Memorial Day Weekend, Day 2

It's unusual to have a perfectly clear weekend in Oregon in May. It's even more unusual to have two in a row, but that's what we got. Faithful readers may recall that the weekend before Memorial Day was clear and sunny, so I was expecting that this weekend would be the usual clouds and drizzle. Not so! After a great day of wine tasting on Saturday, we woke up to another morning of clear blue skies on Sunday, ready for another full day.

We left the house around 10:00, and headed south toward Lachini Vineyards. We had bought some wine there last weekend, but they had run out of their 2005 Estate Pinot Noir, but said they'd have it waiting for us this weekend. Rachel averted her eyes from the cheese and meat on the snack table as we entered the tent, and we picked up our wine and left. According to the GPS record, we were there for all of 3 minutes!

Our first real stop of the morning was Belle Pente winery. They had been on our list last year, but we ran out of time and didn't get to stop there. They were well prepared for visitors and had plenty of signs pointing the way, and had chalked in lines to form parking spaces on their gravel. In fact, not only did they have signs leading from the parking area to the winery, they even had blue tape marks on the floor to show you how to move from tasting to tasting inside the winery! They were pouring the following wines: a mostly dry '07 Muscat (clean with light smoky notes, less Muscat nose than expected. We like Purple Cow's better), an '07 Pinot Gris (clean, well made, but nothing special), their '07 Cuvée Contraire Rosé (peppery, spicy rosé), '07 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir (somewhat light, and a bit harsh), '06 Belle Pente Vineyard PN (good, smoky nose, decent finish), and their 2006 Estate Reserve PN (OK, forgettable). Our overall take-away was that the wine was very well made but lacked personality.

Our next stop was a favorite from last year: Lemelson Vineyards. Unfortunately we arrived just after a small busload of people, so there was a short line before we could pay and get in. We overheard someone in the group complain "Hey, all they have is Pinot - I'm not going to taste." It's a pity because if there's one place where you can really get an education about the differences that vintage and vineyard make, this is the place. We decided to skip past the whites since that's where most of the bus people were lined up. Lemelson makes several single vineyard Pinot Noirs in addition to a blend, and they were tasting both the 2006 and 2007 vintages for most of them. First up was the '06 Thea's Selection blend (dark fruit, long finish) and the '07 Thea's Selection (dark fruits, but slightly brighter and lighter). I actually preferred the '07 to the '06. Unfortunately as we got deeper into the Pinots, I forgot to take notes, but in general the '06s were bigger and fruitier, while the '07s were more subtle but in many cases more complex. We tasted the '06 and '07 Meyer Vineyard, the '06 and '07 Stermer Vineyard (my favorite), the '06 Anderson Vineyard (very interesting) and the '06 Jerome Reserve (we bought this last year, and it's still great). After the Pinot Noirs, we went back to taste the whites. The '08 Tikka's Run Pinot Gris was very crisp, floral and delicious, but we were disappointed by the '07 dry Riesling. We had so loved the '06 and were looking forward to the '07, but while good, it just didn't seem to have the same acidic crispness that we were looking for. Fortunately, we thought to ask about the '06, and they still had some for sale, so we got a couple more bottles.

Moving on from Lemelson, we headed into Carlton where you can't swing a cat without hitting at least 5 wineries or tasting rooms. For some reason, I had Domaine Coteau on my list even though they appear to have a tasting room that's open most of the time. We got to try their '07 second label Pinot Noir along with their main label. We also tried a barrel sample of the 2008. All were pretty much forgettable.

We then walked next door to Ken Wright Cellars. I'd been wanting to try some of Ken's wine for a while now, but have always been a bit reluctant to go since he almost always is sold out and only sells futures. It turns out that I really had nothing to worry about, and in some ways this was the highlight of the day. The open house took place in his barrel storage building - a large dark wooden structure that looks quite old. They could just as well have called in a wine education seminar as much as an open house. There were many interesting displays and information tables that included grape vines of different ages from 1 year through 20 years, soil samples from the many different soil types in the Willamette Valley, and different types of bottle closures. Oh, they were also tasting wine, starting with a nice clean 2007 Pinot Blanc and a lightly oaked crisp acidic Chardonnay. Both were quite nice. They were also tasting 2008 barrel samples (direct from the barrel) of wine from 3 different vineyards with different soil types. That was absolutely fascinating, and we learned that volcanic soils tend to give the wine red and dark fruit flavors, while sedimentary soils tend to give spice and earthy flavors. We also now suspect that the Wädenswil clone imparts a taste that Rachel doesn't like in Pinot Noir. Finally, we got to sample a couple of Ken's 2006 Pinots: the 2006 Elton Vineyard (big fruit and smooth tannins - volcanic soil) and the 2006 Freedom Hill Vineyard (plenty of fruit tempered with earthiness and minerality - sedimentary soil). Both were very good, but perhaps not worth the $75 price.

