Lamb Feast in Dundee

Do you know where your food comes from? These days the food on your plate has likely traveled hundreds if not thousands of miles to reach your table. Sure, it allows you to enjoy something almost, but not totally, unlike a tomato year 'round, but it comes at a cost. First, it's spent a lot of time and used a lot of fuel to get from where ever it was grown to where you are. This means that in the case of produce, it was likely picked before it was ripe, and it has probably been genetically modified to emphasize the ability to travel well, not necessarily to taste great. Finally, it's caused the production of food to be concentrated in huge factory farming operations designed for the mass market. Granted, this has given us access to some of the cheapest food in the world, but I think we've lost something in the bargain. I could list many advantages of locally produced food and wine, but for me, the advantages are getting fresher and tastier food, more diversity in selections, and knowing that we haven't wasted energy hauling food half way around the world. It also allows us to get to know the people who produce what goes on our tables.

Why am I going on about eating and drinking locally? Last Thursday, Rachel and I had a special dinner at The Dundee Bistro in honor of their 10th anniversary. Dundee is right in the middle of Oregon wine country and has been described as a little town with one stop light and three gourmet restaurants. Chef Jason Stoller Smith joined the Bistro in 2002 and focuses on regional dishes that highlight the best seasonal and sustainably farmed local ingredients. In honor of their 10th anniversary, they put on a 4 course lamb feast paired with Ponzi wines. The lamb all came from SuDan Farm in Canby, and owners Dan and Suzie Wilson (Su-Dan, get it?) were on hand to talk about their farm and share their passion for lamb. Rachel and I had a long chat with Susie before dinner started and found out about how their operation works and got some good recipe tips. I sat next to Dan during the dinner itself and got all my questions about lamb answered. In reference to wanting lamb that tasted "lambier" or gamier, Dan suggested that we may want an older animal. He said that he'd be happy to work with us to get a young sheep (about a year old) and provide us with parted and frozen locker lamb. I think we'll take him up on that as soon as we're done with the lamb we have (which is getting close).

The food was amazing. Jason chose to use less popular cuts of the lamb and present them in unusual ways. The first course was a pepper cured lamb neck that had been rolled into a cylinder, slowly braised, then cut into inch thick slices. The slices were then breaded and fried, and served with a leek purée and black truffle aioli. The lamb was tender and flavorful, although the leek purée seemed to be missing something. This was paired with the 2008 Ponzi Pinot Gris - a nice crisp wine with nice acidity.

The second course was a bowl of lamb shoulder polpettini (little meatballs) with Parmesan brodo (broth) with shredded asparagus and blue lake beans. The broth was rich and flavorful and the shredded veggies were cooked perfectly. The meatballs were good, but again, I was looking for perhaps bolder flavors. This course was paired with 2006 Ponzi Chardonnay Reserve done in 10% new oak. It was crisp with a smooth mouthfeel without being buttery.

The main course was a lamb shank confit served with English peas and a Niçoise olive and caper vinaigrette. The lamb was very tender and flavorful and the peas were cooked perfectly - firm but not crunchy. This course was paired with the 2007 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, a light elegant Pinot with a hint of smokiness.

The cheese course was last, and it was amazing. Jason had asked Dan for some lamb belly which he cured and smoked to create lamb bacon! He crisped the bacon and served it over Cypress Grove fromage blanc in endive with red grapes gremolata. Hmmm, was that bacon tasty! It turned out so well, that it will probably appear occasionally on the Bistro's bacon tasting menu (ya gotta love a restaurant with a bacon tasting menu!) This was paired with the 2006 Ponzi Vino Gelato - a nice, well balanced ice-wine style blend of Riesling and Muscat.

The portion sizes were perfect, so we were full but not stuffed, and the wine pours were such that we didn't have to take a cab home. It was a pleasure to get to know Dan and Susie, and I know where our next lamb is coming from. California bills itself as "the land of food and wine," but we have our own little slice of culinary paradise right here in Oregon.

Dobbes' Extended Family Event

Joe makes wine. Joe makes a lot of wine. In fact, in 2008 Joe Dobbes' company, Wine by Joe, was the 4th largest producer in Oregon. He makes some fantastic wine for his Dobbes Family Estate label and a good line of value wines for his Wine by Joe label. He also sells a lot of bulk wine to various clients. But in the middle, he makes wine for a number of smaller family wineries which they sell under their own labels. It's quite possible that one of your favorite Oregon producers is a client of Joe's.

On Sunday May 17th, Wine by Joe brought many of these small family producers together for an open house at the winery. It was a great opportunity to taste and compare many of Joe's wines made using different varieties of grapes from many different regions of Oregon and Washington made for different clients. There were 11 brands represented, each at their own tasting table, along with Dobbes Family Estate to make an even dozen. They also had their usual nice selection of snacks.

