Reviews and Scores

2009 Pinot Noir - Resonance Vineyard

90 Points - Years Best Pinot Noir  - April 2011 – Wine and Spirits - Rich and forward, this wine has the beautiful purity of fruit that Resonance frequently provides, evidenced by a beam of rasberry flavor and completed by a touch of cola on the finish. It needs time to knit then serve with roast salmon.
 
The Pinot File  - Pinot Geek Icon -  Pommard, Wädenswil and Dijon 777 clones. Fermented with natural yeast, some pigeage, and aged sur lie in French oak. Unfined and unfiltered. · Moderately deep garnet hue in the glass. Boisterous and alluring aromas of dark, rich Pinot fruits that just won’t quit. Delicious attack of dark berry jam with ever changing additional layers of flavor that include anise, lavender and Asian spice. This is a wine of discovery, revealing more interest with each sip. The tannins are reigned in making for approachability now and the succulent fruit is hard to resist, but this wine will get better with cellaring. Fabulous goût de terroir. The Pinot File - William "Rusty" Gaffney, M.D. www.princeofpinot.com

2009 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

91 Points - October 2011 – Wine and Spirits -  This wines pronounced aromas of spice range from bergamot to violets and anise, all in support of fresh ripe raspberry. Give it time for the intriguing spice and fruit from the whole-cluster fermentation to better integrate. Then serve with lean cut of lamb.

 
94 points - Robert Parker - Wine Advocate Oct 2010
The 2008 Pinot Noir Resonance Vineyard was sourced from a biodynamically farmed site and made with 75% whole clusters, naturally fermented, and aged sur lie. Medium ruby red, it offers up a seductive perfume of cedar, earth notes, Asian spices, incense, cherry, andraspberry. Mouth-filling, sweetly-fruited, intense, and concentrated,this precision effort will evolve for several years and deliver prime drinking from 2013 to 2023.

The Pinot File -Rich, deep, brooding dark red fruits with a savory underpinning of chanterelle mushrooms, loamy earth and cardamon spice. This wine has impressive intensity on the mid palate, a pillowy texture, and a finish like a three hour movie you don’t want to end. Still a little closed, seemingly possessing more hidden charm waiting to get out. Cellar this wine for one to two years for ultimate gratification. Love the low alcohol. A very heavenly and sensual pleasure.truly exceptional - Pinot Geek Icon - The Pinot File - William "Rusty" Gaffney, M.D. www.princeofpinot.com
 

The Oregonian "Sur lie aging and a careful combination of new and used oak make this splurge wine a delight for the senses, with a silky texture and lightly spiced baked fruit flavors. Josephine the cow, a resident of Big Table Farm, gets a star turn on the keepsake-worthy label." Katherine Cole - Oregonian - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jlsKMMjk9c

The San Francisco Cronicle  - "Burnt orange peel, sweet extracted cherry and a bell-clear cranberry highlight, with a mineral edge. Hard to access at first - it's still pretty young - but there's ample ripeness amid its edgy acidity." Jon Bonné of The San Francisco Cronicle (one of 13 wines chosen out of 80 Oregon Pinot Noirs - fall of '09)

91 Points - October 2011 – Wine and Spirits -  Give this time in a decanter to evolve past its blunt, grapey strawberry flavors and the arc of the wine grows more apparent. The crisp lines of the structure take shape, lengthening the earthy flavor detail, adding the complexity ripe stems bring to a wine as it ages - the fermentation included 50 percent whole cluster without yeast inoculation and the wine was bottled with out fining or filtration.

 

90 points - Robert Parker - Wine Advocate Jun 2008 -  Drink: Dense purple, with the nose exhibiting blackberry and acacia flower notes, this 2006 Syrah has good acidity, medium to full body, and beautiful purity and length. Amazingly, this wine was made in two lots - one with 75% whole clusters and the second lot completely destemmed. The wine is superb, drinks well already, but should age nicely for another 5-6 years.

The Oregonian -  2006 Big Table Farm California Syrah
California?! Yes, the grapes were sourced from White Hawk Vineyard in Santa Barbara County; and the inky wine is made in a California style, with concentrated blackberry, black pepper, gravel and smoked bacon on the finish. But a brambly aroma and bright acidity bring elegance to the glass ... and a 2009 Oregon pinot noir is in the works. The letterpress label is a stunning example of Clare Carver's artwork.

