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January 16, 2010, at 10:16 am
By Marcus Looze, Avalon Wine, on January 16th, 2010
As a guy who thinks about food most waking hours, it’s common for me to start planning the weekend’s food and wine on Monday afternoon. This past week has been much busier than normal, so the planning starts now, with wine!
For salmon and sipping: Grochau Cellars Commuter Pinot noir 08 $15.75
One of the steals of the year, the GC Commuter 08 disappeared in hours when it was first released. The winery let go of a few more cases, so I grabbed 10. Great fruit and great value, the Commuter has plethora of cherry flavors and a nice amount of zip. A $25 Pinot, minus the ten…
 For Italian: Monchiero Barbera d’Alba Superiore 07 $14.95
Nearly half the wine we drink at home is Italian, with a noticeable slant towards Piedmont. Barbera is a perfect food wine – the Monchiero is shockingly good for the price. Earthy black fruits and leather with violets and graphite, this Barbera is our new “house” wine.
And stepping it up a notch: Monchiero’s 2005 Barolo “Rocche” $47.95 is exceptional. Classic Barolo filled with licorice, tar, roses, brown spices, massive fruit and grippy tannins. We tend to drink Barolo way too young, so we’ll be cellaring two bottles for every one we drink. The 05 Barolo vintage is spectacular; the Rocche vineyard one of Barolo’s finest.
December 30, 2009, at 2:22 pm
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on December 30th, 2009
 There’s a great video online today about Illahe Vineyard and its “Green” policies – complete with Percheron horses and beautiful images of the vineyard.
Visiting the winery for the first time last month, we found the relatively large size of the vineyard impressive, spread across a wide sloping hill for 65 acres. That’s a lot of grapes, at least in the Willamette Valley.
At right, winemaker Brad Ford. Brad has a close relationship with Russ Raney, winemaker and owner of Evesham Wood. Russ says: “An excellent vineyard site and pinot noir, a fine facility, and a dedicated, kind, and talented team… this bodes well for Illahe’s success.”
Only two wines have been released from the winery so far. Their 2007 Pinot noir $19.75/$17.77 is complex and easy drinking. Well worth the price. Fresh raspberries, subtle cedar-tinged spice box, and caramel meld with juicy cherries to create a complex yet easy-to-enjoy Pinot. Illahe’s second vintage shows that their first wine, the 06 Pinot noir, was the start of what we hope is a series of delicious, affordable wines.
Here’s the link to the video:
http://netgreennews.com/illahe-vineyards-deliciously-sustainable-wine/
net green news is a website worth checking back with.
Fresh raspberries, subtle cedar-tinged spice box, and caramel meld with juicy cherries to create a complex yet easy-to-enjoy Pinot.
Illahe’s second vintage shows that their 06 was the start of what we hope is a series of delicious, affordable wines.
December 17, 2009, at 8:27 pm
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on December 17th, 2009
Turns out the 11 degree weather in the valley last week was no problem for dormant vines. Melissa, at Patty Green Cellars, says that “if we were at bud break, or such, it would have been different”.
Oregon wineries are shutting down for the winter, closing tasting rooms and letting employees take needed vacations. The usual [...]
December 11, 2009, at 9:15 am
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on December 11th, 2009
It’s been much, much colder than usual in the Willamette Valley for the last five days. I had 19 degrees (F) on my outdoor thermometer yesterday morning. Plus, it’s really, really dry. Our cold weather is almost always wet. Maybe snow, and usually rain – constant, dripping rain. Thus the many jokes about Oregonians, moss, [...]
December 5, 2009, at 10:33 pm
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on December 5th, 2009
Dena Drews and Ernie Pink brought their 2008 Amalie Robert Viognier by the store Friday. It is exquisite. They made a half barrel – about 16 cases, and it’s pretty clear that Robert would rather they keep it all for their cellar. With good reason.
