Tag Archive: Wine


Waiting in the Wings

Filed Under: General by Kathryne — Leave a comment
March 2, 2012

March is here, and despite the fact that the first day of this month started with snow and ended with hail (with a sun break, rain, and wind to fill in the middle), it seems that spring is working it’s way here. Spring in the Northwest is infamous for crazy weather. I recall several years ago driving from downtown Seattle, across Lake Washington to where I was living in Bellevue, it was also March. As I made the not quite ten mile drive I encountered snow, sun, rain, sun, hail, sun, and rain. In that order. I was still new to the area and it just boggled me. I have watched it rain while the sun was shining. Weird. Crazy. Spring.

These line squalls, these storms that pass quickly through making for such changeable weather, are a hallmark for me that spring is out there, trying to push it’s way in. As I was out for my morning walk today I noticed another sign -  bird song. It’s kind of funny, but in the dead of winter it gets really quiet around here. There is the sound of the Canada geese in the evening and the morning, making their way from one place to the other. There is often the raucous call of a crow, the plaintive cries of seagulls – sometimes the latter following the former. But mostly it is just kind of quiet.

Today I was struck by a chorus of sound. Irritated Stellar’s jays scolded crows who were bothering them just because they could. Big, fat robins were everywhere and happy to let you know about it. Little hoppers, the finches and the sparrows, were flitting in and out of the trees (which appear to be budding already). The air was filled with the chirps, cackles, cries, whistles and clicks of all of them. It was great. It is a happy sound to me; a sign that things are about to change.

Paying attention to all this wonderful noise made me notice other things too. There were crocus and tulips sprouting in neighborhood lawns, small bushes in bud and one variety that was already covered with tiny purple flowers. New landscaping around a local school was a riot of yellow, white, and red flowers. I’ve often thought that there is something monochromatic about winters here. Like the world turns to black and white for a couple of months, lots of shades of gray and brown, and then suddenly in spring the color is turned back on.

Another sign of spring is the preponderance of events lining up. My email is awash in announcements and invitations for new vintage releases, new tasting room openings, new activities to plan for in the coming weeks. It seems we are all coming out of a sort of hibernation. All of us looking forward to the new season that is just about to burst on us, waiting in the wings for just the right moment.

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Wrong Wine

Filed Under: Wine by Kathryne — Leave a comment
December 15, 2011

I managed to end up with an ‘experimental’ bottle of wine in my collection. It came from one of my wine clubs and was touted as a wine that had been made for a new market. It was to be an entry level pinot noir for an Asian country. To be honest, when it first arrived I was perplexed. There was nothing in the shipment to indicate what it was, the label was very different and I wasn’t even sure it was pinot noir.

I asked about it the next time I was out at the winery and was told, oh yeah, this was something new. The word experimental was thrown about and I got very interested. A pinot noir made for an entry level price point for a very different country. This was going to be interesting.

The other evening I opened it. No particular reason other than I was feeling adventurous. Okay, not in a go cave diving in New Zealand kind of adventurous, but willing to take a shot on a new wine kind of thing. Pinot Noir is a great all around wine in my book, I like it with food and I like it just to sip of an evening or afternoon. All the ingredients were there – a good varietal, something new, a favorite wine maker, what could go wrong?

The first indication that this might not have been a great idea was when the cork broke. I hate it when that happens. I managed to get it out without dropping lots of cork bits (or any – yay me!) into the bottle, so that was good; grabbed a glass and poured. It looked fine, nice dusky pinot color, nice earthy pinot nose. I took a taste… and I didn’t like it. It took a minute to decipher what had just happened, to be honest. I took a second taste just to be sure, but yeah, it was still not good. There was a weird note to it, kind of bitter. It had an odd after taste, and frankly it just sort of tasted off.

I set it down and walked away from it for a bit, hoping that maybe it just needed to open up. It didn’t help. Food! Maybe it needs some food to go with it. So I whipped up a little something I thought might pair well with a pinot noir (in this case it was a turkey and rice dish). Still, not so much. I was pretty irritated. Here was this bottle of wine with no discernible use. I didn’t want to pour it out, but I didn’t want to drink it. In the end it had a good life put to decent use as a cooking aid where it worked just fine in a nice, spicy tomato sauce I made.

