Tonight is Your Chance To Drink Wines Made in Clay Pots at Storyteller Wine Co.!
Congrats again to the winner of our annual “Best Weekly Tastings” award Storyteller Wine Company. Since we LOVE self promotion, or self aggrandizement, or any kind of self that makes us look bigger and better than we really are, here is a snippet from this week’s Storyteller Wine Company newsletter that mentions-you guessed it-us!
I just found out that Storyteller Wine Company has, for the second time in four short years of existence, won the award for “Best Wine Tastings in Portland” over at the PortlandOregonWine website. The award is based on votes received from hardcore wine lovers throughout the Portland area (and beyond I’m guessing) and we are honored to even be considered for the title. To celebrate the victory we will be “getting extreme” this Friday evening.
The “getting extreme” part involves drinking wine from clay pots! Cool! Check out other great tastings tonight below, cheers!
Friday, January 27, 2011
Indigenous Italy
Jan. 27 * 4-7pm * $12 tasting fee
Drop in tasting, no reservations needed
If you’re intrigued about what historical grape varietals taste like, I encourage you to join us this Friday, as we’ll be pouring Schioppettino alongside four other indigenous Italian varietals that have serious histories of their own. The lineup will go from North to South and touch on 5 of the 30 main wine regions that make up the state of Italy.
Here’s the plan for Friday’s pours: Schioppettino from Friuli, an example of the ‘Eccellente Marzemino‘ grape from Veneto (to quote a famous line from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni), the little lovely Pelaverga Piccolo from Piemonte, the Piedirosso grape from Campania whose name means ‘red feet’ and Uva di Troia grown in Northern Puglia near the town of Troia (named for the legendary Greek hero, Diomedes, who destroyed the ancient Troy and then founded this Italian town later).
While experts dispute the true number of grape types still growing in Italy, modern day wineries are bottling somewhere between 800 and 1200 different indigenous Italian varietals. This Friday’s tasting will just scratch the surface, but still should illuminate the opportunities for the Italian wine explorer.
TBD
5-7 pm, $5
South/Southwest of France
4:30-7 pm, $8-$16.
Italy- small vineyards
5-9 pm, $12.
This Friday, January 27, from 4:30 to 6:30, winemaker Jim Prosser of J.K. Carriere Wines will be here to share. While most of our tastings feature range and variety, this one will focus on Prosser’s three very different – and we think masterful — expressions of pinot noir: the J.K. Carriere 2009 Provocateur WV Pinot Noir, 2009 Vespidae WV Pinot Noir, and 2009 Antoinette Limited Bottling Pinot Noir.
From vintage, to vineyard, to grape, to the name on the label, Prosser is nothing if not deliberate. Corporate escapee, world traveler, and one of Outside Magazine’s “25 Coolest People” in 2004, Prosser relies on personal experience and taste rather than popular notions during his winemaking process. He says, “We like our wines, like our friends and our dinner guests, to be vibrant in character, generous in spirit, acidic in wit, balanced in consideration of opposing tastes, and above all else… real.”
Stop by, chat with the winemaker himself, and let us pair a cheese plate with some of these pinots. Commence: weekend!
4:30-6:30 pm, free.
Bordeaux
Its been a long time since we have done Bordeaux, let alone Bordeaux varietals. This Friday we will pour a select group of Bordeaux, three representing a mini-vertical of a particular producer. Bordeaux seems to be a flagship wine of anyone’s cellar and with all of the press on the recent vintages (2009, 2005, 2000), along with increase in world wide demand the prices of escalated beyond the grasp of many. Yet, there are always wines hidden away from the critics eyes that provided great drinking pleasure along with age ability.
2009 Chateau Aney Haut-Medoc
2005 Chateau Aney Haut-Medoc
1996 Chateau Aney Haut-Medoc
2005 Chateau Gombaude Gillot Cadet de Gombaude Pomerol
2005 Chateau Boutisse St. Emillon
5-8 pm, $15.
Aged Guigal Côte Rôtie vs. Hermitage
Is it a vertical? A horizontal? It’s both! The name Guigal looms large in the Rhône valley especially in the north, Syrah country. Although one of the biggest domaines, their commitment to quality is unwavering and their Côte Rôtie and Hermitage can last decades. Last summer we drank these appellations side by side, same vintage and it was illuminating. Years in the bottle had peeled back the curtain of tannins and raw power revealing the underlying terroir characteristics. It was such a cool experience that we’ve decided to share. $30. Limited availability – Tasting is non-reservation, so first-come, first-served.
Michael Rhodes of Vine Merchants Distribution Group pours wines from Southwest France… including Martinolles Blanquette sparkling wine, Philemon Gaillac, Cros Marcillac VV, Laffitte-Teston Madiran, Mas del Perie Cahors.
5-7 pm, $5.
