Oregon | Hawk Wakawaka Wine Reviews

Photos from Pebble Beach Food & Wine 2013

Apr 8, ’13 6:48 AM

Pebble Beach Food & Wine

One of the great annual food and wine extravaganzas on the West Coast United States occurs each Spring in Pebble Beach. The town becomes host to the best chefs, wines, and sommeliers from all over the world, as well as the folks that want to be there to drink in their offerings.

Here are photos surveying some of the activities I was lucky enough to attend over three of the four days (it begins Thursday but I arrived Friday).

Friday:The Grand Tour: European Continental Cuisine Lunch, featuring Wines of Portugal

Garden lunch reception begins at Pebble Beach

appetizers are served on the lawn, Chef Roland Passot’s Salmon Lollipop, w Quinta da Raza, Raza 2011 Vinho Verde

Inside for a seated lunch: Chef Johan Bjorklund’s Cassolette, w Companhia das Quintas, Quinta da Romeira 2011

Duck Charcuterie & Traditional Garnishes by Chef Michael Ginor, w Esparao Reserva 2008

Patisserie Chef Francois Payard

World Class Sommeliers serving at lunch

Portuguese wines from lunch

Ruinart Private Dinner

Nicolas Ricroque, Chef Michelle Bernstein, and Chef de Caves Frédéric Panaiotis discuss final dinner preparations

welcome with Ruinart Blanc de Blancs

Ragout of spring vegetables, seared foie gras, truffle vegetable nage, served w Dom Ruinart Rosé 1998

beautifully improvised dish of Skatewing w fresh Sea Urchin, Sourdough Bread, paealla, open clams, and fresh peas, served w Dom Ruinart 2002, and 1998

Dom Ruinart Rosé 1990 and 1996

Saturday:
Chef Morimoto Master Cooking Demonstration w Ruinart Champagne

Chef Morimoto and Chef de Caves Panaiotis prepare before the demonstration

the view before hand in the demonstration mirror

Chef Morimoto and Chef de Caves Panaiotis

the event begins. Frédéric Panaiotis introduces Ruinart Champagne

Chef Morimoto gives sushi for Chef de Caves Panaiotis some final touches

the audience excited for pictures after the demonstration

Ridge Monte Bello Panel at Spanish Bay

the view at Spanish Bay

Nine vintage vertical of Monte Bello–1984, 1995, 2006-2012

The Ridge Discussion Panel preparing

2011 and 2012 are still in barrel

Battle of the Coasts: WEST Dinner

beginning with Dom Perignon 2003

Uni by Chef Dominique Crenn, served w Grieve Family Winery 2011 Sauvignon Blanc

Black Cioppino by Chef Thomas McNaughton, served w Clendenen Family Chardonnay “Le Bon Climat” 2008

Red Velvet Cake by Pastry Chef Lincoln Carson, served w Taylor Fladgate Vintage Porto 2003

Sunday:
The Grand Tasting

Pax Mahle pouring Wind Gap Wines

Chris Williams, Brooks Wines

Brooks, Willamette Valley Riesling and Pinot Noir

The Lindt Chef Projector (This image talked about the chocolate while the real her was standing 5-ft away talking about the chocolate. It was a trip.)

Steve Clifton pouring Palmina Wines

***
Thank you to Sarah Logan, and Vanessa Kanegai.

Thank you to Nicolas Ricroque, and Frederic Panaiotis.

Thank you to Mark Stone.

Thank you to Bettye Saxon.

Comments (4)

Tasting Origins: Original Vine Pinot Gris, Eyrie Vineyards, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Feb 12, ’13 10:46 AM

In 1965 David Lett planted what would be the first Pinot Gris vineyard in North America, 160 cuttings placed in the ground on their own roots in the Willamette Valley. Today those vines still give fruit, and serve as the source material for all of Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Gris vines.

Jason Lett and I spoke recently about these grapes in particular. “Dad had done cuvée from the original vines, and they were delicious” but Eyrie had never sold such bottlings separately. Jason had wanted to find a way to pay homage to these original vines, however, and so in 2008 started playing with the fruit. He’s produced two different styles of wine with bunches from the original vines. One, a Ramato style, with the fruit fermented on skins for an extended period, then left for extended élevage as well. The other a sans soufre bottling meant to keep the wine as close to the juice of the vineyard as possible. Yesterday, I opened a sample bottle of the 2011 sans soufre.

Drinking the Eyrie Vineyards 2011 Original Vines Pinot Gris

click on comic to enlarge

The wine evolves in the glass. At first opening it offers the tang of carrots and tomato leaf fresh from the garden, an herbal lifted nose and palate. The wine uncurls over the course of the day–lofted, fresh aromas, apricot and plum, just cut button roses, bread with light honey lifting from the glass. The palate moves as well. There is a stimulating vitamin buzz through the mouth carrying into a long soil and saline finish. The flavors offer lilies with their greens, fresh bread and grain with hints of butter, and the groundedness of coffee. The overall presentation is fresh, delicate while lively. I admire this wine both for its history and for its interest.

***

Thank you to Jason Lett for extending this wine to me.

The Original Vines Pinot Gris bottlings from Eyrie Vineyards will be released later this Spring. (I have a bottle of the 2009 Ramato as well and have been reluctant to open it, the gift of irreplaceable treasure. Though I can’t wait to view its copper color.)

Comments (2)

Oregon and California Chardonnay for Fall, for Katherine

Nov 5, ’12 6:25 PM

Chardonnays from Northern California and Willamette Valley Oregon

Katherine asked if we could feature Chardonnays for Fall. So, several of us got together and tasted through a range of examples from Oregon and California. The goal was to taste wines from a mix of price points, that avoided oak bomb problems, while still showing a range of styles and generally up acidity, with each known to be a good example of the style in which they’re made. Part of the intention was also to bring together wines from Oregon with wines from California. The resulting collection drew from 7 Willamette Valley, Oregon wines, and 5 from Napa and Sonoma counties in California, plus 1 from the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Following are descriptions for each of the wines.

Along with Katherine’s request, the Antica Terra Aurata was the bottle that inspired this tasting. My sister and I were lucky enough to meet with Maggie Harrison earlier this summer and taste the earlier presentation of this same wine. Knowing the Aurata was about to be released I decided the best way to share it with friends was by showing it alongside other well-made Chardonnays. The opportunity to enjoy multiple wines side by side affords a different style of insight into the wine than simply drinking one on its own does (I drank more of these on their own later).

Cheers!

click on comic to enlarge

Willamette Valley, Oregon Chardonnay

Antica Terra Aurata 2010 $75. The Aurata is vibrant, clean and stimulating. Its presentation is well-tuned, offering a feminine while racy mouthfeel that gives simultaneously a polished textural element and a bunch of mouth stimulation. This wine offers presence in the mouth. It avoids dominating your palate, while at the same time pulling you to attention with interest. What this wine does well is bring together rich flavors with swift structural movement and nice textural mouthfeel, all together avoiding any sense of heaviness or overwhelm. There are elements of caramel and citrus blossom, light candy powder, white and pink grapefruit, and meyer lemon. 12.9% alcohol. Vibrant acidity. Long finish.

