Vintages

A guide to cellaring and drinking your Goodfellow and Matello wines.

2019

A cool vintage overall, with a later, cooler spring leading to a summer with modest heat. As the fruit closed in on maturity a series of rainstorms came through slowing sugar accumulation, refreshing vines, and creating a cooler finish to the growing season. Wines are very pretty, and quite transparent in nature. While I envision them adding a bit of weight, I feel the 2019 vintage is perfect for those who love ethereal wines. Low alcohol and of modest extract, I see them as excellent 5-12 year old bottles, with a few exceptions that seem destined for being at their best as 10-20 year old wines.

Our Vintages

Traditionally Pinot noir has an early window of drinkability and then shuts down for several years, only to re-emerge in a more wondrous form, as if from a cocoon. Our wines have a track record of following this cycle, and the capricious temperament of Mother Nature in the Willamette Valley means that choosing the right time to open a Goodfellow wine can require considerable practice. For a short guide on the wines in your Goodfellow/Matello cellar, or at least our insight into the bottles you are holding on to, please select the year in question (or just scroll down).

Originally these posts were meant to be advice only on cellaring, for someone holding on to bottles or cases in order to enjoy older wines, and wondering when to pull the trigger. For more recent vintages though there are two questions: how will the wine age, but too, what is it like now? One of the most mysterious and magical things about wine is tasting it as it evolves and changes through it's lifespan. There is beauty in youthful exuberance, and there is beauty in the wisdom of age. Witnessing the transformation from one to the other is something that, for us, never gets old.

With that in mind, most of these notes pertain to wines that are being held and cellared past the point of general consumer availability. For wines currently in release we suggest opening them and enjoying the over the course of an evening, or even better, two or three evenings.

2018

The 2018 vintage is the third in a trio of great Willamette Valley vintages. The wines are defined by a layered, complex nature, with ripe fruit flavors, great acidity, modest alcohols, fine tannins, and a precise expression of terroir. Tasting through the 2018s, we have consistently been struck by the clear delineations between the vineyards, the old-world elegance and light-footed nature of the wines. A vintage with magnificent cellaring potential.

With high quality across the board, the 2018 Pinot Noirs and white wines are a tantalizing lot. Some will be better served by putting directly into the deep cellar though. For current near term enjoyment, look to the Willamette Valley bottling as an over achiever. Also the Durant vineyard and Lewman vineyard designates offer a great early window, as well as excellent cellaring potential. The Fir Crest and Whistling Ridge are both available with air, and worth an early look. If you are already familiar with our wines, then leaving these two and the Temperance Hill to sleep until at least 2023 seems a wise choice. For the micro-lots and Heritage wines, the Block 8 from Fir Crest is available with air, and the Old Vine Pommard from Lewman is in a beautiful place. While cellaring these two is worthy, it may be hard to resist opening them. The Heritage No. 11 Durant and Heritage No. 14 Lewman are also in a beautiful early window now. That said, I feel they will also have an extraordinary mature window around 2027-2030.

For the Whistling Ridge and Temperance Hill microdots, I would advise patience. Can you force a good experience out of these wines? Absolutely. Especially the Long Acre, with Beloved Acre and House Block also showing well when open overnight. The Heritage No. 12 Whistling Ridge and Pumphouse Block Temperance Hill are structured enough to be obvious agers. But all of these are really wines that speak to me of Grand Cru and seeing them from 2028 on into the 30s. They are absolutely some of the best wines I have produced and the cellar that has these will be well rewarded for the care and time invested in them.

For Chardonnays, the 2018 Durant is in a wonderful place right now, but should drink well for the rest of the decade. The Whistling Ridge and Richard’s are just a bit quieter right now(as one would expect), but drink very well with time open. However, I feel like they will continue to improve for at least 5-10 years. Both AVA bottlings are drinking very well, but seem to me that they will improve over the next few years as well.

The Willamette Valley Chardonnay is in an excellent window and should drink well for another 5-7 years. QPR here and in the AVA bottlings is off the charts.

The Whistling Ridge Blanc should drink very well from now until at least 2028.

