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Nicolas-Jay, Pinot Noir

Oregon, United States 2017 (750mL)
$52.00
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Fruit
Earth
Body
Tannin
Acid
Alcohol

Nicolas-Jay, Pinot Noir

The fact that Nicolas-Jay’s Oregon Pinot Noirs vanish from the shelves of boutique wine shops in France speaks volumes. You read that right—an Oregon wine selling briskly in French wine shops. Of course, it helps that one half of their ownership (the winemaking half) makes some of the most celebrated Pinot Noirs in all of Burgundy—Jean-Nicolas Méo of Méo-Camuzet.


Ex-music mogul Jay Boberg joined the wanderlusting vigneron in a quest to expand his craft in the New World. Ever since Véronique Drouhin arrived in the late 1980s, Burgundian producers have been snooping around the Willamette Valley’s vastly variable terroirs, looking for gold. Jean-Nicolas and Jay found it, and are raising the bar on Oregon’s seemingly limitless potential for fine Pinot Noir vintage after vintage. Today’s 2017 is a blend of seven vineyards spread across the valley, chosen for their ability to communicate Oregon’s playful juiciness within the framework of Old World sensibilities. One taste of their 2017 confirms this passionate duo has found their groove, like a needle dropping on a record. This precise, juicy, structured wine has ample depth and fruit for graceful aging...but let’s be serious, it’s impossible to resist for that long.


Jay Boberg was introduced to Jean-Nicolas Méo when the two were simply wine-loving college kids. Jean-Nicolas was on a detour in the States before returning to  his winemaking destiny in Vosne-Romanée, while Jay was preparing to found his (wildly successful) indie record label, IRS Records. The two connected over the similarities between the creative processes of making wine and music and a shared love of rock ‘n’ roll. Jean-Nicolas returned to Burgundy to run his family’s star domaine, Méo-Camuzet. His emphasis on elegant fruit and finesse over stalkiness and tannin catapulted their estate to dizzying heights of success, and earned Jean-Nicolas a reputation as one of Burgundy’s greatest winemakers. Meanwhile, Jay was signing artists like The Roots, Blink-182, Mary J. Blige, and Sublime, and dabbling in the American wine scene on the side. He even shared a tasting group with Kermit Lynch and purchased a Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in Napa. The two stayed fast friends for 30 years, admiring each other’s meteoric careers from across the Atlantic and eventually reconnecting when Jay was sunsetting his music career and pivoting to wine full-time. They were ready for a new adventure. 
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Jean-Nicolas and Jay agreed on one thing: this wasn’t going to be a slapdash “just-for-fun” project, but the intentional, methodical exploration of a promising new terroir. The two entrepreneurs spent 2012 and 2013 sampling fruit from more than 200 different Oregonian vineyards before settling on their favorites. While their winery is based in the Dundee Hills AVA, they source from an astonishing range of Oregon’s finest: Nysa, Momtazi, and HopeWell vineyards and their own organically grown Bishop Creek. Their Willamette Valley Pinot Noir was their founding cuvée, a harmonious blend to capture the spirit of the region while establishing a decidedly Burgundian house-style—restrained, fresh, and elegant. 
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2017 was a particularly cool and high-quality harvest after a mild summer, making the resulting wine even more ethereal and fine-grained than usual. The fruit was hand-picked and hand-sorted multiple times before a native yeast fermentation, gentle punchdowns, and 12 months in French oak, 30% of it new. 
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The wine is lithe and alive in the glass—a deep, vibrant ruby. Decant the Nicolas-Jay wines for about an hour to enjoy the maximum effect of their supple texture, particularly in youth. The 2017 Willamette’s firm fruit relaxes considerably, becoming silkier, softer, riper. It’s a ridiculously pretty and charming bottle, juicy with rosewater, crabapple and cherry skin on the nose. The palate features a bit more spiciness and depth—blood orange rind and baking spice. There’s a tantalizing subliminal sweetness to the lengthy finish, just enough to coax the saliva out of the corners of your mouth and wash down those silky tannins. Take a bite of Saltimbocca alla Romana between sips—hot veal and crispy sage pair perfectly with the supple juiciness of the wine. You’ll quickly surrender to the realization that this bottle will be your steadfast companion for the next 10 years of effortless food pairings—a hit single!
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Country
United States
Region
Oregon
Sub-Region
United StatesWillamette Valley
Soil
Marine Sediment
Blend
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
13.5
OAK
30% New French
TEMP.
60
Glassware
Burgundy Stems
Drinking
Now-2030
Decanting
60 Minutes
Pairing
Saltimbocca alla Romana

United States

Washington

Columbia Valley

Like many Washington wines, the “Columbia Valley” indication only tells part of the story: Columbia Valley covers a huge swath of Central
Washington, within which are a wide array of smaller AVAs (appellations).

Oregon

Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has become an elite winegrowing zone in record time. Pioneering vintner David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyard, planted the first Pinot Noir in the region in 1965, soon to be followed by a cadre of forward-thinking growers who (correctly) saw their wines as America’s answer to French
Burgundies. Today, the Willamette
Valley is indeed compared favorably to Burgundy, Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. And while Pinot Noir accounts for 64% of Oregon’s vineyard plantings, there are cool-climate whites that must not be missed.

California

Santa Barbara

Among the unique features of Santa Barbara County appellations like Ballard Canyon (a sub-zone of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA), is that it has a cool, Pacific-influenced climate juxtaposed with the intense luminosity of a southerly
latitude (the 34th parallel). Ballard Canyon has a more north-south orientation compared to most Santa Barbara AVAs, with soils of sandy
clay/loam and limestone.

California

Paso Robles

Situated at an elevation of 1,600 feet, it is rooted in soils of sandy loam and falls within the Highlands District of the Paso Robles AVA.

New York

North Fork

Wine growers and producers on Long Island’s North Fork have traditionally compared their terroir to that of Bordeaux and have focused on French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

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