Up first was a wine dinner at Van Duzer - yum! First up their tastolicious Pinot Gris followed by their Rose - both perfectly paired with Gougeres and Salmon Cakes. If you are looking for a very approachable and just light really spring/summery wine - both the Gris and Rose are perfect choices. Nothing overwhelming just a really great easy drinking pair of wines from this very consistent winemaker. After we left the tasting room we meandered into the back into this spectacularly decorated barrel tasting room - candles everywhere and a decanted glass of their Westside Slope (07) Pinot waited for us to taste. The smell of the new french oak just added to the ambiance - LOVE IT! First pairing for the '07 was a fig/butternut squash ravioli with a brown butter sauce - so delicious. I spent the next half and hour trying to permanently imprint the taste and texture of the ravioli in my mind so I could recreate at a later date. The winemaker spent a bit of time talking about their sustainable growing techniques (yeah) and then got down to the nitty gritty of the clones that they grow in each of their vineyards...thus creating what I'm now terming the Pommard monster - aka Jen B. From that moment forward Curt and I tasted every Pinot and wondered if we could pull out not only varietal, terroir (hard!!!) but also clone! Ridiculous I know but seriously so amazing how different they taste. Pommard was so fruity and Dijon clearly had this earthy herbalness that we both loved. Blend them together and you have even more heaven in a glass!Up next - Homestead block - '04 - Pommard - aged and delicious. Paired with a "panzanella" - not sure if it qualifies as panzanella sans the cheese - but it was interesting and the cured meat paired beautifully with the earthy with a hint of fruity goodness Pinot Noir! Our final Pinot pour was their '05 Flagpole block - want to say '05. Also delicious - much more earthy - Wädenswil vine Pinot Noir - worked well with the flank steak and beets (will have to take Curt's word for the beets - YUCK!). We tried their bubbly and port as well - Port was fantastic - bubbly just wasn't my preference - had a really interesting mouth feel that I was just not into. Very yeasty though so those that like that kind of bubbly - give it a whirl - definitely a very rich taste.
CB and I loved it - the staff and our dining companions kept us laughing and taught us a ton about how to grow Pinot - and how that influences the taste of the wine. If you have never done a vertical profile of the same kind of wine - DO IT - totally helps to develop your palate so you can start to pull out some of the tastes/aromas that you see in the wine tasting notes. AND if you have ever been really intimidated by the wine dinners - check out one in Oregon. We found that most people were like us - foodies that just enjoy a tasty glass of wine. Met a lot of great unpretentious wine friends that just wanted to drink good wine! Not to mention that Oregon wine country can be really spectacularly beautiful (and only an hour or so from the coast!). AND - they sent us home with Pinot Gris vines (our cats now each have a grape vine in their namesake)!
Next day - we joined another wine club - sigh - can't help myself! We ventured off to Willakenzie - deep in the sticks outside of Portland. I'd always kind of dismissed this winery - they had good Pinot Gris - but I kind of envisioned this large production generic Pinot. To my surprise - aside from somewhat less involved tasting room staff - the wine they poured were beautiful, elegant, and seriously delicious. I was ready to pop a straw in the Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris - yummy! Super crisp, not watery (like some can be), interesting nose - totally made me miss summertime! HIGHLY recommend both those bottles to anyone who like a reasonably priced approachable white wine - find it at Trader Joe's! Next they poured us some of their estate Pinot Noir and were stunned. Really amazing - every glass from a different part of the property and every glass incredibly unique. Their Atlier is on special this month and was seriously amazing - we left with six bottles - Pommard (of course) vines and just a really beautiful bottle that is also straw worthy. : ) When we realized we couldn't decide what to purchase we knew we needed to join the wine club - any excuse to come back again to this really stunning vineyard/winery. The building itself was just a little barnesque tasting room - but the surrounding landscape was really spectacular. Lots of old crazy looking trees, crazy snags, pocket wetlands on the drive upand and the winery itself was just really tucked back into the hillside. Love it!
If you haven't been to Oregon and are a wine fan - but want to avoid the pretentiousness of snooty wine people - check out OREGON! We've visited several times now - on our way to camping, shopping, etc and are never disappointed. Here are a few ideas for places to visit:
- Argyle (LOTs of bubbles)
- VanDuzer
- Willakenzie
- Lange
- Witness Tree
- Sokol Blosser
- Coelho (if you need a break from Pinot)
- Torii Mor
-Tyee (really nice people - basics)
If you are up for higher end - Archery Summit and Cristom are delicious - though it is not as laid back as the other wineries we visited. Signing off for now - time to enjoy the weekend and finishing up our garden reorganization project.
Cheers!