2017

2017 was a remarkable growing season, with excellent weather through the bulk of the year. Over the past several years we've been increasingly focused on canopy management, using no till farming to increase competition for nitrogen in the early growing season, and seeking more sunlight directly on the fruit and stems during the ripening period. The resulting wines have shown increased flavor development and acid maturity at lower Brix. With excellent weather, we harvested the second half of September and into early October, picking with modest sugars, excellent depth and nuance in flavor.

These wines still highlight the savory nature of the vintage, but the weight of the wine has started to fill in around the tannins and structure, and they are on a whole in a beautiful place for youthful enjoyment, showing powerful aromatics and mid-palate density, again, benefiting from a bit of air.

For whites, the Whistling Ridge Blanc is evolving well. If you have been able to hold a bit of this, it’s continuing to be delicious but in a bit of an adolescence. Drink now to 2027.

The Chardonnays are in a bit of a still place, and I would hold. They are chiseled, but the match stick jumps a bit more than is typical, and the body is fairly linear for now. Look to these in 2023-2027.

The 2017 Pinot Noirs, while savory still have also filled in a bit of texture and are in a lovely early window. The Willamette Valley is lighter bodied and so easy to drink. Light bodied, if you need weight, then hold another year or two. Also, day 2 is richer than day 1. The Ribbon Ridge is still in evolution, but boy what a great de-classified bottle of WR. This is delicious now, especially if you like a little structure. The vineyard designates from Whistling Ridge, Durant, and Temperance Hill are all just dynamite for crunchy youthful Pinot Noirs. Many years to go, but all in a good spot for the moment. I thought they would be asleep by now, but not quite yet.

For the Micro-Lots, the Last Acre at Whistling Ridge is in a lovely spot, almost Chorey-Les-Beaune like. Block 11 from Fir Crest continues to drink well and demonstrate what depth and complex wines can be produced from Yamhill-Carlton. The Heritage No. 9 Durant is sleeping soundly and definitely requests not to be woken up. The House is quieting down but the splendor of that bottling is still quite obvious. Tremendous length and intensity, but hold until 2027. The 2017 Long Acre is delicious, if restrained and it and the Pumphouse from Temperance Hill both seem like they will be long agers, hitting peak in 2027-2037. The Heritage No. 10 Whistling Ridge is my wine of the vintage, and is one of my favorite wines of my career(a bigger statement than it used to be now that there are 19 vintages to choose from.) We kept quite a bit of this, and in my opinion it will be one of my benchmark wines over the next 20 years.

2016

2016 as a vintage, is extraordinarily pretty, balanced, and delicious. These wines had tremendous early appeal, and that charm continues to make pulling the cork on a 2016 an easy thing to do. But…I actually feel these wines are going through a little bit of a dumb phase. They want a little more air, show a bit more restriction on the succulence of the fruit, and just seem ever so slightly cranky. They’re showing a little bit of the flatness that comes as fruit subsides while tannins are working through their phases still.

The Heritage wines: #7 from Whistling Ridge is reminiscent at times of Piemontese wines. Layered dusty red fruits, fresh kitchen herbs, tea notes. If you have to open this, it needs a day or two to open. I would hold off for now, but The #8 from Durant vineyard has rounded out into a superb Dundee Hills wine, it is in just a hint of a quiet mood. I would recommend holding these for now. The vineyard designates are also all still showing their quality but without showing off, and I would recommend holding them for now.

In the opposite direction, I really recommend drinking the Willamette Valley and Ribbon Ridge bottlings if you have more than one. These will continue to age, but boy are they in a great spot now.

The 2016 Chardonnays are clean, complex, elegant, and world class. The Durant is a tranquil bath of yellow gold fruits, leaning into subtle touches of subois, and clean, creamy acidity. The Richard’s blossomed into a lovely wine with bright ripe fruit, yet superb balance, I seem to keep finishing bottles off…. Look to 2022-2030 for this wine. But to be fair, it’s in a delicious spot now, if you don’t want to wait, then go for it.

2016 Whistling Ridge Blanc is drinking very well. Vibrant complex, hitting all of the marks for a wine of this nature, complex aromatically, with lychee, mixed fruits, citrus peel, and flowers, perhaps a touch of smoke. The palate is textural but energetic and it drinks vibrantly but in a refined way.

2015

2015 ranks as the Willamette Valley's warmest viticultural vintage on record. The wines are appropriately robust, but have a liveliness and purity to them that belies the heat. Easily my favorite of the hot vintages. I find the 2015 vineyard designate Pinot Noirs to be slightly shut down, but with enough flesh to still be enjoyable. The Whistling Ridge is particularly compelling, but I feel another 3-5 years will show even greater heights.

