Lots of (most) wineries pretend to have harvest blogs, but just put up PR platitudes without really telling the personal, compelling story of the harvest. One of my favorite Oregon wineries Scott Paul has an excellent harvest blog going authored by owner Scott Wright. Check it out at the link below to get a feeling of what it’s like to go through a harvest in Oregon at the link below:
David Lett, pioneer and father of the Oregon wine industry passed away yesterday. He will be mourned by the entire winemaking community here. Below is the announcement from Jason Lett, his son and winemaker at Eyrie Vineyards, which David founded in 1966:
The Lett family regrets to announce that David Lett passed away yesterday evening. He died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family. We are deeply appreciative of the support of our colleagues and friends at this time. We welcome your notes of condolence - David loved to reach out to people and to connect, and we hope you'll feel free to do the same.
David cared deeply for the land and for his family. In lieu of flowers or gifts, David's legacy can be memorialized through gifts to 1000 Friends of Oregon or to Families United, a non-profit that supports assisted living for adults with special needs.
A celebration of David's life will be held, as he would have wished, AFTER harvest.
Condolences may be sent to:
Diana Lett and Jason Lett
Post Office Box 697
Dundee, Oregon 97115
Memoria
1000 Friends of Oregon
534 SW Third Avenue, Suite 300
Portland, Oregon 97204
(503) 497-1000
Families United For Independent Living
PO Box 473
McMinnville, Oregon 97128 0473
I know, I don't believe it either. Yet here I am writing positive notes about an American chardonnay. It's hard to think of a more boring category than American chardonnay, which tends to fall into two groups. One is cheap and sweet and the other is expensive and, well, sweet and oaky. In my opinion the only areas really producing interesting chardonnay year in and out are Chablis for top quality wines and Macon for value. There are wonderful wines produced from this variety in the Cote de Beaune and many New World wine regions, but they tend to be the exception to the rule.
I tasted one of those exceptions with a ridiculously rich home-made chicken pot pie last weekend. The 2004 Chardonnay Dijon Clones, Willamette Valley, Côte Sud Vineyard from Domaine Serene is an excellent chardonnay. I never tasted this wine in its youth, but it has matured into a beautiful chardonnay that integrates richness with a firm backbone that is perfectly overlaid with smoky vanillin from the oak. What pulls this wine together is the hard minerality and firm acidity that keep this this wine from falling into this variety's tendency towards flabby sweetness. Former Domaine Serene winemaker Tony Rynders definitely had the right touch with this chardonnay.
I am not intentionally, anymore anyway, part of the ABC (anything but chardonnay) crowd. However, as I think about it I realize I never even look at the chardonnay sections as I run my finger through a wine list. This has happened over the years as chardonnay began to bore me more-and-more and other white wines, particularly riesling, excited me more-and-more. Oddly enough, many rieslings I love and chardonnays I don't have similar residual sugar levels. However, what divides them are the very dissimilar pH levels. Sugar without acid just doesn't work unless it's for the wine-by-the-glass program at Fridays.
How Sweet - The Pour Blog - NYTimes.comFor years Alsatian wines were my go-to wines on wine lists. They were dry, complex and great values. Over the last decade or so I drank Alsatian wines less-and-less as they got sweeter and sweeter. Many (if not most) Alsatian wines today are strange sweet, flabby alcoholic curiosities that just don’t go well with food. In the article linked to above, Eric Asimov discusses this sad situation in The New York Times.
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I am a big fan of Roberto Rogness’ selections at The Wine Expo in Santa Monica. Thank god I don’t live near his store because I would be spending far more on wine than I do now. Roberto is never afraid to give his opinion and he shares his thoughts on the “Rants” page of The Wine Expo website, which you can find at this link.
If you’re not on The Wine Expo’s mailing list do so as soon as possible as they offer the most exciting selection of Italian and grower Champagnes that you never heard of - and that’s a very good thing. It’s a good thing because Roberto is ferreting out some of the most interesting, authentic wines you’ll ever taste, and to make things even better, they’re often exceptional values as well.
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If you tell a big lie enough people will begin to believe it. That has been the case with James Suckling of The Wine Spectator who has repeated over and over again his ranking of the 1997 and 2000 vintages in Piemonte as great vintages. The winemakers there averted their eyes when this topic would come up, all to willing to take his PR blessing to help sell these wines at higher prices. On the inside the story was very different with “off the record” comments on how problematic these two hot vintages were. Most producers admitted that these two years produced extreme wines, atypical in character that exhibited overripe flavors and aromas, which overwhelmed the classic characteristics of nebbiolo. In other words the growers themselves didn’t consider these to be great vintages and felt the wines themselves had serious deficiencies. By no stretch of the imagination could 1997 and 2000 vintages have been considered great in Barolo or Barbaresco. Suckling was wrong.
