What’s going on in Oregon…
By David Keck
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to Oregon to help judge the Oregon Wine Experience wine competition with a few colleagues. Two Master Sommeliers (my colleague Jim Bube and yours truly), two Masters of Wine (Bob Paulinski and Sheri Morano) and two wine writers (Tonya Pitts and Peg San Felippo) blind tasted around 350 Oregon wines over two days to give out some medals and comment on what is happening in Oregon wine making. Thankfully the weather was mild and the fires subdued, and I also had the pleasure of reconnecting with a couple of our Oregon producers to see some of the new and cool things they are doing!
Before the competition (which occurred at the Asante Foundation in Medford, OR), we were in the Willamette Valley, and Bree Stock, MW from Limited Addition picked me up to walk one of their vineyard sources in the Chehalem Mountains. This vineyard is truly beautiful, with vines spanning everything from some of the earliest Oregon plantings of Pinot Noir, to Bree and Chad’s small blocks of Blaufränkisch, Saint Laurent, Grüner Veltliner, and of course, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
A major topic of conversation in Oregon last week was climate change and diversification. And one thing that Chad and Bree are doing exceptionally well with their Limited Addition project is just that. Stay tuned for some very exciting new releases from them later in the summer.
Driving back we made a quick stop at the Soter Mineral Springs Ranch—a truly stunning location—and picked up a couple of new releases from them. More on that to come…
The following, chilly (!) morning we also were able to catch up with John Grochau and taste through some of his latest releases. John, much like Bree and Chad, is acutely aware of how delicate the balance is in the valley with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and we tasted some releases from him of Albariño (delicious, citrusy, and a beautiful New World version of this Spanish variety), Gamay from the organic Redford-Wetle vineyard (in stock in Vermont already!), as well as the Pinot Noir from this remarkable site. As we stood, looking over the beautiful Keeler estate, Bree also walked us through their Old Vine Cabernet Franc (a huge favorite of all the wine judges and also in stock in tiny quantity in the 802), a new blend of amphora fermented Pinot Noir-Gamay-Trousseau, and their delicious Chenin Blanc.
It was amazing to taste through so much of what is happening in Oregon, exciting to see what is coming from our producers, and simultaneously terrifying to see the damage from the fires, not just on the countryside but showing up in so many of the wines that we tasted blind. The future is very exciting for Oregon winemaking, but much rests on having the foresight to plant new grape varieties and work with them in innovative ways. Stay tuned for some fun new discoveries from this terrific state. Oh, VT Beer Shepherd also represents some of the best beers out of OR—but hopefully you knew that already!