Brittan Vineyards Pinot Noir

When your resumé includes 'wine-maker', Stag's Leap Vineyards (16 years) and Far Niente you are pretty much assured that people will sit up and take notice. That's been the problem with obtaining wines from Robert Brittan. He was famous even before he and his wife moved to Oregon to pursue their own winery. And since his inaugural wine in 2006 I count only 3 vintages where he hasn't scored the ubiquitous 90+ for one of his wines. Most of them are 93, 94, 95+

Top restaurants around the country snapped up his limited production chardonnay, syrah and pinot noirs and us retailers received nothing. But the world has changed and sadly restaurants aren't exactly buying up their allocations at the moment. And so now distributors are turning to retailers and offering us these wines. Sometimes at prices that show a level of desperation and uncertainty.

And that is exactly how I got hold of 5 cases of Brittan Vineyards 2015 Basalt Block Pinot Noir. The vineyard is named after the rock composure of his hilltop - pure Basalt. A great medium for growing dense, Dijon clone pinot noir. Robert farms the vineyards organically and uses no sulfur in the vineyards at all. This is his 'retirement project' and he wants to make wines that he and his wife, his family and his friends will love to drink today and well into the future. In no sense of the word is he a commercial wine grower. His harvests are small and his bottlings average maybe 10,000 between all his wines.

The 2015 Basalt Block Pinot is, in the words of Erin Brooks (a very good wine critic!), "pale to medium ruby-purple colored, youthfully coiled and shy, giving up notions of crushed red and black cherry, licorice, cardamom, forest floor and hints of rose petal and violet—this has plenty of lurking layers. The palate is medium-bodied and concentrated with firm, very finely grained tannins and great freshness to lift the density of flavor on the long mineral finish. Give this time in bottle—it’s going to be great."

That was reviewed in 2018 and 2 years on I can attest to the aging. The wine has more than enough to last another 10 years but the enjoyment in it now is tantalizing.

I make no apologies for loving Burgundian Pinot Noir, but the fact is I love Pinot Noir wherever it is made, if it is made ultra well. I have never before found Brittan Vineyards available for purchase and so the restaurants' demise is my huge gain. I was offered only 5 cases, not at the normal retail price of $65+, but at $52. There are only 5 cases. If you are interested let me know as soon as possible.

Call or email me back with your wish list.

All the best