2019 Brittan "Gestalt" McMinnville Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

A medium to dark magenta core with a watery rim, the 2019 Gestalt Block spends 15 months in 30% new French oak barrels. Starting off with notes of fresh wild blueberry, huckleberry, toasted baking spice, orange oil, cola, and cedary herbs, it’s my favorite of the Brittan Vineyards Pinot Noirs from 2019. I love the complexity of this wine – every time I took a sip, I could find something different in the aromas and the flavors. It finishes a bit tight and definitely needs some time in the bottle before enjoying. Better in 2024. Only 150 cases made.

Brittian's Gestalt bottling come from the single most distinctive block on the estate. This small, west facing, hillside block bears the brunt of the cold winds that come through Van Duzer Gap from the frigid North Pacific Ocean. The vines here grow smaller canopies and set smaller clusters of grapes with thick skins. Further adversity for the vines comes from the soil (or lack thereof) in which they grow. This particular parcel has very shallow top soils over fractured basalt rock. I consistently found this wine to be the most mineral driven and tense of the Brittan bottlings. It has significant concentration and structure with powerful, brooding volcanic mineral notes. The block is planted largely to clone 115 that is known for producing wines of aromatic intensity. It works beautifully here as the lifted aromas of dried flowers, spiced citrus peel and sandalwood, provide a nice contrast to the more savory, soil driven flavors on the palate, and the wine's muscular structure. A powerful wine, but not one that takes it's power from ripeness of fruit, it's more how it conveys its unique and distinctive sense of place.