It happens. Sometimes you just run into a wine that doesn’t work for you. It is probably most irritating when it is something you bought, but it is also frustrating when it comes as a gift. The latter brings up all sorts of other issues – what do you do when you are asked about it, how do you politely word a thank you for something that wasn’t your cup of tea (or glass of wine)? But I’m glad it happened, in an odd sort of way. Time was I would have just dumped it out, and that is a waste.

Having the bottle sitting on the counter made me think about it a bit. I figured out a use for it, and after some consideration I think I may have figured out what wasn’t working for me. This most likely is a food wine (the fact that it worked really well in my sauce is an indication of that), but what I hadn’t considered was the market it was intended for. In this case the Asian market. Maybe this wine needed a different cuisine. Maybe this wine was intended for a very different palate. Maybe this wine was the wrong wine for me but the right wine for someone else somewhere else. Maybe it wasn’t the wine that was wrong after all.

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Thanksgiving 2011

Filed Under: General by Kathryne — 1 Comment
November 23, 2011

Waterfall on Mt. Rainier

One of my favorite bloggers and writers, John Scalzi, has been doing what he calls a Thanksgiving Advent Calendar where he has posted something each day that he is thankful for. I like the idea. A lot. Gratitude is often a too rare commodity and it is always nice to be reminded that most of us have a lot to be grateful for. In that spirit, here a few things I am grateful for – with a Northwest focus.

Bounty – I am thankful every day to live in a place that is as bountiful as the Northwest. The food that is grown here and made here, the wines, the beers, the spirits. Shopping at the local farmer’s market is a bit like reliving my childhood and the wonderful things that my mother grew in her magical garden.

Wine – had to be said! There is a whole lot of awesome that comes in the form of grapes in this corner of the country. Awesome courtesy of a great growing region, awesome courtesy of some great people doing the growing and the winemaking. I could list them all, but I would worry about leaving someone off.

Artisans – Few things are as invigorating and motivating to me than being around artists. They have a passion, a drive, a joi de vivre, that is contagious. I am lucky to be surrounded by artisans whose canvas is as varied as the stars. The create their art in the form of food, drink, words, and sculpture. It is hard not to be inspired by the spirit of creativity that permeates this region.

Water – Yeah. I love water. I can stare for hours at it. I am surrounded by it and that is just fine with me. Rivers, oceans, bays, creeks, waterfalls; heck the stuff comes out of the sky on a regular basis.  While I have been known to complain about the rain, I still watch it come down with a smile on my face.

Friends – I have met some incredible people in this region. I think immediately of Mitch and Sharon, two of my very favorite people. I feel lucky to have stumbled into their path and that they were so willing to include me in their posse. There is something special about finding friends who you can grow with and who grow along with you. Also in this grouping would be Craig and Carol, my alliterative foodie friends who let us use their house for our crazy dinner parties and are the very definition of good company.  There is Josie, the most optimistic and ethereal person you will ever meet. Margo, Shawn, Sarah, Dale, Corrie, and so many others. I am truly rich when it comes to having good people in my life!

Open spaces – I grew up in the desert. I know from open space. This place has some quality open space, I can vouch for that. While it can make driving a bit distracting (seriously, waterfalls on the side of the road?) nothing makes me feel as free and fortunate as time spent in the outdoors.  Places that make your jaw drop, make your heart ache, because they are just that beautiful. Some of them are wild, some of them are more agrarian, but they always deliver on the drama.

Odd names – I have come to appreciate how names can make places unique. Here we have Puyallup and Tulalip. We have Issaquah and Walla Walla (a place so good they named it twice, as the story goes.  As mean as it may sound, one of my favorite things has always been listening to new weather reporters trying to squeeze out all the river names around the Seattle area, especially  when they are trying to do it quickly. Stilliguamish, Sammamish, Salish, Snoqualmie, Duwamish. The Nooksack, Skookumchuck, Newaukum, Skykomish.

