Oregon, Willamette Valley (part 1)

This was my 2nd time visiting this wine region and I must say it proved to be a fantastic trip!  Thanks to all the wineries and vineyards who opened their doors to tastings, education and most of all your friendship.  Pinot Noir is the hero to this area and after this visit; I've found an even better understanding for a great Pinot.

I spent 2 days mostly traveling near the towns of Dundee, Newburg and Carlton.  There are obviously many other wineries to visit in this region and I hope to do so in the near future.

So without making this posting too lengthy, I’m dividing it into 2 parts.  Look for the next posting in the coming days.  Here are some of my favorite wines tasted during the first part of my visit.

Anne Amie Vineyards: (picture with Andy, Assist. Winemaker)

These are great people and my 2nd visit here was a nice reunion.  Look for their upcoming Pinot Noir Rose sparkling, which began crush the day I was visiting.

- Annahala Vineyard Pinot Noir '09   Only made this year and WOW is it amazing. Subtle, smooth with berry fruits and soft toasted wood on the finish. Thomas the wine maker has a great story for this one. Ask him.

- "Prisme" Pinot Noir Blanc '09  Refreshing balance of fruit and subtle citrus. Great white wine for seafood.

- Cuvée A '10  A great Pinot Noir that you can find widely distributed.

Stoller Vineyards:   (picture of new tasting room)

With a new, fully sustainable tasting room and beautiful views, this is a must visit.

- Turkey Hill Red, NV  A nice blend of Tempranillo, Pinot Noir and Syrah. Very interesting to find this here and they've done a nice job on this wine.

- Reserve Chardonnay, Dundee Hills '10  Perfect balance between fruit & subtle oak.

De Ponte Cellars:

- Dundee Hills Pinot Noir ’09  Dark cherry and nutty aromas.  Silky, smooth with soft tannins.

- D.F.B. Melon de Bourgogne ’11  A refreshing white wine with floral and citrus hints.  Crisp apple and pear flavors could pair this well with seafood and salads.

Check back in a day or so for the remaining wineries I had the pleasure of visiting. 

Willamette Wine Tasting

A few weeks ago I had a wonderful experience while visiting wineries in Oregon’s Willamette valley and while they were all good, the folks at Anne Amie provided a unique and special experience for me. I joined Thomas Houseman, Winemaker along with Andy Gribskov and Tammie Crawford both assistant winemakers in a tasting for some of their upcoming releases.  Not knowing what to expect, I sat down to 7 glasses of an unlabeled white wine.  Prior to tasting, I was told these were a fortified wine which was to be the next release, the 2009 Amie, which is a Late Harvest Muller-Thurgau wine.  Also know as “Stickes”, this would be classified as a dessert wine.  The Muller-Thurgau varietal is used in some of the other wines made by Anne Amie and could be described as similar to Sauvignon Blanc without the grapefruit flavors.

The tasting wasn’t meant to be challenging. Thomas asked me to indicate which were my favorite 2 glasses out of the 7 and then 2 favorites from the next 6 glasses.  In short, each of the samples held a slightly different percentage of alcohol produced from fortifying the wine with Brandy, thus giving each of the samplings a slightly different taste.  The goal was to sample 13 glasses in total, narrow the picks down to 4, which will be tasted later for the final decision.  I was happy to know that of my picks, I had 3 of the 4 as my favs.

The last tasting we did was for the next release of their Rubies, which is a red blend of Cabernet, Syrah and Merlot, also fortified and a dessert wine as well.  With this tasting we had 6 glasses and I’m happy to share that 1 of my 2 favorites will be the new release.  It was unanimous for which sample we all liked.  For aromas, the Rubies samples I tried had hints of blackberries and cherries followed by little spice. It’s slightly sweet tasting with dark berry flavors as well.  As the tasting notes say from the 2008 release, this is a dangerously perfect match to chocolate.

I know it may sound weird to those of you who have done tastings before but to be invited to sample the future of a wine is a great honor and I owe Thomas and his entire staff a big thank you for including me. 

Don’t miss some of the other great wines I liked from Anne Amie such as:
’09 Muller-Thurgau (close to a Sav. Blanc w/out the grapefruit flavors)

’09 Pinot Gris (citrus w/ hint of spice)
’07 Willamette pinot Noir (hint of spice on the nose, very smooth tasting and 22% new oak).