Oregon Hazelnuts
Buttery, Crunchy, Rich

The new crop of hazelnuts is in and I am revelling in them, especially as we found a new and excellent source. Evergreen Orchards just started shipping a very high grade of hazelnut to us
and if you'd like a delicious treat,
check them out here!

Euphoria
Chocolate Truffles
make great gifts!

"DeLille Cellars:
Family history comes full circle
for Washington winery"
by Christina Kelly, Avalon Staff Writer

When Charles Lill came to North America in the 1950s from Europe, he had $20 in his pocket, a new wife, and burgeoning hopes of a new life
in a country willing to take him.
READ THE STORY HERE

DeLille Cellars D2 2000
Bordeaux Style Blend
Very limited- just released
order here

This wine, like all Beaux Freres' Estate wines, is made for cellaring and will greatly benefit the patient wine affectionado- however, it's always nice to know what is going on with the vintage- Here are Mike's notes for the 2000 Pinot Noir Beaux Frères Vineyard as of this fall:

"Dense ruby-colored with plenty of purple hues. The nose offers aromas of white flowers intermixed with sweet black cherries and a hint of Oregon huckleberries. Medium to full-bodied, fat, and fleshy, with good acidity and ripe tannin, it is just beginning to shrug off its early bottling slumber and strut its stuff. We thought it was as good as the 1999, but from bottle it has seemed muted. As of mid-summer, 2002, it appears to be putting on weight and developing beautifully. It is a very successful vintage for the Beaux Frères Vineyard, and should be at its best between 2003-2013."-Mike Etzel

Here's a letter we received from Brian D. in response our request for comments on the role of toasty oak barrel flavors in the flavors of wines.
He says:
"In response to the issue of oak and toast in wine raised in the current issue of your newsletter, I am of the strong opinion that oak is overused by too many winemakers to appeal to the American palate. This is not a de novo problem, rather, American wine drinkers have been led down the path to over-oaking by wine critics in their zeal to extol the virtues of similar wines - the overuse of oak was a natural followup in that "if some is good, more must be better."

I suspect that this all got its start with the Australians using oak barrel surrogates, e.g., oak chips or "tea bags." Then it became like an arms war to see who could incorporate more oak into the wines. Americans, for the most part, never feeling secure enough to select their own wines, followed the critics and ersatz critics (promoters) recommendations. Most of the over-oaked wines are in the mid to lower price arena, where oak is intended to hide poor wine, just as cold can hide defects in white wine, or to quote Oz Clark, "Some wine should be served frozen on a stick."

And so it is with oak, though there a few high-end products that are over-oaked. And
the poor (pour) American drinker has been taken in and has come to demand that flavor profile.

That having been said, I do feel that oak has a role in "rounding out" a wine, when used properly. It contributes to Chardonnay and white Burgundy, if used judiciously, that is the proper oak (source), toast level, and per cent new vs older barrels. I do not approve of, nor enjoy the use of oak with Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Viognier, or now, even Muscadet, where the fresh, bracing acidity is a necessary part of the wine's typicity and
traditional flavor profile, and is obscured by even small amounts of oak. It is more forgiving with red wines, where more oak can be used with "big" wines, less with lighter wines. The oak flavor profile will, over time,
integrate more with the fruit of the wine, if it be red, less so with white wines, unless they are Chardonnays that have not seen ML, or only partial ML, and with big white Burgundies. With Pinot Noir, the legendary Jacques Lardiere of Maison Louis Jadot uses little or no oak with great wines and some with lesser wines to "flesh them out." This is the converse of what most winemakers are doing today, but it is hard to argue with success.

Ultimately, for me, toast/oak should complement the wine, be almost imperceptable, and not overwhelm the fruit flavors. I think that one will, indeed, go to "Wine Hell" for preferring "toasty wines." But, this is one man's opinion and not the gospel - let your own taste/palate be your guide. No one can tell you what you like or do not like.

Hope that I have contributed something to the fray, and eager to hear what others have to say."