Aside from the good wine, the thing that impressed us most about the event was how well it was organized and run. They had staff constantly re-stocking the food table, emptying the dump buckets at each winery, supplying water for rinsing glasses, and generally ensuring that everything ran smoothly. It was impressive! I certainly hope that they make this an annual event.

Here's a rundown on the participating wineries:

Alexeli Vineyard was pouring a very nice 2008 Riesling (about 2% RS), and spicy but fairly ordinary 2008 Gewurztraminer, and a semi-sparkling Chardonnay that would have been very nice with a bit more acid.

Barron-Wahl Vineyards was pouring their 2006 Pinot Noir (dark fruits with a slightly funky nose) and their 2007 Pinot Noir which was light, fruity with a hint of smokiness.

Cliff Creek Cellars is one of our favorite producers of big warm climate red wines. They were pouring their 2004 Claret (a very nice Bordeaux blend), 2004 Syrah (very solid example of a warmer climate syrah), 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon (very nice with chewy tannins), and the 2005 Merlot (good, but not exceptional).

Dobbes Family Estate was pouring a few of their wines: the 2005 Grand Assemblage Syrah (very nice with smooth tannins), a very floral 2006 Viognier, a light and pleasant 2007 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, and their very nice 2007 Grand Assemblage Pinot Noir.

Elstrom Estate Vineyard was pouring their 2007 Pinot Gris (somewhat weak but with a good finish) and their 2008 Pinot Gris (great fruit but a weak finish), an excellent layered, subtle and complex 2005 Pinot Noir, and a big, fruity 2006 Pinot Noir.

Fox Farm Vineyards was pouring a good, drinkable 2007 Pinot Gris, a 2007 Pinot Noir with good color, extraction, and slight caramel notes, and their 2007 Syrah with great black fruit, but somewhat simple.

Paschal Winery was pouring their 2005 Civita, a good red table blend, a very nice 2005 Syrah that was spicy with notes of black cherry, a good white table blend called 2006 Maya's New White, and their wonderful 2006 Sangiovese/Dolcetto blend that we had at Newport.

Quailhurst Vineyard Estate was pouring their 2004 Pinot Noir (very good prototypical '04), an interesting non-typical 2006 Pinot Noir with flavors of toast and caramel, and a 2006 Virtuoso White blend that we didn't care for.

South Stage Cellars brought their 2007 Pinot Noir (a bigger, fruitier PN from southern Oregon), the 2007 Monte Rosa (a nice red blend), a nice sweet 2008 early Muscat, and a fairly ordinary 2008 Viognier.

Trinity Vineyards brought their 2006 Pinot Gris (a bit light), a very nice 2006 Pinot Noir, and rather plain 2006 Syrah, and a really nice, crisp, and floral 2008 Viognier.

Vitae Springs Vineyard brought a very nice complex 2006 Pinot Noir with a long lingering finish.

Youngberg Hill Vineyards had a very nice 2007 Pinot Gris with good balance, although I would have liked more acid. They also brought a great lineup of Pinot Noirs: 2006 Natasha Block (light for an '06 but great fruit), 2006 Jordan Block (good, earthy), and a 2006 Barrel Select (dark with great extraction).

Pre-Memorial Day Wine Tasting

Memorial Day weekend is the big event in the Oregon wine lover's calendar. Nearly every winery in the state opens its doors and hosts an open house - many offering live music, barrel tasting, cave tours, tasty food, or other special perks. It's a great opportunity to visit many wineries that are not normally open to the public, but unfortunately things can get pretty crowded. However, for many years, the weekend before memorial day has been the time that those in the know have traveled out to visit those special wineries, getting to taste newly released wines or barrel samples without having to brave the crowds. More and more people are figuring this out, but it's still less crowded than Memorial weekend itself. Rachel and I ventured out this past weekend while the boys were at a swim meet in Washington, and had a whole series of wonderful winery visits.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures, but try to envision the perfect day in wine country - clear skies, temperatures in the mid-70's, bud break on the vines, and rolling hills of red clover. It really doesn't get much better than this. We kept gloating to ourselves, "We actually live here!"

