Domaine Nicolas-Jay’s Willamette Valley Pinot Noir: 2014-2020 tasted

To put it mildly, the partnership behind the Willamette Valley’s Nicolas-Jay, is an unusual alliance.

Jean-Nicolas Méo, the descendant of an important French political family and Jay Boberg, a music and recording entrepreneur from Los Angeles, together created a new property in Oregon in 2010.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for six Domaine Nicolas-Jay wines

Boberg’s sister had been at university in Philadelphia with Méo and, after meeting in 1988, the two families became friendly.

 At the helm of the prestigious Méo-Camuzet estate in Vosne-Romanée, Méo was aware that Boberg was looking for investors to expand production. Seeing the Drouhin family have great success with its Oregon estates, Méo decided to follow in their footsteps to the Willamette Valley. He and Boberg had similar tastes and ideas about wine and so the partnership was formed.

The first vintage for Nicolas-Jay was in 2014. Initially, the pair bought fruit from selected vineyards, up to nine of them. However, as the brand became more established, they could buy the Bishop Creek property when it came on the market in 2015 and have subsequently planted more acreage near their new winery.

Although they did produce limited quantities of single-vineyard wines, their primary focus is on a blended Pinot Noir from various growers in Willamette Valley. Boberg explains: ‘In Burgundy, estates mostly make wines from their single vineyards, so Jean-Nicolas is intrigued by the prospect of making a blended wine.’

In 2018 they created L’Ensemble, a selection of the best barrels. This cuvée is meant for ageing and cellaring. In contrast, the Willamette Valley bottling is crafted for early drinking. However, it’s a wine that does age well.

Burgundian model

Tracy Kendall is the on-site winemaker, though Méo spends up to two months a year in Oregon to supervise the harvest and the wine production. Not surprisingly, the winemaking follows the Burgundian model.

‘From the outset,’ says Boberg, ‘Jean-Nicolas didn’t want to make Pinot with high alcohol and extraction, even though such wines used to be very popular in Oregon. Our alcohols never exceed 13.5%.’ The grapes are de-stemmed, given a moderate cold soak and then fermented. Ageing takes place in mostly François Frères barrels that are one-third new, and the wines are bottled without fining, filtration, or sulphur dioxide additions.

The partners believe the harvest is even more critical than the winemaking methods. Boberg insists: ‘Picking dates are crucial and trump other factors such as fermentation temperatures. We remain close to our growers and like them to pick our parcels early in the day when temperatures are coolest. We respect their expertise, and they do their best to accommodate us so that we obtain the fruit we want.

Picking dates were less relevant in 2020 when the thick smoke from forest fires hung over the valley for eight days. It became apparent that the skins would be smoke-tainted, so Méo and Boberg decided to produce a white wine from the Pinot Noir grapes. By direct-pressing, as for a Chardonnay, the juice would flow and ferment untainted. Hence Fleur Blanche. Although the wine has met with a positive response, it’s still being determined whether it will be a one-off or a niche addition to the range in future.

The tasting made clear that these wines develop more complexity with some bottle age.

This article follows from Matthew Luczy’s producer profile on Domaine Nicolas-Jay published in 2020

Domaine Nicolas-Jay: six wines tasted

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