2016 Sass Pinot Noir, Vieux Amis, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Gold Medal and Pinot Noir of the Year at the 2021 Sommeliers Choice Awards Gold Medal, Sunset Magazine International Wine Competition, 2022
Tasting Notes
Forget whatever you think about drinking only the latest release of Pinot Noir. Great Pinot Noir needs a few years to hit its peak, and this is a deliberate late release. Wild cherry with bright fruit aromas and flavors of raspberry, strawberry, and a hint of spice. Floral, with aromas that keep evolving in the glass. Silky, with fine tannin. The fruit came from Wild Winds Vineyard (50 percent) at the winery and Walnut Ridge Vineyard (50 percent).
About the Wine
"Aromas of ripe wild cherry, strawberries, and wild sage. Baking spices on the palate with flavors of baked strawberries lingering long after the finish.” - Sommeliers Choice International Awards
“Nice acidity. Dried cherry and spiced plum.” Sunset Magazine International Wine Competition
Winemaking
This deep, complex wine is made from the last - and the best - barrels from our two estate vineyards, Walnut Ridge and Wild Winds, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The grapes were fermented in small, open-top tanks, then aged for 29 months in French oak barrels. It was not fined or filtered. Our two families will keep production small because the finest wines are handmade, through a labor of love, passion and vision.
Specs
At Harvest:
Brix – 22.6-24.9
pH – 3.41-3.52
TA: 4.9-6.1
At Bottling on 10/30/2020
Alcohol: 14.6%
pH: 3.55
TA: 5.1
Production: 656 cases
What’s Included
4-bottles:
4x 2016 Sass Pinot Noir, Vieux Amis, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Case:
12x 2016 Sass Pinot Noir, Vieux Amis, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Tucked into the folds of Oregon’s fertile Willamette Valley, small vineyards flourish on land once thought unsuitable for anything but grasses or Christmas trees. Each year, the struggling vines produce tight clusters of grapes that gradually ripen during the long, dry summer. The hazy, warm days and cool nights of autumn – and the big temperature swing between night and day – help the fruit develop layers of flavor and aroma that produce outstanding wines.
Sass Winery is one such place, producing small amounts of handcrafted, high-quality pinot noir, pinot blanc, pinot gris, chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc and rose of gamay noir. We produced only a few hundred cases of wine our first few years and now make about 3,500.
Our winemaking practices help our estate Wild Winds Vineyard, at the winery in the South Salem hills, produce bright, high-toned pinot noir from east and southeast-facing slopes on volcanic soil.
We also purchase fruit from other vineyards, most notably from Walnut Ridge Vineyard, at the south end of the Willamette Valley, which grows pinot noir with deep, dark-fruit notes and hints of spice from sedimentary soils on southwest-facing slopes. Diversity at each site produces elegant, complex, sharply focused wines with impeccable balance of fruit, silky tannins and firm acidity.
Winemaker Jerry Sass, inspired by wines his father made from Finger Lakes grapes in western New York, founded the winery in 1996, believing in natural, non-invasive winemaking. Today we make wine from vineyards that are naturally and sustainably dry-farmed, celebrating every small part of each vineyard’s rich ecosystem.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2016 Sass Winery Oregon Pinot Noir - $45 = 15.78%
@klezman I’m also confused by the seeming disparity between “This deep, complex wine is made from the last - and the best - barrels from our two estate vineyards, Walnut Ridge and Wild Winds, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley” and “We also purchase fruit from other vineyards, most notably from Walnut Ridge Vineyard”.
@DanOR@klezman Until 2019 we were in partnership with Walnut Ridge Vineyard, so Wild Winds (at the winery) and Walnut Ridge were both estate vineyards. Now we’re just good friends.
Ah why not! CT reviewers really like it…I’d usually rather have rats, but this sounds good. I don’t know if I have any Willamette Pinot right now.
/giphy bitter-polluted-queen
That Sunset International Award:
91 Points. Gold Medal. Nice acidity. Dried cherry
and spiced plum.
The Sommelier Choice Award:
95 Points. Aromas of ripe wild cherry, strawberries and wild sage. Baking spices on the palate with flavors of baked strawberries lingering long after the finish.
A little blurb from San Francisco Drinks Guide mentions that 2021 Sommelier Choice Award click here
@GatorFL@rjquillin True. One of those tasters has almost 500 notes on impressive quality wines. His scores skew high, but he’s drinking top shelf wine.
@jhkey none really, I’ve know Jerry for many years and like to annoy him every chance I get. I think I have a “vintner” icon because I work for Bergevin Lane, which offered Moonspell Cab here in the past.
Sass Pinot Noir
I must be on the wrong side of the date line-- I thought this rolled out for Sat! I appreciate the opportunity to review this Pinot. I tend toward Barberra and Cabernets but have enjoyed several Pinot Noir offerings here.
The 2016 Sass Pinot Noir offering arrived during moderate weather and in good shape with much appreciated, substantial lead time. As luck would have it, I was able to enjoy the wine soon after arrival, but a car vs cellphone incident subsequently relieved me of the pictures that I had taken in anticipation of this rat report.
Upon opening- I split the cork but I attribute that to user error and my cheap hardware, more-so than anything else. Cork staining was light purple on the bottom. I could see that some fluid had made its way past the bottom of the cork in a couple places, but none of the tracks reached the top.
On initial pour, I found a comparatively light garnet presentation. I didn’t find a bouquet at first, the scent was very muted even with a few swirls. On first sip, very astringent, strong alcohol flavor, not much fruit. Clear edges, and I could not discern any legs developing after a few swirls. I decided to let it breathe for a while and went on to prepare a half-hearted one-skittle steak dinner. That took some fiddling around, so about an hour later I resampled the wine while having an unseasoned, somewhat bland but very fresh assemblage of meat and vegetables. The wine was OK accompaniment but was overcome by any bites that had a bit of char to them. I thought the flavor profile was fairly straightforward, a bit of cranberry backed but unsweet strawberry and maybe a hint of pomegranate. No Sassafras in the mix (think sarsaparilla or root beer, we used to make homemade tea with Sassafras roots!), and I discerned a tiny hint of oak woodiness, but not sweetness.
I invited a neighbor over an hour later and we sat on the porch and shared grumpy old person gripes about various topics, as much for nostalgia about what we heard old people gripe about as to vent our own gripes. Or perhaps more-so for the former. The wine was an understated context for that conversation. We wrapped up as the owls started to argue, I saved a half glass for the second day- and to me it showed remarkably little change, neither weaker nor enriched.
I found that to be pleasant wine more on the subtle and perhaps elegant side once it caught its breath instead of lush or luxurious. Given that the post caught me by surprised I did see the various accolades and positive commentary, so it’s certainly fair to say that my tastes (nor my descriptors) are not sufficiently trained and curated to catch the finer points. I’ll take the silver sledgehammer, instead thanks. Those that prefer a softer touch will probably enjoy this wine immensely, I agree that it is smooth and well-integrated after being decanted for a short while. I would be happy to have this wine at a friend’s gathering, during a night out—or better yet a night in. I’m cognizant of the enthusiasm already generated- I wouldn’t dampen any of it! I’ve got my holdings pretty well purged and am about to go meat and wine free for a while but may still tuck some of this away for the right occasion.
I happened to have Duesy GSM on hand for a quick comparison. Well, comparison isn’t the most apt term given the apples and oranges nature of it. But just the same the GSM imparted richer mouthfeel, was more robust in the blue/purple fruit flavors, and to me it seemed smoother still.
I’m going to stay online here for much of the day if anyone has questions about the wine, the winery, the vineyards or my own crackpot philosophy. We’re in harvest and bottling some 2021 Pinot Blanc today, but I’ll keep a close eye on things here. Thanks for all the discussion so far!
@pmarin Pinot Blanc is so good!
And there’s hardly any planted in all of Oregon. I can’t figure out why…
When I first made some, in 2001, I had an uphill battle selling it because a lot of people had never heard of it (“Pinot Blanc? Is that like Pinot Noir made like white zin?”).
So I got used to putting some in a glass for folks to taste and seeing their eyes light up. We’ve made it kind of a Sass thing.
@JerrySass It was a few years ago, but we’ve had Anne Amie and Boedecker Cellars Pinot Blanc offered here before (at least, those are the two in my order history). Hopefully someday we will see yours here too!
Oh no - the Rattage email said Saturday and tonight I log in to realize it was up yesterday!
In some sense, the stars aligned as I came down with a cold this week and thus my tasting abilities were severely limited.
We did, however, sample with the in-laws and reviews were solid, to say the least.
It’s fuller bodied for a Pinot Noir, almost a hint of cherry juice in the color to me. Initially picked up some spice and pepper, then the finish brought out the berries.
Great with food - particularly a genoa salame and 8 year aged Wisconsin cheddar this time around; the wine cut through the sharpness of the cheese very well (according to the better half).
Pinot Noir is hit or miss for her and this one was decidedly a hit.
Killer deal at the Casemates offer, too. As soon as I took a sip I said this was at least a $45-$50 retail bottle of wine. Looks like that was pretty accurate.
Sorry to have not been able to contribute while the offer was actually live. I’ll try and pay more attention to the site next time UPS delivers a special bottle!
2016 Sass Pinot Noir, Vieux Amis, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Gold Medal and Pinot Noir of the Year at the 2021 Sommeliers Choice Awards
Gold Medal, Sunset Magazine International Wine Competition, 2022
Tasting Notes
About the Wine
Winemaking
Specs
What’s Included
4-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$583.20/Case for 12x 2016 Sass Pinot Noir, Vieux Amis, Willamette Valley, Oregon at Sass Winery
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Nov 7 - Tuesday, Nov 8
2016 Sass Winery Oregon Pinot Noir
4 bottles for $94.99 $23.75/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $239.99 $20/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2016 Sass Winery Oregon Pinot Noir - $45 = 15.78%
So do they own and farm both vineyards or just one? The write up says both.
@klezman I’m also confused by the seeming disparity between “This deep, complex wine is made from the last - and the best - barrels from our two estate vineyards, Walnut Ridge and Wild Winds, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley” and “We also purchase fruit from other vineyards, most notably from Walnut Ridge Vineyard”.
@DanOR yes, that’s exactly what I was referring to
@DanOR @klezman Until 2019 we were in partnership with Walnut Ridge Vineyard, so Wild Winds (at the winery) and Walnut Ridge were both estate vineyards. Now we’re just good friends.
The CT reviews on this one are fantastic. I hope we get some rats to validate.
@TimW Might be sold out by then
/giphy dubious-horrified-unicorn
This is a long time favorite winery of mine that used to be sold at my local Wholefoods, before they got bought by Amazon.
/giphy obscure-wounded-troll
/giphy lewd-nocturnal-story
/giphy bound-friendly-screamer
/giphy devious-obscure-king
/giphy haunted-dying-cloak
@king_pineapple
/giphy horrifying-cold-creeper
Ah why not! CT reviewers really like it…I’d usually rather have rats, but this sounds good. I don’t know if I have any Willamette Pinot right now.
/giphy bitter-polluted-queen
That Sunset International Award:
91 Points. Gold Medal. Nice acidity. Dried cherry
and spiced plum.
The Sommelier Choice Award:
95 Points. Aromas of ripe wild cherry, strawberries and wild sage. Baking spices on the palate with flavors of baked strawberries lingering long after the finish.
A little blurb from San Francisco Drinks Guide mentions that 2021 Sommelier Choice Award click here
A similar article from The Oregonian is here
fwiw
@kaolis oh…that was all above in the write-up. I should know better than to do this pre-espresso…
@kaolis by my count you are 1:100,000 in miscues, keep on keeping’ on. Your effort is very much appreciated.
/giphy abandoned-desecrated-bloodsucker
This is going to sell out.
/giphy grunting-infested-boogeyman
@jhkey Maybe a first? Sellout without rattage?
@GatorFL CT true! The CT notes are impressive
@GatorFL @jhkey But three notes from only two people we don’t know. Not throwing sour grapes, just an observation.
@GatorFL @rjquillin True. One of those tasters has almost 500 notes on impressive quality wines. His scores skew high, but he’s drinking top shelf wine.
@GatorFL @jhkey also a good observation.
/giphy fiery-boolicious-house
Four-pack to SC
@kaolis Well, there’s two guys that are on my “I never need to meet” list…ha!
@kaolis depends on what he’s cooking as a pairing for Oregon Pinot Noir…
mmmm yummy! I’ve had this and it’s delish. but no TN
I guess I’ll just have to bug 'ole Jerry myself for some yumbolisciousness.
@tastebud What’s your relationship with the winery?
@jhkey none really, I’ve know Jerry for many years and like to annoy him every chance I get. I think I have a “vintner” icon because I work for Bergevin Lane, which offered Moonspell Cab here in the past.
@tastebud Love the Bergevin Lane Moonspell, got a few bottles left here.
@GatorFL @tastebud I love it when you annoy me!
In
/giphy heinous-lifeless-web
It’s been several years since enjoying a Sass-y bottling. Love the forum enthusiasm!
/giphy haunted-putrid-alien
Sass Pinot Noir
I must be on the wrong side of the date line-- I thought this rolled out for Sat! I appreciate the opportunity to review this Pinot. I tend toward Barberra and Cabernets but have enjoyed several Pinot Noir offerings here.
The 2016 Sass Pinot Noir offering arrived during moderate weather and in good shape with much appreciated, substantial lead time. As luck would have it, I was able to enjoy the wine soon after arrival, but a car vs cellphone incident subsequently relieved me of the pictures that I had taken in anticipation of this rat report.
Upon opening- I split the cork but I attribute that to user error and my cheap hardware, more-so than anything else. Cork staining was light purple on the bottom. I could see that some fluid had made its way past the bottom of the cork in a couple places, but none of the tracks reached the top.
On initial pour, I found a comparatively light garnet presentation. I didn’t find a bouquet at first, the scent was very muted even with a few swirls. On first sip, very astringent, strong alcohol flavor, not much fruit. Clear edges, and I could not discern any legs developing after a few swirls. I decided to let it breathe for a while and went on to prepare a half-hearted one-skittle steak dinner. That took some fiddling around, so about an hour later I resampled the wine while having an unseasoned, somewhat bland but very fresh assemblage of meat and vegetables. The wine was OK accompaniment but was overcome by any bites that had a bit of char to them. I thought the flavor profile was fairly straightforward, a bit of cranberry backed but unsweet strawberry and maybe a hint of pomegranate. No Sassafras in the mix (think sarsaparilla or root beer, we used to make homemade tea with Sassafras roots!), and I discerned a tiny hint of oak woodiness, but not sweetness.
I invited a neighbor over an hour later and we sat on the porch and shared grumpy old person gripes about various topics, as much for nostalgia about what we heard old people gripe about as to vent our own gripes. Or perhaps more-so for the former. The wine was an understated context for that conversation. We wrapped up as the owls started to argue, I saved a half glass for the second day- and to me it showed remarkably little change, neither weaker nor enriched.
I found that to be pleasant wine more on the subtle and perhaps elegant side once it caught its breath instead of lush or luxurious. Given that the post caught me by surprised I did see the various accolades and positive commentary, so it’s certainly fair to say that my tastes (nor my descriptors) are not sufficiently trained and curated to catch the finer points. I’ll take the silver sledgehammer, instead thanks. Those that prefer a softer touch will probably enjoy this wine immensely, I agree that it is smooth and well-integrated after being decanted for a short while. I would be happy to have this wine at a friend’s gathering, during a night out—or better yet a night in. I’m cognizant of the enthusiasm already generated- I wouldn’t dampen any of it! I’ve got my holdings pretty well purged and am about to go meat and wine free for a while but may still tuck some of this away for the right occasion.