We started out on Saturday around 11am and drove to Penner-Ash winery. We have tasted there once before, but aren't terribly familiar with their wines. As we drove up the dirt road to the winery, I was somewhat concerned that we might be the only people there, it being before noon and all. Not to worry - their parking lot was full and cars were parked all along the road. Fortunately a car was pulling out of the parking lot just as we got there, and we got a great spot. Because we are on their mailing list and had RSVP'd for the event, we were told "you can just bypass the pay station." I like that! They really put on quite an event. Upstairs they were tasting their 2007 Riesling (off dry and crisp), 2008 Viognier (yeasty and interesting) and the 2008 Roséo rosé (fairly interesting). Downstairs in the winery itself they were serving a variety of their released reds along with a bunch of barrel samples. Most of the released Pinot Noirs were 2007s, and while there are some really nice '07's out there, most are more toward the subtle and restrained side rather than in your face like warmer vintages. We're told that this is a more typical Oregon vintage, and I appreciate it for what it is, but in general I tend to prefer the warmer vintages. Our favorites were the Carabella Vineyard (bright fruit, rose) and the Shea vineyard (darker and earthier, but certainly more subtle than some years). They also had a barrel selection called Pas de Nom which was very elegant, refined, and smooth, but perhaps not worth the $90 they wanted as a pre-order. The 2008 barrel samples were fun in that they were tasting the individual clones before blending. We thought that the Pommard clones were all fruit up front without much on the finish, the 114 clones added "zing" but not much else, and the 777 clones gave big fruit and some smokiness to the wine. The 115 clone from Bela Vida vineyard was really wonderful, and seemed to combine good fruit up front with a longer finish. Finally, they tasted a 2006 Syrah from southern Oregon that was very smooth for a Syrah, almost like a Pinot. In addition to the wine, the snacks were incredible - great cheeses, a carmelized onion tart, and a strange cheesy french toast among others. This was a very well done event, and the price (free) made it perfect. We brought home a bottle of the 2007 Shea vineyard Pinot Noir.

Next, we headed over to Calkins Ln. Faithful readers will recall that I attended the Calkins Ln event last month to pre-taste some of the wines. Our first stop was Arborbrook. Again, because we are on their mailing list, we had received a complementary invitation. In addition to the wines I tasted in April, they had just released their 2007 Vintner's select Pinot Noir and were barrel tasting the 2008 Estate Pinot Noir. The '07 Pinot Noirs that had been released so far had been good, but not as intense as I had been hoping. The Vintner's Select (a selection of the 4 best barrels) was everything I thought had been missing from the other 2007s: much more intense flavor and more smokiness/earthiness. For the 2008 barrel tasting, Dave had 2 samples: one that had been harvested in early October and one that had been harvested in late October. The earlier harvest showed more structure and layers, while the later harvest was fuller and rounder - almost sweeter although both were fully dry. Then he blended the 2 together for a really nice wine. We bought futures for the 2008 estate (the first time we've ever bought wine futures) and look forward to a really nice wine.

After Arborbrook, we drove up Calkins Ln and in less than a mile came to Lachini. In addition to the wonderful wines that I tasted during the Calkins Ln event last month, they were also tasting some of their older "library wines." The current releases were inside the tent that they usually set up adjacent to the barn, but they were pouring the library wines out under a portable gazebo on the grass surrounded by the vineyards. Not bad, not bad. They were pouring 2003-2005 Estate Pinot Noir as well as the 2005 Giselel's Cuveé. We have tasted the 2003 and love it (still have a couple bottles left), but had never tried the '04 or '05. The '04 was very spicy and interesting, while the 2005 was layered and more subtle. We tried to buy both the '04 and '05, but they were only selling the '04 in magnums, and we weren't prepared to do that. Near the lawn area, Lachini has a wonderful flagstone patio surrounding a huge oak tree. We grabbed a couple of lamb-kabobs and a lemongrass soda and settled in under the oak tree for a rest. It was so quiet and peaceful sitting there in the vineyard!

As we were turning onto hwy 240, we saw a sign that indicated that Shea Cellars was open. The Shea vineyard has some of the best Pinot Noir grapes in Oregon and they sell to many of the top producers. We first experienced wine from Shea grapes in the memorable Panther Creek 2003 Shea Pinot Noir, and we tend to collect Shea Pinots whenever we can. Shea also use some of their fruit to make their own wine under the Shea Wine Cellars label. They were tasting their 2007 Willamette Valley blend Pinot as well as a very nice Chardonnay. In addition, they had a number of barrel samples of the 2008 Pinot. The Chardonnay and the released '07 Pinot were very nice, but not spectacular. We again enjoyed tasting the clonal differences in the 2008 barrel samples, but were just blown away when we got to the 2008 Homer sample. Homer is their biggest, best Pinot blend, and I remember tasting the barrel sample of the '07 Homer last year and not being all that impressed. Well, the 2008 was amazing - big dark Shea fruit, with earth, smoke and minerals - really a wonderful wine. Given that we'd already primed the futures pump at Arborbrook, we also bought futures of the Homer. It's going to be really fun to open a bottle every year and see how it's evolving.

Moving on, we headed south toward Dundee and stopped at Maresh Red Barn. The Maresh vineyard is one of the oldest Pinot Noir vineyards in Oregon and they sell their fruit to some of the top wineries. In addition, they keep back some grapes and have it made (often by these same top wineries) into their own label wine. We had a delightful Pinot Gris that was light and crisp with lots of acid, and a couple of very nice Pinot Noirs.

Finally, we came into Dundee and stopped at Le Cadeau/Aubichon. This was the first time we'd tasted there, and had a nice chat with one of the four winemakers. Basically, they have a vineyard that they've divided amongst the four, and each takes his blocks and makes a Pinot Noir in the style they want. It was interesting to taste the different styles that the various winemakers produced from similar fruit.

