Winery of the Year- The Eyrie Vineyard
Many reasons exist for choosing a winery as your Best of the Year. I have named The Eyrie Vineyard as my Best Winery of the Year for
reasons that include long term performance, historical significance and personal fondness for the people and the wines — and also as an opportunity to memoralize David Lett, the winery’s inimitable founder and winemaker, who passed away this year.
2009 marks the 40th harvest for The Eyrie Vineyard, a fairly small family winery founded by David and Diana Lett in 1966 in Oregon’s Dundee Hills. In 1965, Lett planted the first Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the first Pinot Gris in America. In 1979 and 1980, his 1975 Pinot Noir competed against Burgundies in international competition in Paris and Beaune, and turned the attention of the wine world for the first time toward Oregon. In the years since, the winery has grown and produced several dozens of world-class Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, as well as excellent Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc wines. To many critics, the refined, elegant, finessed Pinot Noirs of The Eyrie Vineyard represent the epitome of the grape’s potential; its white wines are complex, restrained and equally fine. The winery’s philosophy is to intervene as little as possible in the vineyard (the vines are ungrafted, for example, and are not treated with herbicides, fungicides or insecticides) and also in the winemaking (minimal racking, extended lees contact, no fining and minimal filtration). The wines are an expression of the vineyards and the family’s philosophy, and as such are quite unique and very special.
Jason Lett assumed his father’s responsibilities as vineyard manager and winemaker in 2005. His wines spring from the same inspiration as his father’s. Besides being a milestone vintage, 2009 marked an important passage for The Eyrie Vineyards, both a continuation and a new beginning.
Wine of the Year — 2007 Taylor Fladgate Porto
This is a monumental wine from a great vintage and an outstanding 
producer. Thanks to the even ripening of the grapes during a growing season without excessive heat, the wine has deep, intense fruit character that’s very ripe but also fresh. Aromas of dark berries, red berries, toasted hazelnuts and spice spill from the glass; in the mouth, the flavor is rich but the notes are currently less articulated than in the nose, even after the wine spent 24 hours in an open decanter. This wine has the strong tannin that a Vintage Port needs for long aging, but the tannins are remarkably soft and ripe, creating an admirable balance of fruit to tannin. This wine is actually approachable now because of its beautiful fruit component and the softness of its tannins but in time it should gain amazing complexity, and its latent power will emerge. You can cellar for it 30, 40, 50 or more years.
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