Recent wines
Montgras Reserva 2010 Sauvignon Blanc $10 Really like this wine. Great bargain if you can find it. Not a light wine but good fruit and structure.
Andrew Rich Prelude 2010 Pinot Noir -Tried a glass at a Thai restaurant in Ashland, Oregon. Good basic, Oregon Pinot Noir. About $20 per bottle.
Segura Viandas Reserva Cava- Dependable cava and a real bargain at $6.99.
Sterling Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 . I was lucky to get a case of this years ago. It is drinking wonderfully. I wish California would make wines like this today. $15
Archery Summit Vireton Pinot Noir Rose 2011 $20 - We loved this wine. Forget the color, it is full flavored good wine. Lots of fruit but nice balance.
Dubeouf 2010 Beaujolais Villages $9.00 A dependable wine. We love beaujolais and this was a good one.
Edna Valley 06 Syrah Another one of my bargains. I think its time is over. Did not like this bottle. Past bottles have been very good. I have one more bottle to test.
American Syrahs are good values these days.
Chalone Pinot Noir Estate 2006 $8-- A crowd pleaser. Another one of my bargains and house fav. Great balance with nice fruit and spice.
Les Grands Marechaux 2009 $18 - This was my second bottle. I thought I liked the wine more but this second bottle has me thinking. I have a few more to try. A little grapey but it opened up after a few minutes.
Le Volte 2009 Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia IGT- A delightful wine that is a blend of Merlot, Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon. Balanced and easy drinking. A crowd pleaser. $70 in a restaurant probably $25 in a store.
Spice Route Chakalaka 2009 $16 A great wine. I discovered this wine in the Cayman Islands. This was the first bottle that I have found in the US. A Rhone like blend of many grapes, it is balanced with nice fruit but not grapey like alot of Rhone wines.
Fattoria di Felsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Reserva 2006 Enjoyed this wine. It is tannic but it went well with pizza but it has more complexity going for it.
La Maialina Chianti Classico Reserva 2007 $16 This wine impressed at a tasting but I was not impressed with my first bottle at home. It drank better the second day which is not a ringing endorsement. I have more bottles to try.
Louis Jadot Macon-Villages 2010 $11 Another very nice Chardonnay without too much oak. A good value for a Burgundy. I have not been impressed with Macon Villages wines over the past few years but this wine is a winner.
As you might notice from some of my comments there appears to be lots of bottle variation in wines. It maybe the wine or it could be my taste.
Pig Island
This Saturday, September 1, Governor's Island in NY is turned into Pig Island. A number of top chefs will be cooking 80 heritage pigs in all different styles. We are attending. pigisland.com I will let you how it was. One price for all afternoon of food and beer.
US Open Tennis
I attended the first day of the event. Aside from a little rain it was a fun time.Food prices are all over the place and typical for a sports event. However water at $3.75 a small bottle and Gatorade at $5 a bottle is a bit much for an outdoor summer event. Moet Chandon Champagne at $24 a glass at number of Moet stands is cuckoo.
Chinatown, NY restaurant of the week -- nom wah Tea Parlor, 13 Doyers Street, NY 10013. We had assorted dim sum at very reasonable prices. The food was not greasy. The sweet and sour ribs were good. Not too much sauce and the ribs were breaded pork chops with the bone- in. Also had steamed shrimp with greens dumplings. nomwah.com
Found a fun German style beer hall in Jersey City. Zeppelin Hall Restaurant & Biergarten. http://www.zeppelinhall.com They have big outdoor and indoor spaces with a number of beers on tap. We had Spaten and HB Munich beers. One minor complaint, the mugs are plastic.
More on the Pacific NW in the next few posts. I am looking forward to lots of food, wine and sports this weekend. The tomatos are coming in nicely. Everyday I get a few more cherry tomatoes. Chinese eggplant is still doing well. Have a great weekend.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Oregon Wines
Oregon Wineries
Returned from the Pacific Northwest last week. Had a great time. There are an amazing amount of wineries in British Columbia. In the next few weeks I will get into lots of information on the trip. We had good food and saw some impressive sights. Here are some notes on the Willamette Valley. It's Willamette, dammit.
We stayed 2 nights in the Willamette Valley wine country which is 40 miles outside Portland. BTW the traffic in the Portland area is terrible.
We stayed in Carlton, a small town with about 12 tasting rooms. We stayed in the Winery Lofts 119 West Main St, Carlton, which has some affiliation with Ken Wright who makes Ken Wright wines and Tyrus Evans wines. The lofts were across the street from the Ken Wright tasting rooms.