Perhaps now those wines are long sold out, producers are more relaxed and open in their assessment of these two artificially hyped vintages. In the Grape Radio video linked to below, Danilo Drocco, the excellent winemaker at Fontanafredda in Serralunga d’Alba in Barolo, leads a group through a vertical tasting of his wines and with a refreshing honesty, which is typical of Danilo, comments on the well known faults of these two vintages.
http://www.graperadio.com/podcast/GR-V-ENG-USA-2008-09-01.m4v
Hot vintages that produce big, soft wines that don’t age gracefully are not great vintages. Good vintages sure, but great vintages never. Too hot can have as many problems as too cool. Suckling incorrectly rated these two vintages and should fess up and adjust The Wine Spectator vintage chart to reflect a more accurate and widely held ranking. Ranking the 2000 vintage a perfect 100 points and 1997 an almost perfect 99, while rating more highly regarded vintages lower only damages The Wine Spectator’s credibility.
The reason for these dysfunctional ratings can be seen in Suckling’s own description of the vintages:
Once again, an American writer is seduced by opulence and flamboyance, while missing the beauty to be found in wines defined by harmony, aromatics and a lively, racy character. You’d be hard put to find a producer in Barolo and Barbaresco that will tell you that 1997 and 2000 are superior nebbiolo vintages to 2004, 2001 and 1996, which most producers believe to be truly great vintages for Barolo and Barbaresco.
Successfully avoiding strike three, Suckling rates 2003, another hot, over the top vintage, only 88 points and comments, “Many unbalanced wines due to an extremely hot growing season, but some nice surprises.” Oddly enough most winemakers, now better trained in how to handle hot vintages after dealing with 1997 and 2000, probably handled the heat in 2003 more deftly then they did in those two previous difficult vintages. You can see why serious collectors of Barolo and Barbaresco have fled The Wine Spectator in search of more reliable advice.
The video above from Grape Radio is a great piece of work and is well worth watching for the graphics and information offered. Danilo Drocco is perhaps one of Piemonte’s most underrated winemakers and he has transformed Fontanafredda into a reliable producer that often makes exciting wines. The Fontanafredda Barolo Serralunga is widely available and has been one of the best values in Barolo for years.
There is no shame in making mistakes when rating wines and vintages. With time, wine changes and you have to be willing to change along with it.
Richard Sanford was one of California’s true pinot pioneers and was one of my first tutors on the great potential of pinot noir in America. I have found his wines to be consistently among America’s finest pinot noirs for decades. Sanford had his namesake winery ripped away from him from one of the Engulf and Devour Corporations of the wine world and today is making outstanding wines at his new winery, Alma Rosa. Richard and his wife Thekla are among the most gentle and artistic souls on the planet and it shows in their wines. I thought this interview with him was well worth sharing:
Todd Hamina is an opinionated winemaker. Like all opinionated winemakers he can be controversial. He also happens to be making some outstanding wines. This should not be surprising as the politically correct usually make politically correct wines, which is just as boring in the wine world as it is in the real world. Todd had a solid winemaking foundation moving through important Oregon cellars such as Patton Valley and Maysara before founding his own label, Biggio Hamina, with the 2007 vintage. The results of that education are evident in his new wines.
Those of us who cut our teeth on European wines many decades ago often accept today's supercharged wines with grudging respect and wistful memory of those more elegant, balanced wines of our past. I ran into Todd today and tasted some of his first releases and I can only say that I was blown away by his wines, which took me back to a day when wines lived by verve not power.
I was so impressed with Todd's wines that I bought two bottles almost out of disbelief. When I retasted them with my dinner I liked them even better than I did before. These are genuine wines made without regard to current fashion that were only guided by the vision of the winemaker and nature. Love them or hate them they're Todd's wines, a personal statement. I loved them.
The 2007 Biggio Hamina Melon de Bourgogne, Deux Vert Vineyard just astounded me. Firm and bright with zinging minerality and a long clean, truly dry finish, this is the first American Melon that I've tasted that will actually remind wine drinkers of the great wines of Muscadet, where the only really great examples of this variety have been produced. When I tasted this wine, from the excellent Deux Vert vineyard in the Yamhill Carlton AVA, I could only think what a shame it is that these fine grapes have been wasted in previous vintages by less thoughtful winemakers, but I'm thrilled that someone is now finally taking proper care of them. I would confidently show this wine to the most devoted Muscadet drinker.