That was enough tasting for the day, but we still had an appointment at the Scott Paul winery in Carlton for their Grand Cru Burgundy tasting class that evening. In preparation, we headed to the Golden Valley Brewery for dinner (no, I didn't have any beer). I had Tim's favorite burger there (the blackened bleu burger) and Rachel had a nice Cobb salad.

We arrived at Scott Paul a little before 6 and sat down at the long front table. Scott was pouring a nice Puligny Montrachet as a starter. Scott then talked about the various villages in Burgundy and their associated Grand Cru vineyards. Interestingly, it is the vineyard itself that has the Grand Cru designation, not the wine. Some of these vineyards are owned by many different producers, and each farms his rows and makes his wine the way he wants. The result is that just because a wine has "Grand Cru" on the label, doesn't mean it's going to be good. It just means that it comes from a vineyard that has the potential to make great wine. We tasted through 6 different wines, and all but the first were just wonderful. However, at the end of the day, perhaps my palate just isn't sophisticated enough to believe that the $125 to almost $300 a bottle is worth it. We really enjoyed trying the wines though, and it was obvious they were great wines, but we didn't buy anything.

All in all, a nearly perfect day. Good weather, great wine, fewer crowds, and a nice day out with Rachel. We're still looking forward to trying a lot of good wine over Memorial Day weekend, and this was a great warm-up!

Winery Work

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. Later, I wanted to be an astronomer, then a photographer, then a musician, then a teacher, then a chef, then... You get the idea. Fortunately, I've been able to do all of these things as hobbies (except the astronaut). These days, I want to be a wine maker when I grow up, although I'm starting to think I may never grow up. Right now I am in the middle of making my first batch of wine, but it's really a small scale operation (about 5 gallons). So I really enjoy the fact that Jon Armstrong, winemaker and partner at Purple Cow Vineyards, lets me come and play cellar rat from time to time. Over the past couple of years I've picked grapes, helped on the sorting line and other jobs during crush, and worked several stations on the bottling line.

Last night Jon and I, along with our friends Doug and Cheryl, racked his 2006 Tempranillo out of barrels and into a tank in preparation for bottling. The concept is fairly simple: pump the wine out of each barrel, through a filter, and into a tank, then clean the barrels. We started out by loading up a small filter with several filter pads, connecting hoses, and pumping ozonated water through the system to sanitize it. We also cleaned a large stainless steel tank with the ozonated water. We then drained the water from the hoses, and inserted a hollow wand on the input end of the hose into a partial barrel of Petite Sirah. This particular barrel was on the top of a 3 layer stack of barrels and in a part of the winery where we couldn't bring a forklift to move it, so it meant climbing up on the stack and draining the barrel in place. Normally there's not much that needs to be done while the pump is doing its work, but because the hose was a little short, I had to climb the racks and stand next to the barrel and keep the wand at the bottom of the barrel to make sure we didn't miss any wine. Naturally we had to sample the wine as we worked! Petite Sirah is usually a blending grape (and Jon was blending about 12% into the Tempranillo) and adds some nice structure and color to the blend. By itself it was very chewy and tannic, with a nice simple dark fruit flavor.

After the Petite Sirah, we started on the 5 barrels of Tempranillo. Fortunately, they were stacked up at the edge of all the barrels, and Jon used a forklift to bring them all down to ground level. Things were proceeding smoothly until we got to the 3rd or 4th barrel. All of a sudden, the wine stopped flowing, although the pump was still going. We thought we had a blockage in the wand and rinsed it out - still nothing. We looked for obstructions in the pump lines and fittings - nothing. We finally took the pump completely apart and found wood chips in the inner workings. Doug and I rinsed everything out and re-assembled the pump ("did that go on the top or bottom?") while Jon and Cheryl rigged up a screen to put over the end of the wand so we wouldn't suck up any more wood chips. Fortunately the pump started working again, and we kept going. Jon said that wine making is about 90% cleaning things and 9% fixing things, so I guess we were doing it all. We drained the remaining barrels without incident.

While we pumped, we had the Blazers game on the radio (not so good) and did a little more tasting (very good). I got to sample the 2008 estate grown Tempranillo - Jon's first quantity harvest from his own Tempranillo grapes. It was lighter in color than the CA Tempranillo and had a nose very similar to the Kelsey Pinot Noir. However, it was immediately obvious after one sip that it wasn't Pinot. It was much fuller and richer, and had some of that nice fruity Tempranillo flavor. It's already fairly smooth, so Jon was thinking that it probably wouldn't need the full 2 or 3 years in barrel.

As each barrel was drained, it needed to be cleaned out. Apparently in the old days, you'd take a pressure washer and squirt around thought the bung hole until the barrel seemed clean enough. However, the winery has a very cool high-tech gadget to really get the barrels clean. It's a long nozzle connected to a pressure washer that you insert into the bung hole of an upside-down barrel. The device has a geared head that slowly rotates through a series of movements so that in 5 minutes it squirts a very high pressure jet of hot water onto every part of the inside of the barrel. It's very loud and every few seconds spews a cloud of steam from the hot water out the bottom of the barrel, making it look and sound very much like a dragon.

