Some of you who know me are well aware that I rarely drop in over here, despite the fact that I probably consume as much wine as anybody here.
This is principally because I am put off by wine descriptors, numerical assignments and the vocabulary of the cognoscenti. I like a little chaos in my wine as in my life.
But, here I go. It was a long day yesterday. A day wherein I describe a mini-odyssey through a few of the Willamette Valley's AVAs, starting in Yamhill-Carlton, passing through Dundee Hills and culminating on Chehalem Mountain.
I began at the Carlton Winemaker's Studio at 11:00 AM. (Lynn Penner-Ash being its best known "graduate"). Spent about an hour with Lindsay Woodard owner of Retour. She's only offering up one wine right now, a 2006 pinot noir. I must say it is excellent, just about everything I look for in a pinot.
Everything except price, that is. Sixty-five bucks a pop. But keep your eyes open for the winemaker, Eric Hamacher, he's damn good.
If you want all the usual wine gobbledygook, Retour has it here:
http://www.retourwines.com/retour/page/pinotnoir.jsp
About 150 yards away is Cana's Feast. - formerly Cuneo. Fortunately Gino was there and I hoped to get the full story about the name change. Unfortunately, he was real busy. He said he'd email it to me. Yeah. he and his wife are very nice people. She knits.
It was kind of a bizarre deal. In one room we tasted Cana's Feast wines and Gino had a table set up in another room with just two wines on it. Gino makes Italian and Bordeaux style wines. In many of his wines he blends grapes from the north, both Washington and Oregon and the south, Oregon. I almost always like the Bricco and anything he makes with grapes from Del Rio and Ciel du Cheval (which has the first certified Brunello clone in the US). he makes a great Sangiovese.
The Two Rivers Bordeaux and the Two Rivers Sangiovese. Both good.
Tre Nova is his new brand.
I don't know exactly what to say at this point about the two Amarone style wines Gino was pouring in the back room - one dry, one sweet - except that I absolutely loved the Secopassa. I will say this: He dried the grapes for several months on mats in a warehouse he will not divulge the location of.
Onward. Séjourné was next, Kevin is becoming a very good winemaker. Visit here if you want:
http://www.sejournewines.com/
Two excellent wines here. Both 2006. Del Rio Syrah and Vidon Vineyard Pinot Noir. Again, those of you who know me know white wines figure in my life about as prominently as sanity. However, before I was able to escape,Kevin went and drew some chardonnay out of a stainless vat and held me down and made me taste it. Don't tell anybody. It tasted good. The kids weren't around today. The last time I was here they were playing with a bung, rolling it around on the floor.
Here are all the wine words again:
http://www.sejournewines.com/wines.html
It's all uphill from here, now we're getting into the mountains.
Patricia Green. If you look at the picture about halfway down the page:
http://www.patriciagreencellars.com/
That's exactly what it was like there. Too many wines to taste WAY too many - , but there were some that stuck out. Here's her "Tanzer" page. Oddly enough, I liked the same ones he did. (Look for the 91s and 92s). The crowd got to me. I had to go outside. The Hispanic guy directing traffic bummed a Camel cigarette off me and we smoked together.
Next was a mandated stop at Domaine Serene for a barrel tasting. The Evenstads, Ken and Grace are kinda snobby. Ignore them and pay attention to the wines. Every bottle of the Evenstad Reserve I have ever tasted has been superb. They don't need any more publicity, so I'll move on. Oh, if you like syrah, try the Rockblocks.
The Chehalem Mountains.
It's a small place and there are chickens, Buff Orpingtons and another breed I can't recollect right now. As much as I like chickens that wasn't why I went up on this mountain. I went there for Don Hagge's wines. This is Vidon. He grows grapes and makes pinot noirs. His wife Vicki helps out. I just gave you a hint as to whence they derived the name of their vineyard and winery.
I love his winemaking style. I was knocked out by the 2006 Mirabelle Reserve. And the Chehalem Mountains 3-Clone, 2007 was no slouch. I told him Kevin said hi. He said he gave Kevin all the grapes he could afford to give him! I stayed out of that.
At any rate, these are also very nice folks making a very Burgundian style of wine. Good stuff.
Here they are:
http://www.vidonvineyard.com/index.html
Unfortunately when you go to the "Wines" page you'll see a lot of "Sold Out" signs.
I was pretty much wiped out at this point - and REALLY glad I wasn't driving. Came home. Had a bowl of chili I made yesterday and crashed.
And that's the news from the house about half way up the little mountain the Eola-Amity Hills, folks.