I could go on. And on.  But I won’t. Those really are the highlights. I am thankful for so much, not just Northwest things, just to be clear. I am thankful for friends scattered about. For Kent in New York, Erik and Bob in Santa Clara, Marilee in DC, Cindy in North Carolina and Paula in Chicago. I am thankful for some great family, some great experiences and a generally decent life.

Now on to next year, and starting a whole new list. Have a wonderful holiday!

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Roots

Filed Under: Food, Travel by Kathryne — Leave a comment
July 28, 2010

I am a transplant to the Northwest, which is probably why I am so fanatical about the place.  Dad has always said that converts are the worst zealots.  Truth be told, I’m a desert rat, born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Which is where I am at the moment.  Who, in their right mind, comes to this place the last week in July?  It is the end of monsoon season, the time of year the desert southwest gets its rain and thus it is no longer the ‘dry heat’ that people who aren’t from here often agree is what makes 110 degree days tolerable.  My main reason for being here has been to participate in a photo sorting spree with two of my brothers; a herculean undertaking involving pictures from at least four generations.

Las Vegas is an interesting place, and as you may have gleaned from my posts, I am all about place.  Driving back to my hotel tonight I found myself smiling at how the setting sun reflected crimson and gold against the big puffy clouds that are so typical of this part of summer.  It was a gentle reminder of how beautiful the desert can be, even in the throes of a hot summer’s day with the heat shimmering off the red and yellow of the sandstone earth and the olive drab vegetation.  To survive in this place, in this desert, you need to be a hearty sort willing to put down deep roots to get to the life sustaining water that is far beneath the surface.

I love the desert, I love how it surprises me. The way it comes to life after a rainstorm, the dramatic mood swings it throws at you in the form of anvil thunderheads or achingly clear skies that seem to go on forever.  I am a sucker for the drama. I look for it, seek it out in nature and in life.  It makes sense to me, after this visit, because it all started here.  This is where the roots of of my passion spring from.

Mom was an excellent cook and phenomonal gardener.  A woman who baked her own bread, was not adverse to canning pickles even if it was August, and to whom the ultimate challenge was the phrase “you can’t grow that here.”  I can recall her making Beef Wellington for a family friend merely because he said it was something he missed.  My house was the only one on the block where you could find curry or brussels sprouts or Yorkshire pudding. We always had a garden where she grew a variety of  vegetables and berries (memories of watching her gleefully murder the fat green tomato worms is still a bit daunting) and from which she happily created wonderful meals.

It was here that I learned to love food for what it could become.  It was here that I learned that fish and chips is best eaten when doused in malt vinegar, where a jar of sourdough starter always resided in the back of the fridge in case the need arose for sourdough pancakes, and where culinary disasters became familial legend because we all made them.  This place, this unlikely desert that happily produced radishes so spicy as to rival jalepenos, where a recipe for Sheepherder’s Bread gleaned from the pages of Sunset Magazine became a staple; this is the rootstock for my passions and the sense of place that runs so deeply within me.   

Sure, it helped that Mom spent the first 16 years of her life on a horse farm at the western edge of the Canadian plains.  It probably also helped that Dad was the son of a single mom who relied upon him to get dinner on the table most nights.  But it was here that it all came together for me.   Thanks to them I understand the value of going to a local butcher, of having a reliable place to get your produce, that a relationship with the guy who runs the best wine cellar in town is a good thing, and that the food you create as well as the people and the place you enjoy it in are essential elements of good memories.

It is small wonder, I suppose, that these things remain important – even paramount – to me.  In the desert roots run deep; they have to for the plant to survive.

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Wine and Tomatoes

Filed Under: Food, Travel, Wine by Kathryne — Leave a comment
May 19, 2010

No, not paired.  That would be silly.  But they were both in abundance on Saturday.  Spring had arrived (and apparently is gone again), the niece has turned 21 and finished with finals; it was the perfect day for that promised first wine tasting.  Thus a car was rented, a picnic was planned and packed (with enough food to keep a regiment happy for a month), wineries were mapped and we were off for Salem.  It was a picture perfect day; sunny and warm with just a bit of a breeze.

