Most of our day trips for wine tasting center around the northern end of the Willamette Valley. That's where we live, after all, plus there's an amazing concentration of really good wine. Yesterday, though, we decided to head south of McMinnville to explore some of the southern end of the valley in and around the Eola-Amity Hills AVA.
We planned to start our outing with Lunch at the Golden Valley Pub in McMinnville, but on the drive down we realized that we'd be in Carlton right about noon, so we stopped at Solena Cellars first. We'd first tasted at Solena about 2 years ago when we were first getting into wine, and I remember being somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer number of wines they had for tasting. Solena is owned by winemaker Laurent Montalieu and his wife Danielle Andrus Montalieu, and it seems that Laurent really enjoys making wine from a huge range of different grape varieties from around Oregon and Washington. This time, there were fewer wines open for tasting, and we were much more experienced wine tasters.
We started out tasting a Chardonnay from their second label (which I now can't remember the name). I really do need to start taking notes while I'm tasting so I don't have to try to remember it all the next day! We also tasted their 2007 Pinot Gris, 2007 Grand Cuvee Pinot Noir, 2006 Domaine Danielle Laurent Pinot Noir, 2004 Wooldridge Creek Vineyard Merlot, and finally the 2004 Extended Aged Klipsun Cabernet Sauvignon. The whites were very crisp and enjoyable. The '07 Pinot Noir had the big floral nose that is typical of so many of Laurent's Pinots, and was really quite nice for an '07 with bright fruit and some minerality. I actually thought it better than the '06 estate Pinot which seemed a little "mushy" and flat to me. The Merlot was very good - fruity but not over the top, smooth well integrated tannins with a long interesting finish. The extended aged cab was good too, but perhaps a bit harsh. Other than the Merlot, the wines were all quite good but not spectacular. In addition to his Solena label, Laurant makes a lot of Pinot Noir for other growers' labels, and I've tasted better Pinot from some of those efforts.
Next up was lunch at the Golden Valley Brewery and Pub in McMinnville. This is one of my favorite lunch spots: they make great beer (especially the Muddy Valley Oatmeal Stout) and serve really good pub food. We decided to keep it simple today, so I had a burger and Rachel had a Bavarian pork sandwich. No beer today however, since we had many wines to taste before dinner.
After lunch we headed south on 99W out of McMinnville. At the junction of hwy 233 just north of Amity, we stopped at Kristin Hill Winery. They are a small family winery with some fairly old Gewurztraminer vines (planted in 1984?) in addition to Pinot Noir and a few other varieties. We were greeted as we parked by a nice gentleman who directed us to the tasting room and told us a little about the winery (like the old Gewurz vines). We were a bit alarmed to see about 15 different bottles of wine lined up on the tasting room bar, but fortunately they weren't tasting them all. The winemaker, Eric Aberg, looking every bit the farmer in his stripped overalls, poured through a wide selection of his wines from a Pinot Noir rose' to a Muller-Thurgau, and a Beaujolais Nouveau style Gamay Noir along with the more usual Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. They were all OK, but nothing really to get excited about. I'm glad we stopped in, but probably don't need to go back.
We continued south on 99W through Amity and stopped at Coelho Winery. As we parked, both Rachel and I thought the tasting room looked very familiar, although I don't think we've ever stopped here before. Once inside, you find yourself in a beautiful high high ceilinged room with a great deal of exposed wood. They too have a wide range of wines divided into different tasting flights. We chose to taste just the reds. We tasted a vertical of their 2005, 2006, and 2007 Paciencia Pinot Noir. The '07 was surprisingly deep for a 2007 and had bright strawberry. The '06 came off a bit funky to me, and the 2005 was fantastic. It had hints of tobacco on the nose, was dark and earthy and had a long complex finish. We then tasted through their Red Table Wine, Petite Sirah, and Marechal Foch, all of which were quite good. The Red Table Wine was very unusual with guava and other tropical fruits. All in all, pretty good stuff.
We then left Amity and went almost to hwy 22. Just a mile or so before the junction with 22 is the turnoff to Van Duzer Vineyards. Now we've wanted to visit them for years since we used to drive by the little blue winery sign at the turnoff whenever we drove to and from Josh's YMA camp. The building housing both the winery and the tasting room is perched on a hill with fantastic views of the rolling Willamette valley below. They have about 68 acres planted in various Pinot Noir clones, 9 acres in Pinot Gris, and a few acres of Syrah that hasn't started producing yet. We tasted their 2007 Pinot Gris, 2007 Pinot Noir Rose, 2007 Vintner's Cuvee Pinot Noir, 2006 Estate Pinot Noir, 2005 Flagpole block Pinot Noir, 2005 Westside block Pinot Noir, and their NV Windfall Oregon Port. The Pinot Gris was clean and crisp, as was the rose. Rachel thought it the best Pinot Noir Rose we've yet tasted. The Pinot Noirs were good but not great, the 2005 Westside block being the best of the bunch with some earthiness and complexity. We didn't think much of the port; it seemed too hot and harsh. So while the view was great, the wines were only average to good.
