Bite of Oregon

Every year restaurants, wineries, and breweries from all over Oregon gather on the waterfront in Portland for a weekend to showcase the best of Oregon food and drink. In addition , there's music, cooking demonstrations and an Iron Chef competition. They also usually bring in a celebrity chef. This year it was Rahman "Rock" Harper, the winner of Fox TV's Hell's Kitchen. We didn't watch that show, so we'd never heard of him, but in previous years they've had Guy Fieri and Cat Cora from the Food Network.

Rachel and I arrived around noon and took a quick walk around to see what was there. We then headed into the wine tasting area where about 38 Oregon wineries were pouring. We like to survey the whole scene before jumping into the tasting, and it was great to get several shouts and waves from folks we know at various wineries. Although it's certainly growing, the Oregon wine industry is still relatively small, and we've gotten to know many winemakers and tasting room staff during our various wine adventures over the years. After our walkthrough, we jumped into the tasting. Although we didn't bring paper cups for spitting we managed to find some, and I'm getting pretty good (and less self-conscious) about using the spit buckets provided. Like Newport, wineries at The Bite charge a per-taste fee for each wine you want to try, usually between $0.50 and $2, although they'll often give you a special rate if you want to try all their wines. At events like this, we are a little pickier about what we try, usually looking for wineries we haven't tried for a while or real favorites.

After tasting through about half the wineries there, we decided it was time for a break, so we headed out of the wine area in search of food. All of the restaurants serve small plates for a few dollars, so you can sample several different dishes without getting stuffed. Last year we had some incredible lamb tacos, so we were expecting great things. Sadly, the food was just OK this year. Over the course of the afternoon, we ate a jerked pork sandwich with red cabbage slaw, liver paté with pickles, a sausage, and a few other things. We also caught one of the Iron Chef competitions on the chef's stage. In case you don't know about Iron Chef, it's a competition between 2 chefs to produce a meal highlighting a specific ingredient. The catch is that they don't know what the ingredient is until the battle starts. There are 2 identical kitchens on the stage, and each chef brings an assistant. At the end of the designated time period (30 minutes in this case), the chefs present their food to a judging panel. The secret ingredient for this battle was rack of lamb (one of my favorites!) and the final dishes looked really good! The announcer for the competition this year was local chef Lisa Schroeder, and although she tended to be a bit over the top, she was much better than last year's announcer - a local radio personality who had no clue about food.

After Iron Chef, we went back into the wine area and finished up our tasting. We then bought way more wine that we had intended, most of it from Hillcrest Vineyards - one of our favorites. Rachel was flying to Boston that night, so we drove straight to the airport from the Bite and I dropped her off and headed home. Although the food was somewhat disappointing, the Bite is always fun, and I'm sure we'll go again next year. One thing to remember is to bring more cash than you think you'll need. We've needed to use the on-site ATM both of the past 2 years, and they do charge a hefty fee.

Here are my tasting notes from the wines:

Witness Tree:

08 Pinot Blanc - Crisp, fruity, very good acid. Yum!
06 Elemental Cellars Pinot Gris - Good, but lacking acid
06 Elemental Cellars Viogner - Crisp, slightly spicy
07 Chardonnay - Nice, oaky, not quite enough acid
08 Termpranillo Rosé - Decent, but forgettable
07 Chainsaw Pinot Noir - Very good value ($20), smoky earthy
07 Estate Pinot Noir - Long finish, not quite as structured as the Chainsaw
06 Vintage Select Pinot Noir - Less interesting, low acid, flabby
05 Elemental Cellars Syrah - very peppery and smooth. Nice cool climate Syrah
07 Ice - OK, too sweet and not enough acid

Arcane Cellars:

08 Riesling - Very nice initial taste, but gets thin
08 Pinot Gris - Good, but not spectacular
06 Cabernet Sauvignon - Good fruit, but metallic finish

Silver Falls:

Chardonnay - Over-oaked, too buttery
Pinot Gris - Average, slightly sweet, not enough acid
Riesling - Floral and fruity, good finish, not enough acid
03 Pinot Noir in Stainless - Very fruity, smooth, slightly sweet (!?)
06 Pinot Noir in oak - Smoky, earthy and complex. Great value ($22)
06 Pinot Noir in stainless - Smooth, one-dimensional, boring
La Valle:

07 Dry Gamay Noir Rosé - crisp, light, delightful
07 Pinot Gris - dry, crisp, OK
08 Riesling - sweet, crisp, OK
06 Pinot Noir - a bit rough
07 Syrah - decent warm climate Syrah, nothing special
06 Cabernet Sauvignon - fruity but somewhat bitter

Hillcrest:

I like Dyson DeMara's wines a lot! We spent about 20 minutes tasting with him, and I didn't even write down any notes - they were all good.

Terra Vina:

Sangiovese - fruity, good flavor, too hot, good with food
Cab Franc - slightly harsh
Malbec - smooth, fruity, good acid

Rizzo Winery:

This was a strange duck - a very new winery that has tried to position themselves as an exclusive high-end winery with very expensive wines on allocation. Hmmm, good wines, but I don't think they're going to be able to sell them at those prices.

06 Yakima Cabernet Sauvignon - very complex, smooth tannins ($48)
06 Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon - good, but not as interesting as the Yakima ($60)
06 Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir Reserve - good, but not worth the price ($90)

Zerba Cellars

06 Cabernet Sauvignon - decent fruit, tannic, good with food
06 Sangiovese - Fruity. R didn't like it
06 Barbera - Smooth and fruity

Edenvale:

Tempranillo - good, but not great
Claret - flavorful, but not big and full enough. Not enough fruit.
Syrah - Average to poor warm climate Syrah.

Cliff Creek

04 Claret - Deep and rich. Yum!

Wilammette Valley Vineyards:

Eidelvise (white blend) - nice, but I'd rather drink their semi-sparkling muscat

Henry Estate:

Gewurztraminer - weak.

Seufert:

07 Hawks View Pinot Noir - light, strawberry, complex
07 Vine Idyl Pinot Noir - cherries, earth
07 Coleman Pinot Noir - smoke, plum, black cherry
06 Barrel Select Pinot Noir - fruity, but not everly

Pheasant Valley:

07 Tempranillo - fruity and interesting. Almost spicy
05 Cabernet Sauvignon - Fruity, smooth, a bit young, very nice

Maragas:

Pinot Gris - very nice, balanced, almost yeasty, slightly sweet
03 Zinfandel - nice, warm, full bodied, spicy
05 Zinfandel - simple and fruity, very tasty
Muscat - slightly sweet, muscat flavor is not quite intense enough

Chateau Bianca:

Riesling - very nice, good acid, slightly sweet
07 Triumph Marechal Foch - smooth and fruity

Trinity:

08 Viogner - spicy, slightly sweet
06 Pinot Gris - average
06 Pinot Noir - smooth, not too fruity, simple
06 Syrah - good example of Rogue Valley Syrah

Cottonwood:

06 Sauvignon Blanc - grassy, not enough acid
05 Marina Piper Pinot Noir - earthy, fruity, good
05 Brigette Catherine Pinot Noir - barrel select, fruity
04 Syrah - best warm climate syrah so far, big, tannic
Four Graces:

08 Pinot Gris - slate, minerals
07 Pinot Noir - complex and smoky
06 Pinot Noir - typical 06, not over the top, good

Palotai:

Bulls Blood - very good, fruity, smooth
Dolcetto - smooth and simple
Attila - nice claret with absolutely no finish

Girardet:

08 Baco Noir - smooth and simple. Nice Baco this year.