We grabbed Michelle and headed west to a lovely place called Cubanisimo Vineyards that is nestled into the Eola Hills.  Salsa music wafts over the place – indeed salsa lessons are to be had at the winery – there is a lovely patio for a nice picnic lunch, and the intimate tasting room invites you to move in and get cozy.  The wife of the owner was our tasting guide and she was really great.  She talked us through a flight of six wines, including two very tasty roses and a beautiful, dry but fruity pinot gris.   In the end we grabbed a bottle of the 08 Rose and had it with our lunch out on the patio.

Beth and I, of course, had thought that we would hit a couple of different places but in talking with Michelle we ended up going back into Salem and spending a goodly amount of time at the Farmer’s Market.  I have mentioned them before, but I really love the Farmer’s Markets here.  Salem was no exception.  Very reminiscent of the street markets in Europe, you can get pretty much everything at one of these.  Well, maybe not the lingerie that I saw in places like Lyon and Vienne – and nothing compares to the first time  you wander a French street market and find that you have left the produce area and are now in the lingerie section.  But I digress.

We bought lemon thyme wild rice mix, ground coffee from Cape Foulweather Coffee Co., tomato plants, and even yarn from Alapaca wool.  Alongside these wonderfully eclectic booths was a woman selling fleece dog jackets, a booth touting emu products (including emu oil moisturizers), people selling grass feed organic locker beef, another booth offering organic free range chicken eggs, an artist showing off his cast cement lawn ornaments… the list goes on and on.

It is amazing what you find when you look around here.  In fact, I think one of the requisites of living in the Northwest is that you have to be willing to be an explorer here.  You have to take that gravel back road that leads to the winery with the spectacular view.  You have to be willing to go one more row at the Farmer’s market, and you have to be willing to get lost in the back country on a sunny day.  Because just around that corner, over that hill, beyond the organic vegan bakery stand you are going to be surprised by what you find.  I suppose you could say that living in the Northwest has taught me how to best travel – with anticipation and fearlessness.

I am constantly and pleasantly surprised by what I find here.  It makes me a better, more adventurous traveler both at home and abroad.  Never have I lived in a place that feeds my appetite for seeing other places quite like this place does.   Never have I lived in a place that makes me want to come home again after my adventures quite like this place does.  And I owe it all to the wine, to the tomatoes, to the coffee, to the organic vegan baked goods and to the people who make them all accessible to me.

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Further Afield

Filed Under: Travel, Wine by Kathryne — Leave a comment
April 24, 2010

We can get really entrenched in our little corner of the world; so much so that we begin to believe it is the best (or the worst) place ever and nothing else is as good (or bad) as where we currently are.  Fortunately for me, it has almost always been the good side of the coin.  I tend to fall in love with the places I live and they become a standard by which everything and everyplace else is measured.  Which I suppose has an up side, but sometimes it just leads to tunnel vision and a tendency to miss out on some really good stuff.  And so I was glad that elder brother Erik prodded me to get out of the house last week when I was visiting him.  In particular he pointed towards Livermore and the abundance of wineries there (just a side note – lovely to have siblings who not only understand but don’t mind enabling my single-minded pursuits!).

Thus, on a sunny California day I drove east through beautiful green hills dotted with vineyards until I came to the first of a group of wineries I had targeted.  It was Murietta Wells,  located up a winding road that leads you past some wild turkeys, idyllically grazing horses and over a creek.  There is a gorgeous tasting room, very Old California Spanish in feel.  Bill in the tasting room was the best host I could have hoped for; knowledgeable, fun, funny and passionate about the wine he serves.  It is part of a group of wineries under the Wente family label, and is the Spanish/Portuguese/Italian arm of the group.  Bought a lovely Sangiovese that  we have already consumed and a dry Muscat Canelli that was surprising both for being dry and yet wonderfully fruity.

