“I can’t recall experiencing an array of Syrahs so alluringly original from one and the same winery and place other than Edmunds St. John – but Steven Edmunds has historically sourced from a striking array of microclimates, soils and Californian sub-regions, whereas Cowhorn Syrahs all grew in the same vineyard!”
David Schildknecht Wine Advocate #202 (August 2012)

We are honored to be included in the August edition of Robert Parker’s  The Wine Advocate, with seven of our wines receiving 91 plus point scores.  Out of the seven wines reviewed, two of them (2011 Spiral 36 and our 2010 Grenache 58) are currently available for purchase.  To our most loyal customers our 2009 Syrah 80, 2009 Reserve Syrah and our 2011 Marsanne Roussanne are each available on a pre-order basis.

2009 Reserve Syrah: 93 Points “Reliance on 100% whole clusters and just over 50% new barrels hasn’t resulted in any stemmy or woody extremes in the Cowhorn 2009 Syrah Reserve; on the contrary, this manages to combine explosive intensity of dark berry fruit and peat-like smokiness with seductively wafting perfume of freesia, buddleia, and violet; palpable extract-richness with near levity (at 13.5% alcohol); and vibrant fruit acids with a silken texture.  It will leave your mouth and preconceptions shaken.” Release Date:  Fall 2012

2009 Syrah 80: 92 Points “Cowhorn’s 2009 Syrah 80 smells provocatively and complexly of dark cherry, cassis, beet root, violets, black tea, peat and prickly hints of radish.  Pure-fruited; concentrated yet buoyant; and invigoratingly accented by radish and cherry pit, this brash, smoke-tinged Syrah of mere 13.5% alcohol offers a penetratingly persistent and strikingly distinctive variation on its familiar cepage.” Release Date:  Winter 2012

2010 Syrah 58: 92 Points “Cowhorn’s 2010 Syrah 58 – vinified almost entirely whole cluster – smells intensely and startlingly of black raspberry and cassis concentrates shadowed by their distilled essence; horehound; road tar; and eucalyptus.  Although palpably full of stuffing nevertheless tart, vibrant and (at a mere 13.4% alcohol) buoyant; this audacious exercise in Syrah finishes with lip licking as well as salivary gland – stimulating salinity.” Release Date: TBA

2010 Grenache 58: 92 Points “Gorgeous scents of fresh strawberry and mint mingled with hints of white pepper lead to a polished, pure fruited, vibrant palate and a finish in which saliva-liberating salinity, soothing evocations of herbal essences, and invigorating crunch of berry seeds and piquancy of pits makes for an unexpectedly unforgettable and delectable experience.” Available Now

2010 Viognier: 91 Points “Classic acacia, honeysuckle and white peach in the nose re-emerge and are joined by lusciously juicy crenshaw melon on a sumptuous, subtly oily, yet persistently juicy palate, with cepage characteristic bitterness well-integrated and in fact adding some sense of invigoration.” Sold Out

2011 Spiral 36: 91 Points “Cowhorn’s 2011 Spiral 36 – a barrel co-fermentation of slightly more Viognier than Marsanne and Roussanne – displays a fine balance of oily richness and palate polish with brightness,  Acacia, candied lime peel, and white peach follow from the nose through to a luscious finish in which piquancy of peach kernel, citrus zest, and legume sprouts add delightful and invigorating counterpoint. ” Available Now

2011 Marsanne Roussanne: 91 Points “A barrel-fermented Cowhorn 2011 Marsanne-Roussanne delivers nose-tweaking pungency of exotic flowers and white pepper allied to pineapple and quince, juicily informing a palate suffused with salinity that – along with the effects no doubt of sheer low pH – makes for gushing salivary glands and invigorating bite and ping to this wine’s protracted finish.” Release Date:  Fall 2012

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with cowhorn, oregon, ratings

By Matt Kramer, Wine Spectator, September 4, 2012

Pity the sommelier. First, there was the push to get respect. So they sought to professionalize their métier by creating credentials such as Master Sommelier. Above all, they made theirs a serious, worthwhile vocation by being long-term professionals in their field, as opposed to out-of-work actors and actresses who offered glib wine patter.

Today’s American sommeliers are among the best in the world. They’re smart, savvy, deeply knowledgeable, ambitious and even fashionable.