After all the barrels were drained and cleaned, we tidied up the winery and called it a night. Other than the poor Blazers losing their playoff game, it was a really great evening. This weekend the crew will do more filtering and bottle the '06 Tempranillo. I'm off to an early music workshop on the coast, so I won't be able to join the fun. I'm looking forward to tasting the new wine after it's had a chance to rest in the bottle for a month or two. Purple Cow Tempranillo is one of my favorites.

What to do while the rest of the family is swimming?

OK, I admit it - swim meets are not my favorite way to spend a weekend. This weekend was the big Hawaii Five-O swim meet sponsored by our local swim club, so Rachel and Josh were busy working the meet all weekend, and Tim was swimming like a maniac (6 personal best times out of 6 events!). Fortunately, several local wineries were also having special events this weekend, so I was able to keep myself out of too much trouble!

First up on Saturday was the 2008 Chardonnay release party at Sejourne winery. They are a relatively new winery in the Willamette Valley owned by Kevin and Robyn Howard specializing in Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay. Kevin is also a principle in their family winery, Zenas in Carlton. Their estate vines are only a couple of years old, so they are sourcing fruit from other vineyards as they wait for their vines to mature. Here are my notes from the 4 wines they were tasting:

2008 Pinot Gris - very crisp and clean with good fruit. Would go well with mild seafood such as oysters, scallops, or simply prepared white fish.

2008 Chardonnay - this is touted as "no malo, no oak" and is also very crisp and clean with the fruit coming through very clearly. Somewhat more subtle than the Pinot Gris, this reminds me somewhat of a typical Chablis.

2006 Vidon Vineyard Pinot Noir - a dark and earthy Pinot with dark fruits, but not so earthy as those from Calkins Lane.

2006 Del Rio Syrah - A pretty classic southern Oregon Syrah, this one is very nicely done.

By the way, they made a killer rose at Sejourne that we bought last year, but they have sold out of it now. Today (Sunday) was warm and beautiful, and we had our first BBQ of the season - red sauce chicken with grilled brussels sprouts and zucchini. We popped open the bottle of Sejourne rose, and it was the perfect accompaniment to the meal as we dined on the deck.

After Sejourne, I headed in to Carlton. Scott Paul Winery was releasing their 2007 Audrey Pinot Noir and having an open house to celebrate it. In addition to their own Oregon Pinot Noir, Scott Wright also runs a Burgundy import business, and brings in some really nice Burgundies from several small producers. Burgundy is complex, and I'm still having a hard time keeping track of the various producers, vineyards, and wines. Today Scott and the staff were pouring 4 wines: 3 Burgundies, and of course the Scott Paul Audrey.

2007 Frederic Gueguen Village Chablis - very crisp and simple, with pure minerals. Done in 100% stainless.

2006 Domaine Thibert Pere & Fils St. Veran Champ Rond - We've purchased this wine before and I really like it. Very obvious notes of honey with a smooth vanilla finish. Apparently honey is a dead giveaway that it's a St. Veran.

2006 Domaine Aleth Girardin Pommard Vignots - A rich powerful Burgundy typical of Pommard, although very well balanced.

2007 Scott Paul Audrey - This is the first time I've tasted the Audrey, and it's really special. This wine is a barrel selection of Scott's favorites exclusively from their blocks at Maresh vineyard. Great extraction and depth, especially for an '07. Dark fruit with some minerals and a nice long finish. Silky smooth tannins.

The last event of the day was a barrel tasting and desert reception at David Hill Winery. Fortunately, Rachel was able to leave the swim meet a little early and join me for the fun at the winery.

We started off in the winery itself as Jason (winemaker) and Michele (tasting room manager) poured the current release of their Pinot Blanc. This is a nice acidic wine which should pair nicely with a variety of foods. This vintage (2007) was done completely in stainless, and Jason wanted to try something different, so he fermented the '08 Pinot Blanc in neutral oak. He pulled a sample of this out of the barrel to taste. It was quite different from the 2007 - it had a smoother mouth feel and a distinct oak flavor. It was good, but I prefered the clean crispness of the 2007.

Next up, we got to try samples of the BlackJack Pinot Noir. This wine is made from some of the oldest Pinot Noir vines in Oregon. Most everyone who knows anything about Oregon Pinot Noir has heard of David Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards, aka "Papa Pinot" who brought Pinot Noir vines to Oregon in 1965 and started the Oregon Pinot revolution. What most people don't know is that Charles Coury came up from California shortly before David Lett and planted Pinot Noir at what is now the site of David Hill. The BlackJack Pinot is made from block 21 (get it? 21 - BlackJack...) of the vineyard from some of those original vines. This is a deep and earthy wine that is aged in something like 60% new oak. Our first sample was the 2008 from a French oak barrel. For such a young wine it was amazingly deep and complex. I suspect this is going to be quite a wine when it's released in a couple of years. To show us the difference a year can make, we next sampled the 2007 BlackJack from a similar French oak barrel. It was obviously a more mature wine with a more complex mid-palate and a longer finish. However, 2007 was a cooler vintage, especially near harvest, and this wine was lighter and more subtle.

