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Stories of Passion and Pinot: Bill Sanchez of Potter’s Vineyard
Bill and Sandy Sanchez. Source: Potter’s Vineyard
Wine is art.
More often than not, the connection goes beyond that simple statement. Have you visited wineries that are housed in beautifully designed buildings, or offer various pieces of art – paintings, sculptures – for everyone’s viewing enjoyment? Wine is a form of art, made by artists, and it thrives surrounded by art in a multitude of shapes and forms.
Bill Sanchez extended his 30+ years of PhD experience in nutritional science and 15 years as a professional Potter to the art of winemaking when he and his wife Sandy bought 3.5 acres estate winery in Laurelwood District AVA in Oregon from Laura Volkman in September of 2012. He had to learn 1,000 steps of making great Oregon Pinot Noir from Laura, who planted the vineyard in 2001. Guided by this knowledge, love of art, and utmost respect for one of the most famous artists of all time, Michelangelo, Bill and Sandy operate their winery with a full commitment to “staying small”.
Organic, LIVE and Salmon Safe certified winery, Potter’s Vineyard produces about 1,000 cases annually, supplementing estate Pinot Noir with Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, Sangiovese, and Syrah coming from single vineyard estates in Washington. Connecting visitors to art, the winery also offers a full exhibit of handcrafted Clay Art.
I had an opportunity to sit down (yes, virtually) with Bill Sanchez and ask him a few questions about his passion for Pinot and art. Here is what transpired in our conversation:
[TaV]: What is Vino Vasai Wines and how it is different from Potter’s Vineyard wines?
[BillS]: There’s a back story on Vino Vasai, which means Wine of The Potter. We used it when a large company said ‘they would oppose’ our trademark for Potter’s Vineyard. Vino Vasai is the wine brand, and Potter’s Vineyard is the name of our company and Estate Vineyard.
Source: Potter’s Vineyard
[TaV]: You worked for 35 years in nutritional science field. How does this experience affect your work in the vineyard and the winery?
[BillS]: That experience has focused my work on the vineyard where I am taking a ‘nutritional health’ approach to our farming. We practice organic farming and use natural ‘nutritional compounds’ to improve the health of the vineyard. We are gathering clinical data that shows this helps to prevent major pests like powdery mildew.
[TaV]: I read in your story that you learned 1,000 steps of making great Oregon Pinot. Can you please tell me what step 367 is all about? 🙂 just kidding 🙂 but seriously, what are these 1,000 steps all about?
[BillS]: When you break everything down there is probably many, many starting with 30 passes in the vineyard (that starts in January by the way), and many more steps involved in growing quality fruit (pruning, tying down, flailing, rubbing buds, trellising, mowing, spraying, hedging, etc. Then, when you add all the steps after harvest you get many, many more – I know I exaggerated it at 1,000 but someday I will add them all up and I know I will be closer to 1,000 than 100!
[TaV]: Especially because of your extensive scientific background, I have to ask you the same question I like to ask many winemakers – Biodynamics. What do you think of biodynamics? Would you ever implement it at your winery?
[BillS]: I’m very intrigued, but I don’t understand it yet, especially the ‘cosmos’ connection. I understand Organic much better and am excited to see the increasing amount of quality science that demonstrates not only that Organic farming works, but that it is healthier for the entire farm.
[TaV]: Pottery seems to be your other passion besides wine. Today, amphorae are popular vessels among winemakers to work with their wines (fermentation, aging, etc.). Do you use amphorae at your winery? As a potter, would you attempt to simply make one for this purpose?
[BillS]: Again, I’m very intrigued by amphorae but I haven’t yet found them to deliver higher quality wines compared to oak barrels. This is especially true for reds and chardonnay, which are my primary focus. I have tried some delicious crisp whites from amphorae, but I am not working with those varietals (yet)! I would rather buy Amphorae from my neighbor, fellow potter and winemaker, Andrew Beckham than attempt to make one myself (especially at the size needed to make enough wine for a club pickup).
[TaV]: I understand that you and your wife are big fans of Michelangelo and his work. How does Michelangelo’s work inspire you in your daily dealings at the vineyard and the winery?
[BillS]: I like the fact that Michelangelo was so diverse in his work (sculpture, painter, and architect) and I think we all aspire to be like him, not only one of greatest in his time but one of the greatest of all time!
Source: Potter’s Vineyard
[TaV]: You stated that Potter’s Vineyards is dedicated to staying small. How difficult it is keep that resolution and to stay small?
[BllS]: It’s most difficult financially, but because my wife and I did not plan on needing the income into our retirement years, we are happy to break even and live and work with less stress.
[TaV]: How does this decision affect your daily work?
[BillS]: It is very rewarding to have something we enjoy very much that keeps us busy every day and provides a product that enriches people’s lives, especially in creating a pleasurable memory they can share with family and friends.
[TaV]: Potter’s Vineyards is a certified sustainable winery. Can you talk about your approach to sustainability and why sustainability is important to you?
[BillS]: Our approach is to focus on the health of the entire farm. I like to think about the health of the soil (insects, microbes, organic matter), the vegetation diversity between the rows, the flowering plants surrounding the vineyard, the birds, the bees, the insects and of course the people who visit. I believe this approach will allow the farm to thrive for many years (if not forever).
[TaV]: You have two wine clubs, B club and M club. I understand that M stands for Michelangelo. What B stands for?
[BillS]: Botticelli (another great Italian artist)
[TaV]: In terms of distribution, what percentage of your wine is sold through the club and local visits?
[BillS]:Over 90%.
[TaV]: Are your wines available in retail or maybe the restaurants?
[BillS]: We don’t actively pursue distribution, but if local retailers request our wines, we make them available and support these local establishments. Our wines are currently available at Our Table Farm Store in Sherwood, OR., 503 Uncorked Wine Bar in Sherwood, OR., Old Town Bar & Grill in Newberg, OR., and Crushed & Crafted Wine Bar in Newport.
[TaV]: I see that you produce a Sangiovese wine. Sangiovese is largely atypical for an Oregon winery. Is that a nod to your Italian connection?
[BillS]: Yes, my wife Sandy actually.
[TaV]: How popular is this wine with your customers?
[BillS]: They love it and love the story where we discovered Sangiovese during our trip to Italy in 2011 and then bought our vineyard in 2012. Releasing a Sangiovese in our 10th year of business was truly a dream come true!
[TaV]: You already make a full line of Pinot Noir wines (sparkling, Rosé, white Pinot and of course the large range of Pinot wines themselves). You also make Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese. Do you plan to plant any new grape varieties or make new wines?
[BillS]: Someday we may offer a Sauvignon Blanc, but Sandy says that’s it after that!
[Tav]: Where do you see Potter Vineyard in 10 years? What would you like to accomplish during the next 10 years?
[BillS]: If my children take a serious interest, I would love for the business to grow enough to support their families into the next generation and beyond but if not, we will find someone to nurture it along just as Laura Volkman found us!
There you are, my friends – another story of Passion and Pinot, another story of wine and art.
I didn’t get a chance to try Bill’s wines yet, so please stay tuned for the update…
P.S. For more stories of Passion and Pinot please visit the series’ main page.
Stories of Passion and Pinot: Erik Kramer of WillaKenzie
Source: WillaKenzie Estate
The first LIVE Certified Sustainable winery in the Pacific Northwest, LIVE member 0001. Wines worthy of serving at the White House gala, state dinners, and even to the French President and British First lady. One of the first Direct to Consumer wine programs in Willamette valley. The list of accolades of the WillaKenzie Estate can go on and on.
Founded a little more than 30 years ago, WillaKenzie Estate takes its name from the eponymous sedimentary soils of Willamette Valley in Oregon where the winery is located. The name is also a tribute to the Willamette Valley’s two major rivers, the Willamette and McKenzie which are also displayed on the winery’s crest.
WilleKenzie Estate was founded in 1991 by Bernard and Ronni Lacroute who purchased 420 acres of farmland near the town of Yamhill, Oregon. Bernard and Ronni brought their Burgundian heritage to the newly planted vineyards, and with the help of another Frenchman, Laurent Montalieu, the first winemaker at WillaKanzie, produced its first vintage in 1995. The rest is history, as they say (if you are interested in more historical details, here is the link). In 2016, Lacroutes entrusted their legacy to the Jackson Family Wines.
In 2017, Erik Kramer became WillaKenzie’s third winemaker. I had an opportunity to sit down with Erik (yes, virtually), and ask him a few questions. Here is what transpired in our conversation:
[TaV]: Before making wines in Willamette Valley, you were working in New Zealand. New Zealand is also world-famous for its Pinot Noirs. How would you compare New Zealand and Oregon Pinot Noirs?