Brick House 2009 $30. Though Brick House red wines are often well thought of and appreciated, the 2009 Chardonnay does not show the same advantages. The 2009 drank chunky and disjointed with a heavy blanket of reductive funk on the nose that marred the fruit characteristics lingering in the background, then the finish bottomed out and disappeared. Decanting or air does not help here. The wine simply drinks like it is trying to be something it isn’t. From what I know of Brick House wines and have read of this one in particular I am wanting to believe the effect might be bottle variation. Still, for this price I have to be honest and warn, be careful. 13.6% alcohol.

Cooper Mountain Reserve 2009 $15. The Cooper Mountain Reserve wins the value challenge. The Reserve takes fruit entirely from the Cooper Mountain estate, blending fruit from vines planted in 1978, 1982, and 1999, after fermentation and aging through a mix of stainless and old oak. The presentation you get here is well balanced with a rich while delicate, well-integrated range of flavors on a hardy backbone of structure. You get caramel and light spice on the nose coming through with citrus blossom, light beeswax, and hints of toast. These carry into the palate culminating in a great zing finish, and a mouth tightening after finish. 13% alcohol, medium acidity, medium-long finish. Cooper Mountain grows both organic and biodynamic certified fruit.

Cooper Mountain Old Vines 2010 $30. Cooper Mountain’s Old Vine bottling draws only from the fruit of the 1978 plantings of Estate Chardonnay, grown via organic and biodynamic certified farming. Even at the higher price this wine offers value. It is one of the most pleasing of all the wines tasted offering a smooth mouthfeel, and clean presentation. The nose offers citrus blossom with light melon undertones, chamomile and orange blossom, with hints of graphite. There are elements of butter cream pastry and meyer lemon plus lime blossom here with a pleasing bergamot finish. 13% alcohol.

Domaine Drouhin Arthur 2010 $28. The Arthur was split into two lots with half fermented in French oak barrels (30% new), and the other in Stainless Steel, then blended after to create a wine with rich flavors and a more delicate body. Domaine Drouhin consistently offers well made wines, and this chardonnay drinks as though it is made by someone that knows precisely how to work with the grape. It offers a clean presentation with good acidity and a breadth of flavor. There is a light cedar and nut touch to the nose with floral and orchard fruit elements, a smooth mouthfeel and lingering finish. 13.9% alcohol.

Evesham Wood 2011 $18. The value on this wine is impressive. You get a lot for your money here. The nose offers citrus and lily flowers, carrying over into the palate with nutskin, and dried sage alongside notes of mace and light wax. The Evesham Wood offers a smooth mouthfeel with medium alcohol (12.5%), medium+ acidity, and a medium finish. Erin Nuccio, and his wife Jordan, have recently taken over the Evesham Wood project, after producing Haden Fig at the location since its beginning. Erin’s wines are worth keeping an eye on as they show good quality, while doing well at maintaining value.

St Innocent Freedom Hill Vineyard 2010 $24. The scent of movie house and microwave popcorn–the butter and salt of it–stood out most for me on this wine. It lessened with air, but was there still when I revisited the wine again later that first day, and again on the second day. There is a citrus blossom finish with a zing to the after finish. The wine was made in older oak, with full malolactic fermentation. 14% alcohol.

Northern California Chardonnay

Donelan Nancie 2011 $45. The fruit from Donelan’s 2011 Nancie comes from a blend of three vineyards offering a mix of older vines, and some elevation plantings. There is a rich and smooth mouthfeel here with a good mouthwatering stimulation of movement. The wine presents a vibrant nose of citrus blossom, very light butter, faint hints of leather and mushroom, all carrying forward into the palate with a tingling finish. The wine is barrel fermented and goes through partial malolactic fermentation. This wine though still young, drinks with sprightly complexity now. 13.7% alcohol.

J. Rochioli South River Vineyard 2009 $75. The South River Vineyard Chardonnay from Rochioli Vineyards offers 100% Hanzell selection fruit. Rochioli is one of the few vineyards outside Hanzell itself that has this particular clone, regarded as a heritage clone of the plant. The South River Vineyard chardonnay represents a very small production site specific wine from Rochioli Estate, one of the practices the winery is known for. This particular chardonnay represents the wine with the most apparent oak flavor influence in this tasting. In that way, it is the richest flavor profile offered, while avoiding any issues of ‘oak bomb.’ The nose offers chamomile, hints of cut grass, meyer lemon, orange blossom and light butter. On the palate there is a showing of integrated light butterscotch and butter with a touch of scotch whisky alongside chamomile and orange blossom. 14.5% alcohol.

Massican Gemina 2011 $45. The Massican Chardonnay uses all Hyde Vineyard fruit, and gives the most focused presentation and most fragrant nose of the tasting. The wine is also a rush of vibrancy in the mouth, with ultra clean flavors. Its flavors and nose are tropical, and floral without being cloying or sweet. The layers open as the wine warms giving tropical and white grapefruit with lychee notes. The wine offers a zingy round and textural finish. The Massican offers the most distinctive acid focus of the wines tasted. I like the vibrancy of this wine now and want to taste it again in a few years when the acidity has calmed some. No malolactic fermentation occurred here. Only 85 cases produced. 13.6 % alcohol.

Matthiasson 2011 $25. Another example of impressive value, the Matthiasson Chardonnay is a stand out for what it offers at the price. It utilizes all clone 4 fruit from an old riverbed vineyard in Napa Valley–the result is a well-focused wine with a smooth mouthfeel offering vibrant floral and spice elements alongside orchard and citrus blossom, and dried white sage notes. There is also a very light caramel toast here. The wine offers medium+ acidity with a medium-long finish, and 13.5% alcohol. I like the feel and flavor of this wine now, and also look forward to tasting it again with the complexity offered from more time in the bottle. This wine is a stand-out.

Ridge Estate 2010 $30. Ridge Estate, from the famed Monte Bello property, offers a glimpse at classic California chardonnay style–before the oak bomb stereotype became a norm. There is a richness of flavor here riding a spine of acidic focus. You get vibrancy and breadth of flavor both. The wine brings together round, lush flavors focused on citrus and hints of pear, with touches of butter, and a zippy finish of mineral salt. 14.2% alcohol with tingling acidity, and a medium-long finish. Ridge is known for allowing natural, wild-yeast fermentation and malolactic fermentation in barrel. 10% new oak.

Rochioli Estate 2010 $50. The Rochioli Estate chardonnay offers a rich presentation with the juiciness to carry the flavors forward. The nose shows toasted brioche with light nut, orange and pear blossom, hints of pear, and bergamot. The fruit and floral qualities carry over in the palate with the sense of toasted brioche and light caramel alongside. Rochioli integrates the most apparent sense of oak flavor elements from the wines tasted, and shows how to do so in an integrated overall presentation with balance. This is a rich wine, but has the movement to carry the flavor. It will also do well with additional age allowing the brioche and caramel elements to deepen further. 14.5% alcohol.

***

The Antica Terra, Cooper Mountain, Donelan, Massican, Matthiasson, and Rochioli wines were provided as samples.

Thank you to Katherine for requesting a chardonnay focus.

Thank you to Tyler, Joe, Davis, and William for tasting the wines with me.

Comments (4)

Tasting the Visual, Sharing Influence: Patrick Reuter of Dominio IV Wine, Shape Tasting

Sep 9, ’12 4:00 PM

Patrick Reuter’s Shape Tasting

close up of Dominio IV 2008 “In the Valley of Angels” Syrah, by Patrick Reuter

Studying aspects of wine or viticulture at UC Davis, it was standard practice for students to participate in regular wine tastings, taking notes on flavor and structure while tasting. Over time, substantial catalogs of wine notes were recorded, each student with their own notebook listing aspects of a wine experience.

