Making New Years a Memorable One with a magnum of ’09 Ayoub Memoirs

I’m big on nostalgia, and so the charming 1953 photo of Mo Ayoub’s parents at a mountainside café in Lebanon (Mo’s birthplace) caught my eye a while back. The 2009 Ayoub Memoirs Pinot Noir bottling remained a mystery until I finally took one home for Thanksgiving. Mo had joined us here in the wine bar the weekend before, and his captivating presence, as usual, paired perfectly with the single vineyard offerings he poured for our visitors. Dark, luscious, fascinating… I’m talking about the wines, by the way… provide a good dose of tart fruit and heft on the palate. But I waited until Thanksgiving to break into Memoirs.

Here’s what I found: This is a more layered, complex, and ripe berry-driven wine thanks to the inclusion of three unique Willamette Valley viticultural areas. Brittan Vineyard (winemaker Robert Brittan’s McMinnville AVA parcel) lends delicate minerality from a basalt base overlain with marine sedimentary loam soil. The sunny Juliard Vineyard, a prized Dundee Hills property, adds bright red fruit character from early ripening vines deeply rooted in volcanic Jory soil. Marsh Vineyard (Yamhill Carlton AVA) brings that mouth-filling, silky texture and firm tannins. Mo’s own four-acre Ayoub estate vineyard in the Dundee Hills rounds out the mix with somewhat younger vines (planted in 2001), which are densely planted to amplify the outstanding varietal characteristics of his mostly-Dijon clone pinot noir.

I shipped a bottle to my Grandma Skippy for her 93rd birthday a couple weeks ago, and she loved it. When I saw our price on the magnum bottle ($85!), I snagged one for my New Years Eve dinner.

Apparently, we scored some of the last of the large format bottles Mo’s got left…
If you’re interested in making New Years Eve memorable with this bottle, stop in, give us a call, or order online!

Ayoub Memoirs Pinot Noir 2009 - Magnum