Barrel Tasting

Our trip to Oregon in May (I know, I'm so late in getting these things posted, sorry!) included our first barrel tasting - and we ended up having two! One scheduled, one impromptu. Having never been to one, we were intrigued. The first one was a private event at Ken Wright Cellars for wine club members and a few guests. We were in the latter category.

A barrel tasting is literally that, tasting wines out of the barrel before they get bottled or blended and bottled. At Ken Wright Cellars we were in for an additional treat. The people manning the barrel tasting were the actual grape farming crew. They were fabulous to talk with about how the wine made it to the barrels and the land on which the grapes grew. We tasted pinot noir barrels from the Canary Hill, Carter, and Savoya vineyards. They were all 2012 barrels. The Canary Hill had good light structure and a young woody nose; the Carter was more fruit forward, but still an earthy nose that we thought would age really well.  The Savoya was the earthiest of all, yet lighter than the others I thought. We also tasted 3 bottled wines, the 2011 Pinot Blanc (shortbread on the finish! yum!), the 2010 Chardonnay (earthy and not very sweet, which is a good thing), and a 2007 McCrone Vineyard Pinot Noir (floral on the nose and a spicy finish, still could use some aging).  The Ken Wright Cellars tasting room is located in the small town of Carlton. Right on the main drag you'll find the Cellars and close by is the fabulous Carlton Bakery. Their breads, baked goods and sandwiches were phenomenal.

The second barrel tasting occurred by luck at Willamette Valley Vineyards. We were on a private tour when the assistant winemaker happened by and offered to give us a barrel tasting. What an amazing opportunity! Having a winemaker tour was so enlightening. He showed us how they rated barrels with a glimpse into how decisions are made on which barrels to blend together. We tasted a  Chardonnay with a coconut overtone and three Pinot Noir barrels that were all very different. We were also lucky enough to get a taste of their port (made from Pinot Noir grapes, fortified with a brandy made from their Chardonnay grapes) that hides in a back, locked alcove. The port was something that his father had started when he was head winemaker as a private project that turned out to be amazing. They now sell it at the winery and we had to bring home a bottle.

For all of you who live in wine country, this may be old hat to you, but for the rest of us, what a treat. If you have the opportunity to do a barrel tasting, definitely do so. It's as much an education as a pleasure.

Oregon Wine Tasting - Elk Cove Vineyards

I am so excited to share with you our second exploration of Oregon wine country. We tasted 45 wines in two days.  That's certainly not a professional-level tasting rate, but I'd say not bad for vacationing.  With the help of our local wine shop (if you follow my blog, you know that's Midtown Wine & Spirits) and wine distributor we started our journey off with a tasting appointment at Elk Cove Vineyards. We drove through some lush green winding hills and valleys and then up to a beautiful vineyard vista on a chilly, but sunny morning. The rhododendrons were at their peak bloom all across the Willamette Valley. The wealth of color they provide in their mostly shaded spots is extraordinary. Spring is one of the best times to be in the Pacific Northwest. 

Elk Cove is one of Oregon's oldest wineries in the relatively young Oregon viticulture area. Begun in 1977 by the Campbell family it remains a family-run winery business and the care with which they make their wines shows. They have about 250 acres in production on four different locations and bottle about 35,000 cases a year. What a great way to start our winery junket. We tried the 2012 Pinot Blanc, a steely wine with hints of butter and lemon. Next was a 2012 Pinot Gris - their 2006 and 2009 were Wine Spectator top 100 wines. The 2012 was delicious, florally, crisp and refreshing with a pineapple nose. We tasted 2 Rieslings - the 2010 Riesling Estate and 2011 Late Harvest Riesling, both were challenging on their own to our untrained palettes, but would be lovely with the right food. We were surprised to find so many Rieslings on our tour in Oregon. We haven't begun to explore or fully appreciate the grape yet, but we're going to find our way there!

