“Drink two and call me in the morning,” is what Jason Ludlow, director of hospitality and retail sales at the Cooper Mountain Winery in Beaverton, Ore., says as he poured a sample of the 2007 pinot noir Doctors Reserve for Outliers and other visitors exploring the state's Willamette Valley wine country recently.
The doctor in question is Cooper Mountain proprietor Robert Gross, a psychiatrist who is also board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and chairs the American Board of Medical Acupuncture. (And he's one of a number of physicians that Outliers has noted have taken to owning vineyards.) Named after “Dr. Bob,” the wine in question is said to be the Cooper Mountain winemakers' personal favorite from their 2007 vintage, and 110 cases were produced.
“Cassis, cherry, smoke and pine on the nose,” reads the Cooper Mountain Web site description of the wine. “Dark cherry, cedar and earth explode on the palate with a touch of faint mint” for a “balanced finish.”
Outliers doesn't remember any explosions, but thought the wine made from organically grown grapes tasted “good.” We'll leave it up for others to decide whether it's worth $45 a bottle or $480 a case.
