Barnaby Tuttle was kind enough to join us for another show to discuss some current releases from the Teutonic Wine Company. He shares some stories from the vintage and talks about his newest Riesling plantings as we taste the 2012 Crow Valley Gewuztraminer, the 2012 Feine Mischung, and the 2011 Bergspitze Pinot Noir.

Why are people still afraid to drink Riesling?

Daniel Immich makes wine at Immich-Anker in Enkirch, in the Mosel Valley of Germany. Here’s a link to see where that is.

He was visiting Portland, and kindly agreed to do a show with us! His family has been making wine in Enkirch since the 1400’s, and he shares some information about a historic vineyard and a unique wine he’s making with our local friends and importers, the Teutonic Wine Company. They import his wine to the USA, so contact them if you’d like to pick some up.  On the show, we taste the 2009 Riesling Sekt Brut, the 2011 Eisbruch Riesling Trocken, and the unlreleased “Bridge Wine”.

Have you ever visited the Mosel Valley?

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?

In episode 67 we reviewed a bottle of Riesling from the Teutonic Wine Company. We loved the wine, and they sent us an email to say thanks. Since then, Dan has become friends with Olga and Barnaby Tuttle, the husband and wife team behind the wine. They are some of Dan’s favorite folks for wine discussions, and we’ve been looking forward to having one or both of them on the show for quite some time. We got our schedules lined up, and Barnaby was kind enough to share a vertical tasting of 2008, 2009, and 2010 Alsea Vineyard Pinot Noir. The Alsea Vineyard was planted by the Tuttles in the Coastal Range. It’s West of the Willamette Valley, and only 22 miles East of the Pacific Coast! He and Olga have put a lot of work into keeping the vineyard healthy, and true to its unique site. We’re very happy to taste and discuss these wines, and I encourage you to get in touch with them about future releases. Send them an email at info@teutonicwines.com, and they can connect you with release dates and appropriate retailers.

Would you be interested in a racing league for people connected to the Portland wine scene?

As I was writing this up, I realized that it’s been over a year since we’ve done an American Riesling show. Wow! That’s way too long! We’ve got two Rieslings from Oregon today that we wanted to share on the show. They do a good job of highlighting a couple of different styles. We taste the 2009 Methven Willamette Valley Riesling and the 2011 Teutonic Wine Company Crow Valley Vineyard Riesling.

What’s your favorite mobile app?

Our Instagram handles are danj0hns0n and gripnsip.  What’s yours?

Instead of traditional celebratory wine for New Year’s Day, this year we decided to take a look at two local Pinot Noir producers. We want to really heighten our focus on wines from the Pacific North West this year, so there’s no better time to start than day 1! We taste the 2010 Ayers Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and the 2010 Teutonic Wine Company Laurel Vineyard Pinot Noir.

For today’s question, just name an Oregon Pinot Noir producer you’d like to see us check out on the show, and we’ll do it. Thanks for a great 2011!

After few episodes away from it we’ve come back to American Riesling. I’ve tasted a couple that I enjoyed out in local tasting rooms and I came across a bottle that I’ve been meaning to try for a while now. While putting the label photos together I realized that I mis-read the Schöne Schlucht label and as a result we totally butcher another non-English name. -fail- I should be taking a German class this winter though so that will hopefully help in the future. For this show we taste the 2009 Schöne Schlucht mit Weingut Ackermann Willamette Valley Riesling the 2007 Silo Vino Riesling and the 2009 Elk Cove Vineyards Willamette Valley Late Harvest Riesling.

 

When is your busiest time at work?