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Wine Spectator Feature: A First Look at Nicolas-Jay Estate
In their annual Oregon report, Wine Spectator gave a sneak peek of our new winery and tasting room, opening later this year. Nestled in a natural amphitheater surrounded by forest, the estate was captured on a crystal-clear winter day, surely an omen of good things to come.
Wine Spectator's Oregon columnist Tim Fish writes, "Jay Boberg and Jean-Nicolas Méo of Nicolas-Jay are an offbeat partnership. Boberg is a former music executive who helped discover R.E.M. and winemaker Méo leads Domaine Méo-Camuzet, one of the top producers in Burgundy's Vosne-Romanée. [...] the partners had their first crush at their newly finished winery in 2020. If the refined and complex Nicolas-Jay Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Nysa 2017 (94 Points, $90) is any indication, the winery's future looks bright."
The report also placed the 2017 Nysa Vineyard Pinot Noir as a Top Wine in Oregon: "Nicely structured and refined, with complex black raspberry, orange-tinged tea and cardamom flavor that build richness and intensity."
Our 2017 Bishop Creek Vineyard was awarded 93 points: "Refined and keenly focused, with distinctive cherry and guava flavors that are laced with rose petal and savory spice accents, picking up tension and polish toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2027."
Read the full article on Wine Spectator's website (note: available to Wine Spectator paid subscribers).
Wine Enthusiast Awards 93 Points to Nicolas-Jay 2017 Bishop Creek Pinot Noir
Nicolas-Jay 2017 Bishop Creek Pinot Noir (Yamhill-Carlton)
by Wine Enthusiast Contributing Editor Paul Gregutt
December 1, 2020
Rating: 93 Points
"Bishop Creek is the estate vineyard, now two decades old and coming into its prime. This is a wine to stash and savor down the road a bit. Currently it's tight and firm, lightly herbal, detailed and impeccably balanced with a mix of wild berries, citrus and soil. Drink 2022 through the rest of the decade and perhaps beyond."
We put a lot of care, thought and work into each vintage and the 2017 was no exception. That's why we're always grateful to be recognized!
Wine Spectator just recognized 5 of our 2017 wines at 93 points or above calling them, "impeccably structured and refined" and "elegantly complex and expressive." Our winemaking team loved working on the 2017 vintage; a cooler year that expressed itself through a restraint and elegance that is just coming into blossom now. Thank you to our winemaking team for making this happen and to Wine Spectator for your recognition!
Burgundy represents the pinnacle of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Yet, prestigious Burgundy producers are spreading their winemaking skills across the pond to Willamette Valley.
The same time Gagey and Lardière (of Résonance Wines) were exploring Willamette Valley, former music entrepreneur, Jay Boberg was convincing his long-time friend, Jean-Nicolas Méo, winemaker of Domaine Méo-Camuzet in Burgundy, to consider a joint venture in the region.
Their journey began in 2012, with an in-depth exploration of the Willamette Valley. In 2014, Domaine Nicolas-Jay was born.
Producing top-quality Burgundy poses a risk on winemakers seeking to expand to Willamette Valley. The new world wines must be equal in stature to their old world counterparts. “We have to believe we can make world-class wine here. After spending two years carefully tasting and studying to region, Jean-Nicolas turned to me and said ‘I think we are going to be fine,’” shares Boberg.
Méo sees parallels between Burgundy and Willamette Valley through the wide variety of Pinot Noir expressions produced by both regions. While this diversity poses challenges for consumers, because two wines crafted from the same grape grown in adjoining vineyards express themselves so differently in the glass, the sense of place excites both men.
As they look to the future, the desire is to maintain their boutique size while also continually seeking new expressions of the region’s terroir and expand relationships within the industry and with consumers. The key, for Boberg is fun. “As long as we are all having fun it’s all worth it.”
2018 Nicolas-Jay Affinités Chardonnay dazzles with orchard and under-ripe stone fruit, citrus zest, baked quince topped with toasted graham crackers. Lean and focused with a mild-palate density and texture driven by judicious use of oak. Long mouth-watering finish.
2017 Nicolas-Jay Momtazi Pinot Noir McMinnville is a bold, lively wine sourced from biodynamically grown grapes. Layers of black fruit, wild herbs, and a cola kiss allure the senses. Broad and full-bodied supported by foundational acidity in a texturally dense mouth-feel.
2017 Nicolas-Jay Nysa Pinot Noir Dundee Hills is a wine of complexity and depth. Layers of aromas include bramble berry, forest floor, exotic spice box, and holiday potpourri. An expansive and energetic mouth-feel is driven by acidity.
'Oregon Finally Has a White Wine to Call Its Own'
Oregon’s Willamette Valley is synonymous with pinot noir, but a signature white wine has always remained elusive for the region. However, a new grape is emerging—or re-emerging—and bringing new energy to a global favorite.