There’s so much mediocre Viognier out there – blousey, high alcohol, [...]
November 22, 2009, at 1:40 pm
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on November 22nd, 2009
As winter nears and darkness falls at four in the afternoon here in Oregon, wineries release more new wines than any other time of the year.
Every day brings us a new batch of wine samples to taste. We go through many, many wines this time of year, searching for the combination of great flavors and [...]
November 19, 2009, at 11:06 am
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on November 19th, 2009
In today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer, an article on wines to go with Thanksgiving includes two Oregon wines, out of about ten total. I bet this has something to do with Oregon Pinot Camp. What a good thing it has been for Oregon wine.
Oregon Pinot Camp brings wine writers and wine buyers to Oregon for four [...]
November 15, 2009, at 1:08 pm
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on November 15th, 2009
A fascinating article by Leonard Mlodinow in the Wall Street Journal yesterday skewered the whole idea of wine ratings and cited some pretty impressive research to support his opinions.
Bottom line, a professional wine rater, Robert Hodgson, spent four years conducting blind tastings with other professional wine judges and came to the conclusion that “even flavor-trained [...]
November 8, 2009, at 11:13 am
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on November 8th, 2009
One of the best “trade” tastings each year happened last week. It’s all Oregon wineries and some of the best – both well known (Beaux Freres, Penner Ash), and some lesser known up-and-comers. One of the standouts for me was Dominio IV.
Dominio IV, a small winery down the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge, has [...]
November 4, 2009, at 9:02 am
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on November 4th, 2009
Yepp, a Beaux Freres wine at $15. It’s a 2008, 100% Grenache Rose, and Beaux Freres make about 100 cases each year. They grow the grapes in their estate vineyard. The Rose is a wine that the Etzels drink at home, and they usually share it only with longtime customers and friends.
The Beaux Freres Grenache Rose 08 [...]
October 30, 2009, at 2:51 pm
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on October 30th, 2009
One of our favorite winemakers, Antica Terra’s irrepressible Maggie Harrison, received high compliments from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate today. Jay Miller, writing for the publication, rated Maggie’s 2007 Antica Terra Pinot noir 92 points, and her “Botanica” 07 93 points.
While the Botanica is long gone (35 cases made), we still have the sophisticated Antica Terra Pinot noir [...]
October 30, 2009, at 2:07 pm
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on October 30th, 2009
Shea Wine Cellars’ “Homer” Pinot noir 07 received the highest score – 94 points – of any 2007 Oregon Pinot noir reviewed by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. The Wine Advocate report on Oregon Pinot noirs was released today online and in print.
Jay Miller, Oregon wine reviewer for Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, called the 2007 Shea “Homer” Pinot [...]
October 28, 2009, at 4:16 pm
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on October 28th, 2009
I visited Doug Tunnell at Brick House Vineyards several times during this year’s harvest. The winery was always remarkably calm - quite a contrast to the boisterous blasts of rock music, clanking equipment and grinding forkloads at other wineries. That relaxed vibe is typical of my experience of visiting Doug over the years. Soft classical [...]
October 25, 2009, at 11:14 am
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on October 25th, 2009
Read the complete article “Beaux Freres – Introducing the Next Generation”. It has a lot more information on the history of the winery and the boys’ stories than the blog post about their new winery.
Here’s the beginning of the article:
Beaux Freres, French for “brothers-in-law,” is named for its founders, brothers-in-law Mike Etzel and Robert Parker Jr. [...]
October 21, 2009, at 12:39 pm
By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on October 21st, 2009
Jared and Mikey Etzel, two of the three sons of Beaux Freres‘ Mike Etzel, have their own winery, Coattails Winery. The second generation of the Beaux Freres family has released Horsetails Pinot noir 07 $25.95/$23.36. Youngest brother Nathan is still in college at Oregon State University.
Below, left to right, Nathan, Jared, and Mikey Etzel
The Horsetail [...]
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