The first night we went to Mcminnsville. We wandered around town and found a tasting room for chocolates and a winery called Twelve. The tasting room was closed but the owner of Twelve twelvewine.com, Linda Lenyo, opened the door and when we told her we were from NJ, she let us in. She was also from NJ.We tasted her 08 Pinot Noir. It was $25 per bottle and was very good. We also tasted her 2007 reserve Pinot Noir 144. This was also very good. We bought a bottle of the 08. Parker and the Wine Spectator have both given good ratings to the wine She did not charge us for the tasting.
We ate at Nicks, nicksitaliancafe.com an Italian restaurant and ate in their back room. We had several small dishes. One dish, ribs roasted in their oven with salt and olive oil was great. We also had pizza which was very good. The crab lasagne was OK. We had the Stevenson Barrie 2008 Pinot Noir for about $50. It was good. The fruit wasn't as pronounced as I like it. We were beginning to understand Oregon Pinot Noirs. BTW 2008 was considered the vintage for Oregon Willamette Valley wines.
The next day we planned to spend all day tasting wine. We started at Anne Amie Vineyards anneamie.com. This winery surprised me. I had never heard of it but it produces a significant amount of wine. The winery was beautifully situated ( although most of the wineries we visited were located in very nice geographically located.
At Anne Amie, we tasted a number of wines. Tasting were $10 for a flight. 2011 Pinot Gris; 2011 Estate Dry Riesling; 2009 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir; 2009 Annahala Veneyard Pinot Noir , which was made with grapes from California; 2009 Amie Late Harvest Muller Thurgau Dessert wine; 2009 Prisme Pinot Noir Blanc. All of the wines were very good. Their style is balanced wines that were not fruit forward. This to me is the typical Willamette Valley style although we did find many different styles of wine in our tastings. We bought their 2010 Pinot Blanc $20, which we did not taste. However Pinot Blanc has more fruit than the Pinot Gris and we like Pinot Blancs.
Our next stop was Archery Summit archerysummit.com. This was another exquisite winery with prices to match the environment. We tasted a number of wines here.We tasted the 2010 Premier Cuvee Pinot Noir, 2011 Vireton Pinot Noir Rose, and several other Pinot Noirs. We found their style to be more California in that the wines were fruitier and had more alcohol than other Oregon wines. We like the 2010 more than the 09's.Their wines are very well rated and very expensive. The cheapest Pinot Noir was $48. We bought a bottle of the Rose for about $20.
Our next stop was Sokol Blosser sokolblosser.com, which was close by. We had hoped to eat lunch here but the offerings were slim. We tasted their 2009 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir, 2009 Estate Cuvee Pinot Noir, 2010 Willamette Valley Pinot Gris, 2011 Rose of Pinot Noir, Evolution 15th edition, which is their blended white wine that is less expensive than their other wines. They also make a red Evolution.
We enjoyed their wines. Their 2009 Pinot Noir was more austere than the 09 Archery Summit. We really liked the 2009 Estate Cuvee at $60 a bottle. Despite the price I bought a bottle. I was on vacation! We did not like the Evolution wines.
A note on buying wines at the winery. It is usually a rip-off. Sometimes you can get very good deals like I received at the next winery Domain Drouhin but usually you can buy the wines much cheaper at good wine shop. Thus I usually stick to buying wines at the winery that are not available in stores.
We stopped at a small olive oil farm to get lunch.
My wife was somewhat annoyed because as I was brousing in their store a woman splattered olive oil all over my shorts and sneakers. I got a "sorry". The cheese and meat plate was fine.
The next winery that we visited was Domaine Drouhin domaineDrouhin.com. I had made an appointment to take their winery tour which include a tasting of their Oregon wines with their French wines. Drouhin is a top Burgundy negociant and make a number of excellent French wines. The tour was great. We heard their story of how they bought land in the Willamette Valley around 1985. They made their first wine in Oregon in 1988. The winemaker is Veronique Drouhin who also makes their wine in France.
We then toured the winemaking area and the wine storage area.
We then finished the tour at a table that was beautfully set. We tried a number of wines with some cheese. The wines were 2010 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Rose $20; 2010 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $40; 2008 Laurene Pinot Noir $65; 2010 Willamette Valley Chardonnay $30, 2009 Maison Joseph DrouhinVaudon Chablis Premier Cru (France) $35; 2009 Joseph Drouhin Savigny-Les - Beaune Clos Des Godeaux $48; 2001 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $75.
The wines were excellent. We really enjoyed comparing the French and Oregon wines. I liked the Oregon wines a little more. The 09 Chablis, which is usually one of my favorites, was oakier and fruitier than I was expecting. The Oregon wines held up beautifully. 09 was a very good vintage in Burgundy.