Next, to show the difference the barrel can make, Jason pulled a sample of the 2007 BlackJack from a Hungarian oak barrel that he's trying. The nose on this one was almost non-existant, but it had a richer mid-palate with more oakiness. If I had to choose between the 2, I'd probably go for the sample in the French oak, but I think the addition of that one Hungarian oak barrel into the mix is going to make this a more interesting wine.

We then moved on to a sample of port. The current release of the Tawny Port is the last wine still being sold that was made by the previous winemaker. Jason doesn't care for the Tawney Port style, and gave us a sample of his vintage-style port (barrels kept topped up, less oxidation) and it was very good. I prefer a vintage-style over the tawney or ruby, and I think this is going to be a nice wine.

With the official tasting over, most folks moved up to the house for the desert and music. Jason was willing to hang out and answer questions, and a pretty good crowd stayed for that. During that time, he pulled a sample of the new Farmhouse Red from a tank for us to taste. This is one of the best $10 wines out there, and this new release promises to be a great one. Lots of Sangiovese as usual, but a higher percentage of Merlot and Petit Verdot gives this a little more structure and backbone.

We then headed up to the house to enjoy some of Michele's desert creations, port, and live music with the Dick Lappe band. We'd heard these guys before at David Hill, and I could listen to them all day. Dick Lappe is a big fan of Gordon Lightfoot, so they play a lot of his material, including a dead-on rendition of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. There were also some great folk songs including City of New Orleans and Wabash Cannonball. Michele's deserts were great too. How cool is it to live just 5 minutes from the David Hill winery? Good wine, fun people, and a beautiful setting - it's hard to beat.

A John Sexton Retrospective (and wine too!)

John Sexton is one of my favorite photographers. He apprenticed with Ansel Adams, and has made quite a name for himself in the past 30 years with his black and white photography. He has published several monographs, and his most recent book is a retrospective of the past 30 years of his work. So I was very pleased to get his newsletter telling of an exhibition of his work at OSU during the month of April. Unfortunately, the gallery (which is actually part of the fine arts building on campus) is only open on weekdays from 8-5, but since things were a little slow at work on Friday, I decided to take the afternoon off and drive down to Corvallis. The drive down I-5 is long and boring, but I eventually made it to the OSU campus around 2 pm. It's been quite a few years since I've been on the campus of a relatively big school, and boy was it nice. There was so much energy and so much going on. I'm envious of my children and their opportunity to experience college. Who knows, maybe when I retire...

I walked around on campus a bit, and eventually found the fine arts department housed in a wonderful old Victorian-style house. The gallery is the first room through the front door, and they had about 30 prints hung on the plain white walls around the room. While I have all of John Sexton's books, there's nothing quite like viewing actual prints - the dynamic range from dark to light and the incredible detail captured by his large format cameras just can't by fully captured in reproductions. Like his mentor, he spends a great deal of time in Yosemite, and there were numerous prints of snow-covered trees, long exposures of the flowing Merced River, and wonderful plant details. While Ansel Adams tended to focus on the grand sweeping landscapes, Sexton has an eye for shape and detail. There were also numerous prints of trees of every texture taken during that magic time between sunset and the end of twilight.

After spending some time enjoying the gallery, I got back in my car and headed north toward home. I drove up through the heart of Oregon wine country, so I figured I ought to stop at a winery or 2. Since we had just spent a day touring the wineries in the Salem area, I thought I might stop in at someplace further south.

The first winery I came to was Eola Hills. We have tasted their wines at Newport and been relatively pleased with them, but we've never been to the winery. Their tasting room is a large beautiful room with a lot of exposed wood. It's actually part of the winery itself and you can see a large number of barrels stacked in the room behind the bar. They have about 25 wines available for complementary tasting, so I had to be somewhat choosy about what I tried. Fortunately I had a dump bucket all to myself, so I was able to spit during the tasting, allowing me to sample 11 different wines. I won't go through all of my tasting notes, but will summarize as follows:

They have 2 tiers of wine - their standard wines and their Reserve wines. While the standard lineup represents a reasonable value ($6.95 up to $12.95), they're really not worth the time if you're looking for better wines. I tried a couple of the standard wines, but focused mostly on the reserves. Both of their Chardonnays are decent, but way too oaky for my palate. The 2007 Pinot Noirs were decent too, showing good extraction for 2007 and some dark earthy notes. I thought that their top of the line Wolf Hill 667 was over-oaked however.

