2018 Brick House “Clos Ladybug” Casserole Red Wine, Ribbon Ridge, Willamette Valley, Oregon.
The delightful and elegant Clos Ladybug, by Doug Tunnell at the famed Brick House, is a unique blend of Pinot Noir, Gamay and a splash of Chardonnay in what is a tribute to the rare Bourgogne Passetoutgrain (Passe-Tout-Grains), which are made from a Burgundy grown blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir, these French versions are sometimes the region’s best values as well as best kept secrets, with Tunnell’s all biodynamic Willamette Valley example also being a great secret value in his beautiful collection of estate wines. This lighter and brighter Clos Ladybug is an easy to love and quaff red wine with nice acidity and silky textures with vibrant layers of tree picked tart plum, strawberry, cherry and red apple skin fruits, a light sense of cedary wood, wild herbs, delicate florals and mineral notes. The mouth feel is refined and smooth, getting nicely lush with air and while seemingly simple at first the Clos Ladybug opens up to reveal some serious depth and adds some welcome earthiness, saline stony elements and umami to the medium bodied juicy palate, making for a graceful and balanced wine that is best with a slight chill and served with less complicated meals. Founded back in 1990, Brick House continues to be one of the Willamette Valley’s most inspiring organic estates, renown for their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines and one of the first to plant and make true Gamay Noir in the state.

The traditionally made Clos Ladybug – Casserole is an all estate offering with 42% Pinot Noir, 53% Gamay Noir and 5% Chardonnay from fully Demeter certified biodynamic grapes at Brick House in the Ribbon Ridge AVA, with the region’s classic marine sedimentary soils and hillside vines. According to the winery, the idea behind Clos Ladybug came about in 2017 when owner and winemaker, Doug Tunnell and his cellar team noticed that there was a few small bins of Gamay and Pinot Noir leftover and were at a loss as what to do with them, when Tunnell, a huge Burgundy enthusiat, suggested that these leftover grapes be thrown together in a single fermentor. The Clos Ladybug was thus born for the first time, in a style very similar to those Burgundian ‘passe tout grains’ which are village-level Cuvees of Gamay and Pinot Noir, which the crew then decided to add a little Chard for good measure, thinking that would add a bit of texture, and nicknamed their creation a Casserole! So this dark ruby colored 2018 Clos Ladybug Gamay/Pinot Noir, with that tiny amount of Chard, is the second vintage here, it was a co-fermented wine done with gentle winemaking techniques and aged in what tastes like mostly used French oak barrels with just a hint of toasty sweetness. This wine will certainly keep a place in the lineup and is a fun way to get to know this pioneering producer, who’s outstanding Pinot Noir bottlings are some of Oregon’s greatest ever wines.
($30 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive

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