The deal was that the tasting and tour was $25 per person. If we joined the club, the tasting were free and we received a 25% discount off all of the wines. This made the wine purchase very competitive with stores. They also can now ship to NJ which was a big plus. NJ recently changed its laws and not all wineries have their process set-up to ship to NJ. We bought 3 bottles of the 08 Laurene Pinot Noir, 3 bottles of the 2010 Pinot Noir; 3 bottles of the Rose and 3 bottles of the 2010 Chardonnay. They will ship the wines when the weather is cooler.
Everyone at the winery was great and our tour guides made things fun.
The last winery of the day was Ken Wright kenwright.com who also owns Tyrus Evans. The tasting room was across the street from our apartment. We tasted a number of wines here. Ken Wright is an iconic winemaker in the area. He sells his wines as futures and then raises the prices each year. They are sold by the case although at the tasting room they will sell 6 at a time. 2011 futures are being sold at 6 bottles for $300 with a 2 6-pack minimum. 2008 6-packs are being sold at $350. He makes a number of single vineyard wines and gets very good reviews from the WA and WS.
We tried the 2010 Chardonnay; 4 single vineyard 2008 Pinot Noirs, Carter, McClone, Meredith Mitchell and Savoya; the 2010 generic Willamette Valley Pinot Noir; and some Tyrus Evans wines. The Tyrus Evans wines are made from sourced grapes from southern Washington and are blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syah, Cabernet Franc and Malbec.
The Ken Wright 08 are more California in style. Fruit forward, big wines. They are good wines but not wines that you want to drink frequently. However I have never had a full bottle of Ken Wright wine so it is hard to project a tasting to a bottle. The 2010 generic wine was more austere and more to my liking. In general, we warmed up the 2010 Pinot Noirs and really like the wines wherever we tasted them.
The Tyrus Evans wines were not my favorites. 2007 Ciel de Cheval Claret $37 was one wine. My palette was tired when I tried them and I was not prepared for Bordeaux styled wines in Oregon. However they were all quite expensive in the mid $30 range. For the price I would stick to the 09 Bordeaux.
To end the day we had dinner at the Painted Ladythepaintedladyrestaurant.com. I read somewhere that it was the best restaurant in the Portland area. It is a small house in Newberg, which is in wine country,. They have a price fixe menu. We ate outside and had a fun time.
The wine, Horsetail Pinot Noir was made by a small producer. The owners are related to the winemaker at Beaux Frere, the Oregon winery run by Robert Parker's brother in law and partially owned by Parker. The wine a 2010 vintage was excellent. Light, balanced with fruit and acid for all.
More on this meal in the next report.
Enjoy the end of summer. It can be a great time of the year. US Open tennis and football are on the horizon.
Returned from the Pacific Northwest last week. Had a great time. There are an amazing amount of wineries in British Columbia. In the next few weeks I will get into lots of information on the trip. We had good food and saw some impressive sights. Here are some notes on the Willamette Valley. It's Willamette, dammit.
We stayed 2 nights in the Willamette Valley wine country which is 40 miles outside Portland. BTW the traffic in the Portland area is terrible.
We stayed in Carlton, a small town with about 12 tasting rooms. We stayed in the Winery Lofts 119 West Main St, Carlton, which has some affiliation with Ken Wright who makes Ken Wright wines and Tyrus Evans wines. The lofts were across the street from the Ken Wright tasting rooms.
We ate at Nicks, nicksitaliancafe.com an Italian restaurant and ate in their back room. We had several small dishes. One dish, ribs roasted in their oven with salt and olive oil was great. We also had pizza which was very good. The crab lasagne was OK. We had the Stevenson Barrie 2008 Pinot Noir for about $50. It was good. The fruit wasn't as pronounced as I like it. We were beginning to understand Oregon Pinot Noirs. BTW 2008 was considered the vintage for Oregon Willamette Valley wines.
The next day we planned to spend all day tasting wine. We started at Anne Amie Vineyards anneamie.com. This winery surprised me. I had never heard of it but it produces a significant amount of wine. The winery was beautifully situated ( although most of the wineries we visited were located in very nice geographically located.
Our next stop was Archery Summit archerysummit.com. This was another exquisite winery with prices to match the environment. We tasted a number of wines here.We tasted the 2010 Premier Cuvee Pinot Noir, 2011 Vireton Pinot Noir Rose, and several other Pinot Noirs. We found their style to be more California in that the wines were fruitier and had more alcohol than other Oregon wines. We like the 2010 more than the 09's.Their wines are very well rated and very expensive. The cheapest Pinot Noir was $48. We bought a bottle of the Rose for about $20.