They’ve effectively dispensed with the cobwebbed hauteur that once characterized (and stigmatized) this line of work. I can’t remember the last time I saw an overweight guy in a tuxedo or a black leather apron, the bling of a shiny silver tastevin hanging around his neck on a heavy chain like some wannabe wine rapper.

So bravo to the modern “somm.” Now for the sting in the tail: Your wine lists are unusable.

I know, I know. You’re killing yourselves finding really interesting wines for us to try. I’m all admiration. Hell, you made Grüner Veltliner. If it wasn’t for American somms, Austrian wine producers would still be yodeling to each other in the dark.

But now it’s time for you to accept another role, and yet more work. Right now, the typical wine list is about as useful as an old-fashioned newspaper stock market table. Who can really read them? And how are we supposed to know what to invest in?

Today’s best wine lists offer multiple hundreds of wines, the great majority of which are utterly unknown to all but a handful of—let’s be honest here—wine geeks.

It’s simply not enough anymore for wine lists to be just price sheets. Here’s the vintage, the wine name, the producer and the price. Good luck!

Sommeliers can—and do—say that clients can inquire about a wine or ask for a suggestion. But who’s kidding whom? A diner can’t ask for information about even a dozen wines, let alone hundreds.

So let’s get practical. We restaurant-goers need discreet help, and you sommeliers are the ones who are supposed to provide it. So what’s to be done?

I would like to propose several ideas, recognizing that every restaurant is different and that no single revisionist notion about a 21st-century wine list is appropriate for all restaurants.

That noted, I do think that whatever the presentation of the list, an effective 21st-century somm has to be more of an educator than ever before.

Put simply, it’s not enough to pick great wines and serve them deftly. You’ve now got to be able to write concisely. To educate diplomatically. To inform pithily. So how about these ideas:

The Showcase Short List Solution Let’s say yours is an ambitious restaurant with an extensive wine list. A simple short list, which is currently a wine fashion trend, just won’t cut it. Fair enough.

In such a situation I would compose a shorter list of, say, 30 wines that are grabbing my sommelier fancy this week, this month, whatever. This showcase short list would be included with the (much larger) regular list. But unlike the regular list, I would give for each wine on the short list an explanation of why it’s grabbing my sommelier fancy.

Recently, I visited a tiny producer in southern Oregon called Cowhorn Vineyard and Garden. (They grow vegetable crops as well as grapes.) I’ve mentioned their wines before—various Rhône grapes such as Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache and Syrah—but I’d never visited the property until recently.

In the course of chatting with the owners it became clear that in terms of a conventional wine list, they are simply out of luck, because they’re “nowhere.” (Cowhorn is 9 miles from the California border.) Outside of the area, who has a section on “southern Oregon” wines? No one. Moreover, if you’re not growing Pinot Noir, you’re not part of the “Oregon club” on a wine list. You get the picture.

So here’s a terrific producer—one of hundreds in the world—that absolutely needs to be showcased and explained in order to be sold. And that is simply not going to happen in the format of a conventional name-rank-and-serial-number wine list.

This is why a showcase short list is ideal. The modern sommelier must now educate as well as select. And that education, however brief and concise, must convey both erudition and enthusiasm. It most certainly isn’t a matter just of points. Or even of quoting someone else. We need insight, passion and a story we can drink.

The iPad Solution When I’ve raised this issue of the failure—that’s the only word for it—of modern wine lists, several readers have hustled to say that tablet computers, such as Apple’s iPad, are the answer. It offers unlimited room, they point out. And it’s easily updated to accurately reflect current inventory. (I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve ordered a wine only to be told, “We’re so sorry, it just went out of stock.”)

To me, these tablet computer wine lists seem gimmicky. But maybe I’m just old-fashioned. I do see their high-tech attraction. (And yes, I do own a tablet.) But I’m looking less for encyclopedic information and more for a concise, compelling enthusiasm. Maybe I’m missing something here. You tell me. Still, it’s clearly a viable option.

The Symbol Solution I first saw this simple idea in Venice, at one of that city’s greatest restaurants, Al Covo. Cesare Benelli, the chef-owner of Al Covo, is a great wine lover as well as, to use an old-fashioned term, a free thinker.

Mr. Benelli has a fine palate as well as strong opinions. His wine list, which changes weekly, has a couple hundred wines, some of which are annotated with a heart symbol. The list explains that the heart symbol signals “wines that, in our judgment, we appreciate for their uniqueness.”