The 2007 Biggio Hamina Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is nothing short of a profile in winemaking courage as few have the guts to make real pinot these days. This is real pinot noir for real pinot noir drinkers. Those that prefer pinot that tastes more like syrah won't like this wine and should leave it for the those that love pinot for its natural, refined personality. The color is a delicate, inviting translucent garnet. It's rare to see pinot this color anywhere these days and I applaud Todd's courage to let real pinot characteristics show through in his wines. Pinot does not naturally have a lot of color and you can bet the dark wines you see these days are made by some sort of cheat. Enzymes or other varieties are all to often used to add an unnatural depth of color to pinot noir. If you can't read through a glass of pinot, something is amiss. The nose is lifting and fresh with earthy truffle and orange zest spice layered over lively bitter cherry fruit. The finish is long and clean. I could only think of excellent pinots from lesser Burgundy appellations like Marsannay and Fixin when I drank this beauty.
Both of these wines are an astounding 12.5% alcohol, which makes them almost freaks these days. Tasting wines like this makes you realize what a critical issue alcohol is as you can taste so much more in these wines simply because all the nuance is not overwhelmed by alcohol. For delicate varieties like pinot this issue has gone out of control as high-alcohol pinots are just boring and pointless to drink because they don't taste like pinot anymore. If you want a big wine get something from a big variety like syrah, not a delicate variety like pinot.
Another astounding fact about these wines is that they are also both $20 or less a bottle. I know, like you, I thought such wines did not exist in America. Actually for all practical purposes they don't, but now at least two do. Hopefully, soon there will be a lot more.
Todd will be releasing some single vineyard pinot noirs, syrah and pinot blanc from the 2007 vintage and I can't wait to taste them. If these wines are any indicator they should be something very special indeed.
Titus Vineyards in Napa has a live webcam on their harvest this year. Check out their video at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/titus_tv
Next live broadcast is at 3 p.m. PDT today.
Wine world outraged at Channel 4 'Dispatches' doc - decanter.com
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Germany astonishes at Decanter World Wine Awards - decanter.comThe Dernauer Pfarrwingert Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs 2005, Weingut Meyer-Näkel was named the top pinot noir in the world at the Decanter World Wine Awards. It was not so many years ago that German pinot noir, Spätburgunder, was a dark pink curiosity. Times have changed in the world of pinot noir and better and better wines are being produced around the world. A fact that American producers better keep in mind.
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One of the most consistently disappointing categories of wine is moderately priced California Cabernet. That range from say $15 to $25. Most just have no reason for existence as they have more to do with $10 grocery store cabernet rather than $50 bottles. Not that you can find top quality California Cabernet in the $50 range anymore. Bordeaux has always had a many Petit Chateau and Cru Bourgeois that delivered excellent value, but nobody in California seems to want to get into the mid-price business. Everybody wants to be Screaming Eagle if they have the grapes or not.
So I tasted the 2006 Hess Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendocino, Lake, Napa with little optimism, but I was in for a pleasant surprise. Certainly not a great cabernet, but it is a very nice one and at $15 is a very good value. While definitely forward and ready to drink, there is just enough tannin to remind you that it is truly cabernet and to let you keep it around for a year or two. The blend is 88% cabernet, 8% syrah and 4% merlot harvested from vineyards in Mendocino, Lake and Napa counties. At 13.5% it’s medium-bodied by American standards. Hess Chef Chad Hendrickson offers this recipe suggestion to pair with this wine:
Herb Marinated Skirt Steak with Point Reyes Blue Cheese and Sweet Onion Relish, Balsamic Reduction
Skirt Steak
1 lb. Skirt steak, cleaned, defatted
½ Tbsp. Thyme, chopped
½ Tbsp. Oregano, chopped
½ Tbsp. Sage, chopped
½ Tbsp. Garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
To taste Salt and Pepper
Point Reyes Blue Cheese and Onion Relish
1 oz. Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Sweet onions, small dice
½ cup Pt Reyes Blue cheese, crumbled
1 Tbsp. Chives, sliced ¼” bias
1 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
To taste Salt and Pepper
Method for the skirt steak
Season the skirt steak with salt and pepper. Set aside. Combine the herbs, garlic, and olive oil in a bowl. Add the steak and toss to coat with the herbs. Set aside for 4 hours.
Method for the Sweet Onion Relish
Heat a sauté pan over high; add the oil and onions, season with salt and pepper. Let cook stirring periodically until caramelized. Adjust seasonings and keep warm.
