Our friend Vic generously offered to share small vertical from his cellar on the show, and we were happy to take him up on it. He brought the 2005, 2006, and 2007 bottles of Lange Winery’s Freedom Hill Pinot Noir. This is always a high quality bottling from a respected winery and vineyard. These three vintages always make for an excellent vertical due to the significant weather differences. We’re also excited to share some thoughts from another local collector who’s had many more years of experience with Oregon Pinot Noir.
Why haven’t you tasted these wines yet?
While visiting tasting rooms, Dan picked up a bottle of 2010 Estate Pinot Noir from the Eyrie Vineyards for a show. When picking a bottle to with it, Chas realized that he had recently purchased the newly released 2011 Estate Pinot Noir and thought that it would be interesting to taste them side by side this week. They’re one of Oregon’s historic estates, and they regularly show great evidence of the aging potential of wine from the Willamette Valley.
What did you do with the first nice day of summer this year?
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?
Episode 174: A Visit with Wayne at Youngberg Hill
March 25, 2013
We found out about Youngberg Hill last year, and were happy to have a chance to taste with Wayne Bailey this past week. Wayne is the wine grower and maker at Youngberg Hill. With vineyards near the top of the hill, Youngberg Hill has vines growing in a few different soil types allowing them to show off the versatility of Pinot Noir. For this show, we taste the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Youngberg Hill Jordan Block Pinot Noir. This is the highest section of their vineyard, and the differences in these three vintages are quite evident.
When you’re shopping, and don’t know the labels, why do you choose the wine that you choose?
Episode 170: Excellent Pink Wine
February 25, 2013
Dan picked out a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir based rose wine for this week’s show. Both had been good in the past, and both showed brilliantly when tasted this time. Both come from unique vineyards and represent some really original wine growing and wine making. Wines like this are a big reason that Oregon is such an exciting place to explore. They also show that Pinot Noir can deliver great things in unconventional wines as well as traditional ones. We taste the 2011 Teutonic Wine Company Brut Rose from the Wahlstrom Vineyard, and the 2011 Analemma Columbia Gorge Rose.
What was the last vehicle you purchased?
Episode 168: Two More 2011 Pinot Noirs from Ken Wright
February 11, 2013
Continuing with the theme from last week, we taste two more 2011 bottles from Ken Wright Cellars. This time, we taste wine from the McCrone and Guadalupe vineyards, which are both located in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA.
Who do you like to check in on every year to get a feeling for the vintage?
Episode 167: Two 2011 Pinot Noirs from Ken Wright
February 4, 2013
We always like to check in on the new releases from Ken Wright. He’s been making Oregon Pinot Noir for many years, and with his range of single vineyard bottles, it’s always a great way to check in on the latest vintage. This year, we ended up with 4 bottles, and decided to break the tasting into two shows. This week, we taste the Shea Vineyard and the Canary Hill Vineyard.
Do you like to drink acidic wines young, or age them?
Episode 166: A Visit With Craig From Del Rio Vineyards
January 28, 2013
We met Craig Havlinek this past summer at the Wine Blogger’s Conference, and had a great time chatting with him about Southern Oregon and Del Rio wines. Del Rio Vineyards is the biggest single vineyard in Southern Oregon, and we were familiar with the Syrah they’ve supplied to a bunch of Willamette Valley producers that we’re familiar with. We learned that they grow a wide range of varieties, and that they have a line of estate wines in addition to the grapes that they sell. Their wine maker, Jean-Michel Jussiaume is from the Loire, which lets him bring a unique viewpoint to Southern Oregon wine. We taste the 2011 Pinot Gris, the 2010 Pinot Noir, the 2010 Syrah, and a white blend that was brought to us fresh from the tank.
Would you rather spend your time watching us, or watching the Lance Armstrong interview on Oprah?