By Terry Hall, St. Helena Star, April 25, 2013
Photo by Thomas Heinser

Many know of Napa Valley’s storied Spottswoode Estate Vineyard and Winery, but unless one has occasion to wander off the beaten path just west of downtown St. Helena, pin-pointing the location of the historic property may be a bit of a challenge.

Today, there is a compelling reason to seek out Spottswoode because the winery has just completed and opened a new tasting room.

The adventure begins with finding your way there, as only a small plaque on the mail box on the street leads into a gravel driveway. If you are looking at the iconic early-20th century sign over the gate, ignore your instinct to pull in here as this is matriarch Mary Novak’s home.

The short gravel driveway off Madrona Avenue is the nexus of the winemaking at Spottswoode. There is the ghost, stone Kraft Winery, used today for barrel storage beside the more humble, yet state-of-the-art modern production winery. Pass under a stately oak and park facing the vineyard. The house’s ground-level entrance is where the visit begins. A short, easy stroll to learn about the wine production is accompanied by a vineyard walk to see where it all begins.

The winemaking areas are impeccable, and the vineyards are a model of sustainability that have been farmed organically since 1985. A restoration of Spring Creek on the property is an example of the region’s groundbreaking Napa Green Certified Land. Consider wearing sensible shoes for the walk.

Finished in February, the tasting room, designed by Napa Valley architect Karen Roberts, is an addition to the charmingly restored pre-Prohibition house located at 1902 Madrona Ave.

Each weekday at 10 a.m. wine lovers may join Nicole Knoth, Hospitality & Events manager, for a 90-minute tour and tasting. The experience is intimate with no more than 10 guests, and no more than six per party. Knoth joined Spottswoode last summer after managing Direct to Consumer Sales & Marketing at Clos du Val for the past three years. She and her husband moved from San Diego to the Napa Valley in 2008.

The tasting is $45 per person (which is credited to each six-bottle purchase of cabernet sauvignon) and is a tasting of not only the estate’s highly-regarded cabernet sauvignon, but also its Lyndenhurst bottling named for one of the estates past identities, and its refreshing sauvignon blanc.

The tour includes a very personal look at Mary’s gardens which have been a labor of love of hers for the past 40 years, from the time she and her late husband Jack brought their five children to the Napa Valley from Los Angeles. There is something imparted on the garden by each of the home’s previous owners over the past 130 years or so. It is a testament to the property’s beautiful setting that it seems each previous owner, from the early days in 1882 when it was known as Esmeralda to later when the Spotts family christened it Spottswoode, added something of note to the gardens. Those who came before the Novaks are honored in the estate’s storytelling creating a rich and layered history.

For the Novak family, the work has been challenging as well as rewarding. Not long after they arrived in St.. Helena, Jack suddenly died leaving Mary with not only five young children to raise, but a vineyard in disrepair and a winemaking venture just emerging. They pulled through, and last year celebrated their 30/40 anniversary. Forty years since they arrived to restore the property and thirty years since their first wine — a cabernet sauvignon — was produced.

A visit to Spottswoode is a special treat; even today their permit allows just 50 visitors per week. To book a tour and tasting, visit spottswoode.com or call 963-0134 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

(Terry Hall is a Calistoga resident who runs his own communications, branding and event planning company. He can be reached at thall@thnapa.com.)

In In The News | Tagged with california, in the press, natural wine

By Jessica Yadegaran, Contra Costa Times, MercuryNews.com

The wine bloggerati are among the most influential voices in the industry: Steve Heimoff; Alder Yarrow of Vinography; and Tom Wark of Fermentation. We read, trust and know them well.

During my three days at the Wine Bloggers Conference last month in Portland, Ore., I had the pleasure of rubbing elbows with many up-and-coming wine bloggers. Few make money on their blogs. They do it for the passion and knowledge. After conversations — over several glasses of Oregon pinot noir, of course — these are the five folks who stuck with me. Read their blogs for unique spins on the swirl.

1. Ken’s Wine Guide: This blog started in 1998 as a potential Christmas list for Ken Hoggins’ in-laws. Now, it is quickly becoming one of the most reliable, comprehensive online guides of panel-reviewed wines. Quality and value are the cornerstones of Hoggins’ reviews. And, for comparison, he always runs reviews from the big critics alongside his own. He works in the insurance business and lives outside Boston. Hoggins won Best Wine Reviews on a Wine Blog during the 2012 Wine Blog Awards held at the conference. Find him at www.kenswineguide.com.

2. On the Wine Trail in Italy: I’m surprised Alfonso Cevola has not been approached with a book deal yet. His knowledge of Italian wine is encyclopedic. His voice is one-of-a-kind. Whether he’s decoding Italian wine laws or pontificating on “Tuscan Superiority Complex,” Cevola’s writing is infectious. After five years and 900 posts, he took home the award for Best Single Subject Wine Blog at this year’s conference. Find him at www.acevola.blogspot.com.

3. The Academic Wino: Becca Yeamans is a scientist at the University of Virginia. When she’s not running clinical research trials in the field of neurology, she blogs on peer-reviewed articles across the wine spectrum. Whether the subject is oenology, viticulture, or the effects of wine on mind and body, Yeamans helps us decode the geek-age. Find her at www.academicwino.com.

4. Conscious Wine: With a combined 30 years of experience in the fine wine business, Jeff Weissler and Vinny Liscio started this blog to help people understand the growing natural wine movement. They rate wines that meet four criteria: They must come from vineyards that are sustainably-farmed; the grapes must be grown organically; the wines must foster vitality, both in the vineyard and in the glass (meaning the wine is alive and not covered by additives or cellar trickery); and, lastly, they must taste great. Find them at www.consciouswine.com.

5. Terroirist: Dave White does one of the most impossible things in the wine blogging racket: He blogs every day about everything. Each week, he features a Q&A with a different winemaker. And, as the name of his blog denotes, he is most taken with wines that have a sense of place or a story to tell. Terroirist won Best New Wine Blog during the 2011 Wine Blog Awards at that year’s conference. Find him online at www.terroirist.com.

In ConsciousWine, In The News | Tagged with in the press

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

From the Oregon Wine Press, August 1, 2012

Several years ago, I discovered that rockin’ wine often comes from sustainably farmed grapes. With a new-found passion for natural wine, I wanted to learn more and dig deeper. Through research — and a bottle or two — I have unearthed the following conclusions:

1. Diversity on the farm and a strong immune system go hand and hand.

2. Through observation, the farmer discovers the assets of his farm and, as a result, builds a growing, evolving, living relationship with the land. The depth of that relationship supports the ongoing health of the farm.

3. The farmer/farm relationship is what can allow the farmer to not put round