Grill the skirt steak to desired doneness. Let rest for 5 minutes, and then slice ¼ “thick on a bias (against the grain). Fan the steak on a plate.
Heat the onions over medium until warm, toss in the crumbled blue cheese and chives.
Place on top of the skirt steak. Drizzle the balsamic reduction around the plate.
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We Americans are afraid of a lot of things. Is your deodorant working? Do your feet stink? Is your breath fresh enough? We have loads of paranoia and loads of products to feed those fears. Now finally someone has created a product to deal with a problem that really matters. Wine Wipes will eliminate that most disgusting of personal hygiene issues, teeth stained by red wines. Lord knows how embarrassing it is to flash a smile after tasting a few dozen zins. This humbling situation is now a thing of the past as Wine Wipes, packed in a compact complete with a mirror, will wipe away those nasty red wine stains on your teeth. Just knowing that they exist will make me sleep better at night. I better buy them by the case.
Riesling is regal. For me there is no doubt it is the greatest white variety. You can debate the reds, pinot or cabernet, but when it comes to great white wine only riesling is king. Yet in a bizarre twist of fate, the greatest white variety is not the most expensive. Vapid pretenders like chardonnay, viognier and sauvignon blanc routinely sell at higher prices. While there are wonderful rieslings coming from Austria, Alsace, Oregon, New York and Washington, the wines of Germany still dominate the category and they are staggering values. Easily the best wine values from any region or variety, German rieslings offer great wines at moderate prices, which is a rarity these days. The only thing holding riesling back is the bizarre resistance of Americans to wines with any sweetness. It's hard to think of a stranger problem in the land of Coca Cola and sweet chardonnay. On top of that, with alcohol levels topping out at around 12% and often much lower (see below) these are wines that not only taste wonderful at the table, but spare the headache the next day. With its almost perfect balance, if you don't like riesling, I have to think you're really not tasting what you're drinking.
If there's a bottle of riesling in the refrigerator it will always be the bottle I grab. Here are some recent rieslings I have really enjoyed.
Rheingau, Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spätlese, Wiengut Leitz, 2006 (8%) Screwcap finish - A brilliant wine with acidity and sweetness in perfect harmony. Seductive and addictive. Those that out-of-hand reject any sweetness in their wines are totally out of touch with their palates in my opinion. It's all about balance, not statistics. The fruit sweetness in this wine walks a tightrope of acidity. Really gorgeous.
Phalz, Forster Ungeheuer, Riesling Kabinett Trocken (dry), Weingut Lucashof, 2006 (12%) - A laser beam of a wine. Racy, mineral structure with haunting ghosts of ripe peaches. Fresh crab is calling.
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, Alte Reben (old vines), Wiengut Albert Gessinger, 2004 (8.5%) - A perfect example of the almost spiritual aspects of fine riesling. High toned, intellectually challenging and touched with a precisely balanced sweetness. Each sip demands another.
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Riesling Kabinett, Estate Bottled, S. A. Prüm, 2005 (9.5%) - This wine is easy to find and reasonably priced. Why is anyone drinking low priced California chardonnay, which has about the same level of sweetness, with none of the acidity. Lush and fruity with racy acidity and that petroleum touch of a great riesling.
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Piesporter Gärtchen, Riesling Spätlese Feinherb (off-dry), Weingut Blees Ferber, 2005 (12%) - Feinherb may mean off-dry, but with acidity like this everything is relative. Simultaneously rich and delicate as only dry riesling can be. I kept thinking of fresh rainbow trout with every sip. Note that at 12% alcohol this is considered a full-bodied wine in Germany, but it's a ballerina by American standards. A Truly Fine Wine Selection
Rheingau, Riesling Spätlese Trocken, Weinguth Barth, 2006 (12%) Vino Lok finish - Want to confuse someone who has learned what Spätlese means by reading books? Just give them this wine No sweetness here as the electric acidity races through ripe, stone fruit flavors. How can a wine that smells and tastes so sweet be so dry? A Truly Fine Wine Selection
I received this press release below from noted Italian wine writer and blogger Franco Ziliani, who has been the source of so much good information on the recent "scandal" in Brunello. This should be well worth tuning into as staunch traditionalists Ziliani, Jeremy Parzen and the great Teobaldo Cappellano of Barolo take on hard core modernists Ezio Rivella and Vittorio Fiore. The modernist are lobbying to allow varieties other than sangiovese in Brunello di Montalcino. I shall be heartily rooting for Team Ziliani.
