This Willamette Valley, Oregon winery is fast becoming a favorite of mine. This past summer we drank a Lemelson Stermer Vineyard from the 2005 vintage and loved it. You can read those comments here. A few weeks ago we drank a bottle of their 2008 Riesling and very much liked that one as well. The local market has recently featured Lemelson in a more prominent way so I've added a few more bottles to the cellar.
There was one wine that was discounted so we bought several bottles of the Lemelson Thea's Selection from the 2007 vintage. Thea's is basically a blend of the vineyards from which Lemelson makes wine. Since there were two good looking lamb chops with some wild rive and mushrooms we cracked one open.
Rich, ripe fruit on the nose, predominantly deep red cherries in a color that was true Pinot Noir. It wasn't too dark, it was a rich semi transparent hue. With a little swirling there was a forest floor and slightly damp leaf aroma. Full flavored without being overbearing the wine definitely tasted of cherries and cool, moist earth. Good balance with acid and tannin. It was very nice with the lamb but the wild rice and mushrooms brought out additional dimensions in this wine. The flavor profile was fruit and earth and the wild rice definitely brought the fruit forward in the wine. It just seemed to amplify everything about the wine. It was a wonderful match.
The current vintage in the market is 2008, a supposedly superior vintage for Oregon Pinot Noirs. This was probably the end of the regular availability for the 2007 vintage, and thus a discounted price. At $22 it was a true steal. 13.5% alcohol.
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