Chateau Bonnet, Bordeaux, France.

Recently I sampled two wines from Chateau Bonnet, a producer Bordeaux, France. This is one of Andre Lurton's properties, a man who has been at the forefront of Bordeaux wines for a very, very long time. M. Lurton has involvement in seven different wineries throughout Bordeaux, which creates great opportunities to get the best fruit possible in each of the wines. Chateau Bonnet itself dates back to the 17th century, and is about 10 kilometers south of St. Emilion. The Lurtons took over this property in 1956.

(img src: http://www.wjdeutsch.com)

The white, from the Entre-Deux-Mers region, is a blend of 50% sauvignon blanc, 40% semillon, and 10% muscadelle. These are the three white varietals allowed in white Bordeaux wines but it's rare to see them all together in one bottling.

Aromatically, this shows influences of the semillon with it's perfumed honeysuckle and sea-air aromas. I liked the hints of citrus lurking in the background, like a fresh cut key lime. There's a lovely wet-gravel mineral element at play too, perhaps a result of the muscadelle. While not an explosive bouquet by any means, there's a nice bit of elegance and finesse for such a relatively inexpensive white wine.

Like most other white Bordeaux I've tasted this year, the 2010 Chateau Bonnet retains great acidity, due in part to the lack of oak treatment. This vintage spent 4 months on the lees, but in steel tanks versus oak barrels. That lee-treatment contributes to a nice, full mouthfeel without excessive flabby elements. I enjoyed the interplay between the washed-limestone and lime juice flavors along with a hint of stone fruit meandering throughout the palate. For around $10, the complexity is impressive and shows what a good deal the Chateau Bonnet is.

I think this wine begs for grilled, lemon-herb marinated chicken. You could also get away with doing pasta and a cream sauce because the acidity is so vibrant. B and a BUY recommendation. Another French overachiever graces my glass, very cool!

(img src: http://www.wjdeutsch.com)

The second wine from Chateau Bonnet was a rosé, their 2010. It's a 50/50 blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot, coming in at all of 12.5% abv.

All sorts of delicious aromas waft up out of the glass, the predominant ones being strawberry, melon, and lime skin. There's a whiff of damp limestone at play too, along with some tart cranberry that also seems distant. Still, cutting through the flowery tasting notes, I can say that this wine smells delicious. It made my mouth water with every sniff and although I tasted on a cold Portland day, the aromas alone are indicative of spring and warm weather.

On the palate, lots of wild strawberry, cranberry, and limestone flavors dominate, with each of those contributing a deliciously acidic streak. This Bordeaux is light on its feet, and has just enough ripe fruit to create a flavor balance with the melon and limestone flavors. Texturally it is a lot of fun to explore, because a wine like this is one you feel on different parts of your palate at different times.

With that, at around $10 a bottle, it's a QPR winner. If you're into rosé, this is one to stock up on as we slowly move into spring. As you can tell, I enjoyed the flavor and texture in it, and think it would pair nicely with things like ceviche, grilled chicken salad, fish tacos, or even on its own.

Both the Chateau Bonnet white and rosé are available at New Seasons and other markets around the country. I did find them on wine.com too, but at $14 that's too much considering it's available for $9.99 at grocery stores. If you want your favorite wine store to carry them, the importer is W.J. Deutsch & Sons. Each one represents all that I love about simple, delicious French wines. They're quaffable, enjoyable, and perfect for sharing with your friends.

These wines were media samples for review purposes.

Beau Carufel

Spring Wine Tasting Roundup

Since spring is on it's way, I wanted to post up some tasting notes from samples I've received over the past few months. There's something for everyone here, from a delicious sauvignon blanc from New Zealand, a couple of fun reds from California, and a wonderful Rioja at an unbeatable price point. A quick check on www.wine-searcher.com will help you find any of these wines, and most are available nationwide.

2010 Brancott B. Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough:
Aromas of grapefruit, cut grass, and wet rock immediately let you know it’s a New Zealand sauvignon blanc. There’s a whiff of passion fruit, ever so faint, weaving amongst the grassy bouquet.
There’s really nothing wrong with this wine, it’s clean with lots of acidity that shows up as more citrus elements intermixed with tropical fruit and a twist of minerality. A varietally honest sauvignon blanc, if one that’s somewhat generic. At the price, around $10 most places, it's a great everyday white wine for the spring weather.



2007 Brancott Terraces Pinot Noir Marlborough:
Lots of red fruit and wood initially, but the wood isn’t necessarily oak as much as tree bark. Notes of black tea, soil, and a red licorice component round out the bouquet. Interesting and enticing are the two words that sprung to mind.
Very clean flavors of cherry, raspberry, and forest floor are held together by an uplifting acidity that creates a very pleasant, light mouthfeel. The finish is airy but works well for this wine. Not an especially textured pinot noir by any means, but one that's very easy to drink and versatile.

2009 Francis Ford Coppola Director’s Cut Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast:
Nice bouquet of warm dark fruit, baking spice, vanilla, and a hint of wooden match. Seems a bit tight but it’s hard to imagine this wine needing age considering the price. I kept returning to the glass to smell it, because the way the baking spices and red fruit are integrated is quite alluring.
The palate is too light and uninteresting, with one dimensional notes of red fruit. The finish is evaporative and all too brief. I rarely say it, but this wine tastes cheap. A pity, since 2009 produced some exceptional pinot noir in California. After the wonderful bouquet, the mouthfeel is a huge letdown.



