A Pinot Noir Renaissance?

The 2008 Pinot Noir vintage in Oregon is much heralded ... Does it portend a return to more traditional expressions of this varietal?  If Loring's 2008 Shea Vineyard bottling from the Willamette Valley is any indication, then we may expect so.
LWC's 2008 Shea is a delight ... it is very approachable now but will improve with another year or so in the bottle.  The subtle violet nose will continue to develop ... lithe tannins provide the framework for sweet cherry and spice ... and, yes, there is that wonderful Oregon earthiness that makes Burgundy fans take notice!  The Willamette Valley terroir is to Pinot Noir what Rutherford dust is to Cabernet Sauvignon.
This is a very food-friendly wine...something that is often found wanting in the "fruit-bomb" style of Pinots from northern California (Loring also makes Pinots from northern California and central California .. more on those later).   It complemented a dinner of veal Milanese perfectly.
The Pinot Report recognized the excellence of Loring's '08 Shea, rating it at a whopping 96 points.  Harvey Steiman at Wine Spectator really missed the mark on this excellent wine, drastically under-rating it at 87 points.  I would rate this wine in the 92-94 point range.  I actually prefer it to many 93-94 point California pinots I have had from the acclaimed 2007 vintage...
Here is an excerpt from the Loring Wine Company website about the 2008 effort:
“We’d been at the forefront of the ‘bigger is better’ wave, trying to see just how freakin’ massive and ripe we could get Pinot Noir. It was an exciting ride, but we lost some of you along the way. We’ve learned a lot since then and refined what we do, it’s almost as if we’re new again."
The 2008 LWC Shea is just what I look for in pinot noir ... Congratulations to the Loring team!