by katrin on May 13, 2012
Tony Soter, who has worked his winemaking magic at Napa’s Etude Wines, Willamette Valley’s Soter Vineyards, and dozens of prestigious wineries over the years, has made a rosé to savor. A couple of years ago, he launched the Soter Vineyards’ second label: North Valley. The North Valley rosé is simply one of the best rosés I have had in recent memory, perfect for anyone seeking a less delicate rosé. This fresh and bright pink wine has a somewhat surprising composition: 80% Pinot Noir, 16% Chardonnay, and 4% Gewürztraminer. The two white grapes were terrific blending partners, giving this rosé a memorable and unique palate. Some rosés of Pinot Noir can be rather light and the Chardonnay helps to make this wine slightly more full-bodied and rounded. Despite being only 4% of the blend, the Gewürztraminer lends its unmistakable aromatics of lychee fruit and rose. Wonderfully mouthwatering with a long, zippy finish. Very good/excellent.
At Martignetti’s for $22.99.
by katrin on March 26, 2012
Cristom's Vines and Garden (by Katrin)
Indisputably, one of the highlights of the Wine Dine With Us team’s trip through the heart of Oregon’s main winemaking region a few years ago was our visit to Cristom. It was a visit that almost did not happen. Somehow in the planning, one of us (that would be me!) overlooked the fact that we needed an appointment. Fortunately – and as is typical in the gracious hospitality of people in the region – the tasting room manager welcomed us anyway and poured us a sampling of some of the region’s most elegant and memorable wines.
On Thursday I had an opportunity to relive a bit of that trip when John d’Anna, Cristom’s Director of Sales and Marketing, came to Gordon’s Fine Wine and Culinary Center in Waltham for a tasting and seminar on Cristom wines. John, who was both engaging and energetic, talked about the winery’s viticultural and winemaking techniques, while leading the participants through a tasting of six of the winery’s stellar offerings.
Founded in 1992, Cristom produces only 10,000 cases of their carefully-made wines annually. It’s clear that winemaker Steve Doerner has a vision for his wines and John described some of the techniques that he employs. For example, Steve uses whole cluster fermentation for a portion of many of the wines. This method adds texture and structure, and gives the wines a more interesting mouthfeel. Whole cluster fermentation is popular in Burgundy, but is not used as often in Oregon. Also, while the winery’s top wines are single vineyard bottlings, blending wines made from grapes from different vineyards plays a key role in the two Pinot Noir cuvees, as well as the Pinot Gris we tasted. Steve strives for consistency year after year in the Mt Jefferson and Sommers Reserve Pinots. John likened the blending process to an artist creating a painting and that the different wines offer more colors with which Steve can work to produce the wine he envisions.
On to the wines…
2009 Cristom Pinot Gris
Cristom’s Pinot Gris is a blend of largely estate-grown fruit from the winery’s 5-acre Emilia vineyard, with some purchased fruit blended in. Fruit-driven with plenty of Asian pear, citrus, and melon. It is rich and mouth-coating with both a steely acidity and a creamy texture resulting from having been aged on its lees for 11 months.
Retail price $19.99
2009 Cristom Mt Jefferson Pinot Noir
While Cristom’s wines have great ageing potential, I think that the Mt Jefferson cuvee is perfect right now. A blend of fruit from twelve vineyard sites in the Willamette Valley, this cuvee has raspberry, spice, tea, and mushroom on the nose and palate. Medium plus acidity gives this wine a bright vivacity.
Retail price $32.99
2008 Cristom Sommers Reserve Pinot Noir
I found the Sommers Reserve less expressive than the Mt Jefferson and any of the wines that followed. Earthy, spicy, and brambly, and less of the red fruit found in the Mt Jefferson. Very nice mouthfeel with medium acidity and elegant, velvety tannins.
Retail price $44.99
2008 Cristom Pinot Noir Jessie Vineyard
The Jessie Vineyard is planted on Cristom’s steepest site. The vineyard has five distinguishable soil types, which no doubt help to imbue this beautiful and intriguing wine with complexity. Black cherry, cola, meat, and fresh herbs. Perfectly balanced acidity, tannins, alcohol, and flavor with lasting finish that leaves an impression of sweetness at the end.
Retail price$52.99
2008 Cristom Pinot Noir Eileen Vineyard
An unexpected bonus at the tasting was the addition of the Eileen Vineyard Pinot Noir. This fruit-driven wine was, for me, more “New World” in style than the others. A core of red fruits, with herbal and chocolate notes, it is rich, ripe, and big with a bit of flash.
Retail price $52.99
2008 Cristom Pinot Noir Marjorie Vineyard
Planted back in 1982, the Marjorie Vineyard is Cristom’s oldest vineyard. Morrell cherries, tobacco leaf, tea, forest floor, mocha, and a hint of meat. Bigger, denser tannins, very long finish, and great complexity.
Retail price $69.99
The Cristom tasting is only one of many great events and programs offered by Gordon’s Fine Wines in their Fine Wine and Culinary Center. Be sure to check out the full schedule of upcoming programs!
by katrin on July 3, 2011
Looking for some last minute wine suggestions for your Fourth of July celebration? Here are three new reviews of wines from our Pacific Northwest to get you going and three previous recommendations. Enjoy!
