Decanterberry Tales - A Willamette Valley Wine Blog

Dundee in the Summer, Part 3: White Rose

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:36:08 GMT

I think we got really lucky on the next choice. But I think I really have to tangent for second ... I've had the St. Innocent "White Rose" Pinot Noir — twice. And both times, it was not worth near the money I paid for it. Now, I must qualify this. First, I'm a big fan of St. Innocent wines, and have bought many cases of their wines over the years and enjoyed my purchases. Second, I really suspect that both bottles that I had of their 'White Rose' were not kept well. I've read too many other reviews — raving reviews — so I really have to believe I was just unlucky in my sampling (albeit twice). I've been curious about White Rose ever since (was it my bad luck or not?). So off to White Rose we went.

Most vineyards are very majestic, and White Rose is right up there with the best of them. We had called ahead to be sure they would be open, and they assured us they were. Yet when we arrived, there was very little space to park; the road with the sign to the tasting room was blocked by barrels.

But we didn't despair. We found some gavel on which to park, all piled out, and entered the fermenting room. And alas: a table with wine bottles (hurray) — but no one else in sight (are we in the right place?)!

Turns out it was a slow day; they were in fact there, and a-tasting we went.

Dreamcatcher, Vista Hills Vineyard, Pinot Noir, 2007

First up was the "Dreamcatcher". This is not an official "White Rose" wine. It's made by one of the wine makers there (in fact the dad of the guy pouring the wines). Just a personal project, and only two barrels made in total. This wine had a strong cinnamon, dust, earth,cherry, and white pepper. This was really good, and it was only $30; we picked up a few bottles in fact.

8.0

Mercotti's Milieu, Pinot Noir, 2007

The "Mercotti's Milieu" is a blend of various local blocks, including Durant, Vista, and White Rose. Wow, this was really smooth! The flavors were a little less spicy than the "Dreamcatcher"; it was more jammy and exhibited more fruit. We were thinking this would be a great with chocolate!

8.5

Quiotee's Lair, Pinot Noir, 2007

"Quiotee's Lair" also had that cinnamon, dust, and cherry like the "Dreamcatcher". It had a great balance to it. It was just ever-so subtly sweet (vanilla) – just perfect sweetness to it. And the finish was pepper.

8.5

Dragon's Bluff, Durant Vineyard, Pinot Noir, 2006

"Dragon's Bluff" (Durant) was my personal favorite. It was really exotic and mysterious. Was it sweet orange? Mango and kumquat maybe. Orchid, begonia, and yet tropical. It had just a luscious taste, it was super smooth, and had great fruit. Yes, I bought some of this too.

9.5

White Rose Estate, White Rose Vineyard, Pinot Noir, 2006

The "White Rose" was insanely smooth and well balanced — it's the flag ship bottle. It was subtle and elegant in every way. It was slightly less intriguing right after the intense Dragon's Bluff — I personally liked the taste of the Dragon's Bluff better, yet the quality here was really higher.

9.0

Dragon's Bluff, White Rose Vineyard, Pinot Noir, 2007

We had another wine — a wine that was only supposed to be available to the wine club members. It was also called "Dragon's Bluff", but this one was sourced from White Rose proper (instead of Durant). This one also was intense, but was more earth than exotic or tropical. Truffle, dust, hay, musty, nutmeg, manure, lavender, leather, and tobacco. It was also super smooth, yet it had a slight tartness at the end. Though, it was just released days earlier.

9.0

I have to say that I honestly found these wines on this day to be more enjoyable than the ones we had at Domaine Drouhin (blasphemy!). But that's the honest-to-god truth. I receive a modest amount of "free" wine — wine shipped to me for reviewing — yet I joined the Wine Rose buyer's club on the spot as well as buying a number of bottle then and there. Just saying, I'm putting my money where my mouth is. And yes, I hope to go back again this summer just to ensure I wasn't crazy. White Rose was really exceptional.

Dundee in the Summer, Part 2: Red Ridge Farms and Domaine Drouhin

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:17:42 GMT

Our first stop was a little impulsive. Denise was looking forward to a quick side trip for fresh lavender. But when she saw the Red Ridge Farms sign, and that they also had olive oil tasting — she (and thus we) had to stop.

And there, they also had wines (it's Dundee after all). These were Durant Vineyard wines, which we found out later also is a source for Wine Rose wines.

This selection included a Pinot Gris, a Chardonnay, and a Pinot Noir (of course). Their Pinot Gris was interesting in that it has a raspberry smell (good nose Cheryl!). It had a lime and pear taste and was quick and crisp. Their Chardonnay was more on the Burgundian style; Caleb found it to smell like 'mushroom funk', with some burnt sugar at the end. The Pinot had a strong nutmeg smell, along with dusty raisin and a hint of vanilla. The taste was dusty, earth, pepper and very little fruit. What fruit there was as dark. The finish was dark and earthy -- bark and almost a prune.

The second stop was Domaine Drouhin.

We've been there many times, and it's always a beautiful place to visit. It has just an incredible view of Mt Hood. The estate is just gorgeous. They have places to sit at tables, and a large grounds with perfect spots for a picnic.

