Monday, November 5, 2007

2006 Kathken Vineyards Pinot Gris Barrel Fermented

Kathken Vineyards is a little place in the Eola Hills, just west of Salem. It is a 51-acre vineyard, owned by Kathy and Ken Slusser (hence the name) and Ken is the winemaker. They've got a few different wines, mostly Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. The 2006 harvest presented Ken with more juice than he had space to ferment in tanks, and so he put what did not fit in the tanks into barrels to ferment, and the result is two distinctly different wines, both from the same grapes and the same winemaker. The following review is for the barrel fermented version, and I'll do a review of the tank fermented version soon.

Color: A peach color, with more pink hues than most pinot gris

Nose: Peach, a hint of green apple, a touch of grapefruit and citrus

Palatte: Not a complex wine, good balance, no flavors really jump out at me. Some peach, with a hint of orange, along with typical Pinot Gris flavors. Really short finish, after 10-15 seconds the flavors have disappeared.

Overall Rating: 6/10 At a price point of about $12/bottle, its a good weekday wine, which is fitting as it was drunk on a Monday night while watching football. Kathken Vineyards is priced towards the lower end, but the wines are good for the price. All of their wines are easy to drink, and decently good.

Kathken Vineyards

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