[EK]: That’s a broad question. With the Willamette Valley, we’re generally talking about one region with a few sub-appellations (e.g. Yamhill Carlton, Dundee Hills, etc.). When speaking about Pinot from the Willamette, it’s tough for me to do so without speaking about the climate, which moves between Mediterranean and Maritime. The result is a balanced expression of Pinot anchored in freshness and clarity of fruit. With New Zealand, there are quite a few different regions within the country where Pinot is being grown and each is a bit different. The region in New Zealand that often seems to garner the most attention is Central Otago, which has a climate that is much more continental than the Willamette Valley and it’s reflected in the wines that are grown there (dark, savory, and energetic). For me, the region in New Zealand that most resembles the Willamette Valley in terms of Pinot expression is Martinborough (complex Pinots with great energy and complexity). I believe Martinborough leans toward Mediterranean in terms of climate with similar levels of heat accumulation to the Willamette. It may just be a little drier on a year-round basis.
[TaV]: This conversation series is about “Passion for Pinot Noir”. What drives your passion for this grape commonly identified as a “finicky grape”?
[EK]: One of the things I love about Pinot is the level of complexity and cellaring potential it can offer in such a graceful and balanced package. It really can be the proverbial ‘iron fist in the velvet glove.’ One of my favorite Pinot memories dates to a conversation I had one evening at the home of a famous consulting oenologist named Andrea Paoletti. He’d consulted with many of the world’s best producers on viticulture, what to plant and where, clones, etc. We were sitting on his patio, overlooking his olive tree grove on a hillside just outside Chianti (it was a great evening!). I remember him saying to me over a glass of wine, “when Pinot Noir is good, I think it’s the best one.” He was speaking about the grape compared to all the others he’d worked with. That stuck with me, and I tend to agree.
[TaV]: It seems that you grow all the components of the sparkling wines (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, even Pinot Meunier), and yet I don’t see a sparkling wine as part of WillaKenzie’s offerings. Will this change in the future, or do you have a particular reason not to produce Sparkling wines?
[EK]: Funny you ask this question! We tirage bottled our first WillaKenzie Estate Brut from the 2019 vintage in the summer of 2020 and have been bottling sparkling wines ever since then (made from the grapes you asked about). We just haven’t released anything yet. Our club members will be the first to get a glimpse of our first-ever Brut later this year.
[TaV]: Outside of the sparkling wines, any plans to plant new grapes? How about new types of wines, maybe Pinot Noir Blanco?
[EK]: On the new planting front, Chardonnay has become a much more important role player in our portfolio. We added about 4 acres of Chardonnay a few years ago and have an additional 3 acres planned for this spring (and more a few years down the road). We produce several terroir specific Pinot Noirs from several parts of the Estate and are moving in the same direction with Chardonnay (blanc and rouges from the same location). As far as new wines go, we bottled our first vintage of Tourdion (named after a 14th century Burgundian dance meant to signify a play on grape varieties). It’s a barrel fermented white blend that is made from Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot Meunier.
[TaV]: Today you make single vineyard wines. Any plans to produce “single block” wines?
[EK]: WillaKenzie Estate is a large, contiguous farm from which we produce several terroir specific wines that tell a story about the place. In essence, they are all single block wines from one Estate.
[TaV]: WillaKenzie was the first winery in Oregon to receive LIVE certification back in 2008. How do you see sustainability evolving at WillaKenzie today? Are there things you would like to change to further advance sustainability?
[EK]: Sustainability has always been an important part of the WillaKenzie identity. The farm has been managed sustainably since it was established in 1992. Maintaining a healthy, biologically diverse landscape is part of our holistic approach to land management. More recently, we established a bee colony on the Estate as well as experimented with different wildflower species. We also have several initiatives in place aimed at lowering our carbon footprint. We already have a solar array that provides between 40% and 50% of our power and we are looking at increasing the size of our array to provide up to 100% of our power. With that, we’re transitioning heavily to an all-electric model to move away from greenhouse gases and become more carbon neutral. We have a brand-new Ford F150 Lightning pickup truck that just rolled up last week. We already have one electric forklift and next year, we’ll replace the remaining gas-powered forklift with another electric unit. So yeah, we have a lot going on here.
[TaV]: Other than WKE, if you would have an opportunity to make wine at any winery in the world, what winery would you choose and why?
[EK]: This is a tough one. So many choices! I’ve already been very fortunate to work at some great places in and outside of the US. I guess if push comes to shove, I’d go with Ata Rangi in Martinborough, New Zealand right now. Those Pinots are so delicious, and I’ve not worked in Martinborough, but love the area. The bonus would be that I’d be able to visit my son on weekends (he’ll be studying at the University of Auckland for the next few years, which is only a few hours drive from there). Ask me again in 4 years and I’ll have a different answer. Probably something more obscure like living and working at Boutari in Santorini making delicious Asyrtiko and enjoying the view after work and on the weekend.
[TaV]: Where do you see yourself, and also WillaKenzie in 10 years?
[EK]: Me? I honestly don’t know and am not looking that far ahead right now, which is unusual since I’m a goal-oriented planner. Perhaps I’m still involved with WillaKenzie in some capacity? Perhaps I’m working on some exciting new wine project outside of the U.S.? Perhaps I’m teaching wine production or viticulture classes at some community college? As Eddie Vetter sings in the song ‘Release’ off Pearl Jam’s first album (Ten) – I’ll ride the wave where it takes me!
WillaKenzie in ten years? That’s easier. It’s regarded as one of the great estates of the Willamette Valley. The winery’s Estate Cuvee Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are on important wine lists around the country. Our club members have been enjoying WillaKenzie’s Brut and Blanc de Blanc in their club shipments. We are not just growing terroir specific Pinot Noirs from places on the Estate like Aliette and Emery, but also Chardonnays. Tourdion (that exciting white blend) is available nationally. The winery’s solar array now provides 100% of the Estate’s power supply. Our HVAC systems have been modified from LPG to electric. We have not just one bee colony, but several and our club members are taking WillaKenzie Estate honey home as gifts at club events. The list goes on and the future is very bright.
Okay, it is time to taste some wines:
2018 WillaKenzie Estate Chardonnay Yamhill-Carlton (13.8% ABV)
Straw pale
Apples, vanilla, a touch of honey, hint of fresh herbs
Granny Smith apple, tart lemon and lemon zest, good structure, crisp, good body, well integrated tannins on the finish
8, excellent by itself, but will work well with a range of dishes.
2019 WillaKenzie Estate Cuvée Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton (13.9% ABV)
Dark garnet
Cherries, sage, violets
Cherries, a hint of dark chocolate, cut-through, lip-smacking acidity supported by well-integrated tannins on the back end. Good structure, good balance. Succulent dark cherries on the medium+ finish.
8-/8, very nice.
Here you, my friends. Another story of passion for the finicky grape. When it’s good, it is really good. Until the next time – cheers!
P.S. For more stories of Passion and Pinot please visit the series’ main page.
Passion and Pinot Updates: Bells Up Winery
And then we arrived at “micro-boutique, un-domaine” Bells Up Winery, our final stop of the Oregon wine country touring.
Out of 13 wineries profiled in the Stories of Passion and Pinot series, Bells Up is the youngest one, having been founded in 2013, with the first vineyard plantings of Pinot Noir going into the ground in 2014. Despite being a young winery, Dave (the winemaker) and Sara (the Boss) Specter have a clear vision as to where they are going with their distinctly un-domaine wine – if you are curious why I keep saying “un-domaine”, I would like to direct you to the (virtual) interview I did with Dave in 2019 – he explains the concept of un-domaine very well.
Everything is distinctly un-domaine (see, you need to read that interview) at Bells Up. The vineyard with a gentle slope, the winery right in the middle of the vineyard, a simple but elegantly appointed tasting room with lots of fresh flowers and beautiful views of the vineyards. Here you go – pictures, pictures, pictures:
After admiring all the views we proceeded with lunch and tasting. Our lunch was prepared by Sara and while it was somewhat of a simplistic summer chicken salad, the amazing part was that this salad perfectly paired with the majority of wines we tasted – if you ever tried pairing the salad with wine, you would have to agree that achieving great pairing is very far from easy.
As I mentioned, Dave and Sara have a clear vision of the future direction for Bells Up. While Bells Up estate vineyard will be mostly planted with Pinot Noir, and by 2022 Bells Up plans to be at 100% estate fruit for all Pinot Noir bottlings, they have a clear plan for making Bells Up unique and different – growing and producing Pinot Blanc instead of the more commonly available Pinot Gris; being first in Willamette Valley with Seyval Blanc plantings; planting (out of all grapes!) a little known Italian grape Scioppettino; already offering Syrah and adding Cabernet Sauvignon in the 2020 vintage. “Unique and different” is a good description, in my opinion.
Before we talk about wines I would like to mention that none of the wine names you will see below are random. All the names have connections to the classical music pieces under the same name, and every choice of the name has an explanation as to why the particular piece was selected to connect with a given wine. If you are interested, there is even a Spotify playlist that includes all of the relevant music pieces – you can find that list directly on the Bells Up Our Wines page.
We started our tasting with Pinot Blanc:
2020 Bells Up Rhapsody Pinot Blanc Willamette Valley ($32)
Great complexity, lemon, gunflint
Great acidity, lemon, clean, crisp, refreshing
Perfect pairing with summer chicken salad
8, Excellent
We almost had to beg Dave to let us Seyval Blanc which was practically sold out. As a curiously interesting fact, Seyval Blanc plantings had to be protected by the net, as it happened that birds loved the grapes too.