The Fir Crest is tightening up just a bit. Floral and deep with clove and dark spice on the nose. Silky, purple without unctuousness, floral, refreshing yet comforting but showing just a touch foursquare as forward vintages often do when in the “dumb phase”. (8/2023 this continues to be true. Hold.)

The Whistling Ridge, is layered and just a great bottle of wine. Decanting is recommended and time is required for the complete experience. However, I feel it is in a phase where waiting is the best course of action. Drink 2025-2035. (Tasted 4/2023)

The Durant vineyard has opened up and is showing the richness, weight, and spice of a ripe vintage Dundee Hills pinot Noir. The old vines(43 years old) give it a subtlety and balance lacking in many ripe character wines, but it has considerable robustness.

All three of the single vineyards are wines that I am confident will last 10 to 15 years. The 2015 Willamette Valley is pretty and youthful, with structure and spiced red fruit. It’s complex and beautiful for an entry level wine, and while it will continue to improve, I have had a recent bottle and this continues to be the case. Drink now-2025.

The Heritage wines all seem to be in a relatively dense and closed up phase. For the most part we would recommend holding, but the wines are certainly powerful, and start to show a bit more day two or three.

The Syrah is delicious, elegant, with thyme and purple fruits on the nose. I like this now, it’s very fine, shows layers of flavor, but the 100% whole cluster will give the wine plenty of opportunity to evolve in the cellar. Very much in a drink now phase, this wine is firing on all cylinders but continued time in the cellar will likely not come at a cost. It’s in the plateau but a long time to any drop off.

Currently, I prefer the Chardonnays on day 2 after opening, but feel they will be best between 2023-2028. The Durant is richer with dense aromatics of the sea, orchards, and wheat/grain fields. The Richard's has a smokey nose, black tea abounds, it loads the sense with fruit, non-fruit, and hits a perfect balance between austere and sumptuous. Drink now to 2028. (tasted recently, I agree that the next 5 years are a great window for the 2015 Chardonnays.

The Whistling Ridge Blanc should reward patience, it’s remarkable now, but the best opportunity for a superlative experience is now! While this will hold on a while, it’s in a beautiful place.

2014

Mother Nature brought the heat in 2014, and while a large crop helped mitigate the warmth a bit, this was a juicy and fruit forward vintage in its youth. Over the past year the wines have seemed to teeter between completely shut down, and pleasantly refreshing. Still, the wines are still quite young, and even at their best, not showing much for secondary characteristics as of yet. The 2014 Durant shows tremendous potential, but is still somewhat tightly wound. Bottle in October 2020 needed 24 hours to open up(and was fantastic two days after that). The Whistling Ridge wants another 2-4 years, but is also starting to show why it was the wine of the vintage for me. The Bishop Creek, tasted in January of 2020 was beginning to unfold it’s wings. It is light-medium bodied and very refreshing, with red fruits, it’s atypical but becoming a very good expression of the vineyard. No rush though, it also seemed quite youthful and still on the way up.

Whites however are excellent, with the Chardonnays leading the way. The Richard's Cuvee is best open for 5-6 hours, and the Durant is in the early stages of a heightened plateau. These are world class wines, and have really grown into that status with the last year or two in the cellar. The Willamette Valley Chardonnay is drinking well and an excellent new world counterpart to wines from the commune of Rully. This wine continues to be a tremendous value and has lots of life left in it.

The 2014 Whistling Ridge Blanc is evolving texturally, showing exquisite fruit expression and should last at least 8-10 years.

updated 1/17/20

2013

Updated 8/23: A warm growing season got turned on it's head when a tropical storm far away in the Pacific dumped 6-7 inches of rain on the Valley just as fruit was getting ripe. After an intense 3 days of rain, the weather was clear and cold. Most fruit had 8-17 days to dry out before being picked, and while the wines show the impact of the rain, they are beautiful and among my favorites to drink (not unlike 2007).

Note: these wines should to be stood upright for a few days prior to pulling the cork in order to allow fine sediment to settle out.

