Dundee Hills “Edition Limitée” Pinot Noir 2015, Domaine Drouhin

Bought from the Domaine in Oregon in June this year and carted back to the UK. For the NYE blind tasting I thought this would be an interesting foil for the other wine which turned out to be a Latricières-Chambertin 2013. Medium to thick red colour with an opaque centre points to a wine with high fruit ripeness. Immediate nose of cherry, raspberry and oak. Becomes sweeter with ripe raspberry and blood orange notes. Not a complex nose. Stunning palate which oozes beautiful pinot  fruit. Cherry flavour with lovely underlying freshness. Medium plus body, medium plus acidity and medium tannin. A brambly finish which is slightly hot. Probably as close as Oregon pinot comes to a Burgundy but yet it is still specific to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Worth keeping for another 2-4 years to track the evolution and anticipate more complex aromas. One of the few (only?) single vineyard wines from Domaine Drouhin. Hugh Johnson describes this as world class. It is excellent on the palate but I’d need more complexity and fascination on the nose to go that far. Scores 86-89/100.