Decanterberry Tales - A Willamette Valley Wine Blog - pinotgris tag

Willamette Valley Vineyard, Pinot Gris, 2008

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:53:21 GMT

Here's another wine we got from Willamette Valley Vineyards. And while we review a lot of Pinot Noir, we also like the Gris and Blanc cousins.

This one smells like pear, and lime ... and peach! This was a well balanced and tasty Pinot Gris and was not overly acidic. The taste was a pear and peach combo — it starts peach (just hints of sweetness) and then ends in pear (not sweet). So it feels dry and smooth with just enough tartness to give it a little backbone.

Denise, who normally isn't much for whites, really like this one. She thought that initial spark of sweetness was like a can of sweet mandarins (in a good way). Yet, she liked that that sweetness immediately dissipated into what she thought was a celery mixed with lychee fruit (that sounds weird to type, but the flavor was really nice). Denise also thought it has a little buttery-ness to it and a slight effervescence. She concluded that this wine would go great with chili and satsumas.

For me, I think they did a really great job with this too. I read the back label and found that they blended in a little Pinot Blanc and Muscat into this bottle. I really like Pinot Blanc (though most people don't seem to); I think it gave this wine that buttery-ness Denise found and liked. And while I don't usually like Muscat, I suppose it's a lot like Grenache: better when blended, but perhaps hit-and-miss on it's own (that's my personal opinion anyway).

Bottomline: Denise and both really liked this one. And only $16, that's a great bargin too.

Cost: $16

Rating: 8.5

Emerson Vineyards, Pinot Gris, 2007

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:59:58 GMT

We just got the latest releases from Emerson Vineyards, so this will be part of a group of reviews. Emerson is located in Monmouth, just to the south of Salem. Monmouth was a dry town until 2002, so it's sort of ironic to be making wine there. Emerson south of the Eola Hills and is on the southern end the Willamette Valley AVA.

The nose is granny smith apple, mixed with some lime. A little more subtly, there's also cilantro, peach and maybe apricot. But it's mainly apple and lime, which may sound sour. Yet it isn't in the way you might think. Instead, there a strong acidity that holds up the right just right. In the mid-palette, there's quick tangerine taste. That flashes, and then it returns to a subtle sourness. And that's what makes this wine so tasty: the acid holds the wine up, but doesn't linger long enough to give you that acid stomach (no need to grab a tums). The finish isn't long at all, and that's also nice. And refreshing.

This Pinot Gris release is a great summer wine -- something I'll take on picnics. Also, we're elated that the community rallied to fund the Washington Park summer concerts this year; we'll have to take a bottle of this along for one of those nights too.

Cost: ($15)

Rating: 8.0

Duck Pond, Pinot Grigio, 2007

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:50:06 GMT

We've been off our usual game lately. With the water damage to our condo, and the fact that a four year old in preschool means we're perpetually sick -- it's been hard to review our usual volume of wine. Hotels and dislocation are not conducive for wine blogging, and being sick kills your ability to smell and taste. In fact, we had a dinner scheduled a couple weeks ago and had to cancel because Denise and I were sick -- again.

Anyway, we finally had our friends Andrew and Madeleine over again. We've been meaning to try the recent releases from Duck Pond. We've recently reviewed Duck Pond's higher-end Pinot Noirs awhile back. This time we wanted to pair their Pinot Grigio with our killer fish tacos.

We got this insanely good recipe for salsa from our friends Patrick and Signe: equal parts avocado chucks (cubes if you can) and tomato (equal size cubes), some onion (cubes), cilantro, lime, salt, and a little tabasco to taste (not spicy). Then, we got some great looking halibut from Zupan's and fried it in half canola and coconut oil. Mixed that with Denise's black bean and yam and spinach goo, jack cheese, and corn tortillas -- and we had a feast.

Anyway, we started with this Pinot Gris. The first impression from Andrew was: "that's the lightest white I've ever seen". And it was almost completely translucent; it really looked like a bottle of water. We were dubious to start.

However, it didn't take long to realize that we all really enjoyed this wine. Andrew took an initial sip, and exclaimed: "wow, this is really refreshing!". Madeleine thought it was too light at first (like the first couple minutes), and then totally changed her mind, noting that it was "easy to drink". And in fact, Madeleine who normally has very small glasses of wine, had seconds and thirds of this one.

The thing with this wine was that it was so quaffable. It wasn't complex. It wasn't full-bodied. It was the opposite of that -- and in a really good way. Andrew and I agreed: it was like drinking a soft-drink. Of course, it wasn't sweet, but it was like you were drinking ... Andrew said it reminded him of drinking Fresa when he was a kid. And it was sort of like a flat soda (I don't mean this in a bad way; to the contrary).

The nose was mainly lemon and cilantro. Andrew wasn't getting cilantro (he thought we were smelling the salsa); instead he got liquorice. For me the taste was not just lemon, but a lemon and tangerine mix. It was really great chilled and with that salsa.

This wine was a hit -- and short lived. No, this isn't some complex snotty wine; instead, this is a perfect wine for a picnic on a hot summer day. And at $10 a bottle -- we'll be picking up some more of this one.

Cost:

Rating: 8.0

Arcane Cellars, Reserve, Pinot Gris, 2007

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:49:23 GMT

We reviewed three wines from Arcane the other night, including two Pinot Gris's, and a Pinot Noir:

The first review investigated the first Pinot Gris that was sourced from Wheatland Vineyard. This is the second review: the Pinot Gris Reserve.

This one had a really incredible aroma. Denise said that it smelled beautiful, and added "I just want to eat it". Caleb smelled band-aids and wet dog (!?). I asked him and he was excited. He said meant those descriptors in the best possible way; he was smitten as were we all. I got a little pear and peach, though it was very subtle on the nose. Denise also came up with pine -- yep, it smelled a bit like a forest too.

The texture was very delicate and light. The taste was pear and a little peach. There was also some green pea pod at the end. It was also very crisp -- everyone agreed it was like crisp lettuce.

This was definitely the favorite wine of the night. Cheryl said it was "consistent and balanced -- and then the flavors comes out". She added that while she'd tasted the earlier Pinot Gris before (in other wines), this one was unique and delicious. It was not as heavy and was more complicated and more elegant than the other one. This was the first bottle we emptied! Tasty.

Cost:

Rating: 9.0