first growth
by Bob Fishman, Proprieter
In June I set out for Oregon to attend the annual Pinot Noir Camp. I had been asked to attend the past few years, but the dates never worked out. The Fancy Food Show we attend each year to select the products for our gift baskets is usually on the same weekend. Fortunately, this year they were one week apart so off I went.
250 retailers and restaurateurs from around the world are chosen to participate. This was the 8th time that Pinot camp has been held and there is nothing in the world similar to this event.
This was my first trip ever to explore the wine country in Oregon, I was very anxious to experience it. The Willamette Valley, about a nice forty five minute drive from Portland, would be home away from home for the next three days.
The first event was a three hour tasting which included all 50 of the wineries taking part in the weekend’s activities. Each winery was pouring between three to eight wines with the main emphasis on the 2006 vintage of Pinot Noir. 2006 was an outstanding vintage and I knew that this was just the tip of the iceberg of what was to come. After this tasting, 20 of us moved on to Elk Cove for an intimate dinner overlooking the vineyards. It took us about 35 minutes to get there and the scenery was breathtaking. In addition to the host winery the dinner was cosponsored by Chehalem and Lange wineries. Lange was the only winery that night without representation in Ohio at this time (We have made recommendations to them about distributors that would be a good match) We loved their wines and we know that they would be well received in this area.
The next morning we were met at 7:45 a.m. with champagne just in case we would not have enough to drink throughout the day. First stop was a fabulous breakfast in the solid glass building of the Evergreen Aviation Museum which houses the Spruce Goose among other historical planes. Then we were off to our first of three seminars for the day.
The first seminar entitled “The Oregon story–the place, the history.” It was presented in an Omnimax theater with introductions to all of the wine makers and owners of the wineries involved in Pinot Camp. Next was “Oregon Pinot Noir–style and vintages. “ The next hour and a half was a blind tasting of three flights each of eight different Pinots and then a panel discussion with four of the wine makers. This was hosted at Lemelson with an outstanding lunch served with, you guessed it, more wine. The 3rd and final workshop that day was “Soil into wine from Marine sedimentary soil” at Domaine Drouhin. The winery, established in 1987, is built at one of the highest elevations in Oregon wine country. The view went on for miles. We were then transported back to our hotels and given our only free time of the day, 45 minutes. See it really was work after all!
Half of the wineries poured their wines prior to dinner at Domaine Serene. For dinner we dined under a huge tent overlooking Yamhill county. Each winery poured barrel samples, older vintages, small production or one-of-a-kind wines. There was so much being served that they had to empty our dump buckets every 5 to 10 minutes. All in all a very tough day!
The next morning again when we were picked up (You are not allowed to drive anywhere once you are there for some reason) we were greeted with champagne and then off to our first seminar. Breakfast was served at Archery Summit where the next seminar was conducted, “Oregon’s cool whites,” a blind tasting of 24 whites in three different flights of Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, blends and lesser known varietals. Some very interesting crisp and refreshing wines. Our next stop was at Witness Tree for the 2nd Pinot Noir seminar, “Another year: challenge and opportunity.” Highlights of this seminar were the barrel samples of the 2007 vintage and walks through vineyards from which you could see snow-covered Mt. Hood in the distance. After lunch we went to St. Innocent for the 2nd soil seminar, “Pinot Noir from volcanic soils.” This was a brand new facility for St. Innocent which officially opened Memorial day weekend, so we were the first group hosted at the winery. The final dinner and pre-tasting was held at Stoller and the meal was a traditional Salmon dinner cooked on alder sticks from a gigantic 50 yard fire pit.
It was a great trip in every sense. Beautiful country side and down to earth wine makers. Oregon has 394 bonded wineries and has grown more than 50 percent over the past 7 years. Very few are large wineries with the majority producing between 5,000 - 20,000 cases annually. Obviously the main focus is Pinot Noir because of the cooler climate but as I discovered on this visit many other fabulous varietals. When we opened The Grapevine in 1987 there were about 250 wineries in California and the atmosphere of the wine industry was similar to what I just saw in Oregon. We have always carried a good selection of wines from Oregon, but based on what we tasted our selection will be growing.
How Much does a good wine cost?
That question comes up fairly often. I recently read an article on line and here’s a summary of what they had to say. With many grape varietals gaining in popularity, the three most sold categories at retail are Chardonnay, Cabernet and Pinot Noir. They wrote that to find something decent in today’s market expect to spend $15.00 for Chardonnay, $18.00 for Cabernet and $30.00 for Pinot Noir. While we are happy to carry those wines, we stock plenty of good wines starting at just $6.99. You name the price and we will find the best thing for you.
That said, does price equate to quality? Often it does, but not necessarily always. One of our greatest joys over the past 21 years is uncovering those hidden gems at all price levels. They are out there and it is our job to find these and bring them to you.
A wine costs more for several reasons. Mainly it is quality in the vineyards. If you have smaller yields per acre the wine will be more concentrated and richer. How careful is the winery in determining what grapes are of a quality they want to use? How much is spent on marketing the wines? Larger brands have larger budgets to promote their wines. The most important thing really is how the wine tastes. We would rather recommend a less expensive wine to someone who is just starting out enjoying wines than an expensive wine that is over their head. Stop by today or give us a call and we will be happy to find just the right wine for you. Don’t forget that you can save TEN PERCENT when you purchase a case or more of wine.