From there I headed down the hill to another Wente vineyard, housing both the Wente and the Tamas labels.  Tamas bills itself as a mix of new and old world wines, and to be honest while the people were great, the wines kind of got lost between Murietta and Wente.  The Wente tasting room is just across the courtyard and I had a great time playing with the Nth Degree label that are the winemaker’s special label.  Small lots, special production wines that are meant to wow.  The drawback is that if you love a wine, you have to join the wine club to buy them – but they were wonderful. The Chardonnay was really great, just the right balance of toasty oak and apple.  I really enjoyed it.

Then it was across the road to Concannon where I had some more really great Chardonnay (of which I got a bottle for Erik), some lovely Central Coast Pinot Noir that was just beautiful; rich and tasty; as well as a Cabernet Sauvignon that was big and bold and everything that a good Cabernet Sauvignon should be.  Another amazing setting, including a gorgeous gingerbread Victorian that sits just off the parking lot and just screams for someone to have a wedding reception in.  The staff was again amazing, friendly and fun – I even walked away with yet another wine bag, and this one even zips closed.  All in all I came home with four really great bottles of wine and some great memories.

There was something about Livermore that reminded me of, well, the Dundee.  It was the open, friendly demeanor of the people I met for one.  People who are passionate about the wine they are selling because they think it is the best thing ever.  There was not a hint of the snobbiness that is too often associated with California wine tasting.  The wines seemed to be a great expression of the people making them; so much so that I would love to find a way to meet these guys. There is also that mix of big winemakers like Wente co-existing side by side with smaller producers.  Livermore has 50 wineries operating at the moment and I know this is a place that I will have to come back and explore again.

It is good to wander a bit further afield now and again.  I came away with a new appreciation for what I have here as well as a hunger for new adventures.  It is Saturday and I am off to Carlton to get my chickens, take some pictures and – of course – drink some wine.  Life is good.  Life is very, very good.

Murrieta Wells Tasting Room

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And Now a Moment of Zen

Filed Under: Shiny Things, Travel by Kathryne — Leave a comment
March 24, 2010

On one of our recent jaunts to wine country, we discovered that all the legends are wrong. There is not a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But if you are willing to look close enough, you might find some really good wine!

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Decisions, Decisions

Filed Under: General, Travel by Kathryne — Leave a comment
March 17, 2010

Several years ago a co-worker of mine brought her Italian fiancée to Seattle.  On a bright sunny day they decided to go on a picnic.  At the supermarket she sent him to get bread as she went off to the deli section to collect the sandwich innards.  Her assignment finished, she had to go hunt down the wayward man and found him still standing in the bread aisle, hands out staring at the wall of bread in front of him.  When she asked him what on earth was taking so long he simply said “too many choices!”  In his experience when you went to get bread, you went to the bakery and got a loaf of bread.  Here in front of him were a myriad of breads – wheat, white, rolls, buns, bagels, English muffins – there were just too many choices.

It can feel that way here in the Northwest at times.  Today I wanted to have a day off, a day to myself to go explore.  This morning I woke up, happy with anticipation of a day spent wandering and then froze.  Where to go?  The Willamette Valley? The Coast?  The Gorge?  North into Washington?  East to the mountains?  Should I go to Mt. Angel (a beautiful monastery with a collection of rare hand illuminated books), meander through a Portland neighborhood, go on a gallery browse in Cannon Beach, sample cheese in Tillamook?  There are, at times, too many choices. 

It is an embarrassment of riches, really.  And it feels ungrateful to be so grumpy about what to do.  It has turned into a lovely early spring day, and I am still in front of my computer trying to figure out where to spend my time.  Like a kid in a candy store who has been told they have a dollar to spend, and is now trying to figure out how to get the most candy bang for the buck.   

