Haden Fig

Soon after realizing his dream of moving to Oregon to make Pinot Noir, Erin Nuccio – for more about whom, see my account in this report of venerable Evesham Wood, which recently passed into his hands – began rendering wines under his Haden Fig label, utilizing the facility at Evesham Wood where he was by then working alongside founding winemaker Russ Raney. The first vintage for this brand with the curious name – Nuccio himself can only explain the first part of it: his young son is called Haden – was 2008, and he plans to perpetuate it alongside the wines he will be making at Evesham Wood, so as to continue exploring stylistic alternatives and an enhanced range of fruit sources. Nuccio uses around one-quarter new barrels for his Haden Fig Pinots, whereas – notwithstanding his intentions to gradually lift the average birthday of a barrique in that cellar out of the ‘90s and into the new millennium (!) – he plans to eschew notably altering the established style of Evesham Wood, meaning that few of the wines under that label will receive any significant amount of new wood. DAVID SCHILDKNECHT erobertparker.com