The 2012 Pinot Noir Rose we tasted next was wonderful - lots of rose and candy notes. Full of strawberry, red grapefruit and watermelon through the middle and finish.  This is a small production line for them so knew we wouldn't be getting any at our local wine shop - definitely something to bring home. We followed the white and pink wines with 3 Pinot Noirs, the Willamette Valley, Five Mountain, and La Boheme. All were very nicely fruity and earthy. Our favorite was the La Boheme, which had a dark fruit nose and velvety mouth feel. We followed these up with a Del Rio Syrah, which had good spiciness, structure and tannic finish. The last we tasted the 2010 Ultima dessert wine. I've been finding myself fascinated by dessert wines and ports of late because they are so fun to pair with food. We brought an Ultima home and I'm excited to make something to complement its peachy flavors. All-in-all, a winery to keep an eye out for at your local wine shop or visit when you are in the Willamette Valley.

Next up....Ken Wright Cellars.  Coming soon!

Tasting Event #3

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so we tasted four wines that should go well with turkey and fixin's. With help from our friends at Midtown Wine & Spirits, we picked out four very different wines - two whites and two reds:

1. A German Riesling: Von Schleinitz from Mosel - Weissenberg Kabinett  @ $19.99
2. A South African Chenin Blanc: Secateurs @ $16.99
3. A California Pinot Noir: Belle Glos Meiomi @ $19.99
4. A French Syrah-Grenache blend from the Languedoc region: H & B (Hecht & Bannier) Minervois @ $19.99

In order to determine which went best with thanksgiving food, we also served small plates of fall tastes - tenderized turkey breast steaks topped with stuffing and smothered in provolone with a splash of gravy, roasted sliced brussel sprouts with bacon, and a sweet and gold potato gratin.

So, our results: the Reisling was a little too sweet for most people on its own.  It was much better with the food, but some still thought it was too sweet. The Chenin Blanc was delicious on its own with a good minerality to it.  It had the acidity to cope with the richness of the food, yet it didn't really stand up well against the food. That is, it didn't bring anything to the food and its own flavors disappeared.  The Pinot Noir was the big hit, combining some nice up-front fruit with a bit of spice.  It was delicious by itself but paired extremely well with the food, especially the brussel sprouts. If you wanted something a little heartier than a Pinot Noir, the Minervois was exceptional. The Syrah-Grenache blend and style is similar to that of more widely available Cotes-du-Rhones, should you have trouble finding an offering from Minervois in your wine shop.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tasting Event #2

Sadly, my write-up from our last tasting is way overdue.  My apologies.  Sincere thanks go to Bradley at Midtown & Spirits for helping us pick out a great selection of five pinot noirs. Our second tasting consisted of pinots from New Zealand, France (Burgundy region), the Willamette Valley in Oregon and another from Russian River Valley, California. The last was an inexpensive, mass market, pinot noir from California.

Here are the details on the five:

1. Mark West, California (mass market wine) - $10.99
2. Nobilo Icon, New Zealand - $14.99
3. Argyle, Willamette Valley, Oregon - $22.99
4. LWC, Loring Wine Company, Russian River Valley, California - $19.99
5. Marsannay, Louis Latour, the Burgundy region in France - $22.99

We paired the tastings with several cheeses, charcuterie and fresh ripe figs wrapped in prosciutto. While we did a blind tasting again, I was certain I knew which one I would like best. Imagine my surprise when what I thought would be my favorite turned out third on my list.  My first and second favorites were as much a surprise as was the group's consensus.  As happened last time, everyone liked all of them and would happily drink any of them (let's just say that no one in the group was sipping & spitting), but side-by-side (don't judge us too harshly) the Mark West, the least expensive, came in first.  Although it was neither a clear nor unanimous favorite (Nobilo & Argyle also got first-place votes), it was the definite winner as a value proposition. Our rank orderings diverged dramatically.  My second place was the New Zealand Pinot Noir.  What I had expected to by my favorite, the Argyle from Willamette Valley, came in as my third favorite. There was no consensus on the least favorite.