Leaving Van Duzer, we headed back north on 99W and in just a mile or 2 came to Left Coast Cellars. Clearly someone had a lot of money to spend. Of the 400 acre property, over 100 are under vine. We drove up the very long driveway past the manicured lawns, solar arrays, ponds and young vineyards, past a massive winery building to the tasting room. The vines are all less than 7 years old, some much less, and the wines show it. We started out with a pleasant Pinot Gris, then tried a very over-oaked Chardonnay. For those who like the big buttery, oaky Chards that used to be ubiquitous in California, you'll like this one. We prefer a crisper Chardonnay. Next we had a Pinot Noir Rose that I thought was pretty good. We then tried several Pinot Noirs: the 2007 Cali's Cuvee, the 2006 Parallel 45 and the 2006 Suzanne's Reserve. All of the Pinots were fairly mundane and forgettable. As we drove away, we opined that it seemed like the owners bought into the winery lifestyle without, perhaps, a passion for the wine. It seemed to us that starting with 100 acres of vines made it impossible to really get to know the individual blocks of vines, the different soils and microclimates, etc. needed to really get the best out of your grapes. The wine tasted plain and mass-produced because it probably was just that.
We continued up 99W and turned east onto Bethel Rd. toward Lincoln. There are many wineries in that area, but most are only open on weekends in March. However, we did discover that in spite of the WVWA map and their website, St. Innocent Winery is open on Fridays. I've heard good things about their Pinot Noir and was eager to try it. The winery and tasting room is in the middle of Zenith Vineyard. They also have an associated event center. The parking lot is huge - bigger than any Oregon winery we've visited, and the plaza outside the tasting room is at least 4 times as big as the entire crush pad that I'm used to working on at Apolloni (and that doesn't even count the huge fountain). They had a large lineup of wines to try, starting with a crisp, bright Pinot Gris, and a very pleasant mildly oaked Chardonnay. We then tasted through their lineup of Pinot Noirs which included the 2007 Villages Cuvee and 2006 single vineyard wines from Momtazi, Seven Springs, Zenith, and Justice. All were very good, although Rachel and I liked the Justice and Seven Springs the best. All were fruit forward without being over the top and had a long lingering finish. Not the absolute best Oregon Pinot Noir we've ever had, but right up there.
We continued on Bethel Rd (which had turned into Zena Rd by now), and took 221 south to the northern edge of Salem. There we visited Redhawk Winery. What a contrast to Left Coast Cellars! It was obviously a very small family winery where they didn't pour massive amounts of money into it. In addition to their own Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay, they source some warm weather varieties from the Columbia Valley. They specialize in value wines, and so while none of them were great, they seemed to offer decent value for the price. We tasted their 2007 Pinot Gris, 2007 Grateful Red Pinot Noir, 2006 Pinot Noir Vinter's Reserve, NV Redhawk Red Cab/Merlot blend, 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2005 Reds Cuvee (Cab, Merlot, and Syrah). For $11, the Redhawk Red was a very good value for an everyday table wine, up there with David Hill's Farmhouse Red (but very different). To finish, we tried a Tempranillo desert wine, which although we love Tempranillo, was disappointing. One interesting note is that as we pulled out of our parking spot, we noticed that the pickup truck parked at the winery had a WIRX bumper sticker on it. That was the local rock station that we used to listen to many years ago in St. Joseph, MI. I wonder if the owners use to live there?
For our last stop of the afternoon, we visited Cristom Winery on the way back toward McMinnville for dinner. We got there at 4:50, and the pourer was in a hurry to get out by closing time at 5:00, so we didn't have much time to taste. We tried their Pinot Gris (crisp and acidic), several 2006 Pinot Noirs (Sommers Reserve, Marjorie Vineyard, and Louise Vineyard) and 2005 Estate Syrah. Yes, estate Syrah in the Willamette valley. They grafted the Syrah onto older Chardonnay vines in 2001 and this (2005) was their second vintage. The Pinots were all quite nice, but the Syrah knocked my socks off. It was classic cool climate Syrah with a floral nose and very peppery taste. I'd like to go back and taste again sometime when we have more time.
Well, 8 wineries in one afternoon ain't bad, but it was time to head into McMinnville for dinner at Nick's Italian Cafe. Rachel had lined up 3 other couples to join us, so we knew we were in for a fun evening. Nick's has been a landmark in McMinnville for many years, and although we've heard a lot about it, we'd never eaten there. What we didn't realize is that within the past few years, the place had gone considerably upscale. The menu was a 5 course prix fixe meal with numerous choices for each course (antipasto, soup, pasta, salad, entree). Antipasto choices included seared scallops (which I had), pork belly on crostini, salumi, and pork terrine (which Rachel had). I had a very tasty minestrone and pesto soup, while Rachel had the bread soup. Pasta choices were numerous and unusual - I had a tuna and olive pasta while Rachel ordered the lamb ragout. It turned out that we each liked the other's better and traded. I had the classic ceasar salad, and Rachel had field greens. By the time the entrees arrived, we were all pretty full, but we fought on. I had a pretty good pork loin and sausage dish and Rachel had three-way lamb which was delighfully prepared but not that interesting. While we were even more stuffed after the entree, we of course needed some desert. Rachel had a very tart and tangy Meyer lemon sorbetto, and I had one of the best executed creme brulees I've ever had. Nothing fancy, but the custard was perfect.
Over the course of the evening, we ordered 3 bottles of Italian wine: a Barbera d'Asti, a Chianti Classico, and something from Montalcino. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of any of the labels this time, so I don't have any more details. The first 2 bottles were wonderful, but the last one was pretty funky. It may have been slightly corked. If you could get past the funky nose, it tasted alright. So, while we all had a great time, I think most agreed that it wasn't worth going back. The food was good but not great, but there was too much food and perhaps not a great value either.
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