Pinot Noir (Oregon)			1989	Domaine Drouhin

8/95. As part of the on-going effort undertaken by many members of this forum to broaden the horizons of this one-track (B) lover, Bruce Douglas was kind enough to send me a few bottles of Oregon PN, from the Domaine Drouhin estate.
Tonight was my first sampling of this wine over dinner that included fish-fillet(!) in herbs for starters and an assortment of home-made vegetables-stuffings. Big red pepper, zucchini, vine-leaves, all stuffed with rice and meat, and each cooked in a different way. Yummy! OK, what about the wine?
COLOR: A bit darker the most (B). Not very clear, tending a bit towards brownish tint.
NOSE: Very pleasant clean PN nose at first, very good and forward fruit too. Not the complex nose one gets out of mature great (B), but very pleasant and satisfying on its own right. Trouble is that after about 30 minutes the nose simply disappeared. Well, not completely disappeared, but became very subdued, and much less striking.
TASTE: Good good good! A very pleasant surprise indeed. Without making comparisons, this is a GOOD wine! Fruity, tasty with good acidity backbone. Happy on the tongue, savory in the mouth, and fulfilling on the aftertaste. Again, not a very complex wine but true and forward. A wine that hides nothing, but what it has to show is all good.
LENGTH: Relatively short but nice aftertaste.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Medium body, fruit abounds both on the nose and the palate. Very good acidity contribute to the sensation of a 'happy wine'. Tannins almost completely lacking.
OVERALL: Very good indeed and a very pleasant surprise for us. To quote Dorit: "By far, much better than any PN we have tasted in the U.S". This is not a (B), though I admit I could have been fooled on a blind tasting. Thank you Bruce.
MARK: 16/20.

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Jacob "Yak" Shaya.