Episode 172: Tasting Some Bottles From Yakima
March 10, 2013
Dan took a tasting trip to Yakima recently, and brought back 3 bottles to taste on the show. Yakima produces a wide range of wines as well as a few small AVA’s. We have a good range of styles here with the 2012 Bonair Riesling, the Treveri Extra-Brut, and the 2009 Gilbert Cellars Allobroges.
What is the weirdest wine cocktail you’ve ever tasted?
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?
Episode 148: 2009 Syrah From Washington
September 16, 2012
We’ve been hitting Oregon wine pretty hard over the last couple of months. While Dan was at the store, he realized that Washington has been left out of the mix for a while. This week, we’ve got a couple of Syrahs from Washington that we’ve been excited to try. Our friend Ryan C. joins us as well. We taste the 2009 Adamant Cellars Walla Walla Valley Syrah and the 2009 Fausse Piste Les Vignes de Marcoux Vineyard Syrah.
What is your favorite food cart?
Our friends Kevin and Rick spent ten years living in California’s Central Coast wine country. Since we don’t have a lot of experience with California wine, and since we focus heavily on wines from the Northwest, they offered to open some favorites from their cellar for a show. They’ve always shared good wine at other events, so we were both excited to give it a try. The results far exceeded our expectations, and set new standards for our palates in regard to Pinot Noir and Syrah from California. They were so good, that we even became self conscious of our enthusiasm. But, sip after sip confirmed that these wines hit our palates very well. We tasted the 2007 Rosemary’s Vineyard Pinot Noir from Talley Vineyards, the 2008 The Hedge Syrah from Terry Hoage Vineyards, the 2009 Parea from Transcendence, and the 2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Chateau Margene.
Did you know about Central Coast wine before this show?
Episode 105: Rasa Vineyards Lineup
November 14, 2011
In Episode 84, we tasted the Composer Riesling from RaSa Vineyards in Washington. Our friend Scott shared the video with the winery, and they were kind enough to work with him to get us samples of their current releases. Since Scott is much more familiar with wines from Washington, we thought he’d be a great guest to help us discuss the wines. They were all fantastic, and we hope you enjoy the stories about the wines that Scott was able to share. We taste the 2010 Lyricist Riesling, the 2009 Vox Populi Mourvedre, the 2008 QED, the 2008 Principia, and the 2008 Creative Impulse. We typically pre-taste samples to select 2 or 3 for a show, but all of these were drinking so well that we wanted to talk about all of them. Episode 105 will be split into two parts, with the Principia and Creative Impulse appearing in Part 2. The question of the day will wait until then.
Part 1: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTGcVasjVec
Part 2: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMm_fDgtFXA
Give the 8 professional sports teams between football, baseball, and basketball that do not end in the letter “S”.
Episode 103: Big Reds from Longshadow
October 30, 2011
We tasted the Poet’s Leap Riesling from Longshadow on an earlier episode, but neither of us have had much experience with their reds. Dan came across some half bottles recently, and we both thought that they’d make for a fun show. We taste the 2006 Sequel Syrah and the 2005 Chester Kidder.
What famous wine maker outside of the United States would you like to see do a project in the States?
Wine Is Serious Business 82: Wine From Basel Cellars
April 10, 2011
Andrew Minor from Basel Cellars joins us for episode 82. We’ve enjoyed talking wine with him at tasting events in Portland, and we think that Basel Cellars consistently delivers solid wine, so we were excited to dive into some current releases and discuss what the winery is up to. For this show we taste the 2007 Basel Cellars Claret, the 2008 Basel Cellars Malbec, the 2007 Basel Cellars Merriment, and the 2007 Basel Cellars Pheasant Run Vineyard Syrah.
What is your favorite restaraunt in Portland?
Episode 81: Solid Syrah
April 4, 2011
Back from a week away from videos, we’ve got some great wines to share with you this week. We both have been really excited about some Syrah that we recently discovered, and doing a show to share them gave us a great opportunity to explore some samples we received when we were in Walla Walla. Washington is well represented, but we also have a Syrah made in Oregon with grapes from California. We taste the 2007 Big Table Farm Syrah, 2007 Smasne Cellars Upland Vineyard Syrah, 2008 Reynvaan Family Vineyards “The Unnamed” Syrah, and the 2008 Saint Laurent Estate Vineyards Wahluke Slope Syrah.
What is the best tasting you’ve ever been to?