2020 Bells Up Helios Seyval Blanc Estate Chehalem Mountains AVA ($40)
Gunflint, minerality,
Clean fruit, Meyer lemon, good acidity, good creaminess
Great with summer chicken salad.
8
Next up was Pinot Noir Rosé, the first Pinot Noir wine entirely produced from the estate fruit:
2020 Bells Up Prelude Pinot Noir Rosé Estate Chehalem Mountains AVA ($28)
Strawberries, nice minerality
Strawberries, bigger body than Provence, good acidity, perfect balance.
8-
We followed up with the selection of Bells Up Pinot Noir wines:
2018 Bells Up Titan Pinot Noir Willamette Valley ($44)
Plums, violets, sandalwood
Crisp, clean, crunchy cranberry profile, a hint of cranberries, good acidity on the finish.
8-
2019 Bells Up Candide Pinot Noir Reserve Chehalem Mountains AVA ($54, 12 months in French oak)
Floral, nutmeg, warm spices
Cherries, cut through acidity, black pepper, perfect balance, delicious
8
2019 Bells Up Villanelle Pinot Noire Reserve Tonnelier Vineyard Yamhill-Carlton AVA ($58, 12 months in French oak, final vintage)
Blackberry/raspberry, Marionberry
Cassis leaves, light crunchy cherries, well-integrated tannins, good acidity on the finish, delicious.
8
2019 Bells Up Jupiter Estate Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains AVA ($48, 12 months in French Oak)
Underbrush, summer forest, cherries, a touch of tobacco
Crunchy cherries, clean, fresh, delicious
8
While this is not a video, here is Dave talking about Bells Up wines:
Bells Up Syrah was served with an amazing seedless grape pie. As Sara explained, everyone gives wines as presents in Willamette Valley, but tasty grape pie is almost equivalent to the hard currency when exchanging gifts with neighbors. As I said, the pie was superb, and to think that sweet pie would pair with Walla Walla Syrah? I really wouldn’t – and I would be mistaken.
2019 Bells Up Firebird Syrah Summit View Vineyard Walla Walla Valley AVA ($52, 12 months in French oak)
Blueberries and blackberries on the nose
Berries all the way, nicely balanced
8, Amazing pairing with seedless grape pie with cardamom
Again, we almost had to twist Dave’s arm to let us taste the future release of Cabernet Sauvignon:
2020 Bells Up New World Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Summit View Vineyard Walla Walla Valley AVA ($68, 12 months in French oak, barrel sample)
A hint of green bell pepper
Cassis, a hint of black pepper on the finish, good, round, smoky undertones.
8-
Here you have the summary of our “un-domaine” experience – an excellent set of wines and super-friendly hosts. If you will find yourself touring Willamette Valley, add Bells Up winery to your “must visit” list.
This is the last update in the Passion and Pinot series. For now, that is.
Until next time…
This post is a part of the Stories of Passion and Pinot series – click the link for more stories…
Passion and Pinot Updates: Utopia Vineyard
And then we arrived in Utopia.
When your destination is called Utopia Vineyard, poking some fun is irresistible, isn’t it?
Upon our arrival to Utopia Vineyard in Ribbon Ridge AVA, we were warmly greeted by Dan Warnshuis, proprietor and winemaker, who poured us a glass of Utopia Pinot Noir Blanc (yep, a white wine made out of Pinot Noir) and took us on the tour of the vineyard, glass in hand. After speaking with Dan virtually about a year ago, it was definitely a pleasure to shake hands and move from the virtual to the real world where things can be touched and smelled.
Utopia Vineyard looks different from Le Cadeau and Lenné – no fighting with the rocks here. Gentle slope elevation of only 20 feet from top to bottom makes it easier to tend for grapes. Utopia Vineyard is farmed using Sustainable Organic practices and was L.I.V.E. certified in 2008. Dan practices dry farming and uses cover crops every second row – in normal conditions though. Summer 2021 was so dry and hot that by the second week in August when we visited, all of the cover crops were removed so it will not compete with vines for access to water. The grapes looked perfectly healthy and beautiful despite the hot weather – you can see it for yourself in the pictures below.
I don’t know how the actual utopia should look like, but I find these vineyard views pretty compelling:
There are 12 clones of Pinot Noir growing at Utopia Vineyard – one of the wines we tasted was made out of all 12 clones. There are also 3 clones of Chardonnay growing there, planted in 2010. Talking about “fashionable wines”, Utopia Vineyard doesn’t produce sparkling wines, but Dan makes Pinot Noir Blanc, a white wine from the red grapes, which we tasted upon arrival, and also had the pleasure of tasting it directly from the barrel (all notes below).
In 2018, Dan acquired additional 35 acres of land not far from Utopia Vineyard’s original location. That parcel of land also had a 5,500 sq. ft building which by the time of our arrival 3 years after the acquisition was fully converted into a state-of-the-art winery. We stopped by the winery a few times during our visit, and what was the most mind-boggling to me was that Dan was pretty much operating everything at the winery just by himself – moving barrels, emptying tanks, and so on. His son-in-law comes to help during the harvest, but otherwise, Dan is a one-man operation.
This additional property also hosts a freshly constructed log cabin which is called exactly that – Utopia Vineyard Log Cabin, which offers beautiful accommodations and spectacular views:
We visited Utopia Vineyard over two evenings and had some delicious food and tasted through a substantial range of Utopia Vineyard wines. I also learned about an interesting berry I never heard of before – Marionberry, which is a type of blackberry, which we tasted in the form of delicious pie – I wish this is something I can find here on the East coast. Marionberry takes its name from Marion County in Oregon, where it was selected in 1956 as a cross between Chehalem and Olallie blackberries.
Time to talk about wines – here are my notes:
2018 Utopia Bliss Pinot Noir Blanc Ribbon Ridge AVA ($45)
The nose of the buckwheat, yellow plums
Plums on the palate, good balance, good acidity, asks for food
8-
2015 Utopia Vineyard Chardonnay Estate Ribbon Ridge AVA ($45)
Nice, delicate, a hint of vanilla
A touch of vanilla, Golden delicious apples, good acidity
7+/8-
I mentioned before that we had an opportunity to taste some wines directly from the barrel.
2020 Chardonnay was outstanding, fresh apples and lemon, clean acidity, perfectly clean, vibrant, and balanced. If I would have an opportunity, I would drink this wine just like that.
2020 Pinot Noir Blanc from the barrel was even more exciting – a touch of toasted bread, a touch of fresh fruit, perfect minerality, vibrant, clean, full of energy. Again, I would love to drink this wine just like that.
2015 Utopia Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge AVA ($55) – all 12 clones are used
Plums, cherries, a touch of iodine
Clean, crisp, plums, cherries and cranberries, good acidity
8, excellent
2014 Utopia Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge AVA ($55)
A touch of sapidity, mushrooms,
Plums, round, soft, clean
8-
2013 Utopia Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge AVA ($55)
Mushrooms, forest floor, underbrush
Earthy, restrained, plums, clean, round
8-
2017 Utopia Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge AVA ($48)
Sweet plums, violets
Raspberries, red berries, round.
7+
2015 Utopia Vineyard Pinot Noir Clone 777 Estate Reserve Ribbon Ridge AVA ($65)
Violets, sweet plums, iodine
7+
2016 Utopia Paradise Pinot Noir Estate Reserve Ribbon Ridge AVA ($75)
Original 2002 plantings.
Mushrooms, underbrush, violets
Clean, ripe cherries, pepper, medium body,
8, excellent
I was also excited to try a late harvest Riesling which was absolutely delicious:
2016 Utopia Late Harvest Riesling Chateau Bianca Vineyard Willamette Valley AVA ($40)
Beautiful apricots, a touch of honey, clean acidity, good balance. Delicious.
8
Talking to Dan we learned that 99 percent of the sales at the winery are direct to consumers, via the wine club and visitors. Dan also has a few customers who like to take his wines as a private label. Dan is very much involved with philanthropy, supporting the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, The Hampton Opera center in Portland, OR, making wine donations, offering cabin stays, and more.
Utopia Vineyard offers something for everyone – if you will find yourself visiting Portland, you might want to take a 30 minutes trip southwest of Portland and find your utopia there. Or better yet, just stay in the cabin – everything else might be optional.
This post is a part of the Stories of Passion and Pinot series – click the link for more stories…
The Next World Class Wine Frontier: Desert Wine
Can you think of a desert? Even if you never visited one, and only saw them in the movies or read about them in the books, I’m sure the image readily jumps to the head. Sand. Heat. Hot air. Wind. More sand. More heat. More wind. Maybe a half-dried cactus. I’m sure that the luscious greens of a healthy vineyard are not part of that image.
