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SOME OREGON SELECTIONS
- PONZI VINEYARDS
 When the going gets tough, the tough get going. The
Ponzi's left California for greener pastures (or vineyards) and established their
world-famous winery in 1974. They are now viewed as "old-timers", having
so many vintages under their belts. As a result, people blinded by the newest,
latest, "hippest", hardest-to-get brands often overlook Ponzi. Pity.
Because this winery routinely turns out some of Oregon's best wines and they have
down-to-earth pricing policies. This sort of mentality is to be applauded and
deserves support. I have been at trade tastings of  Oregon wines and taste the wines from the "new kids on
the block" which have amazingly high prices because "they're scarce".
Try pouring "scarcity" into your wine glass!
Ponzi has long made good Pinot Noirs. We recently had a taste of some older
vintages and I was delighted that they've more than "held up" but are terrific
wines (at 10-15 years of age!). Ponzi doesn't use as much new oak as some of its
neighbors, so if you're looking for the biggest, oakiest Pinot on the block, you'll
probably not find it here.
In
March of 2004 we were invited to sit in on a "vertical tasting" of
Ponzi Pinot Noirs.
Check out my notes by clicking here.
The 2006 "regular" Pinot is quite a delicious bottle of wine. It
has an elegance and refinement typical of this vintage and a very fair price tag.
It's their standard recipe for good Pinot Noir: good grapes, a few oak
barrels, various vineyard selections and then nearly a year in wood before
bottling. We like the notes of cherry and just the faintest touch of
oak in this wine. Hopefully it will not get the accolades from some
wine writers as did last years' wine. We were amused to have requests
for an earlier vintage SOLELY on the basis of a 90+ point score from
people who, had they tasted the wine for themselves, would have by-passed
this in favor of more Cabernet or Syrah-like offerings.
 Young Nikko Ponzi-Hamacher shows off some vines which are nearly
the same age as he is!-
- They routinely turn out one of the best Pinot Gris wines on the west coast.
Being friendly with Vietti winery owner/Padrone Alfredo Currado, the 'step-father' of
Piemonte's "Arneis" grape, the Ponzi's have been fooling around this
variety. I am pleased to note that the 1998 vintage marked the end of the
"fooling-around era" and the start of the "getting-serious era".
The current vintage is worthy of comparison with the wines from
Piemonte's Roero region.
 In
response to market demands for wines which are sensibly-priced and of good
quality, the Ponzi's offer a new label called "Tavola." They've
been making this for but a few years and the past couple of vintages have been
really good. The 2006 is remarkably fine and one of the best buys in
Oregon Pinot Noir.
The wine was matured for eleven months in French oak, 30% of the barrels being
brand new. It's terrific quality, comparable to good "village"
level wines from Burgundy, for example. I chided winemaker Luisa Ponzi for
making a wine of relatively modest alcohol in this day where critics look for
power, huge levels of alcohol and tons of oak. Tongue-in-cheek, I
suggested she make a 15 or 16% alcohol wine for future vintage so that consumers
who drank a few glasses of this would be "sotto la tavola."
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Pinot Gris (or grigio, if you prefer) is also made. I find it more
along the lines of the drier wines from Alsace (that small percentage of winemakers who
still make "dry" wines) more than a typical Italian Pinot Grigio. This
means it has the floral, hinting-at-spice notes on the nose and is dry and flavorful on
the palate. The 2006 is spot-on! Screw cap bottle this year,
too!
 Arneis is a
wonderful wine here. The Ponzi family is friendly with the Currado
family in Italy's Piemonte. Alfredo Currado is the first (we
think) to dabble with the Arneis grape in the 1970s. Alfredo had read
about this grape and, one day in church in 1973, he got up and asked if
anybody had some Arneis grapes..."Please bring them to the winery and
I'll buy them." That afternoon, a large procession of trucks and
wagons rolled into their little town and the first Vietti Arneis was
vinified.
Today, thanks to
his efforts, many wineries in the Langhe region make Arneis.
