Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019 - 26

Top 100 Wineries

Big Table Farm

Brooks

OREGON | WILLAMETTE VALLEY
Brian Marcy and Clare Carver are adding vines to their livestock
farm, continuing to take a road less traveled with their wines.

OREGON | WILLAMETTE VALLEY
One of the destination wineries in the Eola-Amity Hills, not only
for its rieslings and pinot noirs, but for its chill tasting room,
with a stellar Pacific Northwest view.

LAST TIME HUSBAND-WIFE duo Brian Marcy and
Clare Carver were part of the Top 100, in 2015,
they had just built a winery on their 70 acres of
farmland in Gaston, Oregon. Marcy handles the
winemaking, while Carver tends to their pastureraised pigs, cows and other livestock. Carver says
they haven't changed the way they're working
since their last Top 100 award, but she points out
the difference in how Marcy has fine-tuned his
winemaking and how she has integrated their
farm animals into the work of preparing their
land for their first vineyard planting. They've
noticed how the farm's soils retain moisture better, and having cleared 13 acres this year for
what will become their estate vineyard, they
worked with a material management firm to
cleanly convert the vegetation they cleared into
biochar that they can use in compost. In the
winery, Marcy has abandoned his destemmer
in favor of whole clusters in his fermentations,
a benefit we picked up on in their savory, spicedriven pinot noirs. -S.L.

BRIAN
MARCY

BROOKS WINERY, FOUNDED: BY JIMI BROOKS in
1998, was just coming into its own when Jimi
succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 28.
The winery was left to his young son, Pascal, and
Jimi's sister, Janie Brooks Heuck, has managed
it, retaining their talented winemaker, Chris Williams, who is about to commence on his 16th
harvest. Both Williams and Heuck have held to
Jimi's vision of winemaking, inspired by a stage
in Beaujolais. Brooks is known for lean, savory
pinots and limpid white wines, in particular, riesling-there are 19 in current release, from dry to
not so dry, and including single vineyard, lateharvest and dessert bottlings. Perhaps more than
any other winery, Brooks has contributed to the
discussion as to how Oregon fits into riesling's
global palette of expressions. -P.J.C.

CHRIS
WILLIAMS

2017 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($45, 94
points) Big Table Farm's entry-level pinot noir, this
is a blend from all eight pinot noir sites that Marcy
works. It's a terrific representation of the northern
Willamette, with a beautiful balance of juicy raspberry
fruit and savory notes of black tea and cocoa.
2017 Willamette Valley Earth Pinot Noir ($105,
94 points) A selection of five barrels Marcy considers to be the best expression of the vintage, Earth is
seriously intense in 2017, the dark red-fruit flavors
framed with notes of red earth, beets, clove and
spiced orange peel.

2017 Willamette Valley Ara Riesling ($38, 93
points) Ara draws on two riesling sources: the
Brooks estate, planted in 1974, and Yamhill Vineyard,
planted in the mid-1980s. Exotic from the outset, with
scents of crushed lime, apple, stones and just a faint
hint of fusel, it's creamy for just an instant, then a tart
shift turns it lean and herbal. Built to age.

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Pelos Sandberg Vineyard
Pinot Noir ($62, 93 points) This bottling has been
a standout in our tastings since the first vintage in
2010; the 2017 is true to form, with warm tones of
roses and macerated cherry framed with delicate
tannins.
FOUNDED :

1998

OWNER:
FOUNDED :

2006
Brian
Marcy and Clare
Carver
WINEMAKER: Brian
Marcy
ACRES OWNED: 70

Pascal Brooks

OWNERS:

WINEMAKER:

CASES PRODUCED:

Chris Williams
VITICULTURIST:

Northwest Vineyard Services
ACRES OWNED: 18

4,000

23,000

ESTATE GROWN:

None

20%

WINE & SPIRITS

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Sweet P Brooks Estate
Vineyard Riesling ($24, 92 points) Sweet P is
Brooks's off-dry riesling from estate fruit, typically
bearing the highest must weight of all the winery's
table wines. Despite being luscious and juicy with
pomelo and tangerine flavor, it retains a through-line
of limey, racy acidity. And it offers plenty of complexity
in its chalk and celery-salt textures, its honeysuckle
phenols flush with fruit and with energy.

BUYING GUIDE 2020

2016 Eola-Amity Hills Sunny Mountain Vineyard
Pinot Noir ($48, 93 points) One of 18 Brooks pinots
in current release, this grows at a site near Eugene,
in southern coastal Willamette Valley. It's placid and
dark, with notes of warm plum skin and black cherry
and a sleek and elegant texture-a polished red for
smoked salmon.

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019

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