2014 Tendril Pretender White Pinot Noir

Tendril Wine Cellars: A STUNNING 180 Degree Reversal of A Paradigm

Tendril is simply the best American winery for Pinot Noir that I have ever come across; even including all those Sonoma and Mt. Eden and San Luis Obispo wineries I love.

I’m not going to climb on this old horse again.

Who am I kidding? Of course, I am…

People who have read The Pour Fool know my views on Pinot Noir and, in particular, Oregon Pinot Noir. For anyone who doesn’t, here it is: Not a fan. If I buy a Pinot, it’s A) probably for someone else, or B) from Burgundy or California and the latter about fifty times more than the former. Not really a fan of Chardonnay, either, having worn it out by sheer repetition, so when it comes to Burgundian varietals, I’m kinda out. There ARE a few – a VERY few – Oregon Pinots that I’ve consumed and enjoyed – Stangeland, Purple Hands, Brickhouse(!), Knudsen, a couple from Patricia Green, and the Mac-Daddy, Ken Wright Cellars, for which I would almost pass up an average Cab or Malbec or Sangio or Syrah. Or most any other varietal that’s not Pinot.

But, for almost the entire going-on-28 years I have worked in the wine trade, geeky pals of mine have been insisting that I would eventually wind up in a passionate lip-lock – of an intensity suggestive of a fanatical Middle Eastern religious cult – with Pinot Noir. Because, as almost all of them have said, “Everybody does, eventually.“

Ain’t happened.

Not gonna.

So, when I said I wasn’t going to climb on this old horse…well, I’ve failed again. Normally, this disdain for Pinot Noir would go on for pages. But, this time, I am forced – by what little shame I possess and an antiquated sense of fairness that is unseemly, here in the Trump Era – to acknowledge a YUGE and revelatory shift in my personal Pinot Paradigm, occasioned by the arrival, via FedEx, of a large box containing a regulation slew of shocking, stunning, seismic wines from Tony Rynders, the former winemaker for Domaine Serene (yet another Oregon winery I mostly ignored), working under the rubric of his new venture, Tendril Wine Cellars.

28 November 2018The Pour Fool

Not surprisingly, The Pretender fills roughly the same role at the table as that other Burgundy grape, Chardonnay. It’s full-bodied for a white, rounded, and by no means a wallflower. However, whereas many efforts with Chardonnay are forceful, overloaded with tartness and sweetness and oak, this wine was balanced, even-tempered and dare-I-say, fun.

6 September 2018Opening a Bottle

Later on that day, I met up with my adventurous foodie friend Lily to eat some cheese and chat; she had brought some great bread from a Turkish restaurant she frequents, as well as an interesting white wine for us to try with the cheeses. It was a white Pinot Noir from Oregon: the Tendril 2014 Pretender, which had moderate citrus notes and lovely mineral-forward flavors. I saved the truffle cheese for the end of our tasting; it was the perfect pairing with the wine, warmed bread and a sliced Honeycrisp apple.

16 May 2018Daily Meal

This new entry into the growing ranks of a Pinot Noir vinified into a white wine belongs with the very best of them. A hint of tawny gold results from barrel fermentation… it’s rich and layered with toast, apples, pears, cream and a touch of citrus.

1 August 2017Wine Enthusiast