We left Ken Wright around 1:30 and headed down to McMinnville. I wanted to try Ghost Hill wines, and they were tasting at Anthony Dell's tasting room. This worked out very well on several fronts: they had live music, large Syrah-style stemware and they were serving lunch, all included in the $10 tasting fee. We started with lunch (pulled pork sandwiches again, red beans and rice, and something else I can't remember) and then moved to the tasting. Ghost Hill is a fairly new winery whose vineyards are right next to Monk's Gate. They were tasting 2 vintages of their Pinot Noir by their previous winemaker, and we had a nice chat with their new winemaker who was kind enough to take us back to their barrels and let us sample the 2008. The 2006 was pretty average, while the 2007 was a bit lighter but seemed to have more structure than the '06. Both were fine but not spectacular. The 2008 samples were separated by clones and were all very good. They'll blend for the final released wine, and it will certainly be worth trying. We then went over to taste the Anthony Dell wines. We've had mixed feelings about them in the past. We really liked their Syrah at a tasting, but must have gotten a bad bottle that we really didn't like. Today they were tasting a Pinot Gris (pretty weak), the '03 PN (big and warm), the '05 PN (nicely structured), '06 PN (fruity and structured), Syrah (a very nice example of warm climate fruity Syrah), their Rio Red blend (similar to David Hill's Farm House Red, but not as good), and a Cabernet Sauvignon (good).

Leaving Anthony Dell with full stomachs, we drove about a block to Westry Winery. However, as soon as we arrived in the parking lot, we both remembered that we had visited them 2 years ago, and decided to pass this year. We then headed south toward Amity.

We arrived at Calamity Hill Vineyard for their very first public tasting. The vineyard is a small 1.5 acre plot within 5 acres that includes the owners' house and a beautiful yard and garden. When we arrived, it almost felt like we were crashing another private event - everyone there seemed to be friends or family of the owners. However, the response was the exact opposite of what we felt at Hawk's View. The owners, Tom and Marion Vail, went out of their way to welcome us and talk about their vineyard and wine. They planted the vineyard in 2005, and were just releasing their first wine - a 2007 Pinot Noir and 2008 Pinot Gris. The Pinot Noir (35 cases) was made by Michael Stevenson at Panther Creek, and the Pinot Gris (15 cases) by Geoffrey Crowther at August Cellars. The Pinot Gris was crisp and light, while the Pinot Noir was light and fruity, with notes of strawberry and some earthiness. Not bad for such young vines. Because they wanted to make sure that visitors got their money's worth, they also poured a 2006 PN from Stevenson's own label which was really nice. Marion showed us her garden and invited us to stroll through the vineyard with our wine. It was absolutely marvelous, and we wish them great success. It will be interesting to try their wine again next year.

Continuing south, our next stop was Mystic Winery, another favorite from last year. They also had live music, but the singer was just off key enough to be grating. That may be why we weren't as impressed with the wine as I remember from last year and several bottles that we'd had since then. They were tasting their '07 Temprance Hill Pinot Noir (earth, some spice, nothing special), '03 Merlot (fairly bland - too bad because we had really liked the '02), '03 Cab (nice fruity with very smooth tannins), '05 Barbera (good fruit, nice finish), '05 Syrah (OK, but something was missing), '05 Zinfandel (very peppery) and the '03 Reserve Merlot (good, lots of oak). Ray Walsh was also there tasting his Capitello wines. He had his '06 Sauvignon Blanc (crisp and acidic with bell pepper), '07 Pinot Gris (not quite sweet enough), an '08 New Zealand Pinot Noir (big and fruity, like a California Pinot), his NV Brut (crisp, acidic, dry - quite good), and the '07 Dolcino dessert wine (nicely balanced, but maybe a bit too sweet).

We left Mystic at about 4:30, and realized that we had time for one more stop. A quick look at the map showed that we were near Brooks Winery which we'd never visited. As we pulled into their parking lot, we saw 2 horses tied up outside the tasting room. I don't know if it's illegal to ride while intoxicated, but at least the horses hadn't been drinking! They had a lot of wine to taste and we didn't have much time before closing, so we got right to it. The first wine was a very nice white blend - nothing spectacular, but quite good. We then started down their lineup of five(!) Rieslings. Most were quite good, but nothing extraordinary. Moving on to the reds, they had five Pinot Noirs: the '07 Runaway Red (a nice light value wine), '07 Pinot from the assistant winemaker's label (good basic PN), their '07 Willamette Valley PN (very interesting, spicy, earthy), and their '06 Janus (all the nice fruit of a typical '06 plus minerals and earthiness), and finally the '06 Rastaban (big, over the top fruit and tannin). Finally, they had a knock-your-socks-off late harvest Riesling called Tethys (light, acidic, balanced sweetness with a light mouth feel). As we were buying a few bottles of wine, we heard a bit of the story behind the winery. The winery was started in 1998 by Jimi Brooks. When he died unexpectedly in Sept. 2004, his son Pascal, now 13 years old, became the sole owner of the winery. The Oregon wine community showed its typical generosity and helped with harvest and wine making that year, and Jimi's sister Janie volunteered her time to keep the business going, and now serves as managing director. Chris Williams had worked with Jimi and is now the wine maker at Brooks. An extraordinary story and some very nice wine. We arrived back home around 6:00 - tired but happy. One more day to go!