2009 La Follette Sangiacomo Vineyard Pinot Noir:
Smells of green herb, oak, but with pleasant notes of earth and spices. Not much fruit, and surprisingly no heat considering the labeled 15.5% abv.
Clunky acidity dominates the palate, with some raspberry and plum notes struggling to manifest. Bright, linear acidity traces a line through some forest-floor and vanilla flavors. I think this is a big pinot noir struggling to find it's place, and perhaps needs some age.





2006 Camp Viejo Reserva Rioja:
Strong aromas of sundried tomatoes, herbs, cherries, and dusty red soil. Very much what I would expect in a Rioja. Good complexity indicates the wine might be drinking near or at it’s peak. Some subtle smoked-meat is present but very faint, hopefully it would come through more after some time open.
Easy drinking, with a tannin framework surrounding flavors of dried cherry, soil, and dried herbs. Slightly rustic, in a charming way. Finishes cleanly, with some light acidity paving the way for another bite of food. A killer deal for under $10 in most markets. This is one to stock up on for those Wednesday night pizza sessions!


2009 Francis Ford Coppola Claret:
Black fruit, herbs, dusty soil and some woodsy aromas. Very straightforward and unoffensive. I did find a strange-ish campfire or barbecue aroma, it added to the bouquet, gave it a sense of uniqueness. Unfortunately the integration of the various grapes isn't happening as well as I'd like though, with disparate elements refusing to coexist.
Initially very expressive with black fruit and tannin, wood, and campfire but it quickly became a mess of sweet fruit. That jammy note stayed through till the finish, where a nice tannic streak came to the rescue. Although the finish was brief, I think the structure saved it. Tasted the next day with consistent notes.

2009 Mandolin Cabernet Sauvignon Central Coast:
Simple bouquet of red fruit, wood smoke, earth, and not much else. A bit disappointing, but for around $10 it's precisely what I would expect from a Central Coast cabernet at that price level.
On the palate, flavors of salted meat and cherries persist with flavors of sulfur (burnt match) and a leathery tannin component. Over time, the mouthfeel evolves nicely, lending some dried currant flavors that do wonders to make this wine more palatable. Tasted the next day, it was much more complete and enjoyable.



2009 Parlay “The Bookmaker” Red Table Wine California:
The bouquet is full of candied red fruit, herbs, and earth. Some funk is present, but it blows off quickly. Good complexity, and appealing scents kept drawing me back for more sniffs. There are a lot of grapes here including cabernet sauvignon, syrah, petite sirah, and petite verdot.
A very ripe, fruit-forward wine with lots of plum and black cherry. I noted a vanilla-wood taste as well, indicative of oak barrel aging (or oak chips). This is mouth-filling red that people who enjoy that style will probably love. Lacks acid for my palate though, and the finish is too sweet and ripe, needs to lighten up and taper off more gracefully. That said, for $20 it's a nice bottle of wine that delivers at the price point.

2009 Graffigna Centenario Reserve Malbec Mendoza:
Smokey baking spices, cherry preserve, and plums followed by oak-vanilla notes make up the bouquet. It's very typical for a low-priced malbec and smells delicious.
This wine is lush and soft, but goes nowhere with that. Rather insipid, and the tannin that builds through the mid palate essentially creates a framework for fruit that should be there but is nowhere to be found. Very disappointing. Tasted the next day with consistent notes.




2009 Mandolin Syrah Central Coast:
Stinky nose of sulfur and rotting wood. Very disappointing. Perhaps something went wrong during fermentation?
Overripe, gloppy fruit that is reminiscent of artificial plum flavoring. Hollow through to the finish where an acidic kick surprised me, but not in a good way. Expected a lot more from this wine considering how nice the cabernet sauvignon was.







The good, the bad, the ugly. With the prices of these wines ranging from $7 all the way up to almost $40, I should have expected nothing less. What struck me though was how "processed" some of these wines tasted. In winemaker-speak, they'd be called "heavily manipulated", to a wine geek they don't express any sense of place. Put more bluntly, most of the cheaper wines here tasted sterile, like they were designed to fit a preconceived notion of what the wine should taste like. That is the price we often pay for inexpensive wine though. I suppose though, that finding those rare gems that are at once inexpensive but also expressive is what makes them special.

All the wines in this feature were media samples for review purposes.


Beau Carufel

Blind Tasting Oregon Pinot Noir, Round Two

After the last post on a blind tasting of Oregon pinot noir I did garnered some attention, I am writing up another blind tasting I did recently. Our friends Lars and Dave hosted Becky, Kim, and me at their beautiful house for a blind tasting of six pinot noirs, five from Oregon plus a ringer bottle I brought. More on that ringer bottle later...

The theme again was Oregon Pinot Noir, but the vintages and regions were up to us. As it happened, every pinot noir was from the Willamette Valley and the vintage spread was 2004-2010. Next time I am going to try to bring an older bottle and see if anyone mistakes it for a Burgundy.