During his studies, Patrick Reuter, co-owner and wine maker of Dominio IV Wines in Oregon, developed his own log listing characteristics of wines from weekly in depth tastings. Over time, however, he recognized that when he reviewed this information he’d recorded, he had no clear recollection of the wines themselves. The lists began to look remarkably the same–standard wine notes naming fruit, acid and tannin made no genuine impression on his memory.

close up of Dominio IV 2008 “In the Valley of Angels” Syrah, by Patrick Reuter

Reuter began experimenting with what impressions from wine did make sense to him, and found himself sketching notes of wine rather than listing attributes. What he found was that when he recorded the visual experience he had of a wine’s flavors, the memory of the wine remained. Looking back over his drawings of a wine experience, Reuter could more readily recall the wine he’d tasted, even long after.

close up of Dominio IV 2008 “In the Valley of Angels” Syrah, by Patrick Reuter

Eventually Reuter realized he could use his wine sketching as a tool for his wine making. One of the challenges with listed tasting notes is in how they treat wine as a static snapshot in time, as if all flavors and the structure present simultaneously. That is, tasting notes generally offer only a limited description of a wine, they do not show how the presentation changes in your mouth. But, by incorporating a sense of time and duration into his drawings, Reuter could record and then analyze a sense of the structure and layout of the wine as a whole. He could draw for himself an image of the wines presentation–whether it was all fruit up front; how full or not the mid-palate was; how long the finish carried and whether different flavors arose there. In doing so, he could then also see where a particular wine might be deficient, or overly powerful.

When it came to blending, he could draw the presentation of different barrels and then go back over the images to see where different barrels might best complement each other to produce a better blend. As Reuter explains, “you might have a barrel that is fruity up front, but then there is a gap [where the flavors fall away]. Visually you can see the gap. But another barrel, it might fill that gap. In the drawings, you can see that, and then use it for blending.”

Dominio IV 2008 “In the Valley of Angels” Syrah. Click on image to enlarge.

Moving from left to right shows the development of the wine over time. The width of the image from bottom to top shows how full the wine presents on the palate, and where the flavors and structure offer the most concentration.

Developing Shape Tasting

Dominio IV 2006 Tempranillo.

An early shape tasting image by Patrick Reuter

The image still shows the wine over time, with the large circles representing the late mid-palate, but Reuter had not yet incorporated text, or more subtle drawing elements into his tasting notes. As Reuter describes the experience of this tasting image–”The wine starts and you are rolling in texture. You come to the mid-palate and it’s so big you don’t know if you are going to come out the end of it. Then, suddenly it’s all finish.”

In recognizing his own interest in presenting wine visually, Reuter began reading more about synesthesia, a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory pathway, like taste, triggers a response in another sensory pathway, like vision. The experience of synesthesia is such that people will do things like see flavors, or recognize certain letters with a particular color. Studies have shown that synesthesia is incredibly common in children, and that with acculturation the experience lessens for most people into adulthood. However, for some people, some synesthetic experience remains into adulthood. It also appears possible that such experiences can be cultivated.

A Shape Tasting Workshop for Wine Distributors led by Patrick Reuter. Photo by Patrick Reuter.

After developing a clearer sense of his own Shape Tasting method–an image shows wine presentation over time, left to right; rounder shapes represent fruits; colors purposefully reflect flavors; lines are acidity; x’s and checks are tannin and texture–Reuter was encouraged to share the process with others.

Recently, a visit from wine distributors getting familiar with Oregon wine was planned, and a visit to taste with Dominio IV was included for them. Reuter decided the best way to make his wines memorable for the visitors was to help them go more deeply into the experience, rather than just focus on a typical high speed tasting style. He prepared, then, to have them perform their own Shape Tasting process. After briefly tasting each of the wines, Reuter asked each person to select the wine that spoke to them most strongly, then to receive another pour of that wine and spend more time with it. He guided them through the Shape Tasting process and then everyone took half an hour to draw their experience of the wine, leaving then, with their own graphical representation of their favorite Dominio IV wine.

Dominio IV 2006 “Song” Syrah

In talking through Shape Tasting with Reuter, something amazing happens.

I’ve been asking him to walk me through how his experience of visually tasting wine works, and then too to tell me the steps he went through in developing his tasting images. The most recent ones (like the 2008 Syrah that opens this post through several close-ups, and the 2011 Viognier that follows next) I find so beautiful.

He tells me about work he did with Skip Walter in Seattle to get clearer on thinking of his Shape Tasting drawings as a kind of artistic graph. It is this combination of careful precision to drawing an accurate image of the wine’s duration and fullness of presentation, with the artistic expression of that, that fascinates me. Because of the determination to graph the process of tasting wine, the drawings offer a sort of mathematics of experience.

But then, unexpectedly, he pulls out the 2006 “Song” drawing (above) and points to the words incorporated into the image (the earlier images, like that for the 2006 Tempranillo, shown earlier above, notice have no text), and says, “that’s when I found your website.” I am stunned. And then he tells me how seeing my wine comics made him realize he could further develop his Shape Tasting images to be both more accessible, or readable to people in general in how they show others the experience of the wine, and to do so by offering something to both visual and textual learners. What he’s developed through this incorporation since is a pleasing aesthetic balance in the images. These drawings look to me at home in themselves.

I have been fascinated from the beginning by Reuter’s idea of Shape Tasting. I am generally interested in how others experience what they love (and the truth is, I don’t just get a list of flavors and attributes when I taste wine either). But, the drawings he has done most recently, I find the most beautiful both for how they integrate drawings with text, but also for how at ease with themselves they read to me. The 2011 “Still Life” Viognier drawing, shown below, and the 2008 “In the Valley of Angels” Syrah, at the top above, both understand what they’re doing in a way that makes the presence of the wine accessible as well. The same comfortable, while dynamic presence I recognize in these most recent drawings I also find consistently in Reuter’s Dominio IV wines. They offer a union of simplicity with richness I consistently find appealing.

Dominio IV 2011 “Still Life” Viognier (not yet colored).

Reuter shows me his Shape Tasting image for the 2011 Viognier we have just tasted, then describes how Viognier, for him, offers a kind of dual personality. It opens with so much fruit, you could almost think it was Chardonnay at first, he explains. But then it changes, and the second half of the wine is more like Riesling, all lines of acidity and motion. Reuter’s drawing beautifully captures that two sided, while coherent nature. I am convinced.

***

Dominio IV Wines are biodynamically farmed, and family owned in Oregon by Patrick Reuter, and Leigh Bartholomew. Their winery is located in Willamette Valley, and they also own The Three Sleeps biodynamically farmed vineyard in Columbia Gorge. Additionally, they source some sustainably farmed fruit from Southern Oregon.

Dominio IV Wines are available through their website in both:

Wine Shop: http://www.dominiowines.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=56&vmcchk=1&Itemid=56

and

Wine Club: http://www.dominiowines.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=38

To hear more on Shape Tasting from Patrick himself, check out this series of videos of Patrick Reuter walking Jeff Weissler of Conscious Wine through the process: http://consciouswine.com/tasting-wine-shape-tasting-dominio-iv/

Thank you to Patrick Reuter for taking the time to meet with me and share his Shape Tasting with me.

