Foris Vineyards Pinot Noir 2005
Region: Illinois River Valley, Oregon
Winery: Foris Vineyards
Variety: Pinot Noir

Subtle aromas suggest darker colored fruit with tones of chocolate. Medium bodied, with subtle tannins and easy acidity. Raspberries and wild blackberries on the palate. Again a chocolate, mocha suggestion. Spice and pleasant acidity intermingle with the fruit on the long, focused finish.

http://nomerlot.com/reviews/red-wine/2007/06/03/p907
The Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon doesn’t get the attention that the Willamette Valley garners. But spotlights and hype don’t necessarily help make wine. The Rogue Valley has a diversity of climatic and geological environments for vines and wineries. In general it is warmer than the maritime influenced Willamette region and the terrain is more varied with higher mountains and contorted river valley hillsides. The climate works well with Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Gewurtztraminer, and Rieslings. We were dining at a swank Southwestern bistro in New York’s and wanted a Pinot to please everyone’s palate and entree. I spied this Foris Pinot Noir and thought for nostalgic reasons to choose it as our dinner companion. I was nostalgic because we had visited the winery a couple of years previously on a late autumn trek through Oregon. Foris is to the west of Medford near the Oregon Caves. It gets more maritime influences than the wine regions in the eastern part of the Rogue Valley region and their Pinot Noir shows it. The winery offers more affordable high quality wines with a homespun old world style. Their 2005 Pinot Noir drinks well and has a subtle bouquet of red fruit and lavender. It’s a medium to light bodied red that works as well with salmon as with light meats. There’s bright strawberry and raspberry fruit in the mouth, floral and floral notes, and an oak impression in the distance. There’s good acidity, endearing Pinot nuance, and an earthy must. It was an versatile wine that negotiated the table of savory and spicy complex fish and lamb dishes with dexterity. Not a taste bud boggling Pinot but very nice, very friendly and handled the food’s Southwestern heat with ease.

Posted by dustinjacobsen on February 17th, 2008 at 2:37pm | report comment