The Whistling Ridge is red earth and cinnamon over pomegranates, ripe cherries, strawberry fruit leather and dry spices. Elegant, fruity, yet light bodied in a dry and savory way with excellent weight and purity in the red fruits, fine developed tannins, this has the feel of a mature wine just entering the plateau of an open drinking window. No signs of diminishing quality at all, drink now-2027. This wine continues to gain weight and fills in beautifully with a decanter or a few hours open.

The Bishop Creek aromatics have opened up, coniferous forest notes layer over black fruits, stem subois has softened into a dark forest floor tone, with hints of sweet spice balancing the savory. There is a watery timeless nature to these wines, not dilute in any way, but devoid of either youthful or aged tones and lacking the plush extraction so common in many current new world wines. If you like Piemontese wines, this is a wine you should sample. While still retaining amaro notes and fine astringent tannins, there is no denying the compelling aromatics, and the layering coming on in the palate. Drink or Hold.

The Durant Pinot Noir is in a perfectly lovely window right now. Delicately expressive, like finding lace from a bygone generation. In todays world of ripe, textural fruit, this is a quiet conversation about what we have to learn from what came before. Age is beauty.

The Fool's Journey Syrah/Viognier (still bottled under the Matello label) is a completely unique wine and quite compelling. This wine is drinking beautifully now. It opens with plenty of classic black pepper and floral tones over beautiful red/blue fruits. It fills in gaining texture, but remaining light bodied and refreshing. Acids are perfectly balanced. With time the red fruit deepens and a parade of spice notes, herbs, and soil/subois tones accompanies it. Just a dynamite experience.

Whites are stony and mineral in nature, but I recommend drinking them over the next 3-5 years. The Richard’s Cuvee has knit itself into something quite spectacular. Struck match, very stony and old world. The Durant is similar but not as intense. The Whistling Ridge Blanc is delicious and into a lovely plateau, drink one the next 5-6 years.

*Under natural cork there is always a distinct amount of bottle variation. As the wines age, this variation becomes more distinct. Regarding the notes here, all wines have been tasted recently, but for all bottles YMMV. However, you will find Diam cork as our closure of choice beginning with the 2013 vintage red wines. Guaranteed TCA free and with a more consistent density, Diam is a huge improvement over traditional cork and I am really happy to be using it now.*

2012

A remarkable vintage: a late cold and wet spring led to a small crop and some furrowed brows regarding whether we had the necessary days to ripen fruit (although recent experiences with 2010 and 2011 said that good and great wines were still a possibility.) Then a perfect ripening season provided the vines all the energy they needed, and winemakers the hang time they desired. As a vintage, the wines are dense, still holding on to a youthful tension but with added weight and mystery. The 2012 Pinot Noirs are coming into the window. The Whistling Ridge, Souris, Durant, and Bishop Creek are both in the plateau, and drink very well with long lives ahead but easy availability now. The 2012 Heritage No. 1 is just peeking out from behind the veil. They are superlative wines, and need air but boy are they great once they open up. The 2012 Souris will drink from now until 2030. A bottle of 2012 Whistling Ridge, drank in October of 20 needed a day to open but boy when it did…a study in red fruit, one of my favorite wines of the year. The first Heritage wine, should be a hold for now. A recent bottle showed early availability, but nothing close to peak.

2012 Chardonnays are a richer style from our norm, and at peak. Drink now.

Hold the Whistling Ridge Blanc for another 2-10 years before digging into it. This is arguably the greatest vintage, behind perhaps only 2006 for that wine. It still needs plenty of time to open, but is absolutely remarkable.

**This post covers both Goodfellow and Matello wines.

2011

The coldest vintage in Willamette Valley history. Malics were high and while malic/lactic offer bright acidity, they have low strength and do little to aid in bottles aging well. The 2011s have come into a lovely window but should definitely be consumed soon.

2011 Souris opens a little tight, but is a beautiful wine. Very much in the Burgundian style, with lovely dark red fruits, woodsy notes, and dry red earth. While this is a pretty and elegant red fruited wine when opened, the magic trick it pulls around the 4-5 hour mark is shocking. It adds weight and aromatics evolving into a gorgeous bottle of wine. I would drink these sooner rather than later.

2011 Whistling Ridge and Durant continue to be wines with lovely aromatics and lean, harder acids and tannins. I would hold, but not give up hope (on the other hand, I am also happy to replace these wines with a more available wine if you are holding them and tired of waiting).