Comments (3)

Willamette Wine 8: Visiting Brooks Wines, part 1, the Rieslings

Aug 14, ’12 4:43 PM

Tasting at Brooks

In any wine trip there are stand outs. Having spent almost a month in Willamette Valley I’ve tasted a wealth of area wines from multiple vintages, through various grape varieties, along clonal and soil differences. There are a number of wines here that I love. Brooks Wines is the stand out.

As members of both the Oregon Riesling Alliance (ORA), and the International Riesling Foundation (IRF), Brooks Wines helps to cultivate the variety in Willamette Valley’s cool climate. With just under 40 members of the ORA, the group works to develop the overall quality of Riesling in Oregon. As Harry Peterson-Nedry put it, “higher water floats all boats. We know that if anyone of us improves, we all benefit.” With that in mind, the ORA meet to hold private blind tastings to critique the quality of the individual wines, media tastings at different points in the year, and work together to build the overall quality, and public awareness of Oregon Riesling.

Janie Brooks Heuck serves as a member of the IRF board, whose goal is to develop long term public education, quality, and information about quality Riesling from around the world. The well-known Summer of Riesling campaign, with its participating wineries, shops, and wine serving venues from bars to restaurants, arises from the work of the IRF, celebrating Riesling through focus on various global regions. The program has done an incredible job at increasing interest and distribution too of Riesling in the United States, and other regions of the world. One of Brooks Heuck’s goals is for the program to grow to include a focus on domestic Rieslings as the quality of domestic Riesling also increases. Currently Summer of Riesling has celebrated attention on Riesling in general, with a focus on well-known regions such as Germany or Austria during their regional highlights. Domestic production of Riesling is far lower than these other regions, but there are already examples of quality Riesling being made in the United States, Brooks being one of them.

The 2009 Brooks Willamette Valley Riesling is an excellent value. The bottle retails at $18 (or less) and offers a fresh, clean, energizing nose with citrus florals and light prosciutto notes. The palate is genuinely dry, offering distinct stone minerality, with dry toast touches, and a rush of citrus and floral qualities. The movement on this wine is fantastic. I’ve been craving it since our visit.

Brooks Wines was started with a commitment to keeping prices down to allow their wines to be accessible to more people. Janie Brooks Heuck has been able to keep that commitment to affordability by working with wine maker Chris Williams to increase the production levels, while still holding onto a hands on approach to maintain quality.

Riesling came in as one of the early varieties to grow in the Willamette Valley. Initially, the wine style being produced with the grape was what many locally still refer to as ‘soda pop’ with alcohol. Because of the initial difficulty in producing quality wines with the variety many began ripping out their Riesling in favor of other varieties. Jimi Brooks, the founder of Brooks Wines, worked to convince vineyard owners and managers to hold onto the older vine Riesling so that a return to quality dry style wine with older vines could continue in the region.

The 2009 Ara depends upon 50% Brooks estate fruit, and 50% fruit from Yamhill Vineyard, with vines planted in 1984. Yamhill Vineyard is one of the sites Jimi Brooks approached to maintain older plantings.

The 2009 Ara offers a fully dry, slightly rounder presentation, with a still up but softer acidity than the Willamette Valley Riesling. There is a nose of peach blossom here, with a palate of white peach, and peach blossom. The shift from citrus to stone fruit focus changes the experience of this wine so that where the acidity of the Willamette Valley Riesling shows as bright and racing in the mouth, the Ara offers a smoother focus.

As Brooks Heuck explains, in their view the reason for choosing to make single vineyard wines is to bring attention, and regard to the farmer of the site, and the work they are doing, as well as to learn about and celebrate the site itself. With this in mind, Brooks has chosen to create a Bois Joli Vineyard specific Riesling in the medium dry category.

2011 offered extended hang time due to the cool temperatures throughout the vintage. A number of Riesling producers in Willamette Valley have remarked that for that reason they believe it’s a beautiful vintage for an off-dry style. The very light note of residual sugar changes the experience of the intense acidity of such a vintage, creating a more complete presentation of the wine.

The Bois Joli Vineyard 2011 Riesling comes in with 2% residual sugar. This has a peach blossom plus meyer lemon nose that is vibrant and lightly touched with green bean. There are loads of peach and citrus plus light smoke and cut stone minerality on the palate. This has a mouth squeezing (yum) acidity, and a long finish. Ultra juicy.

The Sweet P 2011 Riesling arises entirely from Brooks Estate Vineyard fruit. The choice has been to model biodynamic winemaking practices with the fruit from this location. To celebrate the unique qualities of the location, Brooks has chosen to also sell some estate Riesling fruit to other wine makers in the area. Big Table Farm produces a Brooks Estate Vineyard Riesling, which I was lucky enough to taste recently as well. (Notes on that to follow in a future post.)

The 2011 Sweet P, named for winery owner, Pascal–son of Brooks founder Jimi Brooks, beautifully integrates the 5% residual sugar with the vibrant acidity. This wine undergoes natural ferments, which bring an open complexity to the presentation. There are refreshing vegetal qualities coming through along side pie crust, and late season citrus blossom. This wine offers an impressively vibrant expression–again energizing and clear, without having to demand your attention, all carried with both feet on the ground. I very much enjoy this wine.

Born and raised in Oregon, Chris Williams had worked with Jimi Brooks making wine at Willakenzie, and Momtazi, before then becoming the wine maker for Brooks itself. After Jimi Brooks passing, Janie Brooks Heuck stepped in to keep the winery going for the same of Pascal Brooks, Jimi’s son. As she explains, it became clear that Williams was the right person to make Brooks’ wine. “He wanted to keep it going for the same reasons I did. Now we’ve had one more harvest than Jimi did.”

The Tethys Riesling is a late harvest wine, with the 2011 made in a year where all fruit hung late. Again, this wine carries a rolling acidity that brings the sweetness over and off the palate. There are light vegetal notes here along with peach blossom, white peach, and hints of date. The wine carries cut stone and light petrol minerality, alongside light white herbs.

Brooks Rieslings are some of the finest offered in Willamette Valley.

(The white blend that shows in this photo will be discussed in the “Visiting Brooks Wine, part 2″ post to follow.)

After IPNC 2012 some of us were able to attend a media tasting of approximately 15 Riesling producers in the Willamette Valley. Alder Yarrow posted thorough tasting notes on his experience with the media tasting. To read more about recent releases of other Rieslings in Willamette, as well as more information on the variety in the region, find Yarrow’s post here: http://www.vinography.com/archives/2012/08/treasure_in_the_hills_tasting.html

More on other Willamette Rieslings, and on Brooks other wines to follow.

***

Thank you to Janie Brooks Heuck and to Chris Williams for taking time to meet with me. I’ve very much enjoyed having time with both of you.

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Willamette Wine 7: Jim Prosser at J.K. Carriere, the Birth of a Brand New Vineyard

Aug 14, ’12 11:45 AM

Visiting a Brand New Vineyard, Meeting Jim Prosser

The charm of meeting wine makers at their own locale is that sometimes, after the tasting is done, and the talking has started, what you get is Italian sausage and a Corona. If I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s that the best day of wine tasting really caps well with a cold one.

