Scott Paul Wines Review
Address: 128 S. Pine St Carlton,Oregon 97111.
Phone Number: 503-274-4700
Tasting Hours: Dec-Mar: Sat 1:00-5:00; Apr-Nov: Wed-Sun 11:00-4:00
Region: Willamette Valley AVA, Yamhill-Carlton Region, Oregon
Reviewer: Rob Boss
Review Date: 11/29/2015
Reviewer: Rob Boss
Rating: 5
The Review
(Photos by Jai Soots)
Scott Paul Winerys operation lies just off Main Street in Carlton, Oregon, spread out over two historic buildings across the street from one another. The winery proper is a former granary, while the tasting room was once a creamery, then later the office for the granary across the street. Now components from both buildings have been retasked to renovate and decorate the tasting room. Turning the sheet metal roof of the granary into the tasting room ceiling was particularly clever. Its one of the coolest looking tasting rooms weve seen.
Shana, the wine maven on duty, set us up for a flight of both the Scott Paul signature releases, as well as their entry level Wildstock wines; mostly Wildstock actually, but that turned out to be a pleasant surprise. She started off with the 2014 Wildstock Chardonnay, which is made from Kramer Vineyard fruit. Its steel-aged, which is usually a winner with me because I enjoy the pure, straightforward fruit flavors. There was an intense pear and apple nose, followed by green apple flavors and a food-friendly, if winking, acidity.
The 2014 Wildstock Pinot Blanc offered melons and citrus on the nose, with high acidity and lemony flavor. Not for everyone but great with seared tuna and a simple green salad.
Who needs lemonade on a summer day? I thought, and began to wonder how it might work with sweet-hot barbecue sauce
Coming out of my reverie, we moved on to reds, starting with Wildstocks 2013 Pinot Noir. I had my hopes up for a steel aged Pinot Noir, but they were dashed. I soon recovered when I caught the yummy briars and spice coming off the glass. The acidity was high, with tart, dusty fruit flavors; raspberries and cherries. Shana informed me the fruit was from three small vineyards in Amity, an appellation Im becoming increasingly fond of and exploring.
The final pour was the 2012 Scott Paul La Paulie. Made from four vineyards from four AVAs, including Maresh Vineyards from the Dundee Hills and the eponymous Ribbon Ridge Vineyardtwo favorites, which piqued my interest. It boasted a nose full of roses, tomato vines and raspberries. The ripe, juicy cherry and raspberry flavors were to die for. This was an excellent wine, showing plenty of good reasons for its high press scores.
From the clever use of recycled materials in the room and its nod to Carltons history, the first rate service, to the top quality wine, a visit to the Scott Paul tasting room is value, end to end. The Scott Paul label is very good, wine and its well worth its price, but the storys even better with Wildstock: its worth more than you pay for it. To my mind, its 20-25% undervalued, which is a great deal. Think about that bargain bin full of orphan bottles at the wine shop for five dollars off*only you can have it all the time, anytime you want. Does that make you happy? It did me. I took one home and recommend you do the same.
*I was surprised to find out Jai was not aware of this, so heres an explanation: virtually every wine shop winds up with one or two bottles of various wines that must be cleared for shelf space. These orphans are often marked down and placed in a bargain bin of some sort. Rest assured that if your local wine shop does not have such a bin, the owner is taking them home himself.