Alex Nichols is the owner and proprietor of the label of the same name, A.F. Nichols. Alex is a young guy by anyone's standards at 24, and he's already crafting Willamette Valley Pinot Noir that leads one to believe that when it comes to his winemaking style, he's an old soul.
Alex's background is very scientific in nature, he's a laboratory guy. Yet he's fully aware that crafting wine is art as well as science, and that laboratory gizmos don't replace a winemaker's best tools: "their nose, tastebuds and intuition." For Alex, his education has continued outside of the laboratory in the vineyards of the Willamette Valley, but perhaps more importantly in his interactions with some of the Valley's great winemaking talent.
Alex has done as much as he can to taste wine with some of those influential winemakers and for him, it's not just about tasting, but about really deconstructing the wine he tastes. "When I taste someone's wine, I try to recall every detail I know about their winemaking and their vineyards, then I can put the pieces together in my head. I decide what I like and don't like about a wine, then I figure out if it is a function of the site or the winemaker." For Alex, all of this analysis, perhaps a product of his scientific background, helps him find his own leanings, or preferences, in style and site factors, like soil types or vine age that contribute to the kinds of wines he'd like to make.
Alex's first contribution is the 2010 Principio Pinot Noir, an outstanding and elegant Pinot Noir from this newcomer. The wine is very balanced with bright acidity, red berry and earthen aromatics. The palate has earthen undertones, black tea, white pepper and cranberry. Fairly light in body but complex and the flavors and aromas have a depth to them. The wine has a phenomenal satiny mouthfeel. $36
This wine was provided as a sample from the winery.
1 comments:
Clive, thank you for the great write up! Cheers!
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