Tonight, with much help from my good friend Michael Bailey of In Vitis For Wine, I was able to make it through a very nice evening of tasting and comparing notes on some very special wines.
The first hint of something different came from the Gris: The nose had little of the citrus and bright white fruit I am used to in Oregon Pinot Gris, instead there were notes of fresh morning hay fields and sweet melons while the mouth was met with spicy pear, melon and a brightness that is hard to describe.
'14 Pinot
Gris
Light straw
hue
Nose: Very
subtle melon with hay and mineral earth
Palate:
Bright spice with small amounts of green apple and pear, fennel
Spicy finish
Sourced from
Kliewer vineyard in Cheshire with some additional Eolla Hills fruit, 100 cases
Pair with
Cod and other white fish
Next came the Rose' made with Pinot Noir from the vineyards on the estate. Recently Oregon has legalized a very popular herb and the first notes I found were of that herb, bound with dark red grapefruit along with high notes of rose petals and fresh rain. The taste is rich and complicated with earthy notes under black cherry and vanilla. Beautiful finish.
'14 Rose’
Bright rose
petal color
Nose: Slight
hint of a recently legalized herb with grapefruit, rose petals, and morning
rain, cinnamon carnations.
Palate: Pleasantly
delightful with earth tones, light cherry, round vanilla notes.
Finish: long
and spicy
75 Cases
made
Pair with
Lamb, salmon, salty foods.
The Pinot Noir is stunning! Deep deep red to black with an amazingly complicated aroma that continues to change and surprise. The tastes are of earthy under oak and chocolate, baked black cherries, and smoky leather. Very long finish the changes slowly from warm spice to sweet berry.
'13 Pinot
Noir
All sourced
from estate. 777, Pommard, 115, and 667
Deep cola
hue
Nose: Just
divine. So many overtones and changing hints of cola and spices
Palate: Oak,
chocolate, dark cherries. Smoke and vanilla
Long and
spicy finish
Drink now to
‘22
290 cases
made
Pair with
Salmon, lamb, turkey, ostrich
Now the Syrah. Many of Oregon's Syrahs from the Rogue Valley have a heat and smoke to them that I find somewhat unpleasant. This is NOT one of them. Sourced from Dick Ellis' vineyards and co-fermented with Viognier in the Northern Rhone style.
Roasted meat, Cola, smoke, Dark chocolate, did I say meat? Yes, roasted!
Wonderful overall feel and taste. Very well made.
’13 Syrah
Big
surprises lurk in this wine. Fruit sourced from Rouge Valley from Dick Ellis
with a clone from the Hermitage region co-fermented with Viognier in the
Northern Rhone style.
Dark Cherry
hue
Nose: Cola
and dark fruit
Palate: dark chocolate, roasted meat, smoke,
currents, evry light jam.
Finishes
long and spicy with cola notes
80 cases
made
Pair with
rich Italian foods
This joint project with Tristaetum and Chehalem takes a tad bit of explaining. The short version is you get to try three Rieslings from three different vineyards with three different soil types...see, you're geeking out aleady. 
This three pack of Rieslings, which runs from Dry to Semi-Sweet, is the perfect way to be introduced to our wines and our winery.
