The 1999 Pinot Noir Reserve is my favorite of Panther Creek's recent releases. It has a mouth-watering nose of violets, perfume, potpourri, and cherries. On the palate, this elegant wine is medium-bodied, expansive, and packed with cherries, raspberries, strawberries, and hints of freshly cracked pepper. It is pure, harmonious, has no hard edges, and possesses a long, sweet, fruit-filled finish. Drink this gorgeous Pinot between 2004 and 2010..Tel. (503) 472-8080

The dark-colored 1996 Reserve Pinot Noir has a rich and ripe nose as well as a silky personality filled with black cherries and cassis. With aeration, this well-delineated, tightly wound, and medium-to-full-bodied wine offers flavors of dark raspberries, minerals, and stones. It will require some cellaring and should be at its best between 2000 and 2003.Panther Creek's 1996s were sampled twice, once at the winery and later at a blind tasting in Washington, DC (I retasted the Freedom Hill a third and fourth time at home). At my winery tasting, serious rock and roll was being played in the background. Unbeknownst to Michael Stevenson, Panther Creek's Assistant Winemaker and Head Disc Jockey, he had selected music from my favorite rock group, The Band. As I contemplated the wines I could hear Levon Helm belting out "Don't do it". Want to know what goes great with Pinot Noir? Great rock and roll!The harvest began on the 9th of October, and finished as heavy rains began at 2pm on Saturday, October 12 - "we were luckier than smart" was owner Ron Kaplan's comment. Yields averaged 2 plus tons with a low of 2.01 tons per acre in Freedom Hill and a high of 2.4 tons in Shea (even though the latter vineyard was thinned three times). Kaplan says he is pleased with the vintage, and that "the grapes came in clean, without any traces of rot." He went on to say that the wines had "very pronounced aromatics, atypical for newborn wine."Tel. (503) 472-8080.

Panther Creek's owner/winemaker, Ken Wright, is on the top of his game. His new Pinot Noir releases are knock-outs. The 1991 Reserve displays an attractive, nicely saturated, medium ruby color, a ripe bouquet of red and black fruits, and damp earth, firm, medium-bodied flavors that exhibit fine richness, and moderate tannin. The wine possesses plenty of structure and could benefit from another 1-2 years of cellaring. It is not as opulent or explosively fruity as the 1992s.