Today, June 9th - two more months to the day that my journey through the Willamette Valley begins. Since I travel weekly with my day job, I rarely get excited about a trip, especially a domestic trip. Although I’ve been to Australia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Napa/Sonoma and a handful of states this year, my upcoming trip to Oregon’s Willamette Valley is the one I’ve been most looking forward to.
As I continue to prepare for the trip and familiarize myself with Willamette Valley wines, I stopped by PJ Baggin’s in Virginia Beach to look for a Willamette producer that I’ve never tried. After just a few seconds I found this Pinot Noir from Maysara Winery - a new one to me.
Maysara, located in the McMinnville AVA, was founded by Moe and Flora Momtazi in 1997 with the purchase of a 532 acre abandoned wheat farm. Maysara started with just 13 acres under vine in 1998 and now has over 200 acres of vines planted. The family reclaimed the land organically, and still today use no chemicals in their vineyard and are Demeter Certified Biodynamic.
Maysara 2007 Estate Cuvee Pinot Noir
$38/bottle. 13.5% alcohol. This 2007 Estate Cuvee marks Maysara’s first Demeter Certified Biodynamic wine. Tight upon opening… but after an hour to air out, this wine came out swinging with intense and fresh raspberry aromas followed by cherry, spice and earth components. Smooth mouth feel accompanied by plum, mineral and light floral flavors followed by a raspberry finish that seemed to go for ever… I have no doubt that this wine would have been even better with another hour or so to open up. I’d recommend giving this one another couple of years in the bottle to see the best side of this one.
Kudos to the Momtazi’s for their commitment to ‘low-impact’ wine making and keeping their vineyards chemical free! I plan to add a visit to Maysara to my list for August.
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We are a neighbor of Maysara and also organic and sustainable. We would love to have you stop by to taste when you are in the area. In fact, we have an Inn on the vineyard if you are looking for a great place to stay. Check us out.