Carlton for Lunch

Tuesday I took a much needed break from etchings so I  scheduled  a lunch with my good friend Kelley Fox at The Filling Station. Kelley is the winemaker for Scott Paul but her real fame comes from her own wines. She is one of a growing coterie of women winemakers here in Oregon.
Last year we managed to put together a case of Pinot Noir with all the wines made by women here in Oregon and sold it for a good chunk of change at the OMP auction.
I am on a reduced gluten diet and was more than pleased to find the they bake their own breads and make a gluten free loaf made with Bob's Red Mill ingredients. The Ruben was great!
After she went back to work I walked over to Republic of Jam and stocked up on treats. The Strawberry Basil, the Apple Tarragon  Mustard, and the Marionberry Sage all went home with me.
Next door at Horseradish I had a nice glass of the Toluca Lane '09 Pinot Noir. This is an outstanding wine and for $34 it is a steal! I paired it with a chocolate caramel with sea salt from Honest Chocolates next door.

Next stop was a taste over at WildAire Winery and visit with Matt, the owner and winemaker. I settled on a bottle of his '09 Clay Court Vineyard Pinot Noir. This wine is made from grapes grown only in Jory soil and has a soft, lush mouthfeel and a ripe pie cherry, spices, and French Vanilla. Love it!

I drove out to Adelsheim and ArborBrook to look for ideas for the etchings and found a couple of great shots to start from.
I plan on doing ten etchings from ten of the Salud! wineries each year till I have them all. These will go to the Salud! Auction for sale.

Good News for Some Very Good Winemakers

From Wine Enthusiast comes good news for some of our friends:

