Memorial Day Weekend, Day 1

Maps, spreadsheets, GPS's, Styrofoam lined wine box, camera, netbook PC, newspaper inserts, bottles of water, and a lot of paper cups - these are the tools of the Memorial Day Weekend Wine Warrior. Every year, most of the over 400+ wineries in Oregon open their doors over the Memorial Day weekend and offer tasting, barrel samples, cave tours, etc. Many of the wineries are open to the public only twice a year, so this is a great opportunity to visit places that we can't normally visit. Obviously three days isn't enough to even make a dent in the long list of wineries, but with careful planning and execution, we were able to visit 36 wineries and sample about 180 wines.

The first step is planning. We usually start by looking at the open house listings in the Oregon Wine Press and the Oregonian and select wineries that aren't usually open. We also look for wineries that are doing something special such as live music, library tasting, cave tours, etc. In previous years, we've also given higher priority to wineries that were giving away the Riedel Oregon Pinot Noir glasses, but now that we have about 14 of 'em and countless other winery logo glasses, we get very creative about finding ways to leave the souvenir glasses behind after tasting! Once we've chosen a list of wineries to visit and entered them into a spreadsheet, Rachel plots them on a map. We then use mapping software to plan our routes for each of the 3 days. Some wineries are not open on Monday, so we need to make sure that our plans account for that. Rachel loads the maps onto her netbook PC and programs them into our GPS. For each day of tasting, I put a Styrofoam-lined wine shipping box in the trunk to keep our purchases from getting too hot, load up all our maps and paperwork, and grab a pack of paper cups. Why paper cups? If you're going to taste an average of 60 wines each day, you'd better either have a designated driver, or paper cups. All of the wineries supply "dump buckets" or "spit buckets" and I'll use those if there's one handy, but with the crowds that are often around the tasting tables, I find it easier to spit into a paper cup and eventually empty that into the dump bucket. Sounds a bit disgusting, but it's really the most responsible way to taste wine. Plus, I'm still able to taste and evaluate each wine even late into the day. I've finally started carrying a small notebook so that I can take notes on each wine that we taste.

Day 1 - Saturday

On Saturday, we decided to head further east than usual, and try some lesser known wineries out toward Hillsboro and Sherwood. We left the house at about 10:40am and drove to Ardiri Winery (formerly Gypsy Dancer). Gary Andrus started his third winery, Gypsy Dancer, in 2004 after founding Pine Ridge in California and Archery Summit in Oregon. In October 2008, Andrus sold Gypsy Dancer to Ardiri, a Napa Valley winery. The new owners haven't yet released any wine made from the vineyard, but they were tasting a couple of Carneros Pinots that had been made at the winery. It struck us as quite strange that anyone would truck Pinot Noir grapes grown in Carneros to the Willamette Valley (coals to Newcastle!?). The wines themselves (an '06 and '07) were big California fruit bombs, although the '07 was a little more subtle with decent acid. They also tasted a wonderful '07 Gypsy Dancer Pinot Gris that was crisp and fruity.

We next headed to Freja Winery near Hillsboro. The winery and tasting room were in a nice old barn, and we were the only ones there when we arrived. They were tasting an '07 PN Rosé and a couple of Pinot Noirs ('07 and '05). All of the wines were fairly forgettable, and we left somewhat disappointed.

Just down the road from Freja is Beran Winery. They too had converted an old barn into a winery and tasting room. They were just tasting Pinot Noir, and had a nice '05 Dijon 115 clone, an '05 Pommard clone, and an '06 estate blend. All were pretty good, but ordinary.

By this point, we were thinking that while we didn't regret coming out this way, there was probably a reason that these lesser known wineries were lesser known! But we decided to stick to the plan and head out toward Sherwood to Alloro Vineyard. As we were driving up the tree-lined driveway past the statuary toward the newly constructed (and expensive) winery, we were wondering if we were back in Temecula. Fortunately, we were in for a pleasant surprise once inside the winery. David Nemarnik, the owner and vineyard manager is justifiably proud of his wines. He was pouring 3 '07 Pinot Noirs (an estate blend and 2 individual vineyard blocks), a killer '08 Riesling, and a wonderful Muscat/Riesling dessert wine. The '07 Pinots had a good amount of fruit up front and nice extraction for '07s. The Winery Block (all 777 clone) had a nice smoky nose with lots of layers, while the Church Block (all Pommard clone) was good but somewhat less complex and interesting. The winery itself is all gravity fed with a nice barrel cave underneath. Very good wine, nice people, and a beautiful winery and vineyard. We'll be back.

Our next stop was Hawk's View Winery, another new place. While the newspapers had them listed as open all 3 days, we were a bit concerned as we saw signs that read "private event," but we figured that perhaps it was just for folks who had seen the open house notice in the paper. Driving in, we had the same impression that we got when visiting Left Coast Cellars - rich Californians wanting to buy into the wine country lifestyle. This place had a boatload of money put into it - big state of the art winery, expensive tasting room, huge mansion up the hill. The tasting room was full of obviously wealthy people who didn't give us the time of day. The pourers were polite enough, and the wine was terrible. We left as quickly as possible. Now in fairness, perhaps we really did crash a private event, but a simple explanation and either being welcomed or asked to leave would have been much better.

