2019 Domaine Nicolas-Jay, Pinot Noir “L’Ensemble” Willamette Valley, Oregon.
I’ve been an eager fan of Nicolas-Jay wines, the joint partnership between famous Burgundy producer Méo-Camuzet’s Jean-Nicolas Méo and music entrepreneur Jay Boberg in Oregon, and was thrilled again to try one of the Pinots, this being their 2019 L’Ensemple, which even in a difficult vintage shows a fabulous purity, luxurious texture and seductive detail. Nicolas-Jay winemaker Tracy Kendall has again crafted a beauty here, showing off her touch and precision in the cellar, with this L’Ensemple showing off a dark crimson/ruby color in the glass, pretty florals, delicate spice, red berries and savory underbrush notes on the nose and a medium bodied silken palate of black cherry, vine picked mountain berry, strawberry and orange preserves, that is accented by baking spices, mineral, loamy earth, Earl Grey tea, rose petal and warm woodiness. For the L’Ensemble, Kendall carefully crafted an assemblage of individually fermented blocks of Pinot Noir sourced from some of the finest vineyards, which are all sustainably farmed and or organic, in the Willamette Valley. The production level on this is limited to vintage quality, where Kendall only uses the most texturally rich barrels for the L’Ensemple cuvée, with each parcel vinified separately. The traditionally made L’Ensemple saw careful cluster selection, de-stemming and a cool maceration on the skins with daily punchdowns during primary fermentation, after which the wine is aged in French oak barriques with typically 30-50% new used. For this cuvée it took multiple years of vineyard and winery trials to identify and isolate the subtle variations of each site Nicolas-Jay farms to capture a Pinot of distinctive charm and character, as seen here in this 2019 version.
Domaine Nicolas-Jay, Meo-Camuzet’s Oregon project, as mentioned in my prior reviews, which I first tried with their 2014, and again with the 2017s, is a partnership between famed Burgundy vigneron Jean-Nicolas Meo, of Domaine Meo-Camuzet, one of my favorites, renowned for wines like his Clos de Vougeot and his Vosne-Romanee bottlings, and the music and media mogul Jay Boberg, who co-founded IRS Records, was president of MCA/Universal Music and now heads Isolation Networks-INgrooves. The Domaine Nicolas-Jay owns a vineyard, Bishop’s Creek and sources from top growers in the Willamette as they build this label, I would think after this first success they’ll be around a long time and have more of their own vines. The other part of this story that shouldn’t be overlooked, is the work and achievement of their local winemaker Tracy Kendall, a young winemaker on the rise, coming from a three year stint as enologist at Adelsheim Vineyard, where she really was making some great stuff before joining up with Jean-Nicolas. Tracy has an impressive CV, with international experience, having worked harvests at Vasse Felix in Western Australia, Serisin in New Zealand as well as Kiwi Pinot specialist Felton Road before settling in Oregon. As I said about the 2014 and 2017 vintages, the Nicolas Jay wines have a Burgundian soulfulness, but are all Oregon in character close to what you’d expect from top producers like Beaux Freres, Domaine Drouhin, Brick House and others, don’t miss a chance to get a few bottles, and while this Pinot is lovely now, it should evolve nicely over the next 3 to 5 years. There’s a sense of Burgundy inspiration here with these Nicolas-Jay Pinots, especially in the style of Méo-Camuzet, but truly shine as great examples of the Willamette Valley terroir and I highly recommend them.
($75 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive