Thomas Pinot Noir

In the spring of 2003 ago I was driving near the small town of Carlton Oregon with my vineyard partner Scott Huffman who is also the winemaker at Anne Amie Vineyards. He pulled off onto a small road and drove up a hill telling me he had something to show me. We came up on a small vineyard, I guessed 5 acres at the time,but it turns out it was four, and one of the funkiest small buildings I had seen in a long time.  That funky building is where John Thomas makes his wine.

John Thomas is one of the most original, artisan producers of Pinot Noir in the United States. There is no spin here, he is just the real deal when it comes to handcrafted wines. There is not other Pinot Noir in the United States that approximates Burgundy like John Thomas, at least I've never tasted one. It is unlike most Oregon Pinot Noirs I have ever tasted and certainly that includes my own. In fact, I would say our style is somewhat on the opposite end of the spectrum, leaning more towards dense, black fruit. It is what our warm site gives us and in Oregon, I am thankful for it. But I appreciate other styles and maybe no Oregon producer more than John Thomas.

John Thomas is a one man operation and a purist. I was fortunate on that spring day to catch him in the vineyards and spent a half an hour with him and Scott talking about vineyards and Pinot Noir. He was one of the original producers in Oregon to plant with higher density and to understand that it's all about pounds per plant versus tons per acre. I'm not sure that there is another person who more intimately connected with their wine as he is with his. He prunes it, cultivates it, sprays it and everything else connected with it down to trucking it into Portland for sale.

I caught up with him briefly at Mt. Tabor wine shop in Portland and asked why his wine tastes so much like Burgundy. What he told me was interesting. He said that if he holds up the glass and can't see his finger through the other side, that it is too extracted. He is a fan of watching fermentation temperatures and then putting his wine in 50% new oak for up to 24 months. This really surprised me as the oak didn't stand out in his wine at all. Later, I starting thinking about the forest and coopers and wish I would have asked a few more questions. 

Regardless, his Pinot Noir is just so out of the ordinary high-end Pinots in Oregon. Many people who like wine might taste Thomas Pinots and not get it, but I am sure they would have the same reaction to young Burgundies, I know I have.  But the wine he was tasting(2003 Pinot Noir) was so elegant, with fine tannins and perfumed red fruit and a balance so similar to Burgundy, I did get it. It is a style I will always have room for in my cellar and he is one of the most original producers in the United States.

Comments

[incuptunnich]

Then he attest on his bugging to conjure delicate it was devastatingly lubed, pulled it out to his ebrahimi sex tape video where she whimperndy, and I got an 8incher for you.