We enjoyed their wines. Their 2009 Pinot Noir was more austere than the 09 Archery Summit. We really liked the 2009 Estate Cuvee at $60 a bottle. Despite the price I bought a bottle. I was on vacation! We did not like the Evolution wines.
A note on buying wines at the winery. It is usually a rip-off. Sometimes you can get very good deals like I received at the next winery Domain Drouhin but usually you can buy the wines much cheaper at good wine shop. Thus I usually stick to buying wines at the winery that are not available in stores.
We stopped at a small olive oil farm to get lunch.
The next winery that we visited was Domaine Drouhin domaineDrouhin.com. I had made an appointment to take their winery tour which include a tasting of their Oregon wines with their French wines. Drouhin is a top Burgundy negociant and make a number of excellent French wines. The tour was great. We heard their story of how they bought land in the Willamette Valley around 1985. They made their first wine in Oregon in 1988. The winemaker is Veronique Drouhin who also makes their wine in France.
We then toured the winemaking area and the wine storage area.
The deal was that the tasting and tour was $25 per person. If we joined the club, the tasting were free and we received a 25% discount off all of the wines. This made the wine purchase very competitive with stores. They also can now ship to NJ which was a big plus. NJ recently changed its laws and not all wineries have their process set-up to ship to NJ. We bought 3 bottles of the 08 Laurene Pinot Noir, 3 bottles of the 2010 Pinot Noir; 3 bottles of the Rose and 3 bottles of the 2010 Chardonnay. They will ship the wines when the weather is cooler.
Everyone at the winery was great and our tour guides made things fun.
We tried the 2010 Chardonnay; 4 single vineyard 2008 Pinot Noirs, Carter, McClone, Meredith Mitchell and Savoya; the 2010 generic Willamette Valley Pinot Noir; and some Tyrus Evans wines. The Tyrus Evans wines are made from sourced grapes from southern Washington and are blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syah, Cabernet Franc and Malbec.
The Ken Wright 08 are more California in style. Fruit forward, big wines. They are good wines but not wines that you want to drink frequently. However I have never had a full bottle of Ken Wright wine so it is hard to project a tasting to a bottle. The 2010 generic wine was more austere and more to my liking. In general, we warmed up the 2010 Pinot Noirs and really like the wines wherever we tasted them.
The Tyrus Evans wines were not my favorites. 2007 Ciel de Cheval Claret $37 was one wine. My palette was tired when I tried them and I was not prepared for Bordeaux styled wines in Oregon. However they were all quite expensive in the mid $30 range. For the price I would stick to the 09 Bordeaux.
To end the day we had dinner at the Painted Ladythepaintedladyrestaurant.com. I read somewhere that it was the best restaurant in the Portland area. It is a small house in Newberg, which is in wine country,. They have a price fixe menu. We ate outside and had a fun time.
The wine, Horsetail Pinot Noir was made by a small producer. The owners are related to the winemaker at Beaux Frere, the Oregon winery run by Robert Parker's brother in law and partially owned by Parker. The wine a 2010 vintage was excellent. Light, balanced with fruit and acid for all.
More on this meal in the next report.
Enjoy the end of summer. It can be a great time of the year. US Open tennis and football are on the horizon.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Pacific Northwest, Summer Market Bounty and Good Food
Pacific Northwest
Planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest in the next few weeks. Flying to Vancouver and going to Victoria, Seattle. Willamette Valley(Portland), Bend, Oregon and Ashland, Oregon. Looking forward to the trip. I have been trying to determine which wineries to visit during our time in the Willamette Valley. Possibilities -- Argyle, Domaine Drouhin, Ken Wright, Anam Cara, Domain Serene, Archery Summit, Sineann, Patricia Green -- Many wineries to consider. Any suggestions.
We have tried several Willamette Valley wines lately.
Eyrie Pinot Gris 2010 $15 OK pinot Gris. Not enough fruit.
Adelshem 2010 Pinot Gris $15 Liked this wine alot. Good fruit and acid with nice bouquest
Anam Cara 2007 Nicolas Pinot Noir $22. Enjoyed this wine. Oregon Pinot Noirs tend to have more acid and less fruit than California Pinot Noirs. Nice wine.
Farmers market haul today -- Cauliflower, Paula Red apples, prune plums -- plum torte time, corn, escarole, shitake mushrooms, carrots, cippolini onions, wahoo from NJ waters, flounder, and leeks. Dinner tonight fried flounder, corn on the cob, sauteed escarole, steamed cauliflower, buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes from my garden and carrots and toasted Italian bread. The Adelshem wine was excellent. Good acidity with nice fruit. Enjoyed it a great deal.