Whites are linear and interesting, but definitely should be drunk up in the near term.

**This post covers Matello wines**

2010

One of Oregon's coolest vintages, 2010 is my favorite. Small, but if you are lucky enough to have 2010 Willamette Valley wines in your cellar, you have some good days coming.

Durant Pinot noir is perfectly lovely now, although it will age for many more years. This remains probably my favorite bottling from the vineyard, up until the 2016. 2010 Whistling Ridge is approachable, but wants overnight to open, and while it's a gorgeous wine I still recommend holding it for another 1-5 years(updated August 2023). 2010 Souris arguably one of the greatest wines we have ever produced and in a lovely window. While the Souris will undoubtedly continue to drink well for quite a few years, I would have no issue with drinking it today. 2010 Lazarus and Hommage are drinking well, and offer excellent insight into the vintage. Cooler in nature, they are more ethereal and best enjoyed from good glassware over an entire evening.

2010 Whistling Ridge Blanc and 2010 Riesling have really entered the window and show all of the attributes of beautifully aged Alsatian wines..

The 2010 Richard's Cuvée Chardonnay, is ready to drink, but opens up over a couple of hours so please don’t rush the tasting experience. 2010 is the inaugural vintage of the Clover Pinot Gris bottling and it has finally reached it’s apex. What a phenomenal expression of Pinot gris! Unfortunately, bottled under cork and therefore subject to vagaries and variabilities that cause no end of frustration.

**This post covers Matello wines**

2009

The third hot vintage of my career, and the previous practice shows itself well.

Some wines have re-entered a closed phase, specifically the Lazarus cuvee.

The Souris needs an hour or three to breath but is definitely in a lovely window at that point. Along those lines, the Hommage may be my favorite iteration of that cuvée.

Winter's Hill is in the drink now category, and unfortunately showing the heat of the vintage.

2009 Whistling Ridge is the star of the vintage at this time. Smokey in a perfectly Burgundian way, the wine is moving from primarily fruit dominant to being controlled by secondary aspects that add layers to the fruit, and the vineyard is guarded enough in nature to avoid the sins of hot vintages. Drink now(with a decant)-2030.

2009 whites over achieved. The 2009 Pinot Gris and Caprice both are in a good drinking window. The 2009 Whistling Ridge Blanc is delicious right now and I recommend opening it.

This post covers Matello wines.**

2008

Another of Oregon's great vintages, and finally the 2008 wines are really beginning to show what the hype was about. The 2008 Hommage is a wonderful expression of purple flowers, purple fruits, subtle earth tones, and lots of stem spice. The 2008 Whistling Ridge is stunningly Burgundian. The Souris bottling is dense yet weightless and in a lovely window of maturity without age. All are beautiful and will live for at least another 5-10 years, but they are perfectly in balance now.

The 2008 Carey Creek Riesling is also really lovely, and just getting going. Drink now, or hold for up to another 10 years.

I am completely fascinated by the 2008 Fool's Journey Syrah, after 15 years it is still in the window. Youthful, complex, it opens with tar, underbrush, and black flavors, then slowly becomes more elegant ranging through an outstanding array of flavors floral, fruit, and herbaceous in nature. Its weighty and chewy in the mouth but not in a "new world" way. Most of all, at 15 years old, it is still growing and evolving.

**This post covers Matello wines**

2007

The first "off" vintage of my career. These wines were thin and wan in the early years but have really filled in and evolved. All of the bottlings are vibrant and in a great place for consumption, although I would definitely decant the 2007 Whistling Ridge Pinot noir, and a recent bottle of Souris was better after sitting overnight than it was upon opening. These Pinot noirs from 2007 are definitely moving into complex elements of forest floor, subois, dried flowers and baking spice. There is still a good amount of life in the 2007s, and these should last another 5-6 years. Drink now or enjoy their continued evolution.

Whites all had some degree of botrytis and while most are fading, the 2007 Whistling Ridge Blanc show the honey and oxidative nose, but is still beautiful I recommend drinking these in the next 3 years.

