Nysa Vineyard, Acoustic or Appetite for Destruction

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My walks in the morning with Globgor have been great this week. More and more flowers are blooming, all of the scents of Spring are in the air, and it has been more than pleasant to be on the hot side a couple of times this week.

For the past few months, I have been devouring audiobooks, listening to podcasts, and consuming content to the point the little hamsters in my brain are wearing out. A couple of days ago, I said, “Hey Siri play Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen.” The following few songs accompanied my walk wonderfully, the hamsters were high-fiving one another, and it felt good to relax. The amount of content we take in daily is crazy. Yes, music is still content, but I didn’t have to process the words. It is time to start consuming less and creating more!

My first podcast interview was with Jessica Mozeico of Et Fille. If you are interested in diving a bit deeper, here is a quick Q&A.

I have heard that the 2021 harvest was terrific all around the valley, but don’t take my word for it. Here is the 2021 Harvest Report from the Oregon Wine Board.

Owen Bargreen is a fantastic human. He is a humble, approachable, and all-around great guy. Here is his perspective on Washington Wines from Vinous.

This past week the Great Northwest Wine magazine made some announcements. One of those announcements was naming Potter’s Vineyard as the Winery to Watch in 2022. Bill Sanchez has won numerous awards over the years and came away with 2 Double Golds this year in the McMinnville Wine Competition I volunteered for. Congrats to Bill and Sandy of Potter’s Vineyard! Here is a link to a newsletter I did on Potter’s last year.

There are many data points I take in when looking at Oregon wine. Wine Enthusiast came out with a piece concerning mergers and acquisitions. I wasn’t expecting to find a section about Oregon. There have been many acquisitions in our neck of the woods. Be on the lookout for a big one coming down the pike. Here is a small excerpt from the article.

And now, finally on to the wine!

How often have you seen a blue winery sign and said, “Oh, I need to visit there one day?” Yeah, I know I am not the only one. There has been one sign, in particular, I passed over and over that intrigued me. My sign has been the Nysa Vineyard off of 99W. If it weren’t for the fact I adore Audeant’s Nysa Pinot, I would probably not give a second thought to visiting. However, I was super curious to try another winemaker’s expression of the vineyard, and wow, what a difference between Andrew at Audeant and Michael Mega from Nysa. Both are exceptionally great wines, but there is no way to compare the two equally. This doesn't begin to do proper justice, but there are two versions of the Guns N Roses song, "You're Crazy." One version is classic GNR on the Appetite for Destruction album. The other is on GNR Lies and all acoustic. I would associate Andrew's Nysa to the acoustic and Micheal's to Appetite for Destruction. It's the same vineyard, two completely different expressions, and I love every single second! Nicolas Jay also gets fruit from Nysa, but it’s a Cuvee for the L'Ensemble.

The Nysa vineyard was planted in 1990 in a very dense fashion with 2400 vines per acre. Giving context, a low vine density is 605 vines, and 2,420 is considered high vine density. I read somewhere that 540 vines per acre is typical density for Oregon. With 40 acres of vines in the Dundee Hills, Nysa shares a fence line with Domaine Drouhin, Archery Summit, and Domaine Serene at 600 to 700 feet of elevation. Dive into some Greek mythology surrounding Nysa and Dionysus if you get some time. It’s fascinating!

The construction for the Nysa tasting room was completed recently. I have to say it’s nice and cozy inside, but outside is where you want to be! When I visited, the weather was a bit dreary, but with tables outside, along with a view of the valley, I can only imagine what a sunny summer day would be like. On the patio is a brick wood-fired oven. My imagination immediately goes to pizzas, but I am sure other yumminess is cooked on site.

The table was all set with glasses and three different chocolates (Thai curry, Raspberry, and Caramel). The first wine was a 2017 Rose of Pinot. Now, stop and think about this for a minute. Wineries are pouring 2020, and I think there have been rare sightings of 2021 Rose out there as well. The first wine was a 2017 Rose. I should have paid attention as it set the stage for everything else.

You can see from the picture it is a dark Rose with five days of skin contact. Again, super rare! If you like Rose, you will like this!

There were only 2 barrels of the 2018 Chardonnay for a total of 50 cases, spending ten months on neutral oak. So when Monique mentioned, the Chardonnay was 100% Wente clone, I couldn’t help but ask if it ripened enough on the Dundee Hills. If you don’t know, the Wente clone was super popular in Oregon, but producers realized Oregon doesn’t get hot enough for Wente to ripen appropriately as it does in California. So wineries are primarily using different variants of the Dijon clones now and fit the Oregon climate sufficiently.

Monique was taken aback the teeniest bit and recovered beautifully by saying the block is planted at the top of the hill where it is warmest, allowing the grape to ripen. The 2018 Nysa Chard was nice with a nose you would expect to find in a Chard, high acidity, and quite enjoyable.

A little background about Monique. She used to work in South Caroline at a restaurant, and it was Oregon wine that prompted her to move. To be specific, it was Torii Mor, and she worked there for 20 years before coming to Nysa not too long ago.

Next up on the list was the 2015 Nysa Pinot, a blend of the different blocks on site. The body was super delicate, with bright red fruits and a tight tannin structure. The finish lasted forever, replacing the tannins with a lovely silkiness.

Monique posed the question of wanting to try something unique. I am always ready to try something special. She brought out a 2012 Leda’s Reserve. Leda is Michael’s daughter's name, made with 100% Pommard and two years in 50% new oak. I was expecting to see some tawniness to the wine with ten years of age, but I was wrong on so many levels. In the glass, it was super dark, translating to deep dark red fruit on the nose and mid-palate and a tannin structure screaming, I have a solid 5-7 years left, if not more left! I was blown away to taste a ten-year-old wine with that much structure still in place.

I figured we were wrapping up the tasting, but Monique came out with a 2005 Estate Pinot, to my surprise. What?!?!?! If the 2012 blew my mind for a unique pour, I don’t even know how to comprehend a 2005 on the flight. Now, this pour expressed those tertiary notes with a bit of earth on the nose and entry. The tannins were nowhere near what they were in the 2012 but still showing a bit. This wine will effortlessly go 20 years, if not 25 or 30.

I thought for sure we were at the end of the tasting, but Monique poured the 2007 Leda Pinot, the 2009 Leda Pinot and finished up with a Non-Vintage Arete Dessert wine. Both Pinots were exceptional and such a treat to explore older wines. The dessert wine spent six years in barrel, and if you are into dessert wine, I have zero doubts you would enjoy. It was too sweet for me, but wow, what a way to finish up!

If you haven’t had the opportunity to experience older Oregon Pinots, I can’t recommend Nysa enough! We all need some special older bottles to tuck away for a rare occasion. Monique is excellent, and she will go out of her way to take extra special care of you. In looking at the forecast for Friday, it is supposed to be partly cloudy and 70 out. So make a reservation. I currently see 11:00, 12:00, and 1:00 openings and have an absolute blast! When you sit down for your tasting and start talking with Monique, let her know, “A.J. sent me!”

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With Gratitude,

A.J.

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PS - I want to thank everyone who purchased a ticket to the wine dinner at Tavern on Kruse Friday night. It is sold out, and I can’t wait to see everyone!

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PPS - This week’s newsletter felt so disjointed and didn’t flow. Maybe it was because my week was all discombobulated.

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