As for taste profiles, as reconstructed from sketchy notes and fading memory, the Mark West had a spiciness to it that stood out from the others and, perhaps surprisingly for a wine at that price point, clearly improved with time. The Marsannay had a bit of the earthiness that one associates with Burgundy, LWC had a floral nose and hints of strawberry, the Nobilo was black cherry, and the Argyle was silky smooth with hints of violet.

Next up...Turkey wines. What goes best with a Thanksgiving meal? Paired, of course, with a little turkey and other thanksgiving edibles.

Tasting Event #1

We are playing with the notion of hosting a monthly tasting event. Having science backgrounds we find ourselves highly entertained by comparison tastings - does a Caipirinha taste better with 51 Cachaça or Pitú Cachaça?  Does a Manhattan taste better with 100% Rye or a blend of Rye and Bourbon? How do single malt Scotch Whiskys taste different by Scottish distillery and region?  Why stop with liquor, how about cheeses or chocolates?  And, better yet, why not share the fun with others? Yes, we have sciency friends, too, although that's not a prerequisite.

The warm weather of summer made us lean toward white wines as a first foray - crisp and cool would be welcome during this brutally hot summer. However, on second thought, we decided on Rosé wines. These delightful wines, best served between 10-12°C, provide an equally refreshing respite from the heat, and at our local wine shop we have noticed a growing selection each time we return. I was delighted to explore something that had been scorned in the US for many years (likely due to its association with White Zin), but now appears to have surged in popularity.

The difficult part in this entire plan was narrowing down which ones to taste. We ended up with nine guests for our first event and, while there is no rule in my book on how many wines one should taste at a tasting, we decided on four wines for this first foray. Once we knew how many we would taste, we then had to decide how to pick. Do we pick across countries (Chile, France, Spain, Italy, etc.) or, perhaps, within a country but across its regional variations? Because many different regions of France were represented among the offerings at our favorite local shop (Midtown Wine & Spirits), we decided to stay within France. We ended up with wines from the Loire Valley, the Rhone Valley, Provence, and the Savoie region (near the Alps). They were all 2011 vintages and cost between $14 and $20.  Here were the wines we served:

1. Rosé Gamay from Les Rocailles (Appellation Vin De Savoie, near the Alps) at $15.99
2. Rosé d'Anjou from Monmaousseau (Appellation Rosé d'Anjou, in the Loire valley) at $13.99
3. Commanderie de la Bargemone (Appellation Coteaux d'Aix en Provence) at $18.99
4. Chateau de Tringuevedel (Appellation Tavel, in the Rhone Valley) at $19.99

Now that wines were picked and guests had rsvp'd, we had to decide on nibbles to serve and the process of the event. We wanted the wines to speak for themselves so my husband opened the wines, removing all the foil, and put them into paper bags. Once he left the room, my job was to come in and number the bags randomly and then place them in order from 1 to 4. This allowed us to also participate in tasting without preconceived notions of what the wine would taste like (the Provence Rosé we served was one we drink often).

Each guest was given four wine glasses (renting glassware is easy and fairly cheap), some 3x5 note cards, oyster crackers and water for palate cleansing. Nosh was self-serve at their leisure. We provided cured meats, pecorino and idiazabal cheeses, olive tapanade, tomato bruschetta topping, and tomato-based spicy curry topping, along with sliced baguette and crackers.

At 4pm we all convened and proceeded to taste, compare and contrast. While I determined that I would drink any of the wines, we all had our favorites. I was alone in casting my vote for favorite to the Tavel, a wine that one guest said wanted to be a red wine. I prefer reds to anything else, so I guess I'm not surprised at my choice. The majority rated the Provence Rosé as the one they'd most likely buy. Provence is known as the Rosé region in France so our friends confirmed its reputation. This wine had the perfect balance of bright fruit flavors with a dry finish. The wine from the Savoie region was a little too understated for most, while the Rosé d'Anjou was on the sweet side for several of us. All except the Savoie received a vote for favorite, so we didn't end up with any skunks thanks to the help from our wine purveyor.

All in all I think we've hit upon a successful idea that we're excited to continue. For the next couple of weeks we get to ponder what will be next month's tasting!  Comment with your ideas and we'll let you know what we decide and how it turns out.