Enobytes Wine Blog

Having recently judged the Oregon Wine Competition, I had an opportunity to survey the Oregon landscape. As it turned out, we had many good Pinot noirs and Rieslings for the ’08 and ’09 vintage. Some of the standouts , which I sometimes refer to as ‘diamonds in the rough’, include a handful of gems.

Zerba Cellars for example, kicked it with their ’08 white blend & ’07 red blend. The ’06 Merlot & Syrah was tasty as was their ’07 Mourvedre.  As for Chardonnay, the ’08 Phelps Creek Vineyards and the’09 Stoller Vineyards rocked it.

There were many great Pinot’s but the most impressionable were the  Read the rest of this entry »

The ’08 Adelsheim Elizabeth’s reserve exudes the classic northern Willamette Valley style. I was lucky to have been introduced to Adelsheim back in the early nineties by a guy who was integral in challenging my quest for wine knowledge and I have to say Chris Choate knew a good thing when he tasted it. We worked together at Abiquiu, John Sedlar’s venture with the Kimpton Group.

There were several Oregon Pinot Noir’s on our wine list and they were all good but it might come as no surprise that the restaurant did not do so well.  A Pinot Noir heavy wine list at a modern southwestern cuisine concept might be a deterrent to wine sales.  Well, that and nothing on the menu looked like what it was called. No really, this guy wrote a menu just to mess with peoples heads.

Lamb enchiladas were not a tortilla wrapped nor was there any cheese involved. Huevos Rancheros had egg but no rice or beans and it was served on a pewter statute. But that was then and back then Dave Adelsheim was ahead of his time when it came to Oregon winemakers. Today he is still on top of the game.

This ‘08 has snappy cherry and spice aromas mingled with the earthy Chehalem Mountain forest fauna. The flavors bring red berry fruit deep to the core balancing the forward acidity and making this a wine that screams for food. The mouth filling smooth texture is pleasant delivering a finish that hangs around long enough for you to appreciate the soft lush texture.  Duck would be a good match, as would a bacon cherry tomato and baby romaine lettuce salad. This Adelsheim Pinot Noir is worth looking for. ~Marc Hinton

Rating: 90 | $40 | 13.5% ABV

Find this wine to buy: Vinquire | WineZap.com

This Pinot Gris from the Willamette Valley represents a great example of the quality of fruit harvested from the ‘08 vintage.

It’s packed with layered flavors of honeydew, melon, green apple and peach, then finishes with a long, lingering brightness of acidity.

Those who really enjoy white wine with a good dose of acidity and fruit-forward flavors will love this wine, and if you’re looking for a good food pairing, you can’t go wrong with shrimp scampi, crab cakes, or your favorite seafood dish.

If you’re curious about the name, Soléna is the combination of the Spanish and French words Solana and Solene, celebrating the sun and the moon, and the name that the winery owners Laurent and Danielle gave to their daughter. Lucky girl! 1,507 case production ~Pamela Heiligenthal

Rating: 88 | $20 | 13.5% ABV

Find this wine to buy: Vinquire | WineZap.com

Although 2003 wasn’t the best year for Willamette Valley Pinot, (lets translate this to, it was hotter than the dickens) these Ponzi grapes rose to the occasion, looked the sun square in the eye and said, “Is that all you got?”

At first sniff, the nose really sets up the story. Its hot peppery kick brings you back to ’03 in a way you can almost smell the heat rising from the vineyards. Dark cherry flavors are prominent leading to a well-balanced, concentrated, almost tropical-like dried orange peel finish.

Some of the flavor descriptors sound a little out of whack for a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, but trust me on this. If you don’t mind a little heat in your glass, find a bottle and take the journey. On the downside, the winery is sold out of this wine, but venture into your local wine store and see if they can hunt down a bottle for you. If you live in a state that allows wine shipments, you could also try wine-searcher.com. 980 case production. Drink now through 2012. ~Pamela Heiligenthal

Rating: 9o | $50 | 14% ABV

I’m reminded every day that the appreciation and enjoyment of wine is a very personal experience. What you like may not be the cat’s meow for someone else. This was evident at the ’10 Oregon Wine Industry Symposium (OWIS), “Technical Tasting: Seeking Closure & Hi-Tech Winemaking“.