Press

Wine and Spirits  "top 9 wineries to watch" - Wine and Spirits names Big Table Farm in the top 9 wineries to watch for 2010  internationally




LA Weekly - From Pigs to Prosciutto + Really Great Pinot Noir - By Jenn Garbee

'Big Table Farm owners Clare Carver and Brain Marcy started making Pinot Noir on their Gaston, Oregon farm simply because, as Carver says, "We love to eat and drink."

That might be what you'd expect to hear from anyone crazy enough to venture into a food business, but these are the sort of folks who truly don't take eating and drinking casually. The eating side of the equation is satisfied by the free-range grass-fed chickens, cattle and pigs the couple raise on their 70-acre property.

' http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2011/02/big_table_farm_pinot_noir.php

Some lovely revierws from Cork Wine Shop in Portland -

a snipit from a much longer review of all our wines by Darryl - Cork wine shop owner - "I gave the white wine featured below the highest score I've ever noted on an Oregon white wine." - I really don't care if you buy any of this, because they only gave me 2 of the 40 cases they produced and I will be pretty happy if I get to drink them all"

NW Palate Sept/October  2010 Issue -  "Setting a Big Table"

 

2008 – Wilamette Valley Pinot Noir – Aromas of cherries, berries, and roses release upon swirling and burst softly on the supple palate, finishing with fine-grained tannins. This blend was primarily sourced from the Johan Vineyard, farmed by Dan Rinke using environmentally responsible farming practices (and working toward biodynamic certification). Dan gathers manure from cows at Big Table Farm and is using it in the preparations for the vineyard rows he’s farming.

 

2007 – White Hawk Vineyard Syrah – The grapes were grown on ancient sand dunes on the south-facing slopes of the Los Alamos Valley in Santa Barbara County, California. Soft tannins are structured to age gracefully for 3-5 years. The label features one on Clare’s pigs in another form – as one of Brian’s cured hames, which, not coincidentally, is a great pairing with this wine.

 

2008 – Resonance Vineyard Pinot Noir – This vineyard, located just west of Carlton in Oregon’s Yamhill-Carlton AVA, is certified Biodynamic. Sur lie aging and a careful combination of new and used oak produce a silky texture, balanced by spicy tannins ans dark red fruit – cherries and cranberries. Josephine the cow, a resident of Big Table Farm, adorns the handmade and affixed.

 

2009 – Cattrall Vineyard Pinot Noir Rosé – Featuring Clare’s illustration, “Laughing Pig,” on the label, the ’09 Rosé was made with grapes from the oldest certified organic vineyard in Oregon and then barrel-fermented to dryness, completed malolactic, and aged sur lie until the day before it was bottles. This Rosé is fresh yet lush on the palate.

Gerry Frank - The Orogonian - Brian Marcy and Clare Carver moved from California to develop their 70-acre Big Table Farm (26851 N.W. Williams Canyon Road, Gaston; 503-662-3129; bigtablefarm.com). Brian serves as winemaker, Clare as chief marketer and an industry-known wine label designer. (Clare's talent goes beyond wine labels; her fine art paintings are shown in San Francisco and other West Coast locations, including Carlton.) Pigs, chickens and cows are free range and organically fed. Draft horses are hitched to plow the acreage. A large garden helps support family and guests. Grapes are sourced from other sustainable-practices vineyards; wine can be purchased directly. Watch for a late spring recommencement of Big Table Farm dinners.

1858 Magazine - Spring 2010 Feature - "Eat Drink Graze Love" http://www.1859magazine.com/1859-Magazine/Spring-2010/Eat-Drink-Graze-Love/

'Winemakers in tiny Gaston strike a balance in winemaking, sustainable farming and life outside of Napa Valley.Brian and clare Carver live by a seemingly simple creed: eat, drink, enjoy.'