I've been pretty down on 2009 Oregon pinot noir because most examples I've tasted were too ripe, flabby, and high in alcohol for my tastes. 2008 offers better age-ability and the 2007's are drinking fantastically well despite the many critics who gave the vintage a poor score. As an aside, I feel that the issue with the 2007 vintage illustrates another flaw in our continued reliance on supposedly "expert" wine critics who make proclamations which then have a very real impact on the sales of those wines.

Critic-bashing aside, I've been also very keen on 2010 pinot noir, because I love the acidity and more delicate fruit flavors compared to 2009. In the interests of integrity, I did try my best to throw my preconceived notions out the window for this blind tasting. It helped that the wines were in brown paper bags.

Below are the tasting notes for each wine, in order of tasting. I'll include my rankings, subjective as they might be, at the bottom of this post. The notes below are mostly unedited too, in the hopes that you'll see my thought processes as I tasted each wine.

1. 2010 A.F. Nichols Lillie's Vineyard Dundee Hills:
N: Aromas of grape stem, red cherry, and hints of herb and cola. Might be a touch of VA on the nose too, almost medicinal in nature. Smells young, this might be a 2010 or lighter-style 2009.
P: Light but with great acid, more of the grape stem quality. Red cherries and soil come through, very clean tasting. Good finish, a little bit sudden though. Lots of potential, could be great in a few years.

2. 2004 Left Coast Cellars Suzanne's Estate Reserve Willamette Valley:
N: VA? (ed: volatile acidity) Caramel..oak..darker fruit like wild strawberry mixed with black cherry. Some green stemmy qualities too. Could be a 2008, maybe older though? 2004/5?
P: Dried cherry, stemmy notes. Good acidity, really zings. Hints of rhubarb, minerality, and cola. A bit astringent on the finish, also somewhat evaporative. If this is young, it's got potential...if not, drink now..

3. 2009 Antica Terra Willamette Valley:
N: Earth and red fruit, smells young! Vibrant acidity but also some noticeable oak. Baking spices, something like damp forest floor too. Intriguing!
P: Ripe, rich style. 2009? Raspberry and strawberry fruits give it good acidity but it's just a bit too fleshy for my taste. Oak notes come through, not as strongly as on the nose. Easy drinking, good wine.

4. 2008 Vista Hills Tusculum Estate Dundee Hills:
N: Smells bad, like a skunk. Also some meaty, minty aromas. The skunky smell is distracting for me. Puzzling. Has some boozy thing too, an alcoholic burn in my nostrils.
P: Puzzling, there's a nice Oregon funk note, but also something almost Brettanomyces-like. Dark fruit and bramble on the finish. Tastes better than it smells but it's kind of rough going.

5. 2009 Lenne Yamhill-Carlton District:
N: Cherry/Strawberry candy, cherry pie, grape stems. Baking spices and lots of wood! Wowie.
P: Very ripe mouthfeel, interesting acidity, seems to weave in and out of the palate. Cola, cedar, and a peppery finish. Not that bad but it's not that good either. Most interesting aspect is the acidity and it's effect on the palate.

6. 2008 Elizabeth Spencer Special Cuvee Sonoma Coast:
N: Cherry preserves, a touch of alcoholic heat, but a lightness too. Ripe red fruits dominate but behind that is a spicy component which was immensely pleasing.
P: Light red fruits, it's muted compared to the aromas. Lower acid levels than the other wines, it is probably the California wine. Clean, easy drinking, touches of oak around the periphery.

Thanks for making it all the way down here! Here's my list, in order of preference. I've linked to cellartracker.com too so that you can get an idea of what the greater wine drinking community thinks too.

1. 2010 A.F. Nichols
2. 2009 Antica Terra
3. 2004 Left Coast Cellars
4. 2009 Lenne
5. 2008 Vista Hills
6. 2008 Elizabeth Spencer

In terms of rating, I held the Elizabeth Spencer out because it wouldn't be fair, but if I had to rate it, the third spot would be appropriate. Out of all the wines, the Antica Terra surprised me, and while I feel it is overpriced, the quality is undeniable. I'd never had Lenne or Vista Hills wines before, but know them by reputation, and I've heard good things about both producers. Stylistically, they're not what I look for in an Oregon pinot noir and I still struggle to figure out what that skunky smell was in the Vista Hills.

Blind tasting is a great way to find out where your bias lies, as long as you make the effort to toss out preconceived notions. While we don't blind-drink our wines, for educational purposes, blind tasting is perhaps the best way to get acclimated with a region new to you, or even to stay sharp on a region you're familiar with. In addition to all of that, blind tasting with your friends is a blast, as you all finish your own observations, the guessing game becomes a really fun activity. What blind tastings have you done recently?

Beau Carufel

Chateau La Nerthe: Tasting the Southern Rhone Valley

In February I had the opportunity to taste the current releases of the Chateau la Nerthe family of wines. This Chateau, dating back over 800 years, produces wine throughout the southern Rhone Valley. Besides the Chateau La Nerthe label, they also produce the Domaine De La Renjarde, Prieure de Montezargues, and La Petite Fontaine wines. As such, La Nerthe is both a producer and negotiant. The portfolio of Chateau La Nerthe is imported by Pasternak Wine Imports of New York.

The tasting, held at Mitchell Wines in Portland, featured seminars by Christian Voeux, winemaker, and Christophe Bristiel, export manager. The first seminar was led my M. Bristiel, discussing the southern Rhone's history, soil types, grape varieties, and production levels. It was informative and hopefully people left the seminar with a greater appreciation for the diversity in the Rhone Valley and specifically, the southern part.