My friends came over for a crazy meal last week. Lobster and avocado salad, lamb kebobs, grilled vegetables, cheeses and wonderful wines. For dessert we had a vanilla cake with a chocolate ganache frosting. My wife had requested a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting but I got things reversed. The wines were awesome.
Prosecco riondo - Good basic prosecco. I am not a fan as I like Cava much more. OK. Slightly sweet.
Champagne Baron Dauvergne Brut Privilege $50 80% pinot noir and 20% chardonnay. Big wine with lots of flavor. Enjoyed.
1994 Podere Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Oldest Barolo I have ever tasted. It was very good. The fruit was still there and the wine drank wonderfully.
Acacia Lone Tree Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008 $50 Enjoyed this wine. Nice fruit.
Scottsdale, Arizona tip. Champagne bar Nar-Cisse http://narcisse.drgtools.com/ in the Scottsdale Quarter mall. Excellent Champagnes by the glass. They have happy hour most days and I had a decent Spanish brut rose cava Campo Viejo for $4 per glass. They also had a Chateau St Michelle sparkling wine that I tasted and was not impressed. Not sweet with good fruit flavor. I also had small plates of food for $3 per plate. The place has a nice bar and lots of comfy tables.
Other wines
Domaine Le Fay D'Homme muscadet sevre et maine sur lie $10 Nothing special, unbalanced white wine that I would not recommend.
Chalone 2008 Chardonnay Estate $20 One of my favorites. Oak nicely integrated with fruit.
Next stop the Pacific Northwest. Enjoy.
Planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest in the next few weeks. Flying to Vancouver and going to Victoria, Seattle. Willamette Valley(Portland), Bend, Oregon and Ashland, Oregon. Looking forward to the trip. I have been trying to determine which wineries to visit during our time in the Willamette Valley. Possibilities -- Argyle, Domaine Drouhin, Ken Wright, Anam Cara, Domain Serene, Archery Summit, Sineann, Patricia Green -- Many wineries to consider. Any suggestions.
We have tried several Willamette Valley wines lately.
Eyrie Pinot Gris 2010 $15 OK pinot Gris. Not enough fruit.
Adelshem 2010 Pinot Gris $15 Liked this wine alot. Good fruit and acid with nice bouquest
Anam Cara 2007 Nicolas Pinot Noir $22. Enjoyed this wine. Oregon Pinot Noirs tend to have more acid and less fruit than California Pinot Noirs. Nice wine.
Farmers market haul today -- Cauliflower, Paula Red apples, prune plums -- plum torte time, corn, escarole, shitake mushrooms, carrots, cippolini onions, wahoo from NJ waters, flounder, and leeks. Dinner tonight fried flounder, corn on the cob, sauteed escarole, steamed cauliflower, buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes from my garden and carrots and toasted Italian bread. The Adelshem wine was excellent. Good acidity with nice fruit. Enjoyed it a great deal.
My friends came over for a crazy meal last week. Lobster and avocado salad, lamb kebobs, grilled vegetables, cheeses and wonderful wines. For dessert we had a vanilla cake with a chocolate ganache frosting. My wife had requested a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting but I got things reversed. The wines were awesome.
Prosecco riondo - Good basic prosecco. I am not a fan as I like Cava much more. OK. Slightly sweet.
Champagne Baron Dauvergne Brut Privilege $50 80% pinot noir and 20% chardonnay. Big wine with lots of flavor. Enjoyed.
1994 Podere Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Oldest Barolo I have ever tasted. It was very good. The fruit was still there and the wine drank wonderfully.
Acacia Lone Tree Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008 $50 Enjoyed this wine. Nice fruit.
Scottsdale, Arizona tip. Champagne bar Nar-Cisse http://narcisse.drgtools.com/ in the Scottsdale Quarter mall. Excellent Champagnes by the glass. They have happy hour most days and I had a decent Spanish brut rose cava Campo Viejo for $4 per glass. They also had a Chateau St Michelle sparkling wine that I tasted and was not impressed. Not sweet with good fruit flavor. I also had small plates of food for $3 per plate. The place has a nice bar and lots of comfy tables.
Other wines
Domaine Le Fay D'Homme muscadet sevre et maine sur lie $10 Nothing special, unbalanced white wine that I would not recommend.
Chalone 2008 Chardonnay Estate $20 One of my favorites. Oak nicely integrated with fruit.
Next stop the Pacific Northwest. Enjoy.
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