Great Day For Wine, Great Day For Oregon

Today started with a trip up to Carlton and a stop at Seven of Hearts Winery and a taste of the yet to be released Viognier-Roussanne, '09. My God what an elegant wine! Soft in the mouth, ripe white peach and gooseberry on the nose with honey mead and melon in the mouth. This is a soft and supple wine with room for foods like spicy Thai or Indian. Love it.
Lena said that they  have had their share of awards including Wine Spectator's :Luminous Hills Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton District 2009 - 91 points

Velvety, subtle and distinctive for the mint and savory spice accents around a lovely bead of redcurrant and raspberry fruit, persisting delicately on the long finish. Drink now through 2019.—H.S., but that the traffic had increased hugely since the Top Reds article.
Needless to say they are a place to visit on your road trip to Carlton.
Portland Monthly just rated them among the top reds in Oregon, but I must say the article pissed me off because I have taste 1000's of Oregon Reds and they left out some of the finest wines produced in the south and in the Gorge. The center of the universe does not park itself in Portland...
Anyway, I met with my friends Mike, owner of Ghost Hill Cellars,  and Rebecca, winemaker, for lunch at my usual watering hole, Horseradish, and discussed the idea of me repping their wines. The thought of a job curdled my soup but I agreed to think about it.
I had a superb Chardonnay made by Ken Wright that stood up beautifully to the soup and he salmon mousse. Lovely. Warm mouthfeel with long sleek strands of warm hay and honey. Very good finish with no bite on the back or sides of the tongue. Highly recommend. My friend had the J. Scott Syrah '08 and was impressed by the soft complexity and structure of the wine. The grapes come from the Rouge Valley but have non of the heat that is typical of one of the major vineyards there. Perhaps it comes from a higher vineyard with less direst southern exposure?
Wonderful wine. He is the winemaker at Silvan Ridge and we carry his wines at the Adventure Center for Travel Lane County.

After lunch I got a real treat. I tasted 114, Wadenswil, 777, and Pommard off the cluster. They are all so good right now and the cluster size in amazing!  I was guessing 19 to 20 brix on all save the 777 but the seeds are still very green and I found 4 seeds in one 777 grape. All the seeds were clean though, no flesh sticking to them.. I can not wait for harvest! These are all reduced to one cluster per stem and yield will be three ton per acre. These are the largest bunches I have ever seen!
On the way back to Salem for a very special event I stopped in Carlton for my Jam fix.
Republic of Jam is a reason to go to Carlton even if you don't like wine. I scored a big jar of Apple-Mustard, some Blueberry Lemon, and a bottle of syrup to mix with my favorite Gin.
This is going to be a banner year for Oregon Wines and not just because of the wines!