Meanwhile, every desert has an oasis. If there is water, nothing stops beautiful greens from prospering in the desert. Desert doesn’t mean only heat. It is hot during the day, but cold during the night – and the diurnal shift – the difference between the hottest and coldest temperatures during the day – is beneficial for all the plants. If you are into the wine, I’m sure you heard of the importance of the diurnal shift to help build flavor in the grapes. And if we are talking about grapes, let me mention yet another benefit of the dry, arid air – it helps to avoid many diseases in the vineyard, such as mildew.
Let me ask you another question. Have you tried desert wines? The wines produced in the vineyards surrounded by desert? Before you will be quick to say “no”, I will ask you to think again. If you had wines from Argentina or Chile, there is a very good chance those wines came from the desert vineyards – Leyda Valley and the Atacama in Chile are nothing but desert; Uco Valley, Salta and overall large portions of Mendoza in Argentina are nothing but the desert. So yes, I believe you have. And today I want to bring to your attention yet another example of desert wines, these ones coming from the US – Aridus Wine Company in Arizona.
Source: Aridus Wine Company
Source: Aridus Wine Company
Aridus (Latin for dry or arid) started from purchasing 40 acres of land on Turkey Creek in the southeast corner of the Arizona state in the foothills of Chiricahua Mountain, at an elevation of 5,200 feet.
In 2012, Aridus opened its cellar doors, after refurbishing an old 28,000 sq. ft. apple warehouse (it was done so well that in 2014 Aridus was honored with the Design Excellence award for sustainability). The Aridus wines were made with the grapes brought from the vineyards in Arizona, New Mexico, and California; the cellar also served as a custom crush facility. Interestingly enough, this is not my first encounter with Aridus – back in 2014, while attending my first wine bloggers conference in Santa Barbara, I had 2013 Aridus Viognier presented during the speed tasting session, which was my first time tasting a wine from Arizona – and it was a very impressive wine.
Aridus started planting white grapes at its estate vineyard in 2015, with the first estate harvest taking place in 2017. The red grapes were planted from 2017 through 2020, and Aridus is planning to gradually increase the proportion of the wines made exclusively from the estate fruit every year. The plantings currently include Malvasia Bianca, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Tempranillo, Petite Verdot, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Graciano, Petite Sirah, and Malbec, so nobody needs to worry about the range of Aridus estate wines.
Lisa Strid, who just celebrated her 5th year as the Aridus winemaker, definitely appreciates the unique challenges of working at the desert winery. Finding rattlesnakes, owls, roadrunners, hawks, and javelinas on the crash pad might be the least of her problems. Monsoons, strong rains and winds which run seasonally from mid-June through mid-September, represent a much bigger issue, as they have the potential to inflict a lot of damage on the grapes, especially when rain also comes with the hail.
But – it might be all well worth it as long as you can produce good wines. Based on the two wines I tasted, these desert vineyards deserve the full attention of wine lovers.
First, I was blown away by the Sauvignon Blanc – here are my notes:
2020 Aridus Sauvignon Blanc Arizona (12.6% ABV, $28)
Straw pale
White peach, guava, intense, round, inviting
Beautiful bright tropical fruit on the palate, fresh, crisp, good acidity, generous
8, this is summer in the bottle. New World Sauvignon Blanc “in your face”. “I’m bright, I’m beautiful, and you know that”.
Then the Aridus Malbec was perfectly on point:
2019 Aridus Malbec American (13.6% ABV, $36, 95% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot, 15 months in French oak barrels, New Mexico fruit)
Dark garnet, almost black
Cassis, a hint of bell pepper, iodine, a touch of minerality
More cassis on the palate, both berries and leaves, soft, velvety, crisp acidity, long finish
8, excellent
Thinking about analogies, both wines are perfectly New World in style, without going overboard and losing their balance. The Sauvignon Blanc was somewhere between Californian and Chilean renditions with all of its bright fruit – yes, if you are craving the restraint of Cloudy Bay, this is not your wine – but if you want to simply brighten up your day, that would be a perfect pick.
And the Aridus Malbec was reminiscent of the best mountain desert Malbecs from Argentina – Amalaya, Casarena, and many others, again, fresh and well balanced.
Will the desert wines be the next rave? I’m bad at predictions, so I really can’t tell you that. But you are welcome to try answering this question on your own simply by finding the bottle of Aridus wine and giving it a try. Once you do, let’s compare notes. Cheers!
Winemaking: A Step by Step Guide
Today I would like to offer you a guest post by William Reed, who is a passionate winemaker that continues his family’s the age-old tradition of producing quality homemade wine. With respect to
heritage and classic concepts as well as a zesty touch of the modern, William continues to explore the vast world of winemaking all while sharing his thoughts, ideas, and processes on his own personal website at myhomewine.com.
Winemaking or vinification is the process of making wine, from start to finish, which ends up having a lot of detailed steps you should know, so are you ready to begin this long but incredibly rewarding journey?
Some people say it’s easy to make wine but making good and fruity ones is only for the experts – well that’s not entirely true as we’ll see below. Summed up, the major steps on how to make wine are the selection of grapes, their fermentation to alcohol, and, lastly, the bottling. You can make all types of wine but the most common ones are red wine, white wine, or rosé, and even though they are pretty different between, their process is very similar.
Wine has been produced for thousands of years, being almost considered as an art, having an important role in religion and there is even a science that studies wine and winemaking, called oenology. Generally speaking, wine is an alcoholic drink made from fermented grapes with 5.5 – 15.5% alcohol and is a cultural symbol of the European life, changing from a nutritional supplement to a food complimentary beverage, compatible with a good lifestyle. Drinking isn’t safe for everyone and doing it more than moderate amounts can lead to health problems, however, a study from 2018 proved that wine can have great benefits because it contains antioxidants and it promotes anti-inflammatory and lipid-improving effects.
The classification of this beverage can be done according to its origin, methods, vintage, or variety used. Practices can be different in each country and have varied over time to achieve progress. Wine-growing regions all over the world have been improving their conditions with technological innovations to have better hygiene and control over the production process, contributing to the creation of wines suited to the taste of consumers. In fact, global wine consumption has risen with the purpose to enjoy in moderation, as part of a modern, sustainable, and healthy lifestyle. You can also take a look at the following guide in case you want to learn how to make wine at home.
With that said, I will now present you with the process of winemaking, in a thorough but also easy to understand step by step manner:
1 – Choosing the Perfect Grapes
The first step of all is harvesting! It’s one of the crucial stages in this operation, and it’s really easy to understand why – the better grapes you have, the better the product will be!
The moment the grapes are picked from the vineyard will determine their sweetness, flavour, and acidic and tannin levels – now we know why it’s called science. Some of the tracked conditions are the weather, the time of harvest and even the way you pick them – hand picking or mechanical harvesting. Even though there is a lot to consider and to control when it comes to reaching a nice final product, don’t get too scared, as you’ll only reach perfection through trial and error.
2 – Crush!
Once you have the grapes picked up from the vineyard, it’s time to de-stem them and gently squeeze them to liberate their content. This process, in the past or in traditional smaller scale farms, is done by foot. Nowadays, and in bigger wineries, mechanical presses are used to turn grapes into must (pulp) in a much faster and efficient way. Some say this can affect grapes negatively but it’s a more sanitary crushing step and also helps the quality of the final result. Personally, I’d prefer the machines rather than drinking wine crushed by some random farmer’s feet!
What is tapped from the must depends on the type of wine you are making. If white wine is what you want, then the seeds, solids and skins are removed from the grape juice. On the other hand, if red wine is what you prefer, the seeds, solids and skins should stay along with grape juice to offer it more flavour and that beautiful red colour.
3 – Sugar into Alcohol: Fermentation
It’s true, the third step is fermentation and is quickly defined as a transformation from sugar into alcohol – it seems like magic, am I right? It only seems like it, because here is where this process is the longest and most complicated, as it determines the quality of the final result.
As you already know, the product obtained from crushing will ferment because of the present yeasts that transform the sugar, as an energy source, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide. This explains the primary fermentation, which is called alcoholic fermentation, and will last from 5 to 14 days, requiring a lot of careful control (if the goal is a high premium luxurious wine). The second one is called malolactic fermentation, lasts another 5 to 10 days and it characterizes the pH 3,8 of red wines and 3,55 of white wines. Pure science! Temperature, speed and level of oxygen are also extremely important considerations and must be optimized. This whole process can take weeks or even months.
4 – Clarification and Stabilization
After fermentation, it’s time for clarification! This is where pulp, proteins, dead yeast, and other unwanted residues, created during the chemical reactions, are removed from the juice that you can almost call wine at this point. Particles that are insoluble and float, can be filtered and the ones that are soluble but still undesirable, can be centrifuged. Both of these methods need to be optimized to obtain a clear, healthy and appropriate wine. Some natural winemakers don’t clarify because they believe that it diminishes the aroma, texture, and color, so they leave the particles and compounds in red wines for aging – I follow this school of thought.
At this point, you already know that wine can be claimed as a complex mixture built upon microorganisms, and that it can be unstable and reactive depending on the environment and the condition submitted. One of the techniques to stabilize it is cold stabilization and it consists of exposing the wine to low temperatures, close to freezing, for two weeks. The complexity of this whole step is amazing because it enables winemakers to deliver their individual appeal to each wine.