In conversation, Mr. Benelli amplified his approach. “Those are the wines I really love. They’re really unusual wines, which, I have to say, may not be to the conventional taste.”

I like this simple annotation approach, which of course is something that the Michelin Red Guide long ago raised to a near-hieroglyphic art form.

Sommeliers could choose their preferred symbols and explain what they signify. For example, symbols signifying wines that are, in the sommelier’s opinion, cutting edge. Or a new discovery. Or unconventionally made. Or grown at a high elevation, or with an ultra-low yield. Or ideal for a certain type of food. Or a tremendous value. Or oak-free. You could really be creative with this.

One thing is certain, at least to me. Given the vast, bewildering array of wines offered to us today by the best sommeliers in the most ambitious restaurants, using the same kind of price sheet that restaurants gave their guests a century ago (when the wine selection was a simple handful of well-known wines) fails miserably.

Are you satisfied with today’s ambitious wine lists? Isn’t there a better way for us to navigate a 21st-century restaurant wine list?

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with cowhorn, education, in the press

By Jessica Reeder, Organic Authority

While winemakers throughout the world grapple with the difficulties of producing wine organically without risking its quality, one Oregon vineyard is quietly releasing vintage after vintage of delicious, additive-free Grenache, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. How do they do it? For Barbara and Bill Steele, proprietors of Cowhorn Vineyard, the key is careful planning, attention to detail and a qualitative approach that values a delicious bottle of vino above all else.

A certified organic and biodynamic property, Cowhorn takes its name from the biodynamic practice of burying preparations in a horn to allow them to compost. But the true secret of this vineyard’s success is careful planning and management, leading to high-quality crops that might put other producers to shame.

“Many people in the wine industry don’t get a chance to see grapes that are in as beautiful condition as they often are at a biodynamic farm,” Barbara says.

“The fact that they come in without disease problems, without mold or mildew or pests, means right off the bat, for example, we don’t have to sulfur our grapes in order to kill diseases,” says Barbara. Unlike many wines made with organic grapes, Cowhorn does not use any artificial additives in its production. And unlike many additive-free wines, Cowhorn consistently scores highly with reviewers and was included in the “Top 100 Northwest Wines” by the Seattle Metropolitan.

The Steeles didn’t start out as winemakers; they were both working in big business when Barbara decided she wanted a change. She spent a few years volunteering on organic farms, and soon the Steeles decided to get into agriculture. With their business background and a desire to create the best farm they could, they devised a plan to grow multiple crops—primarily grapes, asparagus and cherries—so their crew could work year-round, and the farm could receive a steady income from market sales. Ten years later, Cowhorn produces 2,000 cases of wine and 4,000 pounds of asparagus.

“What really drives Bill and myself is to make high quality fruit, support people eating locally and support local job creation,” Barbara says. “You’ll notice I didn’t say our burning ambition is to be famous winemakers.” Yet through their mission to create the best, most holistically-produced wine they can, they’ve also succeeded at becoming one of the West’s favorite cult wines. Wine Spectator‘s Matt Kramer calls Cowhorn the vineyard he’s “excited about”—and you should be excited too. Vineyards like this may be the new face of organic wine, and the view is lovely.

You can buy Cowhorn wines ($18-45 per bottle) directly from their website, or in restaurants and bottle shops in Oregon, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. See the full list here.

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with biodynamic, cowhorn, natural wine, oregon

Terry Sullivan is an organic grape grower, wine producer and glassblower in Talent.

On one side of his house, Sullivan tends to syrah, viognier and other vines. On the other side is a glass-blowing studio, where he creates artistic wine decanters and graceful, stemless wineglasses.

Soon, he’ll be able to pour his estate-grown 2010 Upper Five Vineyards tempranillo, the first wine under his own label, into his glassware and drink it. Glass, like grapes and wine, is not very forgiving, he says.

“I can’t make a mistake along the way if I want to get the results I want,” Sullivan says. He bought his property in 2001, planted 21/2; acres in 2003 and added another acre in 2006. His Upper Five Vineyard was certified organic in 2005.

As Sullivan, 55, shifts to the even higher standard of Biodynamic, he has to work with nature and pay attention to minute changes.

“I can’t use a silver bullet to fix a problem,” he says of forgoing synthetic pesticides in the vineyard or sulfur to correct a young wine.