95 Chehalem 2006 Statement Pinot
Noir (Ribbon Ridge); $99. This one of-
a-kind offering from Chehalem celebrates
what they are calling a “great” vintage. The wine
is dark, supple and immensely rich and dense,
yet retains a lightness that captures the elegance
of the Pinot Noir grape while propelling it to rarified
heights. The mix of red and purple fruits,
herb, spice and earth all come together in a
smooth and seductive wine that drinks like a
dream. Cellar Selection. —P.G.
95 Scott Paul 2008 Audrey Pinot Noir
(Dundee Hills); $65. All Maresh vineyard
grapes are behind this gorgeous and feminine
Pinot, with soft and evocative scents of
truffle, chocolate and raspberry. Brilliant winemaking
that takes all the elements of great Oregon
fruit and puts them into unique focus, with
winemaker Kelley Fox’s trademark blend of biodynami
c e a r thy /fung a l f l a vor s , e legant
berry/cherry fruit, and just a touch of milk chocolate.
The alcohol just reaches 13%. —P.G.
94 Kelley Fox 2007 Maresh Vineyard
Pinot Noir (Dundee Hills); $50.
This has a surprising amount of vanilla cream in
the flavors, plus soft, seductive raspberry fruit.
The fruit comes from the oldest part of the
Maresh vineyard—38-year-old self-rooted vines.
The wine is a pale rose, yet substantial in the
style of a classic Pinot from Eyrie. After some
hours breathing it opens up with elegant, seductive
aromas and some caramel streaks, delicate
and perfectly proportioned. —P.G.
94 Ken Wright 2008 Canary Hill
Vi n e y a rd Pinot Noir (Eola-Amity
Hills); $50. The top wine from Ken Wright in
2008, this beautifully elegant wine clocks in at
just 13.3% alcohol, yet delivers a mouthful of
delicious flavors. A lovely mix of cranberry,
pomegranate and wild raspberry is annotated
with dusty herb. Excellent midpalate concentration
and length. Cellar Selection. —P.G.
93 Evening Land Vineyards 2007
Seven Springs Vi n e y a rd La Source
Pinot Noir (Eola-Amity Hills); $67.
Dominique Lafon consults on these wines,
sourced from a vineyard now almost 30 years old.
Evening Land is among the wineries who sense
an opportunity to make refined, elegant wines
from the terroir of this little-known region.
Lovely aromas, complex scents and flavors, pine
and herb, cranberry and raspberry, earth and
seafoam—lots of nuances here. Editors’ Choice.
—P.G.
93 Kelley Fox 2008 Maresh Vi n e y a rd
Pinot Noir (Dundee Hills); $50. This
has pure fruit – strawberry especially – creating
an elegant, light, delicate, complex, though still
quite young wine. Some caraway seed flavors
come into play, and bolder black cherry fruit.
— P.G.
93 Longplay 2 0 0 8 Jory Bench
Reserve Lia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir
(Chehalem Mountains); $30. Longplay’s
2008 reserve is quite different from its nonreserve
stablemate. The aromas include more
earthy barnyard scents, the color has a hint of
maturity, and no new oak was used. As a result,
this wine could pass for one with a few more
years under its belt; its flavors more suggestive of
fruit pastry, figs and plums, leather and compost.
Complex and detailed, it’s a lovely effort. —P.G.
93 Scott Paul 2007 La Paulée Pinot
Noir (Willamette Valley); $30. Four
vineyards – Ribbon Ridge, Momtazi, Maresh and
Shea – are included here. Soft and seductive, this
wine caresses the palate with silky fruit. Aromatically
it weaves together red fruits, truffles and
clean, earthy scents. It reaches just over 13%
alcohol; truly Burgundian yet with an Oregon
flair to the fruit flavors. It puts the lie to any
notion that this was a poor vintage. Challenging
to be sure, but great wines were made in 2007,
and this is one of them. —P.G.
92 Adelsheim 2008 Elizabeth’s
Reserve Pinot Noir (Willamette
Valley); $48. This barrel selection from the best
estate vineyards is given just 10 months aging in
30% new oak. The fruit is exceptional – a mix of
red berries with tasteful threads of caramel sneaking
into the finish. Let it breathe—it’s a baby—
but very nicely proportioned and showing layers
of detail throughout a lingering finish. —P.G.
92 Anne Amie 2006 L’iris Pinot Noir
(Willamette Valley); $75. Drinking
very nicely, this wine bursts from the glass with
rich aromas of cherry, chocolate, truffle and
loam. The fruit factor is ramped up, delicious and
coats the palate with bright cherry candy flavors.
But this is more than a fruit bomb; the acidity
and ripe tannins balance it out as it runs into a
clean, lengthy finish. —P.G.
92 Brittan Vineyards 2006 Basalt
Block Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley);
$45. The private project of veteran winemaker
Robert Brittan, the limited-production
wines under his own label are treasures. This is
his inaugural release. Both fruit ripeness and
meaty depth are here in abundance, with a complex
mix of tree fruits and stone fruits, streaks of
earth and a fine layering of chocolate. This is a
wine you excavate as much as drink; it’s full of
surprises. —P.G.
92 Ken Wright 2008 Abbott Claim
Vi n e y a rd Pinot Noir (Yamhill- Carlton
District); $50. The 2008 Pinots from Ken
Wright display their individual terroirs quite succinctly,
with little evidence of the (roughly) 30%
new oak they receive. The Abbott Claim has a
bit more of a chocolaty flavor, with full, spicy
cherry fruit at its core. In fact there is so much
fruit, spicy and candied, that it is a bit like fruitcake,
in a good way. —P.G.
92 Ken Wright 2008 McCrone Vineyard
Pinot Noir (Yamhill- Carlton
District); $50. Still quite young, but showing
real depth and layering, the McCrone vineyard
designate offers pomegranate and raspberry fruit,
dusted with baking spices, and finished with a
tasty vein of mocha. This is a wine to enjoy in the
full bloom of its youth. —P.G.
92 Soléna 2007 Hyland Vi n e y a rd
Pinot Noir (Eola-Amity Hills); $45.
Laurent and Danielle Montalieu acquired this
high-profile vineyard in 2007; this is the first
Hyland release under their Soléna label. It’s a
beautiful Pinot, with the elegance of Burgundy
and the freshness of New World grapes. Fermentation
in rotary barrels (for color extraction
and tannin management) yields a silky, perfumed,
feminine wine that penetrates subtly and
lingers gracefully. Editors’ Choice. —P.G.
For a complete rating click here

Holt International Auction Last Night

Iris Vineyards supplied all the wines for the tables and had some on the auction block. I bought some for Valentines Day, along with lots of chocolate, golf at Diamond Woods, three blueberry bushes, a ride along with the Eugene Police K-9 unit, Bach Festival tickets, Shedd tickets, dinner at Adam's Sustainable Table, a Ukulele, and (unrealated to the Uke) four hours recording time in Don Latarski's studio.
I hope our auction goes as well as thier's did!
Tuesday I am going up to Portland by way of Maysara, Erath, Hawks View, and Winderlea for a tasting at Ula Wine Bar and Lounge by Three Women Winemakers.
Then Wednesday, up the Gorge to Milton Freewater and back for many wines. Updates on Friday when I get back.

More Great Reviews!

