Old-world simplicity in Willamette Valley
I met Vincent Fritzsche in London at a tasting of “The Best of Washington State & Oregon Wines” in February of this year. Owner and winemaker of the Vincent Wine Company, he represented what I considered to be the best of the best Pinot Noir on the day.
It is my long held belief that wines often taste like their winemakers talk. Vincent is a wonderfully articulate man, with a vivid way with words. He speaks of approachable wines being like a “quality hotel bathrobe” and those of the most superior quality having the “greatest thread count”, which is perhaps the most perceptive three words in a wide description I have ever heard.
Why? A high thread count suggests so much: finesse; texture; lithe strength; complexity; durability; smoothness; luxury. Also, fine bed linen is relaxing, restorative, even seductive.
Faced with a chatty Vincent, and a line-up of his wines, it’s hard to choose between listening and tasting.
Vincent established his Willamette Valley winery in 2009, following winemaking apprenticeships in Oregon and California. The business model until recently has been to work with a series of assiduously selected leased vineyards, or indeed particular rows within a plot: “I want to work with growers who are on a similar page to me, with an organic ethos. Two of the leased sites have local organic certification, while the others might be described as quasi-organic. I don’t work with anyone who is irrigating.”
Currently he is working with eight Oregon vineyards, of which all make important contributions. Four notable sites being with Armstrong in the Ribbon Ridge AVA. Here there are marine sediment, sandy soils that drain well, giving wines an attractive chalky texture. Cortell-Rose Vineyard is in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. The soils here are red volcanic and the Pinot Noir grown here features in Vincent’s Eola-Amity Hills and Willamette Valley cuvees. The vines at Temperance Hill Vineyard, high in the Eola Hills are some of the oldest the winery work with. The soils here are volcanic, yielding a spectacular single vineyard Pinot Noir. Zenith Vineyard lies at the heart of the Eola-Amity Hills. Vincent has a half hectare parcel here, planted in 2006 that gives fruit for another single vineyard Pinot.
The tasting is Pinot Noir focused, by personal choice and this leads to obvious Burgundy comparisons. Just after we met in London, Vincent was heading to Burgundy with colleagues, and it was good to catch up on his return to hear his thoughts.
“The striking difference in soils is the rockiness of the Burgundy soils at the surface. We have a more uniform clay, loam and some rocks at the surface but it’s unbroken. I also noticed the rich looking iron … in Montrachet proper you could see it was very clay-ey and very Chardonnay-friendly, so that was a bit more familiar.”
When asked if had a bit of winemaker envy, Vincent replied, “yes, to some degree but also no… We [Oregon producers] are not trying to karaoke them, but we do want to be part of the band!”
Vincent went on to comment on the winemaking he saw: “the soils drive the mineralogy in the wine and producers truly let their vineyards speak. Candidly, I’d say that we need to lean more into mineral in the wine, rather than acidity. We can also shy away from tannins and firmness in the wines and maybe try and polish the wine a bit too much.”
Vincent is a thinker, a learner, and I sense open to ideas. I found so much of the man in the wines. I enjoyed their balance, openness, individuality and striking bonhomie. Each and every wine, a treat.