The Oregonian - Wine and food on the farm - By KATHERINE COLE
'Modern-day photos of wine country depict swaths of green vines rolling over hillsides in perfect, corduroylike rows. But as bucolic as these images might appear to us, they would look alien to a visitor from centuries past. That's because, once upon a time, farms were multipurpose operations, with grapes planted alongside vegetable patches and animal pens. Winemaking was just one of the many tasks that fell to the subsistence farmer.Today, a new wave of local vintners is trying to re-create the Old World way of vine tending, for practical as well as sentimental reasons.'

http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2009/08/wine_and_food_on_the_farm.html

 

The Pinot File - Dec 2010

This outstanding producer burst on the Oregon wine scene in 2006. A collaborative effort between winemaker Brian Marcy and artist Clare Carver, the pair are another one of a long line of California emigrants who arrived in the Willamette Valley to farm grapes and craft wine. The pair compliment each others' talents, with Brian the experienced winemaker, and Clair the marketer and manager of their 70 acres in Gaston. He studied fermentation science at University of California at Davis and apprenticed in California at Turley Wine Cellars, Neyers Vineyards, Blankiet Estate and Marcassin, and in Australia at Trevor Jones Fine Wines. She has won multiple awards for wine label design which adorn the wines of notable wineries like Beaux Freres, Phelps Creek and Miner Family Vineyards.

 

Beyond making remarkable wines, the couple have established a working farm where they raise pigs, cows, meat and egg-laying chickens, and have working horses. The name, “Big Table Farm,” reflects the owners’ desire to provide a welcoming table for themselves and their friends, laden with artisan foods and wine. Some of the farm-raised animal products will eventually become available commercially.

The lineup of wines have varied each year and the 2009 Laughing Pig Pinot Noir Rosé, 2008 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and 2008 Resonance Vineyard Willamette Valley Pinot Noir have been previously reviewed (www.princeofpinot.com/winery/964/). Most labels feature a drawing of a single farm animal and are quite stylish. They are fashioned by hand using a letterpress, then cut and glued onto each bottle. Besides the wines reviewed below, a 2009 Riesling from Brooks Estate Vineyard and a 2007 Syrah from California’s White Hawk Vineyard are offered. A 2009 Willamette Valley blend will be released in the spring 2011.

Big Table Farm wines are sold primarily through a mailing list at www.bigtablefarm.com. The website is very informative and one of the most modern and well-designed winery websites I have ever visited. The winery and farm are open only by appointment (503-662-3129).

I must admit to being smitten by not only the quality of Big Table Farm wines, but the way the owners stand out as truly personal and talented individuals with generous joie de vivre, and a commitment to sustainable farming traditions. This is the type of small producer we want to, need to, and have to support.

Oregon Wine Press - Sept - cover story 'coop scoop'



"The most sublime Pinot Noir to grace your glass may be one of the hottest topics of conversation at the International Pinot Noir Celebration held every July since 1987 in McMinnville. But also swirling around the Riedels this year were the cast of characters at one wine country luncheon that had guests all aflutter.

Brian Marcy and Clare Carver of Big Table Farm hosted attendees for a noontime affair that began with a blending seminar set in a charming barn, hay bales stacked high. Orchestrated clucks chattered from the nearby hen house. As if on cue, a gregarious rooster would cock-a-doodle-doo. One free ranging chicken burrowing in the towering hay, tail feathers out, provided a photogenic distraction as many wine lovers aimed digital devices at the iconic farm animal hoping to capture this slice of Americana." - Kerry Newberry
 

The Pinot File  '2010 Pinot All-American First Team' 

2008 Antica Terra Botanica Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 185 cases, $75 The nose is reticent initially, becoming more charming with time in the glass eventually showing a melange of berry fruits, Herbs de Provence and a hint of oak. Lovely depth and richness of flavor featuring the entire array of berries including boysenberry, blackberry and strawberry with an underpinning of savory herbs. A charming wine with supple tannins, bright acidity and fruit all in perfect harmony. Needs plenty of foreplay (decanting) to drink now. A magnificent effort that will reward long term cellaring.

 

2008 Big Table Farm Resonance Vineyard Yamhill-Carlton District Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 94 cases, $45 Rich, deep, brooding dark red fruits with a savory underpinning of chanterelle mushrooms, loamy earth and cardamom spice. This wine has impressive intensity on the mid palate, a pillowy texture, and a finish like a three hour movie you don’t want to end. Still a little closed, seemingly possessing more hidden charm waiting to get out. Cellar this wine for at least two years for ultimate gratification. Love the low alcohol (13.1%). A very heavenly and sensual pleasure.