Kelly Fox, who was kind enough to donate one of her fine Pinot Noirs to our auction, got a very nice write up in Portland Monthly Magazine along with Belle Pente and Scott Paul (she is the wine maker there):
Last August, Oregonian wine writer Katherine Cole sang the praises of pinot noir from Burgundy, France. “Wines like these feel like a refreshing slap to the face,” she wrote. “They quiver with an electric energy that shocks the lips, waking up the palate to the possibilities of pinot.” Cole went on to conclude that “our local wineries are capable of observing all of these rules; many just choose not to.” More

Dundee, Carlton, McMinville and in Between

After a panic level morning of racing to the dealer to have them repair my air conditioning and the driving to Carlton by 11:30 to meet my friend Kelly Fox, I was exuberant when she presented me with a bottle of her Momtazi Pinot Noir. (reviewed here) 

Most winemakers dream of having their own eponymous label at some time in their career. Kelley Fox has been crafting wines in Oregon for ten years including terms at Hamacher, The Eyrie Vineyards and Torii Mor. Since 2005, she has been co-winemaker with Scott Wright at Scott Paul Wines, where she emulates the style of elegant Pinot Noir that her mentor at The Eyrie Vineyards, David Lett, taught her. As she notes on her website, www.kelleyfoxwines.com,    “What I love most about Pinot is its transparency. I prefer authenticity and even grit to armchair idealism. Pinot does this. There is something so real about it, for the better or the worse.” With the 2007 vintage, along with her father, Gerson Stearns, she has launched Kelley Fox Wines. Two vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs from Momtazi Vineyard and Maresh Vineyard have already created a buzz among pinot aficionados. The tiny production will have a small window of availability. Contact Michael Alberty at www.StorytellerWine.com in Portland, Oregon (503-206-7029, 800-753-2531).


2007 Kelley Fox Wines Momtazi Vineyard McMinnville Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
13% alc., 133 cases, $39, screw cap. Sourced from a 10-year-old block of Dijon 113 and 115 clones. Bio-dynamically-farmed vineyard. · Light garnet color in glass. Mineral-infused aromas of cherries with a whiff of iron, wet stone and funk. Discreetly composed core of earth-dusted dark red fruits, especially bright, juicy cherries. Moderate tannins with balancing acidity. Very good and recommended. 

After visiting at Scott Paul I went over to  Ken Wright Cellars and see what  he had put aside for us. I was thrilled when he gave a '05 Abbot Claim and a '02 Tyrus Evan Claret. Tyrus Evan's tasting room is just across the street so I went over to taste the reds and get pricing for the donations. I am always impressed by Ken's skill in wine making. I had an argument with a fellow the other night at UVA wine bar about the effects of "place" on the grape and therefore the wine. The best example I had for him was the Syrahs from Tyrus Even: one from Del Rio and one from the Columbia Valley. These two wines, made from the same grape, are as far apart in smell, taste, and feel, as any I have tasted. Both are outstanding but one (Dell Rio) is earthy and richly fruity while the other is cleaner, brighter, and has a more complex back taste.
Carrie Simonson led me through the reds before I had to rush off to visit Troon and Alexana. Here she is holding the 'o2 Claret.

Lunch at Cielo Blue was Polo Scallopini with a nice Pinot noir. Fantastic! Perfectly done pasta tasty local chicken, and lots of bacon, artichoke, and sauce.

Relaxed, well fed, and determined to get a couple more bottles before the sun went down, I set out across the street to visit Alexana.  
(from the web site) Alexana Wines was born of Dr. Madaiah Revana’s love of the great wines of Burgundy. In the spring of 2005, Dr. Revana began a search for both the ideal region and an experienced winemaker with the goal of making Pinot Noirs that could rival those from Burgundy. His search ended in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where he met Lynn Penner-Ash .(More)

I met the Dr. at the IPNC this year and he promised a bottle so as soon as he gets done traveling I will be bringing back one of his exquisite wines. They also have a lovely tasting room. Kelda tasted me through the wines and I must say they are amazing, My favorite is the '07 Revana Vineyard Pinot noir. I was impressed by the grassy, floral notes and the spicy red fruit . It received a 92 from Parker and a 91 from Wine Spectator.

I had to rush over to Newburg and out to Sineann cellars to pick up Peter's donation. I had no idea what he had in mind. When I got there Russ was working in the lab and called Peter to see which bottle to hand over. He ran upstairs and came back with a CASE of '07 Lachini Pinot noir.
Blackberry and black fruit are prominent in this dark, dark  Pinot. Brown spice nutmeg  in both the nose and flavor.
I was overwhelmed! This will mean a huge amount for the OMP auction.
As I left I took this shot of the valley as the day began to fade.

Last stop of the day was Chehalem Winery where I met Deanna. She lead me through a tasting of the Chardonnays. I really love the whites they produce. They are crisp, steely, and clean with lots of texture and complexity. They gave a bottle of the INOX, as they did last year, and I bought a bottle to enjoy with fruit and cheese at a friends house later that night.
I had dinner at Press Wine Bar and met Jack Hasting and
Chris Burrough who work at Domaine Drouhin and after a great meal and some good conversation, they invited me for a tour of the winery and offered a bottle of their fine wine. We arranged to meet at the winery in the morning.