Their real strength, in my opinion, is the big reds from Lodi fruit. The 2007 Reserve Sangiovese was very nice (although a whopping 16+% alcohol) with lots of rich fruit and very smooth tannins. The 2005 Reserve Merlot was nice too, with dark fruits and smooth tannins. The 2005 "La Creole" Cabernet Sauvignon was tannic and fairly simple, but might get more interesting in a few years. Finally, they make a very nice LBV-style port from locally grown Cab Sauv. Apparently it doesn't ripen enough for table wine, but works well for port.

The wines are not going to knock your socks off, but it's well worth a stop if you're driving through Rickreal, especially if you enjoy the big warm climate reds.

Tasting through 11 or 12 wines took the better part of 40 minutes, so I figured I'd best head straight home. Rachel was at the pool setting up for the big home swim meet this weekend, and picked up pizza on her way home. We popped open a bottle of Ferrari-Carano Zinfandel and had a most enjoyable dinner.

Calkins Lane Wine Event

Spring comes slowly in Oregon. Throughout March and into the beginning of April we've had rain (quite normal) but we've also had temperatures in the 30's and 40's which is just nasty! So it was with great delight that I headed out to the annual Calkins Lane wine event under clear blue skies and temperatures promising to reach into the 60's today.

Calkins Lane is home to some of our favorite Pinot Noir produces in the Chehalem Mountain AVA. Wine made from the grapes grown here has a distinctive earthy nose that lets you know right where the the grapes were grown. Last year, a group of 5 wineries within a mile of each other on Calkins Ln decided to hold an open house where they charged a single fee that was good for tasting at all 5. All proceeds were donated to ¡Salud! - a collaboration between Oregon winemakers and healthcare professionals to provide access to health care for Oregon's seasonal vineyard workers and their families.

My first stop was Adelsheim Winery. Founded in 1971 by Dave and Ginny Adelsheim, it is one of Oregon's older Pinot Noir producers. They've just opened a new tasting room which is considerably larger than the old one. Today they were tasting the following wines:
2007 Caitlin's Reserve Chardonnay - crisp and very clean with notes of apricot. A touch of new French oak gave it just a nice bit of toast.
2008 Pinot Noir Rose - refreshing with a huge strawberry nose.
2006 Elizabeth's Reserve Pinot Noir - very warm, smoky and dark with a hint of cedar.
2007 Boulder Bluff Pinot Noir - smooth and earthy, but not as smoky and dark as the '06 Elizabeth.
2007 Anna-Louise Pinot Noir - lots of dark fruit (plum and black cherry) and very warm for an '07.

Next up was ArborBrook Vineyards. They are a relative newcomer to Calkins Ln; I believe that 2004 was their first vintage (and a nice one too!). Dave and Mary Hansen own the vineyard, and Laurent Montelieu is their winemaker. We enjoyed the 2004 and 2006 vintages of their Pinot Noir very much, but 2007 was challenging. The '07 Pinots are light and subtle - making it harder to find the dark earthiness that we enjoy in Calkins Ln wines. We last tasted the '07 Pinots in February. Today they were tasting:
2008 Croft Vineyard Pinot Gris - using fruit from near Monmouth, this Pinot Gris was fermented 100% in stainless steel. It was crisp but very light and less interesting to me.
2007 ANA Vineyard Pinot Gris - sourced from the Dundee Hills, this Pinot Gris was barrel fermented sur lies and is much fuller and rounder than the Croft. Pale yellow in color, it tastes lightly yeasty with good acid. Hints of citrus and vanilla.
2007 Heritage Cuvee Pinot Noir - both the nose and taste of this wine have intensified since Feb. becoming darker and earthier. Tannins have smoothed somewhat, but could still use more time.
2007 Estate 777 Block Pinot Noir - Very light in both color and flavor intensity, this is a subtle wine. So far I still prefer the Heritage. We own bottles of both Pinot Noirs, and it's interesting to see how they are developing over time.

My next stop was Lachini Vineyards. They are usually closed except for Memorial Day and Thanksgiving, and I believe the last time we tasted here was the weekend before Thanksgiving last year when we inadvertantly crashed a members-only event. They were very kind and let us taste anyway. All of their wines except the 'S' Pinot Noir are made by Laurent Montalieu. Today they were tasting:
2007 Lachini Vineyards Pinot Noir 'S' made by Peter Rosback of Sinnean from Lachini estate fruit. Fairly dark Calkins Ln nose, somewhat tannic, warm and earthy. Some bleed off during fermentation to concentrate the flavor.
2007 Lachini Estate Pinot Noir - Darker and richer than the 'S', somewhat tannic. Very nice, as usual.
2006 Lachini Estate Pinot Noir - much riper and fruitier than the '07 with dark fruits on the nose. Not quite as earthy as the '07 however.
2006 Cuvee Giselle Pinot Noir - Huge strawberry nose with lighter fruits than the '06 estate.
2006 Il Mulinell0 - a Bordeaux blend using fruit from Klipson and Ciel du Cheval in Washington. Very smooth and drinkable, finer tannins than the 2005.
2006 La Bestia - a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon using fruit from Klipson, this is big and earthy, much smoother than the 2005.
2006 Pinot Noir Port - Fairly light and a little harsh.

