DePonte Cellars has been one of our favorite producers from very early in our wine experience. We’ve been thrilled to be able to discuss new vintages with Isabelle Dutartre, the wine maker, over the past 3 vintages. 2010 has shown itself to be a wonderful vintage, and we’re excited to taste and discuss these wines. Isabelle also has some great comments about her wine making philosophy that we’re excited to share. This year, we implemented a bit of a change too. Since the Shirley’s Gran Reserva is released so late, we decided to taste the previous year’s wine in the show. In the past three years, we were essentially tasting it before they thought it was ready for release, and we all agreed that this is the best format for discussing this wine. So, in this show we have the 2010 DePonte Cellars Pinot Noir Dundee Hills, Estate, and Baldwin Family Reserve, and the 2009 Shirley’s Gran Reserva.
Do you have another favorite area for Pinot Noir outside of the USA and Burgundy?
DePonte Cellars and Elk Cove Vineyards are among our earliest favorites from Oregon. We’ve enjoyed these 2010 bottles at tastings, and we wanted to share them on the show. We taste the 2010 Elk Cove Vineyards Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and the 2010 DePonte Cellars Lonesome Rock Ranch Pinot Noir. 2010 continues to impress, and we look forward to enjoying more wines from this vintage.
Do you like the 2010 vintage? If you do, what are some of your favorites?
Episode 97: Some Random White Wine From Oregon
July 24, 2011
For this show, we grabbed a mix of white wines we had on hand. All of these were picked up with the intent of mixing them into a themed show. We wanted to show them before they got too old though, so we decided to mix it up instead of waiting around. We taste the 2009 Trisaetum Lasa, the 2009 Matello Ribbon Ridge Pinot Gris, and the 2010 DePonte Cellars DFB Melon de Bourgogne. We were very sad to hear of the loss of Deb Whiting from Red Newt Winery in the Finger Lakes, and wanted to dedicate this episode to her memory.
Episode 90: 2010 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Rose
June 6, 2011
For this week’s show, we get into some pink wine. When we recorded this, the weather was horrible, but it has since changed to deliver appropriate rose drinking conditions. We received Trisaetum’s 2010 Trisae Willamette Valley Rose as a sample, and Dan picked up the DePonte Cellars 2010 Willamette Valley Rose on a visit to the winery, so we thought they’d make for an interesting show. What is your favorite Oregon Rose?
De Ponte Cellars is one of our favorite wineries, and we had a great time interviewing Isabelle and tasting their 2007 releases last year. This year, we were invited back to taste the 2008 Pinot Noirs and to chat some more. We discuss the density and aging potential of these wines as well as some of Isabelle’s thoughts on wine making and other topics. Her passion and commitment to quality is always evident, and we hope you enjoy the interview. We taste the 2008 De Ponte Cellars Pinot Noir Dundee Hills, Estate, Baldwin Family Reserve, and Shirley’s Gran Reserva.
In contrast to other grapes, what makes Pinot Noir special to you?
We were honored to have an opportunity to sit down and taste some wine with one of our favorite Oregon wine makers. Isabelle makes some our favorite wines, and DePonte is always a pleasure to visit. She’s got some great things to say about her wine making philosophy, the 2007 vintage, and pinot noir in general. We taste their current release 2007 pinots, and are treated to a pre-release taste of the 2007 Shirley’s Gran Reserva. We talked for a full 40 minutes, so I’ve split it into two episodes. Hopefully you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. Check out DePonte Cellars for some wine that both of us feel is an excellent representation of the Dundee Hills, and Pinot Noir in general.
http://www.depontecellars.com/home.html
Show some love and answer Isabelle’s question! What do you expect when you drink pinot noir?
Episode 25: One of Our Favorite Wine Makers – Isabelle Dutartre
January 26, 2010
We were honored to have an opportunity to sit down and taste some wine with one of our favorite Oregon wine makers. Isabelle makes some our favorite wines, and DePonte is always a pleasure to visit. She’s got some great things to say about her wine making philosophy, the 2007 vintage, and pinot noir in general. We taste their current release 2007 pinots, and are treated to a pre-release taste of the 2007 Shirley’s Gran Reserva. We talked for a full 40 minutes, so I’ve split it into two episodes. Hopefully you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. Check out DePonte Cellars for some wine that both of us feel is an excellent representation of the Dundee Hills, and Pinot Noir in general.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Click here to watch the rest of the interview in Episode 26
http://www.depontecellars.com/home.html
Episode 1: Two of Our Favorites
August 1, 2009
Welcome, and thanks for watching! For our first episode, we wanted to taste two wines that we’re familiar with and fond of. Chas picked the 2006 De Ponte Cellars Dundee Hills Pinot Noir ($30-$36)and Dan picked the 2004 Saint Urbans-Hof Piesporter Goldtropfchen Spatlese. (~$25. I say sub-20 in the video, but I was thinking of the Kabinett level wine, which is a bit cheaper.)
Part 1:
Part 2:
We’d love to hear what you think! Please leave comments with your thoughts, input, and the sort of wines you’d like to see us review in the future.