Enter J.K. Carriere, and owner wine maker Jim Prosser. Prosser has been making wine with sourced grapes since 1999. In 2007, he purchased property on the top of Parrett Mountain in the Chehalem Mountain AVA of Willamette Valley, planting vines there in 2008. 2012 will be the first vintage to harvest fruit.

the symbol of J.K. Carriere, Vespidae, a wasp known for loving grapes, and stinging vineyard and wine workers

purchasing the property that now hosts the J.K. Carriere vineyards arose from the search for a vintage, flatbed converted Ford truck. The man that sold Jim Prosser the truck also delivered him a tip on the property that Prosser would go on to purchase and plant with vines.

“How a person makes wine depends on a question. What do you believe about the world? I want to make wines that will play, that will play with the best in the world.” –Jim Prosser

The 2011 Glass, a Willamette Valley White Pinot Noir comes in at 12% alcohol, with medium acidity, and a medium long finish. The wine offers peach, dried green leaf and light dried rose, with dried sage. The palate follows with hints of white pepper, and a medium+ rose potpourri, wax finish.

“The Willamette Valley is all about small farms and families, very much like how Burgundy is. There are no corporation wineries here because it’s too hard to hang big fruit per acre. It’s hard to pull off rock bottom prices.” –Jim Prosser

The Provocateur Pinot Noir offers a non-vintage blend, this bottling a combination of the 2009 and 2010 vintages. Vintages in Oregon generally vary significantly from year to year. A non-vintage blend, then, can take advantage of the higher spice and fruit profile of a hot year, with the more apparent structure of a cold one, for example.

The fruit in this blend shows on the nose, and less so on the palate. There is a bouquet of fresh strawberry-raspberry, and rose bramble, while the palate holds a drying presentation and finish, showing pepper, stem, more buried fruit, a pepper finish, and a nutty after finish, coming in at 13% alcohol, with medium acidity and tannin, and a medium long finish.

The property Prosser purchased had never been planted with vines, a phenomenon still relatively common in the Willamette Valley. The risk in taking on such a venture is not knowing how the place will do for grapes, or which varieties and clones suit the ground and micro-climate best. The advantage in taking the risk today is that with forty years between now and the start of vines in Willamette, much more is known about which plants do best with which soil types, and exposures. Taking on raw vineyard land, then, today rests in the choice of a common sense guess, common sense gained partially through others’ trial and error.

In buying property, and starting a new Willamette vineyard property, Prosser explains, “We’re all in, going for longevity, but it feels good. You have to decide what you want your life to look like.”

The 2006 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir carries both a nose and palate of concentrated fruits–date, fig, dried cherry, and sage with a pepper finish. The presentation is rich, with a current of still fresh fruit, and good acidity offering movement through the mouth. 2006 is considered one of the prize vintages of the Willamette Valley.

Vespidae represents the core blend of J.K. Carriere, made with the best examples from 6 vineyards. The 2009 shows a deep, rich bramble, dried cherry, with light caramel hints, date, and pepper on both the nose and palate. The alcohol comes in at 13.75%, with medium acidity and tannin, and a medium long finish.

“This year [when we harvest fruit for the first time] is when we start to learn if this is a Fool’s errand or not. It’s exciting, but I wish I could fast forward through it all. The reason to do all of this [with the vineyard] was not to build another bottle of wine, but to take it all the way through from roots to bottle.” –Jim Prosser

The 2009 Pinot Noir sourced from Shea Vineyard has a rich presentation with juicy movement and an opaque base, offering weight on the palate (though not heaviness), and the possibility of opening to new characteristics with age. The nose offers date, and dried rose, with a palate that adds layers of dried sage, dried cherry, and a pepper finish. There is nice acidity here, with medium tannin, and a medium long finish.

“We need to understand where we live, what the property has to offer, before planting too much. So, we’re starting slow, and small before knocking down trees.” –Jim Prosser

The J.K. Carriere site is 40 acres, with 9 planted entirely Pinot Noir relying on Pommard, and Wadenswil clones–the two historical founders of Willamette’s wine industry. Generally, Pommard is known for its structural and fruit offerings, while Wadenswil gives more herbaceous and earthy focused elements. In this way, the two complement each other, together giving a more rounded and layered presentation for a Pinot Noir blend.

“The vines are organic here from their beginning. Farming that way is all about the food web. The more that is available to the vines, well, you’re going to make better wine. This whole project, it’s all about getting grounded. Nothing grounds you more than having kids, and family, or starting a vineyard.” –Jim Prosser

The property also shows ways Prosser likes to enjoy himself. Falling in love with wood fire pizza, he had a wood fire oven installed by the winery. He and his crew also regularly grill on site during the warmer months.

Prosser tells me how he got into wine making. “I worked for the Peace Corp in the post-Soviet Union. When I came back I decided to get the wine monkey off my back, and then go back to school for architecture. I started working for a winery. It was hard work, with shitty pay, and I came home with a smile on my face every day. I’ve been in it ever since.”

What is consistent in Prosser’s wines is a sense of simultaneous weight and movement in the mouth. The wines are not fruit focused, yet offer fruit, along with earthier textures. He explains his view of wine, “The French completely screwed me up. Because of them what I understand is that wine is food, it is made for aging, and because it is meant to go with food, it wants good acidity. It’s all about bringing people together, and breaking bread around the table.”

“The intriguing thing about working with Pinot Noir is that you can be 108 and still learning about this grape. It’s hard to find things you can pour yourself into. For me, the reference is Burgundy. The soil is Oregon. Oregon can stand it’s own on the world stage. It’s cool climate Pinot Noir but it’s still different. What Oregon has to offer is the acid spectrum.” — Jim Prosser

Thank you to Jim Prosser for taking the time to meet with me.

Thank you to Cory, and to Peter.

I look forward to tasting the wines made from the J.K. Carriere’s vineyard birth vintage, and wish you the very best as you discover what the Parrett Mountain property has to offer.

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Working La Uva 3: Leda Garside and ¡Salud!

Aug 11, ’12 12:47 PM

The Work of ¡Salud!, Talking with Leda Garside

In 1992, Leda Garside began working with Tuality Healthcare. She’d worked already for years in Community Health as a Nurse with a Masters’ degree, and sought a position with Tuality with the hopes of connecting more closely to the Latino/a population in Western Oregon. She “knew they were there,” as she put it. “But, where?” Oregon’s agricultural industry depends on the work of innumerable farm and vineyard workers, many of whom happen to also be Latino/a, and Hispanic, but, in many ways, outside the fields the people are largely unseen by the general public.

The reality of life for many Hispanic farm and vineyard workers in the United States includes reduced access or lack of access to health care, reduced access to education, and general difficulty connecting to resources that many of the rest of us take for granted. Basic workers’ rights are also irrelevant to any agricultural workers at the level of legislation. While other forms of labor in the United States are legally regulated to demand minimum wage, eligibility of certain benefits, over-time pay, and mandatory work breaks, current laws require only that farm and vineyard workers be paid minimum wage. Breaks, over-time, and other benefits are not mandated. Additionally, for those working in agriculture without federal documentation, the possibility of filing complaint for situations like injury on the job, as an example, is unlikely.

At exactly the same time, agriculture is one of the major industries supporting the United States economy at large, and dominates economic concerns in certain portions of the United States. In this way, those that work the fields, be they Latino/a, Hispanic, or otherwise, are the people that ensure the success of one of the nations foundational economies.

