up on! Showing the vintage, the Brooks 2014 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir has richness of fruit, but is so perfectly balanced it screams vitality and has wonderful inner energy with black and red fruits, vibrant acidity, Asian spices and crushed oyster shells lending a stony/earthy brine in the background along with faint wood notes, tea spice and mineral tones. This lithe Pinot fills out with air and has satiny tannins providing a youthful grip, though not aggressively so, this is a classic Brooks style wine that feels Cote de Beaune, but remains true to it’s own sense of place. Janie Brooks Heuk, the sister of the late Jimi Brooks the founder of Brooks Wine, and winemaker Chris Williams has really taken Brooks to the next level in recent vintages, these are exciting wines and their focus on terroir driven Rieslings is awesome and adventurous, look for the 2014 and 2015 wines the are something really special. The Brooks Pinots are natural and raw when young, this are not over polished or flashy wines, nor should they be or need to be, they are honest, pure and vigorous, they have their own virtues and charms, but 2014 is one of the best yet here with plum, black cherry and bramble berry fruit layers, gravelly loam, minty herb, anise, briar and light cedar elements adding to the complexity of form here along with a peek of dark currant, blueberry skins and chalk. Look for impressive results in bottle here, I’m sure there is a lot more to come and at this price it will pay off to put some away for another 5 to 10 years, I’m pretty it will be a sublime reward for those with patience. In short term this wine is medium weight, lean and is very pleasing, so not a crime to enjoy now, though I like it’s potential!
($25 Est.) 91 Points, grapelive
