When we first moved to Forest Grove back in 1991, the joke was "Where do you go for good food in Forest Grove? Beaverton!" Fortunately, that's no longer true, and after our dash through downtown for First Wednesday we have always face the enviable dilemma of figuring out which of the several fine restaurants we'll patronize.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, since this post is really about First Wednesday. For over a year now, downtown businesses have stayed open late on the first Wednesday of each month to host wineries, artists, and writers, provide munchies, and generally put on an open house. During the summer months, it also coincides with the weekly farmers market where one can buy all manner of fresh produce, crafts, and other local goods. Of course my favorite part is the wine tasting. We usually get between 6 and 12 wineries to offer tasting at local businesses each month. Most are very local (within 10 miles), but every so often we get one from further down the Willamette Valley.
This month we had 6 wineries and a brewery: Sake One, Plum Hill, A Blooming Hill, Montinore, David Hill, Archery Summit, and Off the Rails brewery. We tasted through four of them:
A Blooming Hill - This is a new winery that just got bonded last year. They haven't even released any wine yet - they were just offering barrel samples. However, from what we tasted, they are one to watch. They had 2 wines to sample: a white blend and a Pinot Noir. The white blend is called Mingle and consists of Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Riesling. I thought the nose was a bit off-putting, bur Rachel claimed it was fine. However the taste was wonderful - bright and crisp with notes of peach and strawberry; Rachel said it tasted "shiny." It seems like the perfect wine for sipping on a hot summer day. It will be released later this spring. They also had a 2008 Pinot Noir that they were sampling. It was obviously still young, but I could taste a lot of potential underneath the fruit. It had some smokiness and minerality in addition to bright fruit. I can't remember when they said it might be released, but certainly not before this fall.
Archery Summit - Archery Summit is well known for high priced, high end Pinot Noir, so we were a little surprised (but pleased) to see that they were coming to First Wednesday. Unfortunately they only brought one wine - their 2007 Premier Cuvee. It had the dark, rich nose typical of Dundee Hills Pinots, and was very light in color. It was good, but not terribly complex or interesting.
David Hill - Will was pouring a whole bunch of David Hill wines at the Wine Behren, all of them good. We started with the slightly sweet Gewurztraminer, moved on the the Pinot Gris (also slightly sweet) and then to the Riesling (crisp and acidic). We also tried the Muscat, which I sure we must have tasted before, but couldn't remember. It was slightly sweet (about 4% RS according to Will), but Rachel and I both thought it either too sweet or not sweet enough. Perhaps it's best consumed with food! We skipped the Barrel Select Estate Pinot Noir - we have several bottles of it, and think of it as an everyday Pinot. It's good, not great, but a good value. We then tasted the Tempranillo which we like so much. However, on the first sip, something was wrong. The residual Muscat did some nasty things to the Temp! We had some bread and cheese to cleanse our palates, and tried again - much better. This is some wonderful fruity Tempranillo with a long, lingering finish. We finished up with the 2006 Merlot Reserve - one of our favorite Merlots - it didn't disappoint.
Montinore - This is another local Forest Grove winery that we tried a few years ago. The wine was OK, some better than others, but we weren't that impressed. However, over the past year, they've come to First Wednesday several times and the wine has gotten considerably better. The new owners have really taken an interest in the quality of the wine, and it shows. They brought 2 wines with them - an almost dry Riesling which was very crisp and refreshing, and their 2007 Estate Pinot Noir. 2007 was a tough vintage in Oregon, and many of the Pinots are fairly light in both color and flavor. Montinore did a great job with their '07 which had a nice depth of flavor and enough complexity to be interesting. Not great, but darn good for a $19 bottle of Pinot and quite a value.
Oh yes, about dinner - to our own surprise, we ended up at McMenamin's. It was one of the first decent restaurants in the FG area, but we'd grown somewhat tired of it and had quit eating there after many of the other restaurants openned. However, I was in the mood for a calzone, and they do make a nice one there. Rachel had a salmon sandwich with sweet potato fries. Their beer is just OK, but they did have a very nice Irish stout on nitro which I enjoyed with my meal.
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