Beginning with her work for Tuality, Garside begin investing in learning more about Occupational Health, and Migrant Health. As she explained, Migrant Health is not a topic generally taught in nursing programs, and yet it carries its very own particular needs for care. Initially, her work was centered completely within Tuality walls. But, by 1992, the beginning of her time with the company, a small program offering support for vineyards workers had already been started. The original program idea was instigated by conversations held between two Tuality Community Hospital doctors, with two Willamette vineyard owners. Together, Laurence Hornick and Jim Ratcliff of Tuality developed the idea with Nancy Ponzi of Ponzi Vineyards, and Steve Voylsteke of Oak Knoll Winery, generating the notion that they’d take program seed money given by Tuality and add to it with a wine auction event aimed at raising funds. The plan was to create a healthcare program specifically for vineyards workers. ¡Salud! was born. Within the first year, other wineries became integral to making the program work, with the auction site being moved to Domaine Drouhin, while both Paul Hart of Rex Hill Wines, along with Dr. Robert Gross of Cooper Mountain Wine became part of developing the program. Within the first year, eighteen area wineries donated to the auction event, and within two years the basic model for ¡Salud! was put into place.

In 1997, !Salud! had grown enough they wanted to hire someone specifically to help direct, and also develop the program. Enter Leda Garside. Leda had already been teaching CPR within the original ¡Salud! program model, and had the advantage of having already begun connecting to local agricultural communities through community based occupational health development. She was working with people that harvested rhubarb for Flavorland Foods. At times, Garside explains, the Flavorland Foods program included giving 150 to 200 physicals to agricultural workers per day. She also was bilingual in Spanish and English. Through connecting to the agricultural workers with Flavorland Foods, Garside began to hear more about their particular stories, and those of their families, learning about the history of agricultural work through the area, and of the particular needs of people working in their unique industry. The direct knowledge gained from the experience Garside brought into her work with ¡Salud!

Beginning in 1997, Garside moved the ¡Salud! program to more involved on site work, a mobile clinic brought straight to the vineyards. In the beginning, she would transport a large BBQ tent, and all the medical equipment with her in the back of her vehicle, rebuilding the space with each visit, just to be close enough to reach out directly to the vineyard workers that needed check-ups and care. Her goal was to make the program accessible, while also showing the people the program was for that the healthcare was trustworthy. Eventually, during an outreach visit at a Portland park event, Garside spotted the Adventist Mobile Clinic, housed complete in a large, renovated RV. The Adventist Mobile Clinic was able to offer on site blood work, private space for more involved visits or consultations, and an indoor space for blood pressure work. Connecting with the directors of Adventist, a collaboration was made, and from their the program has continued to expand.

Garside now coordinates a year round, multi-level program offering extensive health and wellness resources to vineyard workers. The one requirement is that you have been “working with la Uva”, the grapes, be it for a day, a week, or many years. As a result, wine makers, and vineyard managers also receive regular check ups from ¡Salud!, having their cholesterol checked there alongside the vines. One winemaker I interviewed explained that the regular blood work done by ¡Salud! led to the discovery of a health anomaly that otherwise could have killed him unexpectedly. Many others have described to me the difference they’ve seen in the overall health of their vineyard community. One of the starkest of stories being a man that worked with a broken leg. He didn’t have access to healthcare, and though his leg hurt, he had to support his family, and didn’t realize the severity of his condition until one of the ¡Salud! Occupational Health volunteers gave him a physical.

¡Salud! includes now too a mobile dental, and vision clinic; Fall vaccinations against both tetanus and flu (both genuine concerns for people working with the vines because of their specific labor demands with metal plus dirt, and a wealth of other people); onsite occupational health work advising on things as simple as the need for eye protection from sun, to stretches that will help back pain; access to follow up care for more developed medical conditions; as well as connections to both child and adult ongoing education. Each of the offerings arise from the needs of the workers themselves, what is making a difference for them, and for their families.

The success of ¡Salud! has depended too upon Garside’s ability to reach out to and connect with the very people the program is serving. Fulgencio made clear to me that ¡Salud!, and Garside in particular, had helped him through the transitions associated with raising his children alone. Estella too let me know how integral to her, and her siblings health and education the program had been. Estella is the first to go to college in her family, thanks partially to the encouragement of Leda Garside. Fulgencio’s children too have gone on to, and one completed, college. Fulgencio’s children, and Estella, both now living lives of success while giving back to their communities.

Talking with Garside herself, she speaks always of her team. Sarah Jaquez, from Centro Cultural, who helps Latino families connect to children’s healthcare. Melissa, who has a Masters in Public Health, and Armando, a graduate in Community Education, both of whom help coordinate aspects of ¡Salud! Mobile Clinic. Cece, who serves as the director of the Tuality Healthcare Foundation and manages fundraising for the program, her daughter, Kate, now volunteering for ¡Salud!. Christina, a Registered Nurse that works directly with clinic patients to talk through test results and coordinate follow up visits, and Gary, the Adventist employee that tells me how much he enjoys driving the Adventist bus specifically to do blood tests at mobile clinics with ¡Salud!

Interviewing employees, vineyard and winery owners, and patients of ¡Salud! it is clear how important Garside’s work has been to them, and to the community at large. But asking Garside herself about her work she tells me this, “Getting to know this population of vineyard workers… I am privileged to know these people. I have been lucky enough to get to know them, to know their families, to make a more personal connection. This is special.”

***

In 2011 alone, ¡Salud! registered 3648 workers and families with the program, and documented more than 7000 individual medical and dental care encounters. The program reaches, on average, more than 40% of the vineyard worker population in the Willamette Valley.

Since the economic crisis of 2008, ¡Salud! has suffered financial cut backs, and has been having to reduce the services they are able to provide. The ¡Salud! Auction serves as both a large community event that many enjoy, as well as the primary fund raiser for the ¡Salud! Mobile Clinic. This year the Auction will take place November 9 and 10th at Domaine Drouhin Oregon. ¡Salud! also depends upon private donations.

To purchase tickets to the Auction: http://www.saludauction.org/auction/the-oregon-pinot-noir-auction/purchase-tickets/

To donate to ¡Salud!: https://tualityhealth.ejoinme.org/MyPages/SaludDonationPage/tabid/187963/Default.aspx

***
Thank you most especially to Leda Garside for taking the time to talk with me.

Thank you to Christina, Gary, Sarah, Melissa, Armando, Cece, Kate, Estella, and Fulgencio.

Thank you to Sheila Nicholas, to Harry Peterson-Nedry, to Steve Doerner, and Rollin Soles.

Thank you to William Allen.

Thank you to Katherine Yelle.

***

To read more on the history of ¡Salud! read Oregon Wine Press’s article on the organization, written by Karl Klooster: http://oregonwinepress.com/article?articleTitle=salute-to-iexcl-salud!–1317235589–976–features

To read more about ¡Salud! and Adventist’s work together, and the barriers to care faced by vineyard workers, read Katherine Cole’s article in The Oregonian: http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2011/08/health_care_comes_to_vineyard.html

To read more on the lived reality of immigrants moving into the Northwest United States, read the following report detailing the results of interviews done with Immigrants, primarily moving into Washington: http://allianceforajustsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/2006-0214_In-Our-Own-Words.pdf

***

Working La Uva 1: A Life in Wine, Meeting Fulgencio: http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2012/08/09/working-la-uva-1-a-life-in-wine-meeting-fulgencio/

Working La Uva 2: Majoring in Community Health, Talking to Estella: http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2012/08/10/working-la-uva-2-majoring-in-community-health-talking-to-estella/

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Working La Uva 2: Majoring in Community Health, Talking to Estella

Aug 10, ’12 9:45 AM

Talking to Estella

In the mid-1980s, Estella’s parents arrived from Mexico to begin life in Western Oregon. Soon after arrival, her father began work year round with a vineyard helping to establish, cultivate, and care for the vines, and in the fall to harvest and deliver the fruit to the winery. Her father has been with the same vineyards and winery for over 25 years. Her mother too practices farming through an area nursery.