As the days warm, it is just going to get worse!  The weekends are starting to fill up already.  Saturday it is Pinot Noir Rose at Sokol Blosser in the afternoon for the club shipment release, then over to The Four Graces for Crab and Pinot Gris (and yet another club shipment!).  Then there will be the start of the Passport Weekends and the wine trail events.  In April, the seasonal farmers’ markets will start to reappear, with all the wonderful spring produce – fresh asparagus, the first of the local berries, wild mushrooms, new potatoes! 

Then in May, the festivals will start to appear.  There will be music festivals, beer festivals, wine festivals, food festivals – even a Rose Festival.  There will be summer concerts at wineries, in parks, and at zoos.  Restaurants, cafes and coffee shops will set out tables on the sidewalks and patios, as the long summer evenings around here are perfect for dining alfresco. 

So many decisions, so many things to do, it is hard to choose.  For today, I think I will opt for a walk in the park.  Now to decide on which park…

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Special Occasions

Filed Under: General, Wine by Kathryne — Leave a comment
March 3, 2010

When I first started getting into wine I dreamed of getting that a great bottle that I could squirrel away for some extra special moment.  The first one of these was a gift, a really lovely bottle of champagne. It was Moet & Chandon in a green gift box that was given to me by a former boss.  I had never owned such a bottle of champagne.  I had never owned such a bottle of wine.  So away it went, to be held for something special, though  I had no idea what that would be.  And there it sat, for over a year, mocking me from a corner of the room; taunting me that 365+ days had passed and I had yet to find something worthy of it.  Thus, come New Year’s Eve I said what the heck and shared it with my neighbors.  At 9 pm.  It was wonderful.

The next bottle to be considered for greatness was again champagne – Veuve Clicquot, Brut yellow label.  Again a gift from a boss.  Again it sat and sat.  Nearly a year, that bright yellow label would wink at me – how about now?  How about tonight?  This time I wanted to do it right, really wait for the perfect moment; I felt I had somehow failed in my last treasure. In the end I caved and drank it with a friend for no reason what so ever, other than it was a warm day, the bottle was chilled and we felt like it.  Again – what a wonderful memory I have of that evening. 

It wasn’t until later that I realized that I had done the right thing both times.  Opening the bottle is the occasion.  Wednesday night can be a special occasion.  So can the third of July or St. Swithens day.  Sure, it is now cliché to say that.  We even now have “Open That Bottle Night” though that in and of itself becomes that special occasion that we hide the bottle away for, doesn’t it? 

Last week I was rooting through my storage shed, a place where I have more wine than a single woman should own (and that isn’t counting the stuff I keep here by me!), and I was doing a quick inventory of what was there.  Low and behold I came across a bottle of Four Graces (www.thefourgraces.com) 2005 Black Family Estate Pinot Noir.  Anyone around here will tell you that 2005 was a rock star year for Pinot Noir.  I was stunned to realize it was there.  I pulled it out and took it home with me.  Now I just needed a special occasion. 

I decided it was Friday night.  Okay, yes, we were going to have a dinner for George’s birthday, but technically his birthday was on Saturday. The menu consisted of rib eyes (bone in) from Whole Foods and marinated in George’s secret blend before being grilled to absolute perfection; baked potatoes, sautéed mushrooms (my recipe, and might I humbly say that they are the best damn sautéed mushrooms you’ll ever taste), tossed salad.  We went back forth about wine, then opened the 05 Pinot Noir.  It was a stellar decision.  It was perfect.  The wine was perfect, the food was perfect, together it was something approaching a meal for the gods.  If good food deserves a good wine, then great food deserves a great wine, right?

Friday night was a special occasion.  I will long remember it for that.  It was steaks, great wine and Bull Durham on DVD.  It was an evening with two of my favorite people, one of my favorite all time movies and a couple of silly dogs who made sure that nothing went to waste.  You can’t beat that.

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A Good Day to Drink Wine – Part 1

Filed Under: Wine by Kathryne — 1 Comment
March 1, 2010

Let’s talk wineries today, shall we? One of the first forays on this journey came two weeks ago, when the idea of this blitz on wineries was still fermenting in my head. The lovely people at Deux Vert (Mike and Patty Green) had sent an email out about an event Laurel Ridge (another great winery) was hosting. It was a guest winery weekend, featuring the good folks who use the Laurel Ridge facilities for making their wines. What could be better than a bunch of wineries under one roof?