They were pouring a Joeseph Drouhin Chablis, the Arthur (Chardonnay), the 2006 and 2007 Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs, and the 2005 Laurene (Pinot Noir). I won't re-blog all the wines here — some we have reviews of, and others we will review later. But I will mention that I really like this year's Arthur. It's mossy. It starts with a hint of a slight sweetness then goes perfectly dry. The taste is mainly pear and a little lemon. Caleb described the finish as biting into unripe apricot (in a very good way). This had just great balance.

Dundee in the Summer, Part 1

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:49:29 GMT

We went out wine tasting during the Memorial Day weekend recently. In fact, we went both weekends — many wineries and vineyards are open Memorial Day proper and usually one day the weekend before. During those trips we visited Domaine Drouhin on the single day for their 'Louise' release party, and the second trip included Adelsheim, Bergstrom, Trisaetum, and Beaux Freres (Memorial Day Weekend on Ribbon Ridge). I mention this because it was notable how different this trip was from those.

The most conspicuous was how sparse the traffic was. The dreaded 99W isn't bad (or near as annoying) when it's not a parking lot. We breezed past King City, Sherwood, and even straight through Dundee. For those who haven't been stuck there, Dundee is still a very small town, and converts into virtual parking lot when it becomes congested. Apparently there's been talk of a bypass, but certainly there are pros and cons to such a thing. Either way, take away the crowds, and traveling 99W isn't so terrible.

And it wasn't just the roads. All the places we stopped were slow and sleepy. It was really nice not having to fight the traffic, the parking, and the crowds. We just moseyed on in and enjoyed ourselves. Just about everywhere we went, there were only a handful of people at each stop.

But of course there's a flip-side to this: non-special weekends leave you with a lot less wineries and vineyards to choose from — not nearly as many are open regularly as you'll find on the Memorial Day or Thanksgiving weekends. We went with some friends eager to visit Beaux Freres — nope. Brick House — nope. Stag Hallow — nope. So we scrapped our first thought of a return to the north valley (Ribbon Ridge the Chehalem mountains, and north Yamhill areas).

Instead we decided on a cluster of places that were open that included: Domaine Drouhin, De Ponte, Sokol Blosser, and White Rose. We knew we wouldn't hit them all, but having so many, so close together allowed us to keep our options open. It's worth noting that this cluster is just past Dundee — almost to Dayton (most of these vineyards have Dayton addresses in fact, though they're all in the Dundee AVA — technically speaking). So it's a bit of a gamble on a more popular weekend if you hate traffic. As it turns out, we visited Red Ridge Farms, Domaine Drouhin and White Rose (and totally lucked out on the traffic). And finally we finished up in Carlton with lunch at Cuvee and more tastings at the Carlton Tasting room.

There's too much here to put it all in a single post. So instead of a very long post, this will end Part 1, and several more parts I'll post over the next few days.

ZAP: Zinfandels invade Pinot country

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:50:13 GMT

A bunch of Zinfandel producers will be in town on the 29th of July — 40 of them — for a tasting event that should be interesting — assuming you're near Portland. Zinfandel Advocates & Producers will be in Portland on Wednesday, July 29, 6:00 - 8:30 p.m., World Trade Center Plaza (121 SW Salmon Street). They've teamed up with the Oregon Culinary Institute and Portland Uncorked to bring an army of Zinfandels for you to taste, including:

Accademia dei Racemi
Alexander Valley Vineyards
Artezin Wines
Bonterra Vineyards
Four Vines Winery
Hendry
J. Rickards Winery & Vineyards
Mauritson Family Winery
Opolo Vineyards
Peachy Canyon Winery
Pezzi King Vineyards
Ravenswood
Ridge Vineyards
Robert Biale Vineyards
Sanctuary
Sebastiani Vineyards
Starry Night Winery
Steele Wines
Storrs Winery & Vineyards
Wine Guerrilla

From the press release:

"Tasters will taste a rainbow of Zinfandels, from growing regions
all over California," explains ZAP's Executive Director, Rebecca
Robinson. "A friendly touch we specialize in at these tastings is
that the attendees will meet the winemakers and winery owners, thus
insuring that their questions will be answered from the 'horse's
mouth,'" she adds. "In both of these cities it will be an
opportunity to learn why Zinfandel attracts such a great following---
people will be able to taste award-winning Zinfandels, mingle with
winemakers and winery owners, learn about the richness & versatility
of Zinfandel, discover why Zinfandel is called America's Heritage
Wine and sample incredible BBQ from culinary students," she explains.

Tickets cost $35 for ZAP members and $44 for non-members; some
tickets will be available at the door. Tickets are available in
advance at:

https://members.zinfandel.org/cgi-shl/TWServer.exe?EREG:OrderEvent:2009TOURORNON

For for members of the wine trade:

https://members.zinfandel.org/cgi-shl/TWServer.exe?EREG:OrderEvent:2009TOURORTRADE

Decanterberrytales has been given some extra tickets to this event. If you're interested in going (assuming you'll be in Portland then), email me. I'll put all the names in a hat and pick out the winners.