Most of the attendees were winemakers, viticulturists and industry folks in the know when it comes to high-tech stuff like RO, ultra-filtration or VA (don’t worry, we’ll get to these wine geek terms in a later post) but what blew me away at this event were all the differences in opinions between the wines we tasted.

There were a few hundred industry folks locked in a room (well, not literally) for a couple of hours to taste and discuss closures and Hi-Tech Winemaking. Harry Peterson-Nedry from Chehalem Winery moderated the session with panelists Domingo Rodriguez (Winesecrets), Clark Smith (Vinovation) and David Paige (Adelsheim Vineyard).

We kicked off the technical tasting with a comparison between cork and screw cap closures, blind tasting two white wines – identical in every way except one was bottled using cork, and the other under screw cap.  So what’s the verdict? Read the rest of this entry »

In my wine column today on OregonLive.com, I talk about the pleasures of vacationing at the California Mendocino Coast where we ventured through Anderson Valley, visiting a few old favorites and some new wineries including Duckhorn’s Pinot outpost, Goldeneye, which offers great wines and a very nice tasting room located at Obester’s old location. As we drove north to head back to Oregon, we found a great restaurant (thanks urbanspoon iphone app!) which proved to be a damn good Italian treat. I knew I was at the right place when I started to focus on the smells filling the restaurant over the decor; fabulous homemade pastas, wood-fired pizzas and a reasonable wine list. Check out my latest post on Wine Bytes to read more.

Holiday dinner pairings…if you fret the challenge of finding the perfect pairing, you’re not alone. It’s daunting to think about what goes with what; turkey is sort of like chicken, so should I serve it with a Chardonnay? Can I serve the same wine with oyster dressing as I would a sausage dressing? What about smoked meats? Sauces? Candied yams? Pumpkin pie?

These decisions would make anyone go nuts. Holiday meals are usually so varied when it comes to flavor, texture, sweetness level, acidity and oil content that it’s almost impossible to find the perfect match as the combinations are endless. If you’re looking for a few really good versatile wines that will pair with a myriad of foods, check out my recommendations from the slideshow below. There’s bound to be a few wines you’ll love and your guests will be impressed with your wine-savvy knowledge.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not much of a Harlequin romance writer when it comes to writing about wine, but every once in a while I find a story that captures the essence of a region’s past, which soundly shapes it’s future. Oregon’s roots to Riesling are comparable to a river shaped by the water for which it flows, ever shifting as it seeks a path of least resistance, cutting through time and history. Gone, are the preconceived conceptions of style as the masters mold their Rieslings into a personality anyone can appreciate.

Back in the 60′s, the romanticism started as a number of U.C. Davis expatriates embraced the Oregon landscape hoping to produce great wines from Burgundian varietals. Richard Sommer, one of the first Oregon pioneers in the early modern era planted Riesling near Roseberg (now known as the Umpqua appellation) as David Lett planted Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Pinot gris in the Willamette Valley. Since then, Riesling continues it’s ever-shifting path of styles and personality, growth and attrition.  Read the rest of this entry »

Today on Wine Bytes, my wine blog on OregonLive, I talk about the recent trade tasting I attended for the Chehalem Mountain Vintner’s Association in Oregon. The thing that surprised me was how many of the wineries pouring also belong to many other location specific organizations – it finally dawned on me that because of the many locations these wineries source their fruit from for a lot of their vineyard designate specifics and cuvees they will belong to a lot of different appellation organizations.

Most of the wineries I have worked for made their wine from estate-grown fruit. Nevertheless, it was a great opportunity to meet a few buyers and a number of great winemakers.

I also go into detail about some of the trends I’m seeing for Oregon Viognier and Riesling which is a surprising twist to what you’d expect.  See how these varieties fair on my latest post here…and be certain to check back soon for the full report on what we tasted in the coming weeks.

Somehow, it takes a pretty serious jolt like a death or a tragedy to make you take worth of the things around you. Sometimes that tragedy is the landmark event that solidifies a movement, a thing, and sometimes even a varietal.

Today on Wine Bytes, my wine blog on OregonLive, I discuss how Oregon Pinot noir now has a landmark event in its history. This event overshadows all the achievements (and there are many) that have come to pass in this young industries’ long road of recognition. We all enjoy Willamette Valley Pinot noir but do we realize the vision and commitment it took to convince distributors and consumers we have something special here? This post is in commemoration of David Lett, a man who started the groundwork that would insure his vision of Oregon wine would continue long into the future. Check out my latest post here.