'6 of the Best Wineries in Oregon's Willamette Valley' from Afar Magazine
The Burgundy region of France is pinot noir’s ancestral home, where the grape variety has been meticulously cultivated for millennia by monks, dukes, and some of the most iconic domaines in the wine world. In recent decades, Burgundy producers have looked to invest in overseas projects, with several settling on the Willamette Valley. Nicolas-Jay is a more recent addition to that story, with its first vintage debuting in 2014. The Dundee-based winery is a collaboration between Burgundy luminary Jean-Nicolas Méo, winemaker and proprietor at Domaine Méo-Camuzet, and U.S. music executive Jay Boberg, who both lend their name to the label. Their efforts have overtaken the former Bishop Creek Vineyard, where winery visits for intimate, guided tasting sessions are available by appointment only.
What to Drink: Sip reputable wines like Momtazi pinot noir, a structured, cellarable wine with broodingly dark, earthen berry flavors adhering to Méo’s style in France.
Thank you to Wine Spectator for your recent review!
Thank you to Wine Spectator for featuring our Pinot Noir from the beautiful Nysa Vineyard. This special site in the Dundee Hills in the Willamette Valley is own-rooted and is one of the three single vineyard designates we make at Nicolas-Jay.
Nicolas-Jay a Forbes "Best Pinot Noir for the Holidays"
by Forbes Contributor Joseph V Micallef
Nov 25, 2020
"With more than 900 wineries and almost 1,300 vineyards, there is no shortage of Oregon’s flagship Pinot Noir to choose from this holiday season. Below is a selection of outstanding Pinot Noirs...some are well-known, long-standing producers, while others are relative newcomers. All of them offer excellent wines that will enhance any holiday get together.
Nicolas-Jay, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, 2017
Decanter awarded the wine 93 points at its recent World Wine Awards, good enough to best many better-known Burgundian stalwarts. Describing it as “high-toned and damp” with “aromas of wet earth, earl grey tea and cocoa nibs followed by flavors of pomegranate and red plum skin.” This is a classic Oregon Pinot Noir drawn predominantly from the Bishop Creek vineyard with additions from several other vineyards."
Click Here for the full article.
Decanter Names Nicolas-Jay Bishop Creek Chardonnay a "Top 12 Oregon Chardonnay to Try"
Oregon Chardonnay: Top 12 to Try
Decanter Contributor Charles Curtis MW
August 5, 2020
That it’s such a draw for so many Burgundians of note is sufficient to tell you that Oregon’s Willamette Valley is a developing wine region to be followed, and still a land of discovery. Charles Curtis MW highlights his pick of the producers, along with 12 great wines to try...
Nicolas-Jay in Departures Magazine: Oregon Finally Has a White Wine to Call Its Own
"Oregon’s Willamette Valley is synonymous with pinot noir, but a signature white wine has always remained elusive for the region. However, a new grape is emerging—or re-emerging—and bringing new energy to a global favorite.
Back in the 1960s, when winemakers moved up from California to Oregon, they brought pinot and chardonnay with them. The two varieties are perfect partners in Burgundy; what’s not to love in Oregon? Jason Lett, winemaker and co-owner of Eyrie Vineyards, whose father, David Lett, planted the first chardonnay in Willamette Valley, said the reception to the grape was fairly strong. Although, a few factors quickly knocked chardonnay off its mantle.
The first—and possibly the biggest issue many point to—was clonal material. Chardonnay would be harvested weeks after pinot noir, but still wouldn’t achieve the proper ripeness levels. It wasn’t until David Adelsheim of Adelsheim Vineyards did a winemaking stage in Burgundy that the issue of clones came to light. In France, the chardonnay was being picked at the same time, if not earlier, than pinot noir, and he suspected that the clones brought up from California weren’t the right fit for Willamette Valley’s terroir.
That aforementioned ripeness (or lack thereof)? Also an issue. People’s palates were attuned to the rich and ripe styles of California, and wines like Kendall-Jackson became a north star for winemaking. The influence of Robert Parker also put these bold, fruit-forward styles in vogue. “There was a perception of ripeness about what New World chardonnay should taste like,” says Eugenia Keegan, general manager of Jackson Family Wines for Willamette Valley, which was something Oregon winemakers wouldn’t be able to easily achieve, due to climate and terroir. Oak use became more prevalent, but it still didn’t recreate the popular California style.
As a result, a lot of winemakers ripped up their chardonnay, says Lett, giving more space to pinot noir or pinot gris, another white grape that people thought had potential.
Why Chardonnay, Why Now?