I happened to have Duesy GSM on hand for a quick comparison. Well, comparison isn’t the most apt term given the apples and oranges nature of it. But just the same the GSM imparted richer mouthfeel, was more robust in the blue/purple fruit flavors, and to me it seemed smoother still.
By way of content to backstop the review, here is some industry news/commentary that I thought might interest some:
California wines and climate change/fires
Or, for something more eclectic:
Wine making in Turkey and changing climate
Lots of positivity for this one, and we’ve been drinking a lot of PN lately…
If anyone in Denver wants some, we would be willing to part with up to 6!
/giphy waxy-molding-possession
@knlprez I assume this is how the wine will smack my tastebubs
first purchase in an age. rat describing it as not lush with statistics is sending to me to the buy button.
looking forward!
@canonizer That has me on the fence despite my massive oversupply.
I’m going to stay online here for much of the day if anyone has questions about the wine, the winery, the vineyards or my own crackpot philosophy. We’re in harvest and bottling some 2021 Pinot Blanc today, but I’ll keep a close eye on things here. Thanks for all the discussion so far!
@JerrySass
Bring it on! As time permits and fill in some blanks
Stillman @ZeppelinWinery sets a high bar in that department!
@JerrySass Ooh, love some Oregon Pinot Blanc as well.
@JerrySass Whereabouts in the Finger Lakes did you grow up? Went to school in Rochester and my Mom grew up in Elmira. (and I’m in for 4!)
@pmarin Pinot Blanc is so good!
And there’s hardly any planted in all of Oregon. I can’t figure out why…
When I first made some, in 2001, I had an uphill battle selling it because a lot of people had never heard of it (“Pinot Blanc? Is that like Pinot Noir made like white zin?”).
So I got used to putting some in a glass for folks to taste and seeing their eyes light up. We’ve made it kind of a Sass thing.
@JerrySass @pmarin maybe that’s next up on casemates ???
@JerrySass It was a few years ago, but we’ve had Anne Amie and Boedecker Cellars Pinot Blanc offered here before (at least, those are the two in my order history). Hopefully someday we will see yours here too!
@pmarin I’d love that! Pinot blanc is a significant and versatile grape. We do some blends with it, too.
@JerrySass @pmarin Do believe we acquired both of those from here in years past. Loved them.
/giphy creepy-dastardly-warlock
NE Ohio in for a case. Have some bottles to share …
@pjmartin always available
Based on reviews I think I’d have been in on this one, but I see Kansas is out in the cold, again.
/giphy feeling left out
/giphy on-the-fence
So want this but no Michigan
Oh no - the Rattage email said Saturday and tonight I log in to realize it was up yesterday!
In some sense, the stars aligned as I came down with a cold this week and thus my tasting abilities were severely limited.
We did, however, sample with the in-laws and reviews were solid, to say the least.
It’s fuller bodied for a Pinot Noir, almost a hint of cherry juice in the color to me. Initially picked up some spice and pepper, then the finish brought out the berries.
Great with food - particularly a genoa salame and 8 year aged Wisconsin cheddar this time around; the wine cut through the sharpness of the cheese very well (according to the better half).
Pinot Noir is hit or miss for her and this one was decidedly a hit.
Killer deal at the Casemates offer, too. As soon as I took a sip I said this was at least a $45-$50 retail bottle of wine. Looks like that was pretty accurate.
Sorry to have not been able to contribute while the offer was actually live. I’ll try and pay more attention to the site next time UPS delivers a special bottle!
@sdilullo It might have been one of those instances where the day moved at the last minute.
This has just popped up on RWS - $64.99 for 3 bottles plus $6.99 fixed shipping
@ctmariner I guess that was what led both of us back here. I ordered 6 from RWS.