5 – Aging and Bottling
This is the final step but one that is very important in winemaking, because it’s the relocation of the wine into oak barrels (my preferred vessel), stainless steel tanks or bottles.
Wine aging can be defined as a group of reactions that changes the properties of wine and allows it to develop unique flavors over time. Premium wines need to pass through this maturation step to acquire some amazing characteristics like aroma, color, flavour, texture and mouthfeel. Other light and fruity wines don’t need aging and reach their quality peak in a shorter time.
The major considerations in bottling are what kind of bottle to use, type of closure (sealing), (maybe cork), and if you want to add gas or not (not recommended at all for beginners). There are also a lot of kits available for you if you want to experiment making wine at home in a small but very educational manner.
Enjoy it – with Moderation!
Here is every important and crucial step in the winemaking process and you can apply them at your own industry or even at home! Yes, you can make this fruity, incredible juice without leaving your house. If you’re not interested in making your own, you can think about this whole procedure when you’re enjoying it, remembering the magic behind and realizing the work put on it.
Winemaking can be difficult because there are a lot of conditions you need to optimize, starting from picking the grape, to the act of bottling the wine, to the temperature you apply and the cleanliness. Now we can agree that this is almost an art and you have to learn a little bit of science too! Don’t forget that drinking wine in moderation has positive benefits linked to some cardiovascular disease due to the amount of antioxidants, isn’t that great? Thank you for reading and let’s have a glass of wine!
Stories of Passion and Pinot: Le Cadeau Vineyard
Tom and Deb Mortimer. Source: Le Cadeau Vineyard
Hello, wine lovers.
I’m going to ask you for something very valuable – your time. About 20 minutes of it, as this is how long it should take you to read this post, one of the longest posts I ever published. But I’m not asking for your time for free – in return, I’m offering you one of the very best interviews ever published in the Stories of Passion and Pinot series, as well as the overarching One on One With Winemaker conversations.
Winemaking usually starts with passion, courage, and conviction – a belief that “you can”. Really. It is not always a degree in oenology (don’t get me wrong – of course that helps!), but the resolve to get going, as you have a burning desire to make world-class wine no matter what – this might be your main ingredient of success.
Tom and Deb Mortimer had such a resolve to make great Oregon Pinot Noir. After searching for a year, they found an uncultivated parcel of land on the south slope of Parrett Mountain in the Chehalem Mountains AVA, and the hard work began. Planting grapes, understanding your land, learning the soils and microclimates. All with the resolve to produce the best possible Pinot Noir. This is how the story of Le Cadeau Vineyard started (wonder if “Le Cadeau” means something? Keep on reading).
After tasting the wines of Le Cadeau, I was convinced that I want to learn more – which turned into a very enjoyable [virtual] conversation with Tom Mortimer, who generously offered his time to answer all of my questions. And this is what I want to share with you with a full conviction that it is well worth your time.
Here we go:
[TaV]: The story of Le Cadeau Vineyard started in 1996, when you purchased the 28 acres parcel in Chehalem Mountains AVA. When did you come up with the name Le Cadeau? What is the meaning behind this name?
[TM]: Le Cadeau (is French for “the gift”): We like to say that “the wine is not ‘the gift’; rather, “the wine is the excuse”—the true gift is the land and friendships.” When we first saw the Le Cadeau / BHV site, there was no view; it was obscured by scrub-oaks, blackberry bushes, and a lot of brush. Clearing the land was a bit like unwrapping a present, and ultimately a gorgeous view emerged. More significantly, rocky soils are coveted for top-tier vineyard sites. As we cleared the site, the broken volcanic basalt cobbles were revealed; rock in Oregon is rare, so we were very fortunate to find a rocky site. Lastly, wine is inherently relational. Enthusiasts get-into wine for the product, but ultimately, they stay in wine for the people; when the glass is empty, the relationships remain. So “the gift” has multiple manifestations.
[TaV]: When you found the parcel which became the future home for Le Cadeau, you said “For some reason, the property “felt right”. I don’t really know why”. So this was the love at first sight, right? Now, 23 years later, can you maybe better explain that feeling?
[TM]: Part of it was the location—the vineyard is only 35-minutes from downtown Portland, yet it was very serene countryside. We came from suburban Minneapolis to start this project; 22-years ago the Willamette Valley was much less developed, so this location was perfect for us. My wife (and I) didn’t want an isolated, rustic, farm experience. But other than the location, it was a beautiful site—south slope, about the right grade, I was fairly certain the view existed. It just had a different / better feeling than many of the other places we looked at.
At another level, I think I Iiked the fact that it was never-before-cultivated land. There was something about “starting a vineyard from scratch” that was appealing… of course, at the time, I had no idea what I was getting us into… which is actually a good thing. There are plenty of reasons to not take on a project like this. Sometimes it is better to not know what lies ahead.
Source: Le Cadeau Vineyard
[TaV]: I really like the name “Black Hole Vineyard”, even though it has not necessarily a positive connotation about it. Have you ever bottled any wine which says “Black Hole Vineyard” on the label? What happened to that name? Is the Black Hole Vineyard simply became Le Cadeau Vineyard, or is it still exists under its own name?
[TM]: There was one “Black Hole” wine made by a fruit client. It was small production, and was only released to his wine club.
Our business is corporately divided into two companies: A farming company (the vineyard), and the wine biz. Most of the fruit from the vineyard is sold to the wine biz, but some is sold to notable clients. The farming company is named Black Hole Vineyard, LLC (or BHV, LLC), while the wine company is Le Cadeau. So in that regard, the name lives on. We also continue to personally refer to it as Black Hole among ourselves, and generally the winemakers like to call it Black Hole, vs. Le Cadeau. But at some point you need to make a brand decision, and focus your time and energy on that brand. We chose Le Cadeau vs. Black Hole. Obviously, it is a much more positive message, though perhaps not as amusing.
[TaV]: What made you believe that you can conquer the rocky soil? What was the drive behind your passion, developing your vineyard against the difficult terrain and the cash flow?
[TM]: As noted above, a good part of my confidence was rooted in ignorance. But as a wine collector I knew that many of the great wines of the world were grown in rocky soils. I figured, “if they can do it, so can I”.
Over the years I have come to discover that there is one tool that is central and more important than any other in developing and farming a rocky site. You might think that the tool is a chisel plow, or a big tractor, or whatever. But the reality is that the single-most-important tool is a checkbook. Unfortunately, unlike many of the folks that get into this business, my checkbook was about the size of a hand-held garden tool. With a vineyard that is raw ground and solid rock, it is better to start with a checkbook that is the size of a bulldozer… and a D8 at that. Fortunately, I kept my day-job.
[TaV]: How many Pinot Noir clones have you planted so far? Why so many?
[TM]: We’re up to about 16-Pinot Noir clones and 6-Chardonnay clones (the first Chardonnay, 2017, to be released in a couple months). Why so many?—there are a handful of reasons:
- a) I cannot recall ever having a single clone wine that I felt was as complete and interesting as a multi-clone wine. We don’t put them all in a single wine; our cuvees result from different combinations of clones, soils, and aspect (climate). Most of the cuvees have 3 to 5 clones, Diversité has the most with 7 that make up the majority of the wine, and another 2 or 3 that are there in small quantities.
- b) Curiosity and experimentation. Quite simply, clones are exciting. You wait for 3-years wondering what the fruit will look like and taste like. Often it takes several more years before you learn about the flavors, texture, physical characteristics of the fruit and how it affects the wine. So there is always a sense of anticipation. I liken clones to colors on an artist’s palette; they add “color” to wine—not in a literal sense, but in terms of variance, nuance, and complexity.
- c) Differentiation. I don’t want to make wine that is like everyone else’s.
- d) Optimization. Folks (i.e., typically winemakers) have varying views of how important clones are in the overall mix of variables. Most agree that the dirt / site are the most important elements, and I’d agree with that. But for many, “clones” would be further down the list. For me, the plant material is very central to extraordinary wine. Great wines only happen when there is great dirt, perfect climate, excellent farming / viticulture, the very best and site-matched plant material, and of course great winemaking. Like many things in life, something can only be as good as its weakest link.
[TaV]: Is there an Oregon (or maybe Burgundian) winery(ies) which were instrumental in the development of your own winemaking style?
[TM]: We have always wanted to make wines that are true to the estate site. In this regard, Le Cadeau is more of a European model, in that the “rock star” is the vineyard, not the winemaker. The wide range of cuvees exist to showcase the range of “faces” of the vineyard. But more recently we’ve been searching for more freshness and aromatic excitement. This is why I engaged our French consultant, Pierre Millemann several years ago. Not surprisingly, this has led us to produce higher acid / lower alcohol wines.
It would be difficult to pick a particular winery to reference against; again, our dirt / site is very unique. There are many wineries, both in Oregon, Europe, (and California) that we respect, but I think it would wrong to say that we try to emulate any of them.