M. Voeux took the stage next and begun to discuss the wines we would be tasting  that afternoon. The tasting was comprised of nine wines, ranging from a rosé to white Chateauneuf du Pape through to multiple vintages of the red Chateauneuf du Pape. A Gigondas was also thrown in by the folks at Mitchell, to give some context.

2011 Prieure de Montezargues Tavel Rosé:
Very fresh, off the boat that is. Beautiful pink tinge with a clear meniscus. This is comprised of white and red grenache, cinsault, clairette, syrah, mourvedre, and carignan. It's the proverbial kitchen-sink blend and in this package, the grapes harmoniously join to create a wonderful rosé. Aromas of wild raspberry and strawberry, bananas, and minerality carry through to the palate. Bracing acidity and the textural impact of grenache blanc create a delicious and refreshing wine. Why can't more domestic rosé be as deliciously refreshing as this?

2010 Chateau la Nerthe Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc:
This is the entry level white Chateauneuf du Pape, though at over $40 a bottle it's not cheap. White Chateauneuf du Pape accounts for only a fraction of the total production of the AOC, contributing to the higher prices compared to other white wines of France. This example is surprisingly pale, almost like a Sancerre. A blend of grenache blanc, roussanne, clairette, and bourbelenc. The bouquet erupts with pear, apple, and citrus peel scents along with a whiff of briny air and wet stone. At once both rich and drying, the Chateau La Nerthe is smooth and carries the flavors of pear, golden apple, and melon along for the ride.

2009 Chateau La Nerthe Clos de Beauvenir Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc:
I'll get right to the point: This is a stunningly good wine. Yes, it's over $110 a bottle, but the blend of roussanne and clairette blanc create a gorgeous bouquet of wood-tinged cream, honeysuckle, rocky minerality, and orange pith. The palate is focused with notes of oak, lees, peach skin, white flower, and a lifting acidity that tapers off exquisitely. Comparable in complexity to white Burgundies, this wine will only get better with age.

2010 La Petite Fontaine Cotes du Rhone:
There's a reason wine geeks eschew a lot of sub-$10 California red wines. It's because of wines like this. At around $10 a bottle, this blend of grenache, syrah, mourvedre, and carignan is jam-packed with aromas of spice, wood smoke, bramble, and mint leaf. It's a friendly, everyday red wine that has great notes of tar, black cherry, raspberries, and earth. Finishing with a clean, quick note of cedar and spice, I was left admiring what the French can do that California seemingly can't.

2009 Domaine de la Renjarde Cotes du Rhone Massif d'Ucheaux:
Hailing from the 250 hectare appellation of Massif d'Ucheaux, this is 50% grenache, 25% syrah, 15% cinsault, and 10% carignan. Slightly more expensive than the La Petite Fontaine, it brings focused aromas of berries and spice, pepper, and tar. The mouthfeel is medium, with some tannin framing black fruit, red licorice, and finishing with a burst of white pepper. At around $15-20 on store shelves, this too showcases the continued Old World charm of sub-$20 wines.

2007 Domaine Santa Duc "Les Garancieres" Gigondas:
Thrown in to give some context, this decidedly "rustic" blend of 80% grenache, 15% syrah, and 5% mourvedre reeked of Brettanomyces contamination. Major fail.

2008 Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge:
The first of two vintages of the base Chateauneuf, this from a cooler year. It pours a dark, inky garnet in the glass and unleashes a gorgeous bouquet of savory, dark red fruits, spices, and earth. The cooler year's effect on the palate doesn't go unnoticed, with this CdP veering towards riper red cherry and spice that's strangely restrained. The finish is quick and evaporative, leaving you wishing for more. I suspect this will improve with some aging, though it's a tough sell at over $40 per bottle.

2007 Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge:
This vintage is considered the better of the two, thanks in part to an Indian Summer around harvesttime. Similarly colored to the '08, a beautiful dark garnet. The nose is all spicy red fruit, green olive, and pepper, proportioned nicely and interwoven very well. Initially I was struck by the simplicity of the red fruit notes, but after a few seconds the tannin showed up along with a stony, spicy mix of flavors that carried through to the finish. I think this is drinking beautifully right now and will get better over the next five to ten years.

2005 Chateau La Nerthe Cuvee Cadettes Chateauneuf du Pape:
Talk about ending on a high note! From a 1.2 ton:acre farmed vineyard, this is a wine that is only made in the best years and always held back for additional barrel and bottle aging. It's well over $100 a bottle on store shelves and is one of those "collectible" French reds. A blend of grenache, mourvedre, and syrah, this is classic Chateauneuf. A whiff of Brettanomyces on the nose adds intrigue to the green olive, black cherry, baking spice, and dusty minerality present. The mouthfeel is deep and profound, seemingly never to end. More of the olive and Brett notes, pepper-dusted red cherry, flashes of oak, and a round, smooth tannin that creates a finish which lasts for a full minute. Outstanding wine, if you can find it. This will continue to get better for another 10-15 years.