No Tasting
We’ve got a nice blend of three new release 2010’s, a stellar new 2009 and two very strong, classic 2008’s. 2010, as mentioned before, shows great promise. The wines are lower in alcohol than in recent memory while maintaining good balance and concentration from very long “hang time”. Hang time is the amount of time the grapes mature on the vine and in 2010, because of a very cool summer, the grapes hung extra long which enhances texture, length and concentration. 2010 had some of the longest hang time ever. The wines are not big, lush and forward. Out of the box they remind me of 2007, with maybe a bit more of everything. But like 2007, which has gone from panned to now considered one of the classics, the wines will need a bit of bottle age to flesh out. In the long run we’re in for a great vintage to buy and cellar. All of the 2010’s that we’re pouring are the “little” wines from the wineries offering them. The first releases, so to speak. All three are great values. I picked the three because they are all showing well right now and, like the 2010 Broadley, ready to go. The Cameron 2009 Arley’s from the Abbey Ridge Vineyard is awesome. It’s seamless from start to finish and, at just over 13 alcohol, has none of the heat in the finish that some 09’s have. Carabella continues to make solid wines in very small quantities. I’m a huge fan of their Pinot Gris and Chard and this estate Pinot Noir from the great 2008 vintage is sublime. I thought we had poured the 08 Beaux Freres “Beaux Freres Vineyard” before but after checking I see that we have not. If you’re a B F fan you simply have to have the 08 in your cellar. On February 1st this wine will become a “library release” and the price will go from $75 to $90! If you want the wine buy it in the next few days.
THE LINEUP
2010 Cummings Road, Yamhill- Carlton District $20
2010 Ayres, Ribbon Ridge- Eola Hills $21
2010 Patricia Green, Reserve $23
2008 Carabella, Estate/ Chehalem Mountains $37
2009 Cameron, Arley’s Leap/ Dundee Hills $39
PREMIUM POUR ($7) 2008 Beaux Freres, Beaux Freres Vineyard $75
That’s it for now. We’re headed for a terrific 2012 Pinot buying year considering all of the great 2010’s to be released. And the good news is that 2011 seems to be cut from the same mold. Let’s face it, lower alcohol Pinots with great flavor concentration is just about perfect!
4-8:00 pm, $15.
Dani from D’Vine Wine Imports – details to come
5-7:30, $10
BORDEAUX! Taste through a selection of new releases & some well aged Beauties!!
4:30-7:30, $15
J. Christopher and wines in clay pots!
If you drop by Friday night you will get a chance to try wines made in amphorae clay pots, white wines that have been made like red wines with extended skin contact and red wines grown on the slopes of volcanoes. The two main focal points will be the ultra rare extended skin contact Vermentino from Antonio Perrino in Liguria (1 case made it to Oregon) and the latest release from Jay Somers, the 2009 JJ Pinot Noir.
You may be asking yourself why a J. Christopher Pinot Noir would be considered extreme? Well, it is made with left over barrels from basically every vineyard Jay worked with in 2009. Those vineyards produced some of Jay’s best wines ever, garnering all sorts of crazy scores from publications like the Wine Advocate. The JJ, however, does not sell for 30.00 to 50.00 a bottle like the single vineyard wines. No, the JJ is an extreme deal at 15.00. We poured a blind sample of this wine at last Friday night’s tasting and people consistently guessed it would cost 30.00 to 40.00 a bottle. We had one person suggest 24.00 and that was the only guess under thirty bucks. Drop by Friday evening any time between the hours of 6:00 and 9:00PM if you would like to try the JJ for yourself!
6-9 pm, free.
Spanish
Spanish wines sound so good right now. Wines that practically shout warmth, richness, and the earth where they’re grown. Maybe it’s the sun outside that’s got me in the mood. Or perhaps it’s my unending wanderlust. Could be the fact that I just found out the “man bun” is the new look for certain hipster-ish types. Although that only makes me need a drink of whatever is set in front of me. The man bun. Really?? Better to think of Spain, I say. Even better to drink of Spain, whatever reason moves you. As always tomorrow at VINO we’ve gathered together some truly wonderful, character-filled bottles of Iberian produce. Things that I promise you’ll love (hint: if you want to love them more, grab some Olympic Provisions Rioja Chorizo to bring along) and will enhance your personal and edible well being. Just wait. One sip of these and the reason for the wine love will be self-evident….
* 2007 LUNA BLANCA Toro Tempranillo $10.95
* 2007 CUATRO PASOS Bierzo Mencia $11.95…90 pts- Wine Advocate
* 2009 CASA CASTILLO Monastrell $14.95…90 pts-Wine Advocate
* 2004 BODEGAS VALDEMAR Rioja Reserva $17.95…90 pts-Wine Advocate
* 2006 BODEGAS GUELBENZU Vine de la Tierra “Azul” $18.95
And then your bonus rewards come calling….
* 2006 ISIS Montsant $22.95
* 2007 CASAL NOVO Mencia “Valdeorras” $24.95..91 pts-Wine Advocate
* 2004 CIMS DE PORRERA Priorat “Solanes” $34.95….91 pts- Wine Advocate
4:30-8 pm, fee.
The Wine Cellar
TBD, 4-6:30 pm, free
Spain
5-7:30, $5 (waived with purchase)
The Best Chiantis in Oregon Part III
This Friday we’ll keep going on Italian Chianti in depth with our final week #3. We want to try the best of wines offered by the many wholesalers in Oregon in each price range. Last week we tasted a selection of $20 to $30 wines. For the final week we’ll do $10 to $30 bottles of last minute wines that didn’t fit into the first 2 weeks. We learned quite a bit the last 2 weeks and our goal is to find the finest wine in each price range so we can offer you the best buy for your wine money invested. The next categories we’ll focus on in a few weeks will be mid-priced red wines from Washington and then California.
6:30 pm, $10.
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