*Under cork, wines over 10 years of age develop considerable bottle variation. Our thoughts on these wines are based upon recent samples, but each bottle is unique.*

**This post covers Matello wines**

2006

The second of Oregon's hottest vintages that fell under my body of work. Not only a warm vintage, but one marked by extraordinary increases in Brix at harvest. Picking Pinot Noir from a vineyard on three consecutive days saw 23.5 Brix on Day 1, 25.5 on Day 2, and 27.0 Brix on Day 3. Compounding matters in a compressed vintage, fruit often arrived at the winery at temps above 80F. Most of these wines are either ready to drink now, and beautiful in a fruit forward way, or showing distinct signs of oxidation. A bit of a crapshoot, but I am happy to replace any off bottles with a current vintage wine. My current joke is that the 2006 Hommage is a fantastic old bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape…but the other wines appear to be in a bottle by bottle stage. So enjoy the better bottles, and we’ll replace the others with a different wine.

2006 Whistling Ridge Blanc is absolutely gorgeous. The 2006 Riesling is also in a lovely window. Drink both over the next 3-4 years.

*Under cork, wines over 10 years of age develop considerable bottle variation. Our thoughts on these wines are based upon recent samples, but each bottle is unique.*

**This post covers Matello wines**

2005

Arguably one of the greatest vintages ever in the Willamette Valley, the one drawback is that the wines are extremely long lived and many continue to want time in the cellar or decanting (posted pre-2020, and in August 2023 this thought remains unchanged). The Willamette Valley is deeply hued, dense, and powerful. The Hommage is a study in dark fruit, balanced by bright acidity and distinct structure. It takes an hour to open up. 2005 also saw my first single vineyard wine, 50 cases of Whistling Ridge Pinot Noir. The 2005 Whistling Ridge is in a stage where I recommend either drink or hold. Not all bottles are tight, but that does seem to be common. 2005 Souris, when last tasted end of harvest 2019, was beautiful and available. I had this wine twice in 2019, and at a spring tasting with some 05 Burgundy, it was delightful to all and easily held it’s own.

*Under cork, wines over 10 years of age develop considerable bottle variation. Our thoughts on these wines are based upon recent samples, but each bottle is unique. *

**This post covers Matello wines**

2004

A beautiful early vintage for me, and my first vintage with Whistling Ridge fruit. Also the first vintage where the majority of wines were fermented with some percentage of whole clusters. The wines are long lived and elegant, moving slowly into the tertiary flavors reminiscent of old world Pinot Noir. The Willamette Valley bottling is in a prime drinking window. The Hommage was composed of wines from Momtazi and Winter's Hill and carries the dark fruit signature of those two vineyards. THere is an ageless aspect to this wine, and while I look forward to seeing where the curtain finally falls, it would be quite a while from now based on current bottles. 2004 Souris is beautiful, reminiscent of old Pommard but with plenty of life remaining.

*Under cork, wines over 10 years of age develop considerable bottle variation. Our thoughts on these wines are based upon recent samples, but each bottle is unique.*

**This post covers Matello wines**

2003

One of Oregon's warmest vintages, these wines are burly and fruit rich. 350 cases total production yielded three wines. The Willamette Valley bottling is surprisingly youthful, but also ginormously fruited and weighty from a rather robust abv. Drink 750ml bottles sooner, rather than later, and mags at your leisure. The Hommage was very broad and dark early in life and is now, IMO, past it's prime. Alive but a bit ponderous. The 2003 Souris was a composite of favorite barrels as always, but an very large portion were from Stony Mountain fruit, fermented with 30% whole clusters, and produced a very balanced wine for the vintage. This is waning, but still beautiful.

*Under cork, wines over 10 years of age develop considerable bottle variation. Our thoughts on these wines are based upon recent samples, but each bottle is unique.*

**This post covers Matello wines**

2002

Our original vintage, and what an auspicious vintage to begin! From a total of 186 cases, I made two wines. The Willamette Valley is lovely, demure, and in a great space. Drink now or in the near future. The Hommage a'A&D is thriving and beautiful, with more years to come but perfectly ready to drink. If you have either of these two wines still in the cellar, let me know if you're planning on drinking them soon (I am guessing you probably also already have my cell number, since the 186 cases didn't go far....)

*Under cork, wines over 10 years of age develop considerable bottle variation. Our thoughts on these wines are based upon recent samples, but each bottle is unique.*

**This post covers Matello wines**

Marcus Goodfellow at Whistling Ridge Vineyard