Attending this tasting was a great experience for me, as most of my Rhone education has come relatively piecemeal up to now. Being able to listen to the winemaker, M. Voeux, discuss each wine was very educational and helped me understand each wine that much more. I have knocked the 2005+ Rhones for being too extravagant, too alcoholic, and too ripe. Tasting these wines reminded me that it's dangerous to make such generalizations, and wines with balance, power, AND finesse exist in every vintage.

Beau Carufel

Portland Wine Tweetup, March 22nd, With Cave de Lugny

What are you doing on Thursday, March 22nd? If you're a Portland resident, I highly recommend joining us for a night of wine tasting at Taste on 23rd. The wines poured with be from Cave de Lugny, a producer located in Burgundy, France. We'll kick off the festivities at 7:00pm and taste wine, nibble appetizers, and tweet till 9:00 pm. The wine and appetizers will be provided free of charge, all we ask is that you enjoy yourself and tweet about the tasting!

Now, who is the "us"? I was approached by a company called Lush Life Productions to write this post (full disclosure: I'm not being paid to do this) and figured it would be a good way to meet more Portland area wine and food bloggers. As a newbie to the area, I'd love to get more involved in the wine culture here and the chance to drink some Burgundian wines with like-minded bloggers fits the bill perfectly.

What can you do to help? If you're so inclined, some tweets about this blog post would be greatly appreciated, as would any comments or suggestions down below. In other words, getting the info out to the masses! I'd like to get 40 or more people to show up, and your help would be greatly appreciated.

Who is Cave de Lugny? The short story is that Cave de Lugny is a co-op in Burgundy, producing red, white, and sparkling wines. Specifically, the co-op is located in Macon, the AOC of Burgundy which produces the most white wine of the entire region. At present, total production is about six million bottles, spread across red, white, and sparkling wines. Cave de Lugny was in fact Burgundy's first co-operative, founded in 1926. In terms of our discussion, a co-op, is where farmers bring their grapes to the winery where the winemaker takes over and produces the best wine possible. This system is in use in France, Spain, Italy, and many other places around the world, save for the United States.

During the Tweetup, we'll be using the hashtag #CaveDeLugny. All you do is append it to your tweets and then everyone following along will see what you're saying, doing, and most importantly, sipping! I'd also recommend following Pasternak Wine Imports Twitter Account @PasternakWine, they're the U.S. importers of Cave de Lugny. For those new to my blog, my Twitter accounts are @UCBeau and @BeausBarrelRoom, feel free to tweet at me anytime.

So then, that's my pitch to you! Will I be seeing you on the 22nd at Taste on 23rd?

Beau Carufel

Weekend Des Grands Crus - May 12-13 in Bordeaux, France

Are you going to be in Europe this May? If so, you might be interested in the Weekend des Grands Crus, taking place in Bordeaux on May 12th &13th. It's billed as a tasting of the 2009 vintage, and there will be more than 100 Chateaux pouring their wines during the weekend-long festivities.

Last month I got a press release for this event, and although I probably can't make it (unless someone else foots the bill), I figured I'd share the details for anyone planning a trip to France/Bordeaux in the spring.

"The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux would like to invite lovers of Fine Wine to an exclusive weekend in Bordeaux tasting top wines from key appellations. This is a rare opportunity to taste more than a hundred great wines, including the 2009 vintage, under one roof presented by the winemakers of these great chateaux. And after the tasting, we suggest you prolong your stay to attend one of the prestigious dinners taking place in some of these châteaux and join one of our vineyard tours."

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GRANDS CRUS TASTING
Over one hundred owners will be pouring two vintages of their great wines, including the 2009 vintage, in the heart of the city of Bordeaux, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
10.30-17.00 - Hangar 14, quai des Chartrons, Bordeaux
60€ (30 € for students and wine professionals)

DINNERS AT GRANDS CRUS CHATEAUX
Enjoy the hospitality of chateau owners at their estates over a prestigious dinnervand learn more about Grands Crus wines.
20.00 - Dinner at wine estates
140 €

SOIRÉE DES GRANDS CRUS
Join the new generation of chateaux owners at a chic wine bar accompanied by music from a leading DJ with a delicious buffet and great wines.
20.00-02.00 - Bordeaux (adults aged 18-40)
60 €
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On Sunday, May 13th the program will be as such:
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VINEYARDS TOURS
Full day
90 € (tastings,tours and lunch included)
Those who prefer bespoke tastings at wine estates can choose from three bus tours, departing from Bordeaux: (1) Médoc (2) Saint-Emilion and Pomerol (3) Pessac-Léognan, Graves and Sauternes.

or

OPEN DAY
Full day
Free
Visits to participating UGCB chateaux in Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe.

UNION DES GRANDS CRUS TROPHY
A tournament will be arranged for golfing enthusiasts and estate owners. Green fee and lunch included.
Golf du Médoc
85 €
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If you are able to go or even interested in going and need more information, here are the contact details for the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux: www.ugcb.net or  grands.crus@ugcb.net

Beau Carufel

Harvest 2011 At Kramer Vineyards

Did any major, life changing events happen to you in 2011? I suspect most readers here know about my move to Oregon and subsequent experience as a harvest intern, followed by my hiring as a tasting room manager. Originally I meant to write this blog post in November or December, but I kept putting it off because I could never figure out how to convey my experiences properly.

I'll give it a shot now, so please read on. Enjoy the pictures too! Here's a link to my Facebook photo gallery of Harvest 2011 pictures too.