My trusty sidekick (or am I hers?), Beth, was game for the gig so we loaded up and drove to Carlton, OR. Carlton is a lovely little town, and Laurel Ridge sits just northeast of it (address is 13301 NE Kuehne Road;  www.laurelridgewinery.com). As a bonus, you will often be met at the car by one of the winery dogs who takes his job as chief greeter very seriously. On this day we had the joy of experiencing the wines of seven different wine makers. It felt like cheating on the whole “visit all the wineries” goal, but what a great idea this is. One tasting fee, several small winemakers many of whom do not have tasting rooms of their own. To be honest, it is events like this that have led me to some of my favorite wines.

On this day we had the good fortune to be introduced first to Domaine Meriwether (www.meriwetherwines.com). Let me just say, I love these guys! The gentleman who was running the tasting this day was wonderful, I wish he had his name on the card we took, but when he said that we were in for a graduate course in winemaking he wasn’t kidding. I really appreciated his time, patience, and willingness to explain his craft. When they open their new tasting room later in the spring, you can be sure I will be making the drive to Veneta.

Domaine Meriwether does sparkling wines in the Methode Champenoise. As the name implies, this is the way they do it in France. It is a complex and exacting method that pays off in a beautiful sparkling wine with complex and lasting bubbles. Our host was great in explaining the process (I think it helped that we stood there with pen and paper in hand, eagerly dashing off notes – everyone likes an appreciative audience!).

We started with the Discovery Brut, a nice, dry white champagne. It is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, made from the second pressing. I liked the crisp acidity of this wine – this is one of the driest sparkling wines I have tasted from this area – and yet there is a great fruit flavor to it as well; very nicely balanced, and just really fun to drink.

We then moved on to the 06 Prestige Rose. This is a beautiful pink champagne, the color coming from the addition of a little bit of red pinot noir. Two thoughts came to mind – the first was that it reminded me of a pink champagne I love, Gosset Rose; the second (which I actually said out loud) was that it was sweeter than the first. I was corrected on the second. It isn’t so much sweeter as it has a fruiter tone to it. In other words, you taste the fruit, but it is still dry, dry, dry. The winemaker had an interesting thought on this – first days I am going to do a blind tasting with some friends to see if I can prove him right. Yes indeed, this was my sparkling wine purchase for the day. I’m thinking I am taking this one to the Bay Area with me in April to drink with Erik and Bob.

Next up was an 06 Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley. My notes on this say it was a very ‘soft’ wine, this is not a big, bold, hit you in the face with a grape pinot gris. It is subtle, silky, and meant to be drunk with food. Some wines just are, and this is one of them. I could see this with seafood, easily. It needs a little something to bring it out, but nothing too spicy or overpowering.

Then we came to the 05 Chardonnay. Everyone will give you the whole ‘two camps’ spiel about this grape. Either you want a ton of oak and butter, or you don’t. Which is generally a way of saying ‘we did this all in stainless so if you like California Chards, you won’t like us’ or the reverse. I think there is a third camp, the group that likes a nicely balanced white. This one fits the bill. Sure enough, it is ½ oak, ½ stainless, and it has a lovely crisp acidity and great fruit. This is a perfect hot day on the porch kind of wine.

And finally we ended up the Pinot Noir Rose. Yes, I know. Rose. Every time I mention this to folks you can see them thinking “box of wine” or “woo hoo, white zinfandel.” Well, they are missing out. This one met my criteria of ‘summer in a glass.’ Pinot Noir Rose, when done right, is the perfect summer wine. It is fruity without being overly sweet, it is crisp and refreshing, it is a great sipper and is also great with the foods I associate with summer – salads, light fare, grilled veggies. This one was a summer in a glass wine. These guys did it right!

In Part II, more of our adventures at Laurel Ridge…

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