Because of these tribulations, Oregon chardonnay production is tiny. Overall, the state only accounts for about one percent of wine made in the United States, and chardonnay is just five percent of that production, according to Josh Bergström of Bergström Wines. With just a little under 2,000 acres under vine, chardonnay is still a small category—but today, one that’s garnering huge interest. Several estates, like Eyrie, Bergström, and Adelsheim, held steady with chardonnay throughout the decades; their knowledge, coupled with the resurgent interest in the grape and new plantings, is bringing Willamette Valley chardonnay into the limelight.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, building on Adelsheim’s discoveries in Burgundy, the movement to bring over better clones began, spurring one stage of the revolution. With better plant materials, winemakers began refining their vinification and winemaking techniques, which led to further discoveries about the grape’s potential.
Embracing the Land
Dedicating key vineyard sites to chardonnay not only aids in the growing quality of the wines, it shows a winemaker’s commitment to the grape. At Big Table Farm, Clare Carver and her husband Brian Marcy are putting new plantings in places with, “the best aspect, the highest elevation; it’s the most treasured part of the vineyard site, and that’s what we’re giving to chardonnay,” says Carver.
Attention to terroir is also causing winemakers to fine-tune their farming and winemaking and play to the region’s natural strengths. A prominence of marine sedimentary and volcanic soils often bring notes of salinity to the wine. “[One of] the recurring threads of chardonnay across the region is the interplay of fruit and non-fruit,” says Erik Kramer, winemaker at WillaKenzie. For Jay Boberg, co-owner of Nicolas-Jay, who points to Chablis for stylistic comparison of his wines, “acidity is super-important, and we talk about picking dates [frequently].” If picked too late and acidity is lost, it’s a harder problem to rectify.
Recommended Wine: Nicolas-Jay, Bishop Creek Chardonnay, Yamhill-Carlton, 2018
The organically farmed vines were grafted over from pinot gris to chardonnay several years ago and this is the first official vintage from the site. Hints of pear and floral notes meet a richness in the mouthfeel that’s balanced by the bright acidity.
A New Home in the Dundee Hills
"Nicolas-Jay is putting down roots. After five harvests in the Willamette Valley, Jean-Nicolas Méo and partner Jay Boberg have purchased their own pied à terre in a cozy corner of the northern Dundee Hills."
Josh Raynolds of Vinous recently covered the 2017 vintage in the Willamette Valley, praising it as a vintage of richness. Nicolas Jay was proud to be among the wineries reviewed.
Hopewell Vineyard in the Times
Nicolas Jay is proud to source Pinot Noir from the 80-acre Hope Well Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills, planted in 2008 to 20-acres of vines, which overlook the Willamette Valley on rich, volcanic soils.
Nicolas-Jay Featured in Decanter
Jay Boberg is loosening the ratchet-straps that are securing harvest bins to a flatbed trailer in preparation for the picking of Pinot Noir in the Nysa Vineyard the following dawn...
Food and Wine's Jonathan Cristaldi has named Nicolas-Jay one of the 26 wineries to visit in Oregon and Washington!
"Very Fine" Pinot Noir: Jamie Goode visits Nicolas-Jay
Wineanorak's Jamie Goode stopped by the Dundee house in July for a tasting with Jean-Nicolas and Jay
Jay and Jean-Nicolas sit down to talk Nicolas-Jay and more with The Extract, a video series dedicated to wine geeks and cork dorks from novice to expert.
Jean-Nicolas Wine Searcher Interview
"To truly understand Pinot Noir, one has to work every day with it. Given that, Jean-Nicolas Méo certainly has greater insight into this unpredictable varietal than almost anyone else today." Nicolas-Jay proprietor Jean-Nicolas is interviewed in Wine Searcher.
Our own Tracy Kendall had the opportunity to talk with Forbes.com and explain the Nicolas Jay project, and what it means to make Pinot in Oregon.
The Best Pinots in Oregon: James Suckling Reviews the 2017 Vintage
This summer, James Suckling's Oregon critic Nick Stock returned to the Willamette Valley, this time to taste and review the 2017 wines. He found the wines "delivered a strong unified impression of rich flavors, structure and balance."
Nicolas Jay was among the highest scored wines tasted.
Nicolas Jay Decanter Producer Profile
Matthew Luczy visits the Oregon domaine, a coming together of music mogil and Burgundian winemaker...
Words from Jean-Nicolas on "own-rootedness" and a new Nicolas-Jay Pinot Noir
Telegraph: Best Red Wines for Christmas
The forthcoming 2017 Willamette Valley was recently featured as a holiday wine idea in the Telegraph.
Small Production, Low Intervention: Nicolas Jay and Slow Wine in Oregon
Nicolas Jay is one of 50 wineries to appear in the first even Slow Wine Guide for Oregon!
Jay was featured earlier this year in World of Fine Wine, in an article by Master of Wine Anne Krebiehl on "Pinot Noir Vignettes"
Nicolas Jay Featured in Wine Spectator
In a feature covering the influence of Burgundy in Oregon, Nicolas Jay's 2016 Willamette Valley received 94 Points from Wine Spectator. Jay, Jean-Nicolas and Tracy received a full-page article, featured below...