2008 Carabella Inchinnan Chehalem Mountains Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 150 cases, $54 Moderate reddish-purple hue in the glass. Picks up aromatic intensity in the glass over time offering a plethora of aromas of dark stone fruits, allspice, rose petals, and a hint of cut flowers. Delicious dark plum and blackberry fruit flavors with a bit of sauvage, with eye-opening mid palate intensity, yet still only hinting at its future potential. Very smoothly textured with amazing persistence on the prodigious finish. A benchmark Pinot Noir for Oregon in 2008 that will be nothing short of spectacular in five years.

2008 Lange Estate Winery & Vineyards Lange Estate Vineyard Dundee Hills Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 295 cases, $60 Dark reddish-purple color in the glass. Very complex aromatics that constantly change in the glass revealing a diverse perfume of dark fruits, baking spices, underbrush, toast and smoke. Charming dark red and black fruit profile with well integrated oak toast and spice. Impressive persistence on the aromatic finish that sails along. Big, yet more demure than the Lange Freedom Hill bottling with more emphasis on redder fruits. Beautifully composed with welcoming harmony. Definitely needs more time but can be a dinner table centerpiece now with decanting. It is wines like this that make Pinot my paramour.

 

2008 Laura Volkman Rachel Estate Chehalem Mountains Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $40 Moderate reddish-purple hue in the glass. Very charming scents of plum sauce, mixed berry tart and spice box that led me to write, “You gotta be kidding me!” The attack of dark red cherries and berries is ripe, juicy and vivid augmented by flavors of cherry skins and savory herbs. Slightly more weight than the 2007 version of this wine, but not weighty. Finely tuned tannins and impeccable balance. The cherry aromas linger on the finish for more than 30 seconds. This is the kind of Pinot Noir that drives normal people to do almost anything to get their hands on some. Very approachable now, but built to last another 7 to 10 years easily.

2008 Lenné Estate Yamhill-Carlton District Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 496 cases, $45 The nose (see label) offers a panoply of different red and black fruit aromas including cherries, strawberries and red currents with an underpinning of smoky oak. Flat out delicious array of pristine fruit including black raspberries and cherries. Lovely accents of loamy earth and mocha. Highly persistent and intensely aromatic finish. A seamless wine from a magical piece of dirt.

2008 Privé Vineyard le nord Yamhill County Willamette Valley Pinot Noir$49 Moderate reddish-purple color in the glass. Lovely aromas of black cherries, black raspberries and a hint of exotic spices. Rich and forthcoming with a blackberry and black cherry core clothed in caressing tannins and possessing the right touch of balancing acidity. More lush and forward than the Privé le sud bottling. A dreamy wine with a creamy texture that is approachable now but will benefit with more time in the cellar. If this wine was a lover instead of a wine, it is the one that would make you abandon your family, leave your job, and forfeit your hard-won position in the community for just one more fling.

2008 Shea Wine Cellars Block 22 “Last Hurrah” Yamhill-Carlton District Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $55 Moderately dark reddish-purple hue in the glass. Demure but pleasing aromas of fresh red berries, graham and violets. Delicious core of red cherries and blueberries. Beautifully composed with vivid and well-focused flavors, fine ground gossamer tannins, a velvety texture, and an amazingly long and aromatic finish that is flat out stunning. A wine to treasure that is the last of its kind from Shea Vineyard. Drink some history.

2008 St. Innocent White Rose Vineyard Dundee Hills Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $60 Moderate reddish-purple color. Shy but lovely perfume of fresh pie cherries with a sniff of smoky oak. An immensely satisfying wine offering delicious black cherry and berry flavors with a hint of citrus peel in the background. Astonishing persistence of cherry essence on the finish. Silky in the mouth with balanced supple tannins. This wine really grabs your attention and holds on. You can drink it now with grilled salmon, but it will be even better with more time in the cellar.

2008 White Rose Estate White Rose Vineyard Dundee Hills Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 176 cases, $75 Moderately deep ruby color in the glass. Shy but haunting aromas of black cherries, grilled meat and spice. A black tie, sophisticated wine that is still a bit stiff and formal and needs time to unwind. That said, it offers a perfect balance of perfectly ripe cherry and berry fruit, vital acidity and refined tannins. The silky mouth feel adds to the allure. The beauty of this wine grows on you over time in the glass and is spectacular the next day from a previously opened and re-corked bottle. Very classy, age worthy juice.