2014 Ken Wright, Pinot Noir, Carter Vineyard, Willamette Valley, Oregon.
The new 2014 Carter Vineyard from Ken Wright is devilishly good already, it shows amazing poise and concentration of fruit even in it’s infantile youth and looks set to be one of the greats in his lineup for this spectacular Oregon vintage. The 2014 shows shows the perfect combination of terroir and vintage influences with lovely textural pleasure and depth of flavors along with an almost endless finish, this is a special Pinot Noir from Ken Wright, who’s been doing in Oregon since the later half of the 1980’s. The nose is rich with floral tones, dark fruits, exotic spices and sweet smoky wood leading to a decedent palate of blackberry, plum, pomegranate and a solid band of morello cherry fruit as well as a background of cola bean, earth, cinnamon, minty herbs, pipe tobacco and cedar. The body is round and medium to full, but with lively acidity and smoothly polished tannins, as well as a play of savory elements, saline, fine stones and flinty minerals. There is a lot packed into this Pinot Noir and it will certainly age fantastically well and gain even further over the next decade, the Carter is a gorgeous Oregon wine, it and Ken’s Shea and Freedom Hill Pinots are wines from this vintage you really must search out, all will be classics and rewarding treasures to pull out of the cellar. The Carter’s length at this stage goes the extra mile holding currant, black fig, rose petal, kirsch and vanilla for what seems like ages, drink this beauty from 2018 to 2028.
($63 Est.) 96+ Points, grapelive