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Ponzi Vineyards, Willamette Valley (Oregon), Pinot Blanc 2005 ($17)
By Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 29, 2006
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When my husband, Ed, and I adopted a black cat recently and decided to name him in honor of Pinot (our kitty who went missing for four months before miraculously returning to us) we chose the name "Ponzi."  I happened to be wearing a Ponzi sweatshirt the day we took him from the animal shelter, and we are close to the Ponzi family, but also we felt that "Ponzi" was an appropriately "Pinot" name to give the new fellow.  In our minds we were thinking "Pinot Noir," of course, the wine that made Ponzi Vineyards-Oregon's premier winery- famous.  Silly us.  Tonight, blind-tasting a range of white wines, we were reminded that Ponzi Vineyards has another Pinot face, and it is white wine.

Our tasting featured two white Pinot wines from Ponzi, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, along with Ponzi Arneis and a few other wines.  The quality of all three Ponzi wines was superior, but the outstanding wine was this Pinot Blanc.  Pinot Blanc-the so-called neutral grape variety, by definition considered competent yet unexciting-in this case, for our palates, was stellar.

On the nose, the wine is at first broad and slightly buttery and leesy, just medium in intensity; its aroma subsequently suggests orange peel, clove, and then fresh night air on damp earth (part earthy, part herbal).  On the palate, the wine is fresh and clean, with less weight than a Chardonnay (or Pinot Gris) might have, but with good weight nonetheless, full bodied, with concentration of flavor, a grounded, high-extract character and an excellent, penetrating acidity.  The palate impression manages to combine weight and roundness with crispness and succulence.  You could call that combination artful, but somehow it comes across as natural, 'artless' or uncontrived.

Ponzi Vineyards was founded 36 years ago, making Dick and Nancy Ponzi pioneers of the Oregon wine scene.  Today, the second generation runs the winery, with daughter Luisa at the helm as winemaker.  It was Luisa who decided to try growing Pinot Blanc.  The vines are planted in Ponzi's Aurora vineyard site, which is situated on Chehalem Mountain at elevations of 300 to 600 feet.  The juice ferments in a combination of stainless steel and barrel; in 2005, 20% of the wine saw oak, and the wine's malolactic fermentation was only partial.  The combination of some ML and some oak fermentation, on the one hand, with stainless steel fermentation, cool climate fruit and incomplete ML on the other hand accounts for the wine's round-yet-crisp style.

I love this wine.  It is as pristine and refreshing as I imagine glacial water might be, but it is also as succulent, as a crossing of peach and grapefruit might be.  It is a terrific, inspired wine, very solid in quality, not at all flashy.

Pairing this wine with food reminds me that this is a New World wine, such that its fruitiness (relatively restrained as it is) is a bit incongruous with a grilled portabello mushroom.  Fish with lemon will work nicely, as will fresh tomatoes, salads or shrimp.  Like many of Ponzi's wines,this Pinot Blanc is sealed with a screwcap.

92 Points