And the
Ponzi family makes Arneis, too. Early vintages showed
"promise," but this 2007 vintage delivers! It's quite dry,
fresh with hints of lemon, white flowers and a touch of a pear
note.
It's perfectly suited to a wide range of dishes, from Prosciutto & Melon
to a seafood pasta to a Fritto Misto of seafood...And it has just the right
amount of oak: none! The 2007 is $19.99 a bottle...
Luisa is also responsible for "Vino Gelato", a dessert wine made from
frozen grapes. The quality has been improving each vintage and I think they've
finally gotten it right! We tasted a new vintage of this on our visit to the winery.
She was surprised when we mentioned these wines made from freezer-frozen fruit
all taste alike, regardless of the variety. Her new wine tasted more like Riesling.
She indicated she pressed the fruit only a week after freezing. Typically
these are done a month or two after freezing and perhaps this contributes to the identical
character of these American-made post-harvest frozen-grape wines?
- Dick Ponzi was a mechanical engineer and was solicited to be a judge for a
competition to design and build a "weather machine" in downtown Portland.
He's such a creative soul, he declined the invitation saying he'd prefer to participant as
an entrant in this competition. His design won and you'll find an interesting
"sculpture" (or contraption) which is Portland's "official" weather
machine. He probably wishes he could have built something which would help control
the weather, rather than merely "indicate" what the conditions are.
They'd, then, no doubt, have more outstanding vintages in Oregon!
In an attempt at furthering the image of Oregon's wines, the Ponzi family recently
opened The Culinary Center in Dundee. There's a terrific restaurant called "The
Dundee Bistro" featuring Oregon wines especially, but also wines from other parts of
the planet as well.
The Ponzi's have a tasting room next door with a wine bar and wines from their own
production along with a number of the neighboring properties.
- 2007 Arneis $19.99
2007 Pinot Gris $15.99
- 2005 "Reserve" Pinot Noir $59.99
2006 "regular" Pinot Noir SALE-PRICED $32.99
2006 TAVOLA Pinot Noir List $25 SALE $22.99
- DOMAINE DROUHIN
 Drouhin
is a French family from Burgundy. Their label in Beaune is "Joseph
Drouhin". The head honcho, "Dad" (Robert Drouhin) was very impressed
when he tasted an Oregon Pinot Noir from David Lett's "The Eyrie Vineyards".
So impressed, he ventured to the Willamette Valley and found a vineyard site near
Dundee. Established in 1988, Robert's daughter Veronique is "Boss" in
 Oregon. Really. She's married to a fellow named
"Boss". (I don't make this stuff up, you know.)
The lady in the photo to the right is Eve...she's the glue that holds the place
together at Drouhin.
The first wines were mighty impressive, having lovely Pinot fruit and a nice touch
of oak. Drouhin's Burgundy wines have been, generally, "correct", I
suppose, but I've rarely been excited by them (though I have had some nice and enjoyable
bottles....they are simply not the most "dramatic" wines being made in
Burgundy). Their Oregon wines have, to my taste, often been a bit more interesting
than most of what I've tasted of their French bottlings. They don't use tons of new
oak in either location. The  Oregon bottlings seem to take a year or
two to start to blossom. At least, I've often found I seem to prefer their Oregon
Pinots when they're 3 or 4 years old. The 2005 is their current release and
this is very nice, balanced, mildly-oaked Pinot Noir. It is a lovely
wine and one which is drinkable now and should age handsomely, too.
Their "reserve"
bottling of Pinot Noir is named after Veronique's daughter and is called
"Laurene". It is a shade more rich than the normal bottling.
Chardonnay is a relatively recent addition to the portfolio. When you taste it, keep in mind
Drouhin has extensive holdings in the Chablis area. Hence, their Oregon
Chardonnay is not a big, voluptuous, oaky white wine. Like Chablis, it is a bit more
reserved and subtle.
We opened a 1992 Drouhin Oregon Pinot in the winter of 2001. I recall
this as being a very pleasant bottle of wine, but not stunningly good.
I can tell you: At eight+ years of age, it is stunningly good. We served
it alongside of a Dehlinger 1992 Reserve Pinot and as good as the
Dehlinger is/was, the Drouhin was even better! The wine had blossomed
beautifully and still can be cellared a few more years.
