By Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2011 Omero Cellars Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from USA, North Willamette Valley, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Review by David Schildknecht
eRobertParker.com # 209 (Oct 2013)
Rating: 90
Drink 2013 - 2018
The Omero 2011 Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge - bottled and released along with their generic Willamette cuvee - is composed of lesser estate lots along with fruit from nearby vineyards. Weighing in at 12.5% alcohol and matured in 500-liter barrels, around one-third of which were new, this adds rhubarb tartness and cherry pit piquancy on top of the lemon oil and horseradish I found in the corresponding generic bottling. There’s also a bit of low-toned roasted coffee as well as smoky toasted oak, but this doesn’t at all dry out the fruit, even if the texture here is spare and the impressively persistent finish tart-edged. A vintage-typical sense of energy adds to the stimulation of a performance that ought to be well worth revisiting through at least 2018, and hopefully well beyond. Sarah Cabot came to wine making via gastronomy after having studied jazz composition at Boston’s celebrated Berklee College of Music, and her previous Willamette jobs were at Belle Pente and WillaKenzie. David Moore - with whom Cabot worked at a Seattle restaurant and whose parents Bill and Stacie founded Omero Cellars and purchased its Ribbon Ridge vineyard (then just orchard remnants and scrub) in 2008 - takes charge of matters viticultural. Their work is impressive and I suspect this winery will gain wide recognition as a rising Willamette star. After sourcing their inaugural 2008 bottling from Chehalem’s Corral Creek they subsequently tapped fruit from Yamhill-Carlton and their estate vineyard’s Ribbon Ridge neighborhood, and in 2011 their own 22 acres of vines (auspiciously, as it turns out) debuted. Vinification takes place at the Carlton Winemakers Studio, though there are impressive plans for a dedicated facility on the estate. The four non-estate sources tapped in vintage 2011 were to have been narrowed down to two favorites - including the lion’s share of Coats and Whitney, glowingly profiled under the eponymous estate in this report - and for this fall’s harvest, estate fruit was expected to inform 75% of total production. Cabot says, “I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t need to cold soak,” though temperatures at harvest and reliance on ambient yeasts are of course guaranteed to delay to varying degrees the onset of fermentation. “It’s useless for me,” she elaborates, “and if anything detrimental. One of the things that drew me down to Oregon and to Pinot in general is the aromatics, which is why I extract very gently and don’t ferment hot. But if you cold soak for five days, you end up with something with lots of phenolics that don’t convey aromatics.” On the other hand, Cabot is convinced about the merits of post-fermentative maceration, which I’ve come to suspect is a missing link for many vintners who deal with Ribbon Ridge fruit; claim it’s inherently toughly tannic; and then render that judgment self-fulfilling by pulling up short and pressing as soon as those tannins become abundantly evident. “Even though it’s nerve-wracking and you think ‘oh, this tastes terrible,’ you’ve got to get past that point” and keep the young wine on its skins for a few more days, she maintains. Most of the fruit for her 2011s was destemmed but she plans to “non-dogmatically” experiment with more whole clusters in future. In connection with the brightness and energy conveyed by this vintage’s Omero Pinots, it’s interesting to note that their analyses by and large reveal levels of tartaric acidity that far exceed the portion of malic. Confusingly, the Omero wines all indicate as their place of origin Oregon but none of their single-vineyard or special bottlings indicate any A.V.A. - not even “Willamette Valley” - so I have reflected this in my identifications, perverse though that seems. Tel. (503) 852-3067

By Wine Spectator
OMERO Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge 2011
Score: 89
Country: Oregon
Region: Oregon
Issue: Web Only - 2013
Light and tight, with pretty cinnamon-accented red berry flavors that linger gently. Drink now through 2015. -HS

By Omero Cellars
Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir 2011

Techncial Details
Clone(s): 115, Pommard & Wadenswil
Yield-per-acre: 2 ton
Brix: 22
pH: 3.38
Time: 9 months
pH: 3.68
Production: No.-of-cases: 600
Alcohol: 12.50%

Tasting Notes
Comprised of predominately Estate grown fruit from the Ribbon Ridge AVA, this wine is very elegant, aromatic and texture driven. The palate leads with acid, dark fruits & spice and has a long, delicate powdery finish. Best when paired with roasted or braised dishes. Aromatics of candied violets, black plum, fresh earth & sandalwood with a palate of cassis, dark cherry & baking spices on the finish.
[Information provided by Matador Vino]

 

 

 

By Antontio Galloni's Vinous Media
Omero Cellars 2011 Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge
Points: 87
Region: Oregon
Country: United States
Grape/Blend: Pinot Noir
Release Price: $38.00
Vivid red. Black raspberry and spicecake on the fragrant nose. Juicy and expansive, showing good heft to its sweet red fruit and floral pastille flavors. Betrays a faint raisiny quality on the clinging, gently tannic finish. Josh Raynolds, July 2013

By Burghound
Omero Cellars 2011 Pinot Noir - Ribbon Ridge
Score: 87
Tasted: Oct 15, 2013
Drink: 2014+
Issue: 52
Note: Dundee and Ribbon Ridge, 12.50%
Producer Note: Omero Cellars is a small family owned and operated vineyard and winery located in the Ribbon Ridge AVA in Willamette Valley. The vineyard was founded in 2008 by Bill and Staci Moore. Their son David is the vineyard manager and the winemaker is Sarah Cabot. For more information contact (503) 537-2638 or visit: www.omerocellars.com
Tasting Note: A restrained and very pure nose of essence of red pinot fruit, cranberry and briar hints leads to detailed and delicious flavors that terminate in a slightly edgy finish. This very forward effort is certainly very pretty but it appears to lack just the final bit of phenolic maturity.