The next property north is Bergstrom Winery, known for their Riesling and Pinot Noir. We've tasted their wines a couple of times and enjoy them very much. They used to be open by appointment only, but will now have regular tasting hours. Emily Freiler, who we got to know when she was the tasting room manager at Scott Paul wines, is now pouring at Bergstom. Today they were tasting:
2007 Dr. Bergstrom Riesling - we loved the 2006, but they weren't pouring the 2007 on our last visit, so it was great to finally get to try it. It was crisp with refreshing minerals and just enough sweetness to balance the acidity. Very nice.
2006 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir - this is their "value" wine, and frankly I was disappointed. It was tight and tannic and somewhat bitter.
2007 Winery Block Pinot Noir - a big wine for an '07, this had dark fruits and was somewhat spicy. Somewhat atypical for Calkins Ln fruit.
2007 de Lancellotti Vineyard Pinot Noir - wow, this was really nice. Nice dark fruits (plum and black cherry), hints of cedar with plenty of tannin. Good Calkins Ln nose too!

My last stop was right next door to Bergstrom: the de Lancellotti Family Vineyards. Paul de Lancellotti is Josh Bergstrom's brother in law, and they share fruit from the estate vineyard. Paul makes just one Pinot from his fruit, and it is a nice one. He was tasting 2 vintages:
2006 Estate Pinot Noir - big and fruity, but not over the top. Mostly Pommard clone with some Dijon 115 for added interest. Dark fruits and long finish.
2007 Estate Pinot Noir - this was a barrel sample (he'll be bottling in the next week) and it was really nice. Somewhat lighter than the '06, it still retains a dark fruitiness. May want to drop in to taste on Memorial Day weekend.

The event was very well done, and a great value too - $30 for all 5 wineries is less than what you'd pay normally just to taste at Bergstrom and Adelsheim (and you get 3 more on top of that!). I was concerned that it was going to be a zoo given the nice weather, and while they did have good crowds at each place, it wasn't bad at all. While most folks came in their private vehicles, there were a few limos, and I even drove past a full size tour bus blocking one lane of the road in front of ArborBrook on the way home. I guess I timed that right!

First Wednesday in Forest Grove

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.

Homemade Italian Sausage and Pasta

There's something very satisfying (for me at least) about being able to do or make something from basic parts or ingredients. Maybe it's the whole American self-sufficiency thing, or maybe it's just a deep-seated worry that I couldn't fix the warp engines if something happened to Scotty. Regardless of the psychoanalysis behind it, that's probably the reason that I built electronic kits as a kid, and why I love to make beer and wine and to cook.

This weekend, we decided to make a family favorite, spaghetti and Italian sausages, but to do it (mostly) from scratch. A couple of years ago I bought a meat grinder attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer, and used it to make breakfast sausage. I had also intended at the time to try Italian sausage, but never got around to it. Well, yesterday was the day. We followed Alton Brown's basic recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/italian-sausage-recipe/index.html) with a few changes. We added 4 or 5 cloves of minced garlic and about 1 heaping tablespoon of crushed red peppers (we like it a little spicy). Then, rather than grind all the fennel seed, we took about 1/2 of it, along with 2 t of whole black peppercorns and ground them up in the spice grinder, adding it along with the remaining whole fennel seeds. After refrigerating the mixture for an hour, we ran it through the grinder and then let it sit for another 3 hours in the fridge.

Rather than stuffing it into casings as I had done with the breakfast sausage, we decided to make sausage meatballs. We used a 2 oz. ice cream scoop and made 18 perfect little meatballs. These were baked on a wire rack inserted into a sheet pan (Good Eats fans know all about this) at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. They were delicious!

In addition to the meat grinder, I had also bought the pasta extrusion attachment for the mixer and we thought this would be a great time to try it. We used the basic egg noodle recipe that came with the attachment, but didn't sift the flour as called for in the recipe. This resulted in dough that was way too dry. It pretty much stalled the poor mixer during the extrusion, so we decided to start over. Sifting the flour gave us a much better dough, and the extrusion went more smoothly. However, the dough heats up during the extrusion process and we had a terrible time separating out the individual strands of spaghetti. In desperation, we gave up and got out our tried and true hand-cranked pasta machine. It worked like a champ (once we remembered to flour the dough just before cutting it) and we had great thin spaghetti.

Now, you'd expect that we'd also make a wonderful homemade sauce for all of this, but I must admit that we all really like good old Ragu chunky sauce from a jar. I always doctor it up a little (olive oil, crushed garlic, basil, oregano, and anchovy paste), but it's still basically sauce from a jar. We let our sausage meatballs simmer in the sauce for a while, then served it over the pasta. Some bread from Grand Central Bakery and a bottle of Mazzocco Maple Vineyard Zinfandel made the meal complete.