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- 2005 Pinot Noir (list $48) SALE
$41.99
2005 Pinot Noir magnum (list $100) Sale $89.99
- 2004 Pinot Noir "Laurene" List $70 SALE
$62.99
- THE EYRIE VINEYARD
 The
Eyrie Vineyard is the home of "Papa Pinot," a real pioneer of a
fellow named David Lett. David was the first to plant Pinot Noir in
Oregon after working to match various grape varieties to regions where the
fruit would "just" attain ripeness or maturity.
What bigger challenge than to plant Pinot Noir in a place that was
un-tested?
Lett did this in 1966 and started making wine shortly thereafter. His
early Pinot Noir wines were most encouraging and soon you had a couple of
other crazy fellows in the neighborhood (those would be Dick Ponzi and Dave
Adelsheim).
Lett, though, is the "father of Oregon wine-growing" and his wines
set the standard back in those early days. Lett has long been
frustrated, in my view, that his wines have not been more glorified and
sought-after. We conducted a tasting some years ago and included his
'normal' bottling of Pinot Noir amongst a group of similarly-priced
wines. David sent a rather defensive note saying "this is like
comparing a 'village' level of Burgundy to premier cru or grand cru
wines." I did not think the tasting was unfair, since his wine
was priced in the same neighborhood as the other wines. The
Eyrie wine did not fare well in the tasting, frankly and Lett has found
selling wine is perhaps as challenging an endeavor as growing grapes and
making wine.
Pinot Gris has been a more consistent product for The Eyrie Vineyards.
I bought a bottle of the 2004 vintage and this is a delightful wine. I
was reminded of good Pinot Gris from Alsace, as the wine is deliciously
drinkable, showing a subtle hint of a spice tone on the nose and
palate. It's a medium-bodied white and we enjoyed a bottle at a Sunday
afternoon get-together.
I need to re-taste Lett's current crop of Pinot Noirs, just to see what's
new!
By the way, I brought a bottle of an Eyrie 1992 Pinot Meunier to a dinner
recently and this was a very pleasant surprise. The wine showed good
Pinot fruit and, even at 14 years of age, it was still alive and kicking!
Currently in stock: 2004 Eyrie PINOT GRIS Sold Out-
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- PENNER-ASH
 Continuing
the tradition of Oregon winemakers needing to have a hyphenated surname, Ms.
Lynn Penner-Ash has been a part of the Willamette Valley wine scene since
the late 1980s.
She was a botany major at U.C. Davis until she changed to viticulture.
Then she spent a crush season at Domaine Chandon and changed her major
again, this time to enology. After a stint at Stag's Leap Wine
Cellars, she latched on at the Rex Hill Winery in Oregon and made some
lovely Pinot Noirs there. In 1998, while still at Rex Hill, she
started her own label and now she does that, full time.
We've tasted nice wines from this stable, but it's only recently that we've
actually brought in one of her wines. We're enchanted by a marvelous
2005 Syrah. It takes a fairly broad "Oregon"
appellation, since the wine comes from two vineyards in Southern Oregon's
Rogue River Valley with some from the Columbia Valley. It's nice
having a Pinot Noir-maker's sensibilities with Syrah, so the wine has an
elegance and refinement we like quite a bit.
I find notes of blueberries and a hint of vanillin here, with supple
tannins. It';s delightful now and I suspect it'll age well for a few
years.-
- Currently in stock: 2005 PENNER ASH Oregon SYRAH $34.99
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CRISTOM
 Paul and
Eileen Gerrie packed up their Pennsylvania homestead and moved west to
Oregon as a result of their interest in Pinot Noir.
Paul Gerrie, an engineer by training, came out to Oregon's International
Pinot Noir Conference in the early 1990s and fell in love with the
Willamette Valley. He hired a vineyard specialist to 'scout' for
acreage suited to Pinot Noir. Then he hired a fellow who had been
making wine for many years at Calera winery in California's San Benito
County. Now things are totally out of control, Gerrie and company
farming eight vineyard parcels covering something like 65 acres.