In 2010, his organic sauvignon blanc grapes were purchased by Bill and Barbara Steele of Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden and made into 144 cases of Sullivan/Steele Sauvignon Blanc ($22). Only three cases remain at Harry & David Country Village in Medford.

At the Sullivan/Steele debut party last June at Thai Pepper in Ashland, Sullivan told the crowd that some call grape growing a “labor of love,” but he calls it “a love of labor.” “You have to love it,” he said.

The 2011 Sullivan/Steele Sauvignon Blanc will be released in the summer. His 2010 Upper Five Vineyard tempranillo, made with winemaker Linda Donovan, will be unveiled in the fall.

As for his handblown glassware, a 12-ounce glass ($15) with a purple, gold or blue rim and a 750-milliliter spiral-neck decanter ($80) are sold at Trium tasting room in Talent or in a five-piece set at www.etsy.com/listing/94239063/handblown-stemless-wine-glasses.

Taken from the Ashlnd Daily Tidings, by Janet Eastman,

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with biodynamic, cowhorn, Demeter, in the press, oregon, organic wine, sustainability

From the Woodinville Patch, by Cork Dork, Chris Nishiwaki, May 4, 2012

Last week I embarked on a road trip to Oregon like I hadn’t done since my college days. Back then I would travel to Eugene to watch my Huskies destroy the University of Oregon Ducks in football.

For the record, the University of Washington has won more college football national championships than Oregon, with one. Do the math and you can deduce, the number of Oregon championships.

Last Saturday, I stayed in Seattle to watch the University of Washington spring football game at Century Link Field, the temporary home of the Huskies next season. The defense made me optimistic about the 2012 season. The offense was downright offensive and made me want to drink Oregon Pinot Noir. That would have to wait a day.

On Sunday morning I flew to Portland, where our Oregon odyssey began. Crammed in a van, we covered Oregon wine country over the next four days from the Willamette Valley by the Washington border to the Rogue Valley almost to the California border.

Four writers from California, yours truly as the only representative from Washington, and the Oregon state wine industry each professed the virtues of the various wine regions. The preference and bias for wines, neatly falling by local allegiance, were as clearly defined as the state borders.

Furthermore, a clear division (in some cases animosity) became evident between American Viticultural Areas within each state. Like the Civil War, Oregon was split between the north and the south of the state. California’s ugly stepchild wine regions were Temecula and Mendocino County. As for Washington, even more specifically Woodinville, I was reminded of the division between wineries based in Woodinville versus wineries with tasting rooms in Woodinville but based elsewhere in the state.

There are slightly more than 400 wineries in Oregon. There are almost twice as many in Washington state, at around 750. California has five times as many as Washington at almost 4,000 wineries.

During the course of my work I try wines from all over the world. I believe it gives me a clearer perspective on the wines of Washington that are the focus of the Cork Dork column each week. And I’m here to tell you that Woodinville competes toe-to-toe with the best and largest wine regions of the world.

Granted, most of the fruit that goes into wines made in Woodinville comes from vineyards east of the Cascade Mountains, but the variety and quality produced in Woodinville is remarkable at every price point. Woodinville does not have the climate to ripen vinifera properly. What Woodinville lacks in grape growing conditions, it makes up in innovative and precise winemaking.

Most of Washington doesn’t provide the conditions to make Pinot Noir like they do in Oregon. That singular reputation for spectacular food-friendly Pinot Noir has positioned Oregon wines across the country better than wines from Washington, where growers and winemakers continue to experiment with new varietals.

In Oregon, Pinot Gris is the leading white varietal. Chardonnay has made tremendous strides over the last decade or two since many of the growers and winemakers have focused on Dijon clones of the varietal.

Over the next decade or two look for Rhone, Bordeaux and Rioja-style varietals from Southern Oregon to thrive. Abacela in Roseburg is already making world-class Tempranillo and Albarino as good as the wines in Spain, and Viognier and Grenache-based Rosé that compares to the wines of the Rhone.

Many of the other wineries in Southern Oregon, such as Brandborg Vineyard & Winery, Cowhorn Vineyard, Del Rio Vineyards, Folin Cellars, Quady North Winery and Red Lily Vineyards, are making outstanding wines with hot weather varietals such as Tempranillo, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Viognier in a more elegant style than in Washington or California. Northern Oregon producers Domaine Serene and Ken Wright Cellars make outstanding wines with Southern Oregon fruit under the labels Rockblock and Tyrus Evan, respectively.