Face to face on Brunello
Controversial views of Ziliani and Rivella’s challenge, are the highlight of the first face to face on Brunello, developed after well-known facts that have involved the most famous Italian wine. The debate will see as protagonists the journalist Franco Ziliani, editor of the wine blog www.vinoalvino.org coupled with Barolo producer, Teobaldo Cappellano, and the oenologist Ezio Rivella, managing director of Villa Banfi for many years, coupled with the oenologist Vittorio Fiore. All it will be moderated by professor Dino Cutolo, teacher at Siena University, anthropologist and wine lover. The “duelers” will challenge until the last word, supporting their theories, and all will be live broadcasted in streaming on www.intoscana.it and on www.vinarius.it. The rendezvous is on the 3rd of October, at the first floor of Palazzo del Rettorato, Via Banchi di Sotto, 55 in Siena.
Note: I assume you'll get more out of this if you speak Italian. If not, I'm sure we can depend on Jeremy to have a report in English on his blog, Do Bianchi.
In todays ever more corporate world of winemaking, the old image of the small wine farmer, or as it is called in French, vigneron, seems a quaint part of winemaking history. However, there are still really winemakers crafting small amounts of outstanding wines in somewhat simpler surroundings than the winemaking temples constructed by the big name wineries. In fact, Oregon is full of them.
The green, rolling hillsides of the Willamette Valley are a patchwork of tiny growers and winemakers with productions measured in hundreds of cases instead of thousands. Buying wines from these small producers can be like walking through a minefield, but when they’re good, they’re very good.
Two such pinot noirs recently tasted are the 2006 Dalla Vina (soon to be re-christened Terra Vina due to a lawsuit) Dundee Hills Pinot Noir (146 cases) and the 2006 Arcane Cellars, Dundee Hills, Kelly Vineyard, Pinot Noir Reserve (105 cases). These excellent wines are spiritual cousins. Both are balanced, elegant wines with a classic, translucent garnet color, a spicy nose layered with black truffles, bright fruit and that essence that the Italians call sottobosco, or undergrowth in the forest. After the hyper-clean fat, cherry fruit style of so many New World pinots, these wines are a real treat. As they are both under 14.5% alcohol, 
you can still actually taste the nuance in these wines.
Great wines from small producers is not limited to red wines as proven by the 2007 Arcane Cellars Del Rio Vineyard Viognier (95 cases) and the 2007 Emerson Vineyards Pinot Gris (only $15 by the way). As someone who has rarely tasted an American viognier that I liked, finding them too blowsy and without backbone, I was stunned by this firm and dry Southern Oregon effort. I’m starting to get the idea that Southern Oregon may be a New World home to viognier. The Emerson Pinot Gris is both refreshing and a refreshing change for its bracing dryness, unlike so many other Oregon pinot gris wines that try to make up for lack of body and flavor with residual sugar. On top of it, it may be the best value in Oregon gris that I’ve tasted.
It’s always risky to buy wines from small producers as often you end up with faulted wines. Yet, the best small producers often make better wines than bigger wineries with better equipment and far greater resources. While buying wines from small producers that you’ve never heard of can be like playing craps, sometimes you win the jackpot.
"What will you drink to toast the end of the Bush era," is the topic picked by dhonig, author of The 2 Days Per Bottle Blog and host of The 89 Project Blog for September's Wine Blogging Wednesday. For me, it won't be a moment for toasts and celebrations, but a moment of contemplation and remembrance. A moment to remember the thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis that the Bush era has wiped from the face of the earth in our names. To remember that my country joined the ranks of countries like North Korea, China and Russia, where prisoners are tortured. What happened to the America of my childhood? The night of January 19th will be met with a certain melancholy due to the weight and sorrow of the the last eight years. This month's topic made me think of what to drink to mark that last night of Bush and my thoughts drifted my last bottle of 1970 Graham's Vintage Port, as perhaps a wine of meditation is more appropriate than a bottle for celebration as we hopefully close one of the saddest eras of American history.
I'll have to reserve my choice for drinking on January 20th, Inauguration Day. If we enter a new era of hope and integrity and Barack Obama is elected I'll reach for the Champagne, and a lot of it. However, if there will be only more of the same, I'm afraid the bottle will let me down.
"Well I've always had a bottle I could turn to
And lately I've been turning every day
But tonight the wine don't take effect the way it used to
And now I'm hurting in an old familiar way
Tonight the bottle let me down
And let your memory come around
The one true friend I thought I'd found
But tonight the bottle let me down" Merle Haggard