Born here in the United States, along with her siblings, Estella has been able to focus on education. Today she is in the process of completing her college degree in community health. The program includes internships, through which Estella currently serves ¡Salud!, a community health and wellness, care and education program designed to support vineyard workers in the Willamette Valley.

I ask Estella what made her choose her degree program. She returns to talk of her parents. “My parents migrated here from Mexico, and all the hard work they did to get here, and to give my siblings and I our life here, was not appreciated by me or my siblings growing up.” As she continues, she explains to me that when they arrived, her parents had to work very hard to find employment, but also, because they did not understand English, it was hard for them to connect to services. After a few years they were given the opportunity to become residents, but still their situation was hard. Estella is the first in her family to go to college.

Several years ago now her father developed diabetes. Her mother has high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Vineyards workers tend to have very little access to health care. Employers are not required to provide health benefits to farm workers, and many vineyard workers also speak very little English. Estella’s parents would not have known of their health concerns, except for the on site mobile health clinic ¡Salud! that tested them. Diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are each manageable conditions that become life threatening when untreated. Estella explains to me that it is because of ¡Salud! her parents knew how to better their health, so they could continue working and care for their family.

Through his on going relationship with one winery, and with the same vineyards, Estella’s father has the position of being a touchstone for the overall health of his company’s vineyard. His consistent relationship with the place means that he has the hands’ on awareness about how each site, and vine are doing, and when it is time to replace or treat particular plants. Further, by knowing the other members of the vineyard crew, and the people that work at the winery, as well as the specifics of the vineyard sites themselves, the work of people like Estella’s father help harvest go both quicker and smoother year to year.

The kind of constancy found in her parents’ work Estella intends to show to her own family. Her further motivation for school, she tells me, is found through her daughter who just turned two at the start of August. Though she could have planned to marry and simply have a family, the inspiration of her parents’ hard work helped Estella see that she wanted to focus on long term education and well being. By gaining a degree, she has the opportunity to focus on giving back to the community, returning to it what she has been able to learn. Estella explains that currently she is in her second internship with ¡Salud!.

Originally, she volunteered for the program out of curiosity to see more of what it was about. Through the program Estella and her siblings had been able to receive health care along with her parents, and the program manager, Leda Garside would regularly encourage Estella to work towards college. “Leda gave me the opportunity, by encouraging me, and letting me know the doors to the [¡Salud!] Center were open.” So, when it came time to select a college internship, Estella requested ¡Salud! Quickly she fell in love with the program. What she appreciates about it is how much it is guided by the needs of the workers themselves, and by what aspects of it really are helping them. “That is why we’re here, to better not only their health, but their family’s too.” This is why she’s dedicated to go to college.

As Estella finishes her degree, she also works about 30 hours a week, while raising her daughter. Her partner, her baby’s father, she tells me, is very supportive, as are her parents, who live in the same city and spend a lot of time with their granddaughter. In considering what she has gained from her parents, and her work in college, Estella tells me this. “I wanted to be able to depend on myself, to know in that way my life was set. Taken care of. Especially since my daughter came into the world. From all of this I know I can pull myself through.”

Estella will graduate with her undergraduate degree in Community Health in Winter 2013. She intends to continue on to do a Masters Degree in Public Health, with the plan of working with migrant farm and vineyard worker populations.

***

Thank you to Estella for taking the time to speak with me. Thank you to her partner, and to her parents.

Thank you to Sheila Nicholas for inviting me to visit the ¡Salud! Mobile Clinic. More on ¡Salud! to follow.

***
Working La Uva 1: Meeting Fulgencio: http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2012/08/09/working-la-uva-1-a-life-in-wine-meeting-fulgencio/

Working La Uva 3: Leda Garside and ¡Salud!: http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2012/08/11/working-la-uva-3-leda-garside-and-salud/

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Working La Uva 1: A Life in Wine, Meeting Fulgencio

Aug 9, ’12 2:15 PM

Thank you to Eric Asimov for mentioning this write-up in the August 13, 2012 The New York Times Diner’s Journal “What We’re Reading”.

***

Meeting Fulgencio

For over fifteen years Fulgencio has worked vineyards in the Willamette Valley. Prior to starting their life in Oregon, he, and his wife, and their two young children traveled from Mexico to be near their family in the Western part of the state.

I ask Fulgencio to tell me about his family. His daughter has now finished her undergraduate degree, and is studying for her Medical School entrance exams. He is grateful, he says, that she will benefit from the Dream Act, if it passes. It is something he is very happy about, he explains, because the Dream Act would give his daughter an opportunity, and, knowing this, she has purposefully worked very hard to succeed in school. His son too has just finished high school, and is on his way to college this fall.

He tells me about his family coming to the United States. First, getting here was very hard, he explains. “But to arrive,” he says, then pauses, and shows me his forearm, telling me he gets goose bumps still when he thinks about it. The hairs on his arm really are raised and on his face he is smiling. He continues. When they arrived, he and his wife had big dreams but, several years ago now, his wife died. He was left with two children, not knowing even how to cook an egg. His eyes begin to fill with water and for a moment he is quiet. He continues. In such a time, he tells me, you can only have a lot of patience, to focus on your spiritual well being, have a lot of faith, and to know all is God willing. He tells me he is feeling better now, but adjusting to the move, and to his wife dying were a lot of work, and very trying.

We are both quiet for a while. I tell him it sounds like his patience has gotten him and his children a long way. He responds. “I have not reached all my dreams,” he says. “But I am feeling at peace because I have fulfilled my duties as a father and as a good human being. From this point it is up to them, my children, and to whatever it is left for me to do.” For a moment we are both silent. Then I thank him for telling me about his life here, and about his family. He smiles at me and nods. “It relieves me when I am able to express myself,” he answers. “Thank you. It was bottled up inside.”

Fulgencio drives a vineyard tractor and is a vineyard mechanic in the Willamette Valley.

***

Thank you to Fulgencio for taking the time to talk with me.

Thank you to Leda Garside for translating portions of our conversation.

I am deeply grateful.

Thank you to Sheila Nicholas.

I was able to meet Fulgencio via ¡Salud! Services. More on the program to follow.