For one current measure of how Washington compares to Oregon and California, I turned to the 18th annual Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition, organized by seafood guru Jon Rowley of Jon Rowley & Associates. Yours truly was one of 25 judges in Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco selecting the 10 winning wines.

Washington showed the best in the annual Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition completed last week with four of the 10 winners hailing from the Evergreen state. Kirkland’s Cedergreen Cellars won for its 2010 Sauvignon Blanc.

Oregon and California had three wines each among the 10 equal winners, as Rowley likes to say. See below for a complete list of winners.

In judging the wines, Rowley urged us to first smell and then chew the oyster before taking our first sip of wine to rate the “bliss factor.” Generally, dry, crisp and clean wines pair best with oysters.

Look for the winning wines at local oyster bars, restaurants or at the Taylor Shellfish store in the Melrose Market on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Most of the wines are also available at specialty retail stores or supermarkets at under $15 a bottle.

2012 “Oyster Award” winners:
Washington

Cedergreen Cellars 2010 Sauvignon Blanc
Hogue Cellars 2010 Pinot Grigio
Milbrandt Vineyards 2010 Traditions Pinot Gris
Sockeye 2010 Pinot Gris

Oregon
Brandborg Vineyard & Winery 2010 Pinot Gris
Foris Vineyard Winery 2010 Pinot Blanc
Van Duzer Vineyards 2011 Pinot Gris

California
Dry Creek Vineyard 2011 Dry Chenin Blanc
Kenwood Vineyards 2011 Pinot Gris, Russian River
Kenwood Vineyards 2011 Sauvignon Blanc

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with cowhorn, in the press, oregon, Travel

All the animals love Cowhorn! As you may know, Cowhorn follows the practices of farming with the wild, encouraging habitat for wild creatures to live and work in cooperation with our farming activities. In addition to the eagles, bobcats and big footprints that we see around here, Cowhorn has bees. Perhaps the most sensitive of animals, bees buzz with the harmony of nature. They literally buzz harmony. It is no wonder that they find our Biodynamic farm, free of chemicals and hazards, a safe place to live. We have begun learning about bees in the orchard, setting up our first bee structure for mason bees. Once it is in place I’ll send along a picture and report on progress. ~ Barbara

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with biodynamic, cowhorn, oregon, sustainability

2010 Viognier-90 Points: “Polished, silky and effusive in its expression of spicy pear, flowers and lemon meringue flavors.  Finishes with style.  Drink now.  125 cases made.” -HS

2008 Reserve Syrah-91 Points: “Spacious style lets its blackberry and black cherry flavors expand nicely against streaks of mineral and pepper, coming together smoothly on the ripe but contained finish.  Drink now through 2015.  150 cases made.” – HS

Taken from Cowhorn’s Winter Update, January 24, 2012

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with cowhorn, in the press, syrah, viognier

From the MailTribune, Nov. 28, 2011

Sharing qualities comparable to the world-renowned Châteauneuf-du-Pape region of France’s southern Rhône Valley, Cowhorn sits alongside Southern Oregon’s pristine Applegate River. The farm is fringed by frontier forests on the edge of America’s great western wilderness and supported by soils that are perfectly suited for Grenache, Marsanne, Roussanne, Syrah, and Viognier. Cowhorn’s classic Rhône varietals result in well-balanced wines with low alcohol and high aroma that express signature subtleties of the farm’s unique soils.

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with cowhorn

2010 Cowhorn Viognier
Only 125 cases were made of their ’10 Viognier. Jeff Weissler and winemaker/owner Bill Steele give you the scoop on this yummiest of whites from Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley.

In Radio Shows, Tasting Wines | Tagged with cowhorn, tasting notes, viognier

Matt Kramer, Wine Spectator, July 2011

“And, Not Least, Get Relaxed – Don’t let wine jocks make you feel insecure. Sure, we writers get all lathered-up about delightful bits of esoterica (right now I’m excited by the biodynamic wines of tiny Cowhorn Vineyard and Garden in the Applegate Valley of southern Oregon). It’s what we do. We’re supposed to be on the prowl, ever lustful for the latest triumph…”

In Cowhorn, In The News | Tagged with cowhorn, in the press

Next »