[TaV]: Do you still have any bottles from the 2002 vintage? If you do, how do they hold?
[TM]: I have a few bottles of 2002. The last one I had was about 2-years ago. It was doing well, but I think it was past its prime. Keep in mind that the vines from that vintage were only 4-years old. I recently had an ’05 Diversité from magnum; it is going strong and will continue to last for a long time.
[TaV]: According to what I see on your website, you produce [at least] 7 Pinot Noir wines. Is there an idea behind such a range of Pinot wines? What are you trying to showcase?
[TM]: As noted above, the majority of the cuvees showcase various attributes of the vineyard: Rocky soils (Rocheux); the cooler East-side (Cote Est); clonal diversity (Diversité); heritage clones (Merci Reserve). More recently, we’ve added two cuvees that are more inclusive of winemaking technique—Trajet Reserve is 100% whole cluster; and “Pierre” has considerable input from our consultant, Pierre. It is about “freshness” and higher acidity.
[TaV]: Going back to the Pinot Noir clones – considering the sheer number of them, you must be blending your wines. What is your approach to blending? Do you have any Estate Pinot Noir wines where you trying to maintain consistency throughout the different vintages?
[TM]: Generally we favor co-fermentation of multiple clones in a single tank. Most of the cuvees are made of two separate tank fermentations that go to barrel separately, and are then combined to make the final cuvee. But for the most part, all of the wine from each ferment ultimately goes into the cuvee.
I like to say that the Le Cadeau wines are “made in the vineyard”… I don’t mean that literally, but rather that the specific “Cote Est” fruit is picked separately, and it is made into the Cote Est cuvee. Same for Rocheux, Diversité, and Merci. In this regard, there is clonal consistency from year to year, because the wine for each cuvee is consistently made from the same section of the vineyard. For example, Rocheux is always roughly 45% Dijon 777; 45% Pommard; and 10 % Wadenswil… that is what is planted in the sections where the Rocheux fruit is grown. … and fortunately, the vines don’t move around at night when we’re not looking… that would be a mess.
Aerial view over Le Cadeau Vineyard, Chehalem Mountain AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon. Source: Le Cadeau Vineyard
[TaV]: How did you come to the idea of the Sparkling wines? You offer 2011 vintage sparkling wine, so clearly you started making sparkling wines before they became “the thing” in Oregon, so how did you get there?
[TM]: 2011 was a very cool, late, year, and the clusters were uneven. Some of them were quite large (a fairly rare event, given our rocky soils). On October 15th, the bigger clusters had only gotten to about 19-Brix—not good for still PN. I know we wouldn’t/couldn’t pull them all out on the sorting table, so we did a sort in the vineyard. I told the crew to harvest the three biggest clusters off of each plant in certain sections of the vineyard. Since these were at a perfect stage for sparkling, and we had them hanging on the vine for a full season at that point, it seems silly to drop that fruit on the ground. So we took a shot at sparkling—it worked out very well, so now we make it generally every other year.
[TaV]: I’m sure you knew this question is coming J – it seems that you only work with Pinot Noir grapes. Do you grow any other varieties? Do you have any plans for the white wines? If yes, what grapes would you plant?
[TM]: As noted above, we have 6-clones of Chardonnay that are now in production. The first Chardonnay will be 2017, released in a few months. We’ll only do Chardonnay at Le Cadeau (other than Pinot Noir). But under our other brand, Aubichon, we’ve made some wonderful “Alsatian Style” Pinot Gris, as well as a Pinot Gris-based Rosé, and a wine we call “Sur Peaux”, which is an “orange wine” from Pinot Gris. All the Pinot Gris is sourced from old vine vineyards, about 25-years old. So it’s nice fruit, and the wines are quite special.
Le Cadeau, Chehalem Mountains AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon. Source: Le Cadeau Vineyard
[TaV]: And one more common question I like to ask – when you are not drinking your own wines, what are your favorite wines and/or wineries, in Oregon or anywhere in the world?
[TM]: I have a diverse range of preferences:
I’m a huge fan of Weinbach in Alsace; Chave Hermitage is often special, Guigal Condrieu (the good version, not so much the standard one), Huet and Chidane Chenin Blanc; Fevre Chablis; Robert Weil German Reisling (and many others—Keller dry from their rocky vineyard is nice); any good Bonne Mares; love white Bordeaux—Chevalier, Smith H-L, and of course the “big guys”, but they’re too expensive. Barberescos from Italy—Gaja (also like Gaja Chardonnay), and I think Produtorri does an amazing job for the price, along with Albino Rocca. I’ve had a Foradori wine that I thought was special, certain Brunellos, but many have become Parker-ized, that’s unfortunate. I like Ciacci wines though. … the list goes on…
In Oregon, there are many that I respect, and a small group that I like, but I’d prefer to leave those thoughts anonymous.
[TaV]: What is ahead? Where do you see Le Cadeau in 10-15 years?
[TM]: I think we’re just beginning to make our best wines, and really beginning to understand the vineyard’s nuances. Some of our more exciting clones are still quite young, so it will be interesting to see what sort of wines we make from the more exciting clones when the vines are older. The 2018 wines that we have in the barrel are possibly our finest to date. Very excited about getting them into the bottle and out on the market.
I’m hopeful that our Chardonnay program will be noteworthy. Pierre’s guidance on Chardonnay has been very helpful. 2018 in barrel looks to be very promising, and I’m excited about the first 2019 fruit from a rocky grafted section of the vineyard. We have a couple interesting Larry Hyde clones of Chardonnay planted in that area as well. The fruit looks to be quite different. I’ll have a better sense of the Chardonnay potential in another year, but I’m hopeful that we can produce “the real deal”.
Thirsty? Here are my tasting notes for the wines:
2017 Le Cadeau Côte Est Pinot Noir Willamette Valley (13.9% ABV, $50, 145 cases made)
Dark Ruby
Smoke, plum, iodine, medium-plus intensity
Wow. Touch of smoke, Sage, medicinal notes (cough syrup), good acidity, excellent balance
8
2017 Le Cadeau Rocheux Pinot Noir Willamette Valley (13.2% ABV, $50, 174 cases made)
Dark Ruby
Plums, cherries, violets, intense, inviting
Bright, clean, succulent ripe cherries, licorice, great minerality, excellent balance, superb
8+
2017 Le Cadeau Diversité Estate Pinot Noir Willamette Valley (13.9% ABV, $50, 245 cases made)
Ruby
Delicate, lavender, a touch of smoke, perfect
Beautiful, plums, ripe strawberries, great acidity, baking spices, delicious overall
8+/9-
2016 Le Cadeau Merci Pinot Noir Reserve Chehalem Mountains Willamette Valley (14.1% ABV, $80, 143 cases made)
Garnet
Intense, ripe cherries and plums, candied fruit
Wow, great intensity, cherries, cherry compote, ripe plums, minerally notes, good acidity, good balance
8+
As you can tell, I really liked the wines – they were literally one better than another.
Here you go, my friends – yet another story of Passion and Pinot. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I thank you for your time and attention.
Will there be more Passion and Pinot stories? Well, do you think the passion ran out of the Pinot winemakers and aficionados? I will bet my virtual DRC bottle that it did not. So we will continue our conversations as soon as the next opportunity will present itself.
Obey your passion!
P.S. Here are the links to the posts profiling wineries in this Passion and Pinot series, in alphabetical order:
Alloro Vineyard, Bells Up Winery, Ghost Hill Cellars, Iris Vineyards, Ken Wright Cellars, Knudsen Vineyards, Lenné Estate, Tendril Cellars, Youngberg Hill Vineyards, Vidon Vineyard
Alie Ammiraglia – The Rosé Experience
Livia le Divelec introducing Alie Rosé
Rosé Every Day – is that your wine motto?
Okay, that might be a bit much – occasionally, we would like to drink white and red too, don’t we? How about this:
Rosé is For Every Day – would you be able to subscribe to that?
It amazes me that today it still requires courage for an average wine consumer to happily say “I love Rosé” and stop right there without adding any “buts” – “only in the summer”, “only when it is hot outside”.
It is a given for us, wine aficionados and geeks, but an average wine drinker is still afraid that they are simply not supposed to like Rosé, and openly admitting your “Rosé love” in public is akin to loudly proclaiming “ohh, I have no taste in wine, no class”. This is mindboggling as we truly are living through the Rosé wine revolution.
Ten years ago, Rosé was strictly for summer, and the only Rosé you would find available during the winter months was the one from Tavel from the southern Rhône in France – only found in better wine stores or adventurous restaurant wine lists (Rosé is the major, if not the only type of wine produced in Tavel), or whatever ended up in the discount bins as not been sold during the prime season. Today, Rosé can be found at most of the wine stores throughout the whole year, no matter what season it is. It is also not surprising that literally every winery in the world, big and small, added Rosé to their repertoire. Actually, it might be still difficult to find Rosé at the wineries – it is usually produced in the small quantities and thus sold out in no time at all.