***

Working La Uva 2: Majoring in Community Health, Talking to Estella http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2012/08/10/working-la-uva-2-majoring-in-community-health-talking-to-estella/

Working La Uva 3: Leda Garside and ¡Salud!: http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2012/08/11/working-la-uva-3-leda-garside-and-salud/

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Willamette Wine 6: Hiking Cristom Vineyards with Steve Doerner

Aug 6, ’12 2:29 PM

Hiking to the Top of Cristom Vineyards

I was lucky enough to spend the morning visiting Cristom Vineyards, with wine maker Steve Doerner. He hiked me to the top of the Cristom property in the Eola-Amity hills so that from the crest of the hill we could look over both sides of the valley–one direction towards the coast, the other across Willamette facing East with a view of Mt Jefferson and Mt Hood. In doing so we were able to visit four vineyard sites as well–Louise, Marjorie, Eileen, and finally Jessie–all Pinot.

view from the bottom of the Marjorie Vineyard looking out over Willamette Valley, about 550 feet elevation. Marjorie hosts the oldest vines for Cristom, relying on original plants placed there in 1982 on own roots. The lower vineyards–the bottom portion of Louise, and the other non-Pinot based vineyards, are on sedimentary soil. The upper vineyards–Marjorie, Eileen, and Jessie–grow from volcanic soil. Cristom is almost entirely dry farmed, with only a few rows on the property set up for rarely used irrigation–the rows that receive extra water have the shallowest soils.

climb towards the top, hiking alongside the Marjorie Vineyard. Each of the four estate vineyards at Cristom are named for family matriarchs.

heading towards the Eileen Vineyard, the highest point for Cristom. The vineyards are surrounded by forest. Visible here are plantings from the Christmas tree farm the property used to host. A small portion of Cristom land is still leased for Christmas tree sales.

view from the top, Steve Doerner

Steve Doerner has been the wine maker at Cristom since its inception in 1992. Widely respected for his work, and person both, Doerner has helped establish Cristom as one of the best in the region. His willingness to do small lot experiments with other techniques have led him to a more hands off approach in the cellar. Through Doerner’s guidance, Cristom is known for its consistent use of whole cluster fermentation, its good aging potential, and its simultaneously earthy and elegant, great acidity wines. Cristom was also one of the first to introduce Viognier and Syrah to the Willamette Valley.

Walking down the Jessie Vineyard–the steepest at Cristom

forest surrounding the vineyard

Voluntary cherry trees border the Marjorie and Jessie vineyards, the fruit now all too high to reach.

It has been a long standing tradition to grow roses along the rows of a vineyard as the plant is susceptible to many of the same ailments vines are, though to a slightly higher degree. Roses, then, act as the canary in the mine alerting vineyard managers to when the grapes may be at risk of conditions like mildew or freeze. These roses were planted in preparation for a Cristom family wedding held earlier this summer.

Christine and Tom, the Cristom namesakes, and second generation participants in the family business.

Doerner utilizes about 50% whole cluster fermentation, putting the clusters into the fermenter first, with the destemmed fruit on top. Then, he waits for fermentation to begin. The fruit experiences no intentional cold soak at the start, and the fermentation happens entirely through wild microbes. While some doubt the use of wild, non inoculated, yeast, Doerner feels the practice adds complexity to the end result. He also prefers a long, slow fermentation allowing the yeast to break down the clusters at their own pace. Once fermentation is done, the barrels are filled directly from the press with free run and press juice blended immediately. The idea is to go to barrel as quickly as possible to avoid any settling. Years of wine making showed Doerner that he always reblended all the free run and press juice in the end, and so now he saves the step by doing it at the start. Also, by blending free run, and press juice in the beginning, the wine experiences less handling in the long run. Doerner explains that Pinot Noir responds well to low maintenance in the cellar.

We taste through multiple barrels from the 2011 vintage, the latest harvest on record. The first two barrels we taste from volcanic soils–they tend to offer more red fruit in comparison, and a light red dust component. We then move to sedimentary soil barrels where the darker fruits and more perfume begin to show more distinctly. Each barrel is marked with the vineyard and row, the percentage of whole cluster, and data from each time the barrel has been checked.

The Pinot Gris plantings are the lowest elevation on the Cristom property. It was made with completed malolactic, and tank fermentation. The 2010 offers a lightly waxy, light blossom nose with hints of white spice and anise. The palate carries with peach and pink grapefruit touches, powder fruit patina, and white pepper. 13.5% alcohol, with medium+ acidity, and a medium-long finish.

The Germaine vineyard hosts Chardonnay Dijon clones, producing 3 barrels with 33% new oak. The wine has a light lime powder, zest and blossom pucker, with a waxy finish, and white pepper after finish. The alcohol is 13.5% with medium acidity and medium finish.

Cristom sources fruit put into two Pinot Noir blends–the Sommers Reserve, and the Mt Jefferson Cuvée. The label made the decision not to use vineyard designates on wines made with fruit not supervised directly at Cristom. Still, the fruit is selected for its quality.

The 2008 Sommers Reserve has a focused movement of red and black fruit, spice and pepper with a smooth nose, and juicy palate. There is a medium long pepper pinch finish here. Cristom wines age beautifully, and with more time I expect the spice here to integrate into other secondary characteristics. Still, I consistently enjoy Cristom Pinot Noir.

Mt Jefferson Cuvée is named in honor of the Cristom vineyards orientation towards Mt Jefferson–part of the view from the top. The 2009 offers a juicy and lighter presentation of black fruit and spice, light stem and earth, with a drying finish and juicy after finish. This wine spends 1 year in barrel. It is the only cuvée made with a pre-determined barrel age regimen. The others are bottled based on how they are showing ranging from 18 to 24 months generally.

Eileen is the youngest, and highest elevation of the Cristom vineyards, named for Eileen Gerrie. Paul and Eileen Gerrie purchased the estate and founded Cristom.

Cristom Pinots offer good complexity from their beginning, deepening into a richer, smoother, often velvety while clean presentation with time.

The 2009 Eileen is both smooth and juicy in the mouth with a spiced nose of smooth dark and underlying red fruit. The palate offers dried oregano and thyme with the fruit, as well as earthy and light stem notes. There is a drying tannin finish that then stretches long into pepper. The wine carries very light red dust notes.

Steepest of the vineyards, Jessie offers incredibly shallow volcanic soils at the top, with deeper soils down the sides due to erosion. The vines on this vineyard must be maintained and harvested by hand as it is too steep for tractor.

The 2009 Jessie carries a vegetal, lightly stemmy nose with bramble, light cocoa, red fruit, an overall drying balance with juicy finish.

Louise is the lowest elevation of the Pinot Noir vineyards at Cristom, sitting just above the winery building in very rocky ground. As a result of its elevation, the lower portions of the Louise vineyard are picked first of all the property. The upper portions are shaded and in shallower soils, leading to them being the last vines harvested in all of Cristom property. The Louise vineyard, then, carries a book end effect of early and late characteristics in the wine.

The 2009 Louise has the widest, though still delicate push through the mouth. There is a strong line of acidic movement here with fruit characteristics spreading across the palate from that structural backbone. The wine is more black fruit and light bramble with a red fruit and long pepper finish. There are lightly metallic qualities here as well.

Marjorie carries the lowest production levels of the Cristom vineyards. The vines sit on their own root stalk, and have developed phylloxera. Cristom has chosen to allow plants their natural life span through the ailment, replacing individual vines only when necessary. As a result, there is a concentration in the fruit coming out of the older vines of this vineyard. Marjorie is also a close second to Jessie’s steepness.

The 2009 Marjorie gives a kind of percolation of flavors rising from a dark base of earthiness, the fruit, and perfumed notes lifting as the wine moves over the palate. There is a rose bush nose here showing both the bramble and the flower, with touches of green herb and red fruit. The palate offers a drying berry presentation with dust notes, and a velvety texture.

***

Thank you so much to Steve Doerner for taking time to bring me up the vineyard property. The view over both sides of the Valley is beautiful, even on a hazy day.

Thank you to Christine and Tom.

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