2009 90+ Cellars Lot 28 Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley)
Pale garnet. Loads of cherry on the nose complemented by earthy notes and dried herbs. Luckily, an initial leathery rusticity dissipated rather quickly. This wine has a wonderful structure with acidity and tannins in balance. A lengthy, spicy finish. Elegant in the way one expects Oregon Pinot Noir to be.
At Whole Foods Market in Dedham for $14.99.
Alternative: 2008 Rook Cabernet-Syrah-Merlot blend (Columbia Valley)
2008 Charles Smith Wines “Eve” Chardonnay (Columbia Valley)
Light yellow in the glass. Green apple, lemon wax, and an herbal quality on the nose, while the palate had Meyer lemon and a touch of creamed corn. There was another flavor that I found difficult to pinpoint, until it hit me that it was reminiscent of Necco wafers. Quite a zippy mouthfeel, very dry with a good amount of acidity.
At New Hampshire Liquor Stores for $11.99.
Alternative: 2009 Santa Barbara Collection Chardonnay
2010 A to Z Wineworks Rosé (Oregon)
This 100% Sangiovese has a beautiful, bright, rich color. The nose is fresh and fruity with stone fruit, cherry, and floral notes, while the palate is bursting with strawberry, red grapefruit, and herbs. Solid Acidity is refreshing, but not bracing. Easy to enjoy and crowd-pleasing on its own.
At Colonial Liquors for $11.99.
Alternative: 2010 Charles and Charles Rosé
by katrin on June 26, 2011
The understated simplicity and beauty of the clear, taller than average bottle, with its cream-colored label, grabbed my attention. The raspberry-gelato colored wine shines through the “r” cut out of the label, and that is all it needs to say.
Strawberry compote, herbs, hints of crushed blueberry, and raspberry. Despite all of the fruit descriptors, there is nothing tootie fruity about this wine. It is full-bodied and rounded, with zippy acidity and tender tannins. Great, rich finish. For all that this lovely rosé has, it is what is absent that makes it even more intriguing. There’s no vintage noted and Domaine Serene’s winemaker M. Eleni Papadakis doesn’t divulge the actual varietal composition. What we do know is that the grapes are sourced from vineyards in three different Oregonian appellations – 50% from the Willamette Valley, 40% from the Rogue Valley, and 10% from Walla Walla. Some of the tannins are imparted from the use of oak; 55% of the wine is aged in French barrels, 10% of which are new.
At New Hampshire State Liquor for $29.99.
The King Estate Pinot Gris is made with Organic Grapes so why not open it for Earth Day?
One of my goals on our trip to Oregon was to experience a range of Oregon Pinot Gris because we didn’t have much of a selection here at the time (it could still use some help) but I was also intrigued by Oregon’s commitment to the varietal that demands—legally—it must be called Pinot Gris, never Pinot Grigio.
The 2004 Domaine Pinot Gris was outstanding when I first tried it. I’m afraid it has lost some its balance over time. In the nose I was greeted with a sweet honeysuckle, citrus, floral and fresh straw. The same sweet honey prevailed in the mouth; medium finish with a subdued acidity.
100% stainless steel and aged sur lie for eight months. 13.5% alcohol.
by katrin on November 25, 2010
Looking out over the vineyards at Domaine Drouhin
I have been in somewhat of an Oregon state of mind. So when time came to select a wine for Thanksgiving Day dinner, I gravitated toward the 2003 Domaine Drouhin Laurène Pinot Noir that I had brought back with me from the Wine Dine With Us visit to the Willamette Valley. Our visit to Drouhin and the guided tour solidified our interest in Oregon and its Burgundian-inspired wines. And you really couldn’t have a stronger Burgundy-Willamette Valley connection than Domaine Drouhin, which was founded by the Robert Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin.
I had looked longingly at the bottle countless times, but held off opening it since I thought that it would only improve with some age. I was right…for the most part. The first word that comes to mind for the Laurène is elegant. It is not a wine that will overwhelm you by being overly ripe or heavily oaked. An enticing combination of black cherry, herbs, light cedar, and spice are present in the nose and on the palate. On its own, the acidity is still bright, lingering for quite some time, while the tannins have mellowed and are soft. At the dinner table, however, the wine loses out a bit to food and doesn’t stand up as well as I had hoped. So we set it aside to enjoy after the meal. It remains a wonderful wine!
Happy Thanksgiving!
by katrin on November 24, 2010
The view from Bergstrom Wines' tasting room
When Wine Dine With Us visited the Willamette Valley a couple of years ago, we experienced many incredible wines. It would be really challenging to choose a favorite wine or winery, but for me Bergström Wines would be near the top of the list. The Pinot Noirs were sublime. I don’t use that word often, but these wines transcended all of my expectations. At the time, we learned that they were reducing their Pinot Gris production and focusing on Chardonnay instead. I recently came across their 2008 “Old Stone” Chardonnay, which, unlike most of their wines, is not made from estate-grown grapes.
While I had expected a steely Chablis, I was surprised by how ripe and oaky it was. Aside from the immediate vanilla and hazelnut notes, the nose has plenty of minerality and ripe pear and apple. The palate reflects the nose, but there is also lime and spice. It has a very clean mouthfeel with perfect acidity for a white wine, balanced out by softness and creaminess from malolactic fermentation.
It may not have wowed me like the Pinot Noirs did, but nevertheless this balanced, enjoyable wine is well worth seeking out.
At Wine Library for $16.99.