As we mentioned before, Rosé often considered an afterthought – while the winery is starting to make the red wine, whatever juice will bleed from the harvested grapes would be good enough to make Rosé – or whatever grapes are not good enough for the main wine still can be used for Rosé.
This, however, was never the case in Provence in France, where Rosé is The Main Product and never an afterthought. In Provence, the grapes were and are purposefully grown for the Rosé, and harvested at its proper ripeness to be made into Rosé – the best possible Rosé. But – “the best Rosé” crown is heavily contested today – literally, the whole wine world is after it.
Let me share with you an encounter with a perfect contender – Alìe Ammiraglia, an Italian Rosé produced by Frescobaldi family in Tuscany.
At the end of July, I attended an event in New York City, where the new vintage of Alìe Rosé (in case you are wondering about the name, Alìe is “a figure from Greek mythology, a sea nymph and a symbol of sensuality and beauty”) was presented in style.
Let’s compact the whole experience into one very long sentence, just for fun: Alìe Rosé, made out of Syrah and Vermentino specifically grown for this Rosé wine, was presented at the event in New York City in the hottest setting of a roof-top bar, poured strictly from magnum and double-magnum bottles into the glasses specifically designed to enhance the qualities of the Alìe Rosé, accompanied by delicious bites of Polynesian cuisine on a hot summer day.
How about this long sentence?
Now, let’s repeat it, but a bit slower.
2018 Tenuta Ammiraglia Alìe Rosé Toscana IGT was introduced by Livia le Divelec, Frescobaldi Brand Ambassador and winemaker. 2018 is the fifth vintage of Alìe Rosé. The wine is made out of Syrah and Vermentino grapes grown at Tenuta Ammiraglia vineyards in Maremma, the region best known for the super-Tuscan wines. Maremma is a coastal region in Tuscany, thus the climate, soil, and terroir overall have a lot of maritime influence, hence the name and various sea-life elements of the design – the label, the glass. The bottles for Alìe Rosé are specifically designed in Mediterranean style, again to stress the origins of the wine.
The event took place at The Polynesian, bar and restaurant located at the Pod Times Square hotel and offering a roof-top seating. What can be better than sipping on a glass of beautiful Rosé, overlooking New York’s busy life from above on a warm summer afternoon? Well, let’s cue in delicious appetizers of Polynesian origin, harmoniously supporting the delight of Rosé – and now you got the whole picture.
Oh, wait, let’s not forget about the wine glasses! The wine glasses were specifically designed by German company Rastal for Alìe Rosé to accentuate qualities of the wine, both organoleptic (aroma, taste, …) and visual, with the glasses serving as another reminder of maritime-influenced origins of Alìe.
Well, I guess I still didn’t tell you how was the wine – got carried away with a beautiful setting of the roof-top bar, seductive bottles, and designer wine glass. Never mind all these accents – the wine was a real star, otherwise, I wouldn’t be talking about all this. Beautiful fresh strawberries on the nose, strawberries with a hint of Meyer lemon on the palate, crisp and fresh. Delicious cold, and still delicious even at room temperature – my litmus test for a quality white and Rosé. I would drink that wine any day, and any season. Remember, Rosé all day!
That concludes my brief. What is your Rosé of the Year? Cheers!
Stories of Passion and Pinot, Year 2019
Back in 2014, during the Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Barbara (my first WBC), I was listening to the panel discussion of the professional wine writers, who basically had only one message for all the bloggers – interviews, interviews, interviews. Of course, they were talking about integrity, writing skills and other important subjects, but the concept of “interview” was brought up multiple times, with all the explanations how to do it properly, what, why, where and so on.
At that point, I had been writing my blog for about 5 years, and the idea of the interview didn’t resonate. “I want to write about the wine, not about some conversations and other people opinions” was my prevailing thought. “Interviews? I don’t want to do no interviews” (use of broken English intended).
You don’t need to fast forward too far to see how everything changed. Next year, I was offered a meeting with a winemaker which I couldn’t attend, so I said “all right – can we have a virtual conversation?” – and the concept of “One of One With Winemaker” posts was born. Since then, I’ve done quite a few interviews, most of them virtual and a few are in person – if you are curious, here is the link for you to see them all. Yes, the “virtual” concept might be limiting, as you can’t explore an interesting angle which would come up in the conversation. However, as most of my questions are unique and specifically tailored for a particular conversation, virtual interviews remove intimidation, allowing people time to provide the best answers.
In 2016, I had a conversation with Carl Giavanti, who asked if I would be interested to create a series of interviews with Oregonian winemakers – and that became the beginning of the Stories of Passion and Pinot series, all connected under the “One on One” umbrella. In 2016, I had an opportunity to “talk” to Ken Wright of Ken Wright Cellars, David Nemarnik of Alloro Vineyard, Mike Bayliss of Ghost Hill Cellars, Wayne Bailey of Youngberg Hill Vineyards, Steve Lutz of Lenné Estate, and Don Hagge of Vidon Vineyard. In the same series, Knudsen Vineyards was profiled in 2017, and last year I had a conversion with Tony Rynders of Tendril Cellars. All of these wineries are from Oregon, and all of them share a common passion for the Pinot Noir, one of the most finicky grapes out there.
You probably guessed that I’m not writing this post just to give you a retrospective into the Talk-a-Vino interviews. Yes, I’m writing it to tell you that the Stories of Passion and Pinot will continue in 2019, again with the help of Carl Giavanti. The wineries we will look at in the near future are:
By the way, do you know what “Bells Up” means? Well, if you do – great, if you don’t – you will learn all about it soon.
To be continued…
Stories of Passion and Pinot: Tony Rynders of Tendril Cellars
Wine and passion are indelible. Yes, wine is a business for the most parts, but making a bottle of wine which someone else is desiring to drink is a labor of love, and every such bottle has a bit of the winemaker’s soul invested in it (feel free to call me melodramatic). Thus I’m always happy to talk to the winemakers, trying to understand what moves them, what drives them to do what they do. A lot of my conversations are virtual, and you can find most of them on this blog.
Many of interviews are truly random in terms of profiling the wineries and winemakers. However, about 2 years ago, with a prompt and help of Carl Giavanti, I started a series of posts called Stories of Passion and Pinot, which are dedicated (so far, at least) to the winemakers in Oregon, producing Pinot Noir wines. Winemakers are always passionate about what they do and the grapes they use – but it seems to me that Pinot Noir, being a difficult grape it is, really asking for a special dedication to allow itself to be tamed – hence the name for the series.
My latest addition to the series is a conversation with Tony Rynders, the proprietor and winemaker at the Tendril Wine Cellars, a young winery in Willamette Valley in Oregon (the winery officially started 10 years ago, in 2008). While the winery is young, Tony is an accomplished winemaker, who started making wine back in 1989, honed his craft at the wineries around the world, including 10 years as a head winemaker at Domaine Serene, one of the best-known wineries in Oregon.
When Tendril Cellars started, it owned no vineyards, which essentially gave Tony a flexibility to bring the best fruit from the Oregon vineyards he was already familiar with. To my surprise, Tendril Cellars only offers one single-vineyard bottling in their line of 5 different Pinot Noir wines – but you will find an explanation below. In 2013, Tendril Cellars planted a 19 acres Maverick vineyard in Yamhill-Carlton district with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – the vineyard already producing the fruit which is going into the Tendril Cellar’s second line of wines, Child’s Play (a creative name for the wine, don’t you think?).
Tony Rynders leading five course tasting
Tony calls his approach to winemaking “low and slow” – letting the nature to do its work. He is also aging all of his Pinot Noir wines for 16-17 months, which I find particularly appealing. And then, how many winemakers do you know who run organized tastings for their customers? That is what Tony does, presenting his wines as a “5-course meal” and explaining the concept of terroir to the wine consumers (after tasting Tendril wines, Tony’s approach to the tasting makes perfect sense to me – but we will discuss it in the next post).
After learning a bit about Tony and Tendril Cellars, I decided that the time came to sit down (yes, virtually) with Tony and ask him a few questions. Here is what transpired.
[TaV]: You started making wine for others in 1989. Was there something which prompted you to start making your own wines in 2010, a pivotal moment, or you simply decided that it is time to make wines “my way”?
[TR]: I have had several opportunities making wine since I began in 1989. Each one has contributed in some way to influence my approach to making wine. I can tell you that I am a much different winemaker today than I was when I started. I think it is critical that we continue to evolve and adapt as the climate, consumers, and wine preferences change.
In fact, I started my own brand, Tendril, in 2008. I was just coming off a 10-year stint as head winemaker at Domaine Serene. It was a highly formative period in my career as there was a massive shift toward new, estate vineyards during my tenure. The creative “heavy lifting” took place largely during my watch. I accomplished everything I set out to and more. It was time for my next big challenge…creating a portfolio of wines for my own brands from scratch. And tell a story about Pinot Noir in a way that it had not yet been told.
[TaV]: You worked at the wineries around the world. Are there any winemakers you would consider your mentors, either directly or indirectly?
[TR]: There is one fact in winemaking that I completely embrace: There is no way to learn it all…I will never stop learning, growing and evolving. Every winemaker I have worked with has mentored me, including but not limited to, Rollin Soles, Ken Wright, Co Dinn, Jean-Francois Pellet and David Forsyth.
[TaV]: Can you explain your “low and slow” approach to the winemaking?
[TR]: Just like the “slow food” movement, I use top quality ingredients (grapes) from attentive, engaged farmers (vineyards) with whom I have a very close relationship. I have hand chosen each of our vineyards myself and each brings a distinctive flavor profile (like spices) in order to make our signature “five-course meal” of Pinot Noir.
For all the Tendril wines, I over-vintage the wines in barrel (at least 16 months) and then bottle age 12 months or more prior to release. The wines are then at the front end of their drinkability curve, with the potential for a decade enjoyment ahead of them.
[TaV]: I find it interesting that in your range of Pinot Noir you have only one vineyard-designated bottling – I always think that designated vineyards and even specific plots are better identify with quality of the grapes and the resulting wines – obviously you don’t see it like that?
[TR]: While I love to make single vineyard wines, I find that not every site is able to produce balanced, compelling and complete wines every year. And that, simply put, is my goal as a winemaker. So this is how the unique story and line-up of wines for Tendril was born. When I started Tendril, I knew that I wanted to do something different with my portfolio of wines. And it took 6 years to complete the lineup (Extrovert 2008, TightRope 2009, Single Vineyard (Guadalupe) 2011, C-Note 2011, Pretender 2013).
The common model that exists for Pinot Noir is the single vineyard model. Wineries make 5-15 (or more) single vineyard wines in a given vintage. The problem is that not all of the sites deliver on their promise of distinctiveness every year. The true test is a horizontal tasting in which all of the wines are evaluated blind. In a given year, some wines are great, some under deliver and some taste quite similar in a given line-up. This is not consistent with my goal.
So, I created my own, unique model for Pinot Noir. Each of my wines is distinctive and complete. Collectively, they show a progression of flavors that mirrors the progression of dishes in a five-course meal. My wines gain in intensity, darker fruit character and structure as the “courses” progress. And each of the wines must re-qualify for their place in the lineup each and every year.
I believe single vineyard wines should be special. Since all wineries charge more money for them, I think they should be worth it. So we typically do just one offering per year that is, simply put, the “wine of the cellar” from just one site. As I had anticipated, it has proven to be rotational (4 vineyards in 7 vintages). It is like a Christmas present in that you don’t know what it is until you open it.
[TaV]: Your C-Note Pinot Noir is designated as “whole cluster fermented” – is that a substantial differentiator to make it the “top of the line” wine, or is there something else behind it?
[TR]: Of the Pinot Noir line-up, the C-Note is the most stylized wine yet at the same time requires the greatest amount of restraint. Whole cluster fermentation of Pinot Noir is a technique that I have only attempted since 2011. The was the first year I made a wine using 100% whole cluster…and it was so successful that it became our first C-Note bottling.
For C-Note, we use 100% Pinot Noir, 100% Whole Cluster fermentation, and age in 100% new French Oak barrels (air dried 3 + years). The restraint comes into play in order to reign in the “whole clustery-ness” and tame the oak impact to mimic a wine with half the new oak exposure. We are extremely gentle with our cap management to control the whole cluster notes and we select the most subtle, elegant barrels coupled with long aging to integrate the oak flavors. C-Note is all about complexity, texture and mind-blowing length. I love making wines that surprise and beguile.
[TaV]: You are one of the very few winemakers who conduct organized tastings. Can you explain what you are trying to showcase with your 5-course Pinot Noir approach?
[TR]: Yes, I believe the best way to showcase these wines and share this unique experience is to do seated tastings. Like a five-course meal, our tasting take time (typically an hour and a half or more). But people leave here feeling that that have experienced something truly special…and that is pretty rare. They are shocked that they enjoyed each and every wine they tasted.
I began working in restaurants at a young age. I cooked for several years and really enjoyed it. A few years after I started making wines, I realized that I was using the exact same skill set to make wine that I used to cook. I am truly a “wine cook” and make wine with that sensibility.
I wanted to showcase a diverse range of flavor profiles that can be accomplished on an annual basis with Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley. Each offering is distinctive, unique and impeccably balanced. Collectively, they showcase perhaps the greatest range of flavors and textures of Pinot Noir under one brand.
[TaV]: To follow on the previous question, how receptive are your customers (typically) to what you are presenting in the tasting? Do they get your point? Do you offer people to taste the wines blind and to try to identify what they are tasting?
[TR]: The beautiful thing about the “five-course meal” context of our tasting is that EVERYBODY can relate to that experience. People completely get it and they really get into it. The wines show a progression of flavors just like a multi-course meal. They also increase in intensity much like turning up the volume on a radio.
At this stage, the tastings are not blind and are tasted one at a time. And I don’t have the ability to pair food at this time. But we have done the “five-course meal” here at the winery a few times. It was a huge success.
[TaV]: Maybe an odd-ball question here – wine is an adult beverage, and nevertheless, you called your line of wines “Child’s Play” (I personally like it very much, especially the labels). Do you think wine consumers might find this controversial? Did anyone ever comment on this wine name?
[TR]: I am a huge fan of the “double entendre”. Here it is actually triple. 1) My kids playing…my two daughters paintings are the original artwork for all the labels 2) We winemakers are big kids and we get to “play” with offering unique wines (the Pinot Chardonnay is the only still version of Chardonnay and white Pinot Noir in the country…to my knowledge), Zinfandel from WA (a unicorn wine), and a stylistically different Rose of Pinot Noir. The Pinot Noir is just damn good. 3) Child’s Play implies it’s easy…so easy a kid could do it. We are taking the pretension out of wine with the packaging and the wines inside. Great value for money…as it should be.
My customers love it. The only objection came from the Feds…and a simple paragraph explaining point 3) above got us our label approval.
[TaV]: This one is more of the pet peeve question for me. Your Tendril wines are enclosed with the corks (makes me very happy to see it). The Child’s Play line uses screwtops, so obviously the screwtop idea is not foreign to you. I know that some winemakers in Oregon swear by alternative closures (like Don Hagge at Vidon with the glass stopper), but I personally think that the wine needs a cork to age properly. What is your take on this subject?
[TR]: While I like the idea of cork, the execution of the closure has haunted me for my entire career. Corks are highly variable in both their flavor impact on the wines as well as the oxygen permeability. Each one is unique and has an unintended impact on my wine. I believe natural corks are a huge problem and as such, I no longer use them. But I do gladly use a cork product in my Tendril wines (looks like a duck and quacks like a duck) that provides consistency of density and very low aromatic impact. I would be happy to talk to you about this topic some time. I have researched it for years.
Screw caps are new to me, but I love them in the Child’s Play line to further differentiate the brand from Tendril. I think the MSRP $30 price point avoids any potential push back on the choice of closure.
[TaV]: Sparkling wines are so popular nowadays, almost everyone is making them, and often with very good results. Considering your experience at Argyle, should we expect to see Tendril sparkling wine at some point in the future?
[TR]: Maybe…but I will wait until we have a great sparkling wine vintage (cool and slow ripening) to make that decision. If you asked my wife (who is a sparkling junkie), the answer would be yes.
I would only do it if it could have the potential to be a truly special offering.
Maverick Vineyard
[TaV]: What is in the store for your new Maverick vineyard? How are you planning to farm it – sustainable, organic, biodynamic? Out of 19 acres, you have 10.5 allocated for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – what about the rest? Any plans to expand beyond Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – let’s say, Pinot Gris, Riesling, etc?
[TR]: At this time, Maverick is LIVE. We plan to move towards organic over the next few years. It is an incredibly well behaved site that is already producing strong personality wines. I view this as a highly desirable trait for a young vineyard. The Chardonnay for the Pinot Chardonnay (70% of the blend) is all Maverick. This is the first bottled wine coming from Maverick.
No plans for other varietals at this time. But the clonal mix for the Pinot Noir (943, Swan, Calera and Mt. Eden) is pretty unusual.
[TaV]: Oregon is clearly a leader in Pinot Noir, considered by many as simply the best in the world, and it is also getting to the same level of recognition with the Chardonnays. What is ahead for the Oregon wine industry? Is the future bright and sunny, or do you see any clouds on the horizon?
[TR]: To me, the only constant is change. By that I mean that to continue to succeed as an industry, we need to be engaged (both locally and on a world stage), we need to be adaptive (as our climate continues to change, we are in for more and different challenges), and we need to be more concerned about the sustainability of our environment (both locally and throughout the world).
I believe we will have sun and clouds…and perhaps some rain. Just the weather we always have in Oregon 😉
[TaV]: When you are not drinking Tendril wines, what are your favorites from the other producers and/or regions?
[TR]: Lately I have been enjoying Graham-Beck sparkling wine from South Africa.
Or give me a good single malt Scotch…
Here we are, my friends. I’m sure you are thirsty at this point, but we will talk about Tendril Cellars wines in the next post.
To be continued…
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