The winery name comes from the Gerrie's kids (now adults), Christine and
Tom. Pretty creative, eh?
Steve Doerner is the winemaker. It's got to be quite a change from
making wine in the rather warm region of San Benito County to the more difficult
and uneven Willamette Valley. Over the years we tasted Cristom wines and while
they're usually perfectly pleasant, I haven't found them to be compelling enough
to bring them into the shop.
So it was a most pleasant surprise to have a taste of Cristom's 2004 "Sommers
Reserve" Pinot Noir. This wine struck us as not only worthy of the
'reserve' designation, but of our recommendation as well. The wine is
predominantly from estate grown fruit. Four estate vineyards of Cristom
(all named after significant relatives, by the way) along with four vineyards of
purchased fruit comprise this complex Pinot. I found it to be a shade more
intense and more "Burgundian" (shall we say?) than other Cristom
Pinots I've tasted.
The wine is deep and moderately dark for a Pinot Noir, though Doerner is a big
fan of including substantial percentages of "whole clusters" in the
fermentation tanks. There's a nice contribution from the French oak here
as the wine shows a touch of vanilla along with its dark berry and cola tones
from the fruit. There's a moderate level of tannin, so while it's nice
now, pairing this with something substantial (duck, beef or lamb, for example)
would be a good idea. I suspect the wine may cellar handsomely, too, for
5-10 years.
We hope this wine is an indication of "things to come" from
Cristom. It was a most pleasant surprise, frankly.
- Currently in stock: 2004 CRISTOM "Sommers Reserve"
PINOT NOIR Sold Out
- ARCHERY SUMMIT
 They've
been right on target for several vintages of Pinot Noir at this modest-sized
property a mile south of Dundee, Oregon. The winery was founded by
Gary Andrus (former owner of Napa Valley's Pine Ridge Winery), region of Dundee. The
"crus" are Archery Summit Estate, Red Hills Estate
and Arcus Estate. They're located next to Domaine Drouhin (see above)
and, given what we'd tasted, had made excellent decisions in viticulture and
winemaking.
Gravity plays a big role in their winemaking, as they constructed a
gravity-flow winery to more gently handle their Pinot Noirs. A few
years ago these wines routinely impressed in our blind-tastings. But
in the last couple of years the ownership has changed and the wines had not
been as impressive.
We included a couple of 2002s in a recent blind-tasting and were delighted
to note the wines have returned to the level of previous glorious
bottlings. I had two Archery Summit bottlings in my "top
three" at a blind-tasting we conducted in the Spring of 2005. (My
top wine was made by Archery Summit's founder, Gary Andrus. Go
figure.)
We then recently had the chance to taste through the entire line-up and the
current wines are very stylish.
One feature of Archery Summit's wines is that they grow good grapes.
Virtually every winery in Oregon talks the talk but when you have the wines
in the glass, not so many can "walk the walk."
Archery Summit has extensive vineyards and they even have sold grapes to
other winemakers. They are perfection oriented in the vineyard and in
the cellar. It shows in their current wines.
 Many
wineries work hard to make grand wines for their deluxe bottlings.
That's great. It's nice to see people excel and produce wines few
people can afford to buy and drink.
Making great "base" wines is more of a sign of a great
producer.
The 2003 "base" wine from Archery Summit will give you an idea of
their style and quality. We're especially delighted since the wine is
far less costly than their fancy bottlings and is, if not better than one or
two of them, pretty damned close.
The wine features fruit from their four vineyard sites and was vinified in a
Burgundian fashion in their gravity flow cellars. The use of new
French oak comes into play here and the resulting wine currently displays a
lovely sweet vanillin and toasty element. I like the hints of dark
cherries and note of hickory-smoked bacon in the background.
Having just tasted a flock of Oregon Pinots and finding but two (out of
perhaps 50 wines) worth buying, I can easily recommend this wine!
Especially at our sale price.
- Currently in stock: 2003 Archery Summit
"Premier Cuvée" Pinot Noir (list $42) Sold
Out
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