We next headed back to more familiar territory: the Dundee Hills. Our first stop here was J.K. Carriere. What a contrast with Hawk's View! The winery was in an old barn (no big bucks here), with a moderately friendly staff. They were tasting a white Pinot Noir - something which I'd never had before. As you know, red wine gets its color primarily from the skins - the longer you keep the juice in contact with the skins, the darker the color. White wine is made from red grapes simply by pressing the juice and separating it from the skins immediately after harvest. This wine was light and refreshing. They also tasted a nice Chardonnay done in neutral oak, their 2007 Provocateur Pinot Noir blend (fairly light, typical '07) and their '06 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (deep and rich).

We left J.K. Carriere a little after 2pm, and although we'd been snacking at each winery, we needed some lunch. Fortunately, our next stop was the Ponzi Wine Bar in Dundee which just happens to be right next to the Dundee Bistro. Jason (the chef) had prepared "the whole hog" for the weekend - real smoked pork BBQ, in the parking lot. This was perfect since we didn't want to take the time for a full sit-down meal at a restaurant, but wanted tasty food. It was all you can eat for $15 and they had set up tables and chairs under a big tent right in the parking lot - pay, eat, and leave. After stuffing ourselves, we walked across the parking lot to the wine bar. They were tasting wines from four different wineries. First up were several wines from Ponzi - the '08 Pinot Gris that we'd tasted at the lamb dinner a few nights earlier, the '08 Rosato Rosé that we'd also had at the lamb dinner, an '08 Arneis (a dry white Italian varietal with a warm peppery finish), and the '07 Tavola PN (their value blend). Next up were wines from Antica Terra. I had been looking forward to trying their wines, but came away somewhat disappointed. They were tasting their '07 Rosé which was good, but nothing special, and their '07 Pinot Noir (some earthiness, fuller than some 2007's). The wines were fine, but not spectacular, and the pourer droned on for what seemed like 10 minutes with his memorized speech. Next was Ayoub. They had their '07 Memoir Pinot Noir (very light, strawberry notes, good sipping wine), the '07 estate PN (dark, earthy, and complex) - both very good examples of what they were trying to be. Finally, we tried 3 Pinots from Dusky Goose. The first was the '06 Dundee Hills Pinot (nice, fairly average 2006 PN), next was their '06 Estate PN (less complex than the Dundee Hills, still quite nice), and finally a library wine, the 2003 Dundee Hills PN. 2003 was a hot vintage and a lot of Pinots ended up as fruit bombs. This one wasn't over the top with fruit (perhaps it had aged out), but wasn't quite as complex as I expected from a 6 year old Pinot.

Our last stop of the day was a favorite from last year: 12th and Maple Wine Co. This is home to many small wineries, and actually had the third largest production of all Oregon wineries last year with over 85,000 cases. Because there were 8 different wineries tasting here today, we first did a round of whites, then went back to taste the reds. However, I'll describe the wineries in alphabetical order here. Ancient Cellars is owned by a young winemaker and his wife. By day, he makes huge batches of wine for 12th and Maple's bulk customers, but by night he makes small batches of his own wine using grapes from prestigious vineyards. They were tasting an '07 Pinot Gris (smooth and slightly sweet) and an excellent '07 Pinot Noir (complex, earthy and deep for an '07). Barbara Thomas wines had been there last year also, and were tasting a very nice white table wine, an '08 Pinot Gris that we didn't care for, a wonderful acidic dry '08 Riesling, a spicy red table wine, and a fairly average '05 estate Pinot Noir. Blue Pirate was there with their '07 Pinot Gris and several vintages of Pinot Noir. They had a very nice value Oregon '07 (forest floor, mushrooms, short finish), an Oregon '06 Reserve (average), their '05 Willamette Valley (dark, earthy and complex), and an '03 Willamette Valley (very smooth, good fruit, warm finish). Gino Cuneo was there with several variations on Sangiovese. The first was an '08 Rosato which was a fun and interesting wine. Next was the '07 Sangiovese (somewhat rough) and finally a pre-release sample of the '07 Sangiovese Reserve (quite nice). Next was the Dukes Family Vineyard. We'd met the owners at a Forest Grove First Wednesday a few months back and had been very impressed with the Pinot Noir. Their wines had been made by Gary Andrus (former owner of Gypsy Dancer) until he passed away in January. They had brought 5 of their Pinots to try, and all were fantastic - deep, rich, and complex. They had the '05, '06, and '07 Alyssa (all very warm and fruity, approachable now) and the '06 and '07 Thomas (needs age). Keep an eye out for their wines - they're all wonderful. Next was another small operation - Longplay. They had an '07 Pinot Noir and an '07 Chardonnay, both of which were good but not standouts. We really enjoyed talking with the couple who were pouring for Seven of Hearts. They were both geneticists who also owned a vineyard where Seven of Hearts (among others) purchased grapes. They were pouring an '06 Willamette Valley Chardonnay (good, neutral oak, not enough acid), an '08 Roussanne (very interesting but not enough acid), an '07 Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir (pretty good), an '06 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir (very good, warm and fruity), and an '07 Crawford Beck Pinot Noir (decent). Finally, we tasted at Basket Case Wines. They had their '07 Chenin Blanc (somewhat boring, dry), an '08 white table wine (ok), their '06 Basket Case Syrah (I liked it, R didn't), '06 Reversal Syrah (good warm climate syrah), and their '07 Stumbling Block Red Blend (we didn't care for this).

We arrived at 12th and Maple around 3:30, and left after they closed, about 5:15. Wow, what a day of wine tasting. We got home around 6:00, and because we'd been spitting all day, actually felt like having a glass of wine with dinner. We unloaded our purchases from the box, and put it back in the trunk, ready for another day of wine tasting.