When I first arrived in Oregon, I had no job, having quit Trader Joe's to move here. I was looking for work, sending out resumes and meeting prospective employers left and right. As you can imagine, it's a stressful time, living off one's savings and all. Becky's family (who own and operate Kramer Vineyards) was great during this period, offering me a chance to help out at the winery during Harvest. Because it provided much-needed income and gave me a chance to gain valuable production-side wine experience, I jumped at the chance.

Not so ripe, but very disease-free grapes

I got lost on the way to Kramer Vineyards on my first day. Driving along unfamiliar roads, mind racing, the pressure on, and I blew it. Thankfully I took a right turn at the next town and continued on my way. Arriving only about 15 minutes behind schedule, my first day consisted of watching the pickers lug bucket after bucket of chardonnay into the bins and peppering Kim Kramer, winemaker, with questions. I helped punch the pickers tickets, one punch per bucket, and when the fruit was in, we walked up to the winery.

Glamor? Nah.

Wine seduces us with the image of glamorous life in the vineyards, walking among gorgeous vines or gaily stomping grapes avec les pieds while a man in a vest strums a guitar in the background. When you're sitting on top of a drum press, sticky with grape juice, surrounded by yellowjackets, buffeted by cold winds, and bashing your knuckles bloody on the icy cold metal of the elevator, the romance is sucked out of life itself. All you can think about is that there are a few tons of grapes left until you're able to climb down and warm yourself next to a hissing propane heater.

Only after climbing down off that press, after the last grapes of the day were crushed to juice and fed into their respective tanks, did I begin to understand what I was a part of. We often grab a bottle off the shelf, open it, and enjoy the wine as it is. Rarely do we consider how that wine got into our glass, instead living in the moment of joy that wine brings. A sense of pride, honor, and contentment paced my fatigue, lifting my spirits as I drove through the darkness back to my home. I was finally part of creating something, a beverage that does so much for us, and for me personally.

As Harvest 2011 continued, I kept learning. Simple things like putting on a hose fitting correctly, shutting off the pump as the barrel fills up, opening this valve or that valve at the right time, and how to ignore those Yellow Jackets. Kim and Keith (Kim's dad, winemaker, viticulturalist, farmer) taught me more about wine; what goes into a press, a vat, a fermenter, a tank, a barrel, and lastly, a bottle. I learned about different yeast strains, barrel treatments, how to monitor fermentation and take notes, how to punch a cap down and how to pump over that cap. Wine began to change for me, for while I could now explore wine in more detail, and while the great ones excited me more than ever, so did I lament the bad wines ever more strongly.

By all accounts, Harvest was going very well. The fruit coming in was of excellent quality, without problems like botrytis, mildew, or bunch rot. Mid-October's string of sunny, relatively warm days provided a lifeline to 2011's growing season, allowing the grapes one last burst of ripening energy. Some blocks didn't get fully ripe though, and I learned which parts of the vineyards would ripen more fully than others. Those relatively underripe grapes went into sparkling wine (which we pressed to tank on Day 1) and rosé, one of pinot noir and one of carmine. Believe me when I tell you, those wines are going to be incredible. You'll have to wait till late spring before they're released though.

Somehow I managed these days relatively injury-free, which is an achievement. The crush pad is a dangerous place, with heavy equipment moving, hard metal protruding, winery dogs lounging, and watery grape must everywhere. At night I'd read up on the adventures of other harvest interns and winemakers, journeying with them as they struggled with weather, schedules, and all sorts of details that go into 750 ml of the good stuff.

Doing important things.

Working on a small, family owned winery also exposed me to realities of the wine industry. I was dismayed to watch critics at major publications turn in harvest reports where they talked to the folks at the million-dollar facilities and no one else. In fact, I got a little pissed because I felt that the little guys, especially ones with heritage firmly behind them, were getting hardly any coverage. Even the wine blogging set, always ones to trumpet their independence from publications, scarcely mentioned or made an effort to tell the story of what goes on at a small winery producing the best wines they can on the very fringes of the climate-zone. Laziness mixed with apathy perhaps.

Yet the days continued, the fruit wasn't going to stop coming in just because I was full of self-righteous anger. Work needed to be done and I needed to pull my weight. After all the pinot noir was in, we turned to sorting and de-stemming the fruit. If there was ever a tedious job during Harvest, this is it. Luckily I was working the sorting table with good people, helping pass the time much quicker. The fruit quality was excellent, lots of ripe clusters, not much rot or mildew anywhere. After it passed through our table it met the de-stemmer before being unceremoniously dumped into the fermenter bins.

This is not how you work a sorting table.

In those white plastic bins the hungry yeast began to do their work. There are no expensive concrete eggs or ceramic-lined concrete tanks here because Kramer Vineyards wasn't started as a vanity project by some millionaire who wanted the wine country lifestyle. If there is "real wine", this is how it's made. Years of experience and careful attention to detail mixed in with practical application of knowledge work together to shepherd grapes into wine. Balancing what the yeast does naturally with avoidance of issues like volatile acidity and stuck fermentations requires an artist's touch.

So it went, I watched and learned, asked questions, and worked. Knowledge gained that hopefully will be put to good use this coming year. That is a hint, folks. Twelve days passed with chardonnay, pinot gris, and muller-thurgau in tanks while the pinot noir sat in bins bubbling along merrily. If you ever get the chance to visit a winery after Harvest, do so, the aroma will stay with you forever. The air is tangy, perhaps from the carbon dioxide, and carries a distinct grapey smell.

Once the yeast are exhausted, it's time to load the gloppy mess into our faithful, knuckle destroying drum press. Shoveling thousands of pounds of grapes never felt so good. Actually, it doesn't feel good at all but it's a hell of a workout. That activity helped delay my nearly inevitable Portland weight gain by a month! The Harvest Diet, eat whatever the hell you want but work your ass off. The press uses barely any pressure to gently extract the juice from the grapes, and that juice is then sent to a settling tank where it rests until the day comes when we must barrel it and put those barrels into the cellar for aging.

Anyone who's worked a Harvest and filled barrels has invariably overfilled one..or more..I miraculously got away with just one geyser-like eruption of wine, my attention wandered while I filled the barbera we'd brought in from Washington. No more than a few gallons of the vivid purple stuff were lost though.

Once the barbera was put away, Harvest was basically over. 43 tons of fruit in, all of it now resting and evolving into wines I will be proud to drink. Authenticity is a huge buzzword in the wine world right now, so I propose this: authentic wine shows grapes in their most expressive form, and authentic wines are made by small producers who are bereft of high tech tools and facilities, who labor out of passion and dedication.





Harvest 2011 was an amazing experience, the ripples of which I am still feeling.

Beau Carufel

Panini and Barbera, and Life.

This afternoon Becky went out and bought a panini grill, fulfilling a long-held intent of ours. With that purchase, tonight became "panini night" at the abode. Becky enthusiastically manned the grill, such as it was, and created various combinations of panini that included ham/cheddar/mustard, onion/turkey/swiss/spinach-dip, and ham/spinach/swiss/spinach-dip. Aside from making me fat, Becky was experimenting to find flavor combinations we'd like.

As is usually the case, I was left wondering what wine to open this evening. My requirement was simple: whatever I opened had to be Italian. Armed with this strident selection criteria, I engaged my friend Meg Maker, via Twitter, to see what she'd recommend. If you haven't read Meg's wine blog, check it out because I guarantee you will learn something while enjoying the story she tells.

Meg immediately suggested a barbera, bringing joy to my heart and palate because Becky and I had just purchased some barbera at an Italian wine tasting several weeks ago. A local wine store, E&R Wine Shop, was responsible for my new-found (or: re-kindled) enthusiasm towards wines from "The Boot".

This 2008 Iuli Barbera del Monferrato proved to be a wonderful match for grilled sandwiches. The bouquet is bright with red fruit and pepper, tobacco, and a whiff of Old World funk. It smells authentic, it smells of a real wine, made without high tech gizmos and gadgets but made with care, attention to detail, and passion. I can respect that. The beautiful garnet color lends itself to a wine that tastes like red fruit and soil with tart acidity keeping the troops in line. Light body, a clean finish, and a singularly beautiful simplicity leave me wishing I had a better vocabulary so as to do this wine justice.

Experiences like tonight's serve to remind me (us?) that you don't need to spend a lot of money for a wine to be special or memorable. Sometimes a simple, cheap, authentic barbera paired with your girlfriend's first attempts at panini are all you need to remember just how good you have it.

Beau Carufel

#WineChat, Hosted by @Beckyboo503 and @UCBeau, February 29!

That's right, Oregon's premiere wine power couple* will be hosting a #WineChat next week, on February 29th! Since we live in the Pacific Northwest, our focus will be on obscure and under-appreciated wines from these parts. We urge you to do the same and support small producers in the region.

Everyone knows that Oregon makes great pinot noir and Washington's red blends are among the best in the United States. Big deal! What about zinfandel from the Columbia Gorge or dolcetto from Washington? Bet you've never tried those before! Have you ever had a wine made from Marechal Foch? This #Winechat is all about stepping beyond your comfort zone and having fun!

We're awash in an ocean of pinot gris, most of it about as interesting as Coors Light. There's chardonnay and riesling in these parts, but big deal, those are grown all over the country. How about trying siegerrebe from the Puget Sound or gruner veltliner from the Willamette Valley?

The idea here is that trying more wines will make you a better wine taster. Rules don't exist, so feel free to bring whatever you desire to the virtual table. Becky and myself will be sipping some wines from Whidbey Island Winery, ones we ordered just for this awesome event.

2009 Whidbey Island Winery Siegerrebe
2009 Whidbey Island Winery Madeleine Angevine
NV Whidbey Island Winery Island White

So then, you might ask how to participate, and the answer is simple. #WineChat works via Twitter, and we recommend using a free program like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to follow along. Participants will be using the hashtag "#winechat" during the roughly one hour long virtual tasting. As with every #WineChat, the event is open to any and all who want to have fun and talk about what's in their glass.

We hope to see you there! For more information on what #WineChat is, visit Marie Payton's website The Life of Vines and click the #WineChat page. Cheers!

*the term "wine power couple" is used loosely but is 100% accurate, we are in fact bundles of pure awesomeness. Just sayin'

Beau Carufel

Oregon Pinot Noir Blind Tasting

A few weeks ago Becky and I took part in a blind pinot noir tasting with her parents friends. They are part of a tasting group that meets once a month and we were fortunate enough to be invited, perhaps due to our good behavior the previous time..perhaps... While the theme was Oregon pinot noir, due to a misunderstanding I thought the theme was just pinot noir, and therefore brought along an international sample that I hoped would wow the rest of the tasters. More on that later.

This was what I'd term a "loose-blind" tasting because the only knowns were that we were tasting pinot noir and it was (supposedly) from Oregon. The vintage spread was 2001-2010, in my mind a great thing because it forced us all to think about each wine and dredge up previous tasting experiences. I always tell people looking to learn more about wine that blind tasting is one of the most effective tools you can use. Reading books is great, so is visiting tasting rooms and large events, but blind tasting engages the brain's memory centers in a powerful way, teaching us to evaluate and retain the characteristics of wines we taste.

Below is a list of the wines we tasted, put in order from first to last according to my rankings that night. It's important to note that this only represents how the wine tasted to me that night, and isn't necessarily an indicator of overall quality. I am presenting my tasting notes raw and unedited, save for spelling corrections, so that you might get the most accurate possible view of what I smelled and tasted.

1. 2010 Willamette Valley Vineyards Whole Cluster Pinot Noir Willamette Valley:
Nose: Candy (jolly rancher), strawberries, vanilla..oak, clean and fresh. Green notes..stemmy even, partial whole-cluster fermented? Good stuff, I like how intense the bouquet is without veering into jam territory.
Palate: Light, uplifting fruit, red cherries and wild strawberries. Green, stemmy notes add texture. Some tannin, grippy, but not overwhelming. Impressive balance, light yet intense and full. YUM.

2. 2009 Craggy Range "Te Muna Road" Pinot Noir Martinborough:
Nose: Zippy raspberry, rose petal, hints of baking spice, and a touch of oak. Beautifully aromatic, reminds me of the best of CA and OR pinot's. 2006/7Oregon pinot?
Palate: Ripe red berry, oak, spices, raspberry jam, taut acidity that refreshes the palate. Great structure. Impressive! **Note: I later threw this result out because the wine was not from Oregon.**

3. 2009 Montinore Estate Reserve Pinot Noir Willamette Valley:
Nose: Oregon funk, bright fruit, woody. Nice minerality, it's a dusty, earthy kind. Balanced nose, I like the interplay between the fruit and forest floor notes.
Palate: Nice acidity, keeps the mouthfeel light and fun. Red fruit...cherry and raspberry, good proportions of each. Well-integrated tannin, this is so approachable and friendly right now. Young, 2009 or 2010 maybe?

4. 2001 Panther Creek Cellars Bednarik Vineyard Pinot Noir Willamette Valley:
Nose: Very light, with red fruit and a hint of green stems. Some earth and Oregon funk that's and muted. Seems graceful, could be an older vintage?
Palate: Very smooth approach brings some fruit, spice, and a touch of oak. There's some alcohol on the finish but it's not too harsh. Nice flavor integration, seems kind of simple though, lacking any "wow" factor.

5. 2006 Oak Knoll Red Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir Willamette Valley:
Nose: Loads of bacon-y meat, teriyaki, dark fruits, and brown sugar. Interesting savory notes, could it be Brettanomyces? Not much fruit or Oregon funk pushing through, hard to figure what this is.
Palate: Oaky, like really oaky. Sweet baking spices, cured meats, but here are some bright red fruits finally coming out. Very mellow palate presence, smooth and soft despite the spice and oak. Uninspiring though.

6. 2008 Johan Nils Reserve Pinot Noir Willamette Valley:
Nose: Tons of oak, like a vanilla-soaked bag of wood chips. Behind the oak lie ripe red cherry and herb aromas, but it's disappointingly oaky compared to the others. Very light bit of funk, almost completely washed out by the wood.
Palate: Sweet oak and cherry preserves dominate, the acidity feels beaten down. May be a young pinot but right now it's just too heavy and clunky to enjoy. Hopefully not the wine I brought! Sticks out for the wrong reasons.





What, if any, conclusions can I draw from this tasting? 

A lot, actually: I have much to learn about Oregon pinot noir, for starters. Also I realized that I've got to learn how to blind-taste better. In this case, I let myself get distracted and I think my notes showed that. My distrust of what my palate tells me is another thing to work on, and I think it's something a lot of us do. Often what our gut (or palate) tells us right away is invaluable and attention must be paid to those "hunches".

The poor showing by the Johan Nils Reserve was a shock, since Johan is one of my favorite Oregon producers and I am always touting them to my friends and family. I think the Nils will get better with age though, it's going through a "dumb" phase. Willamette Valley Vineyards shocked me with their Whole Cluster pinot, it was so good and so cheap, around $20! Montinore's wines impressed me last time I visited and it was good to see that it wasn't a fluke. The group really enjoyed the Estate Reserve pinot noir, and at around $25 it's a bargain for the quality level.

While I had to discard the wonderful Craggy Range Te Muna Road from the final standings, it really held up against Oregon's array, further proof that New Zealand has come into their own as a pinot noir producer. In the interests of full disclosure, it was a sample sent to me for review purposes.

I suppose tastings like these serve to remind us all that wine is dynamic, ever-changing, and learning about it is a task you will never finish. It could be worse though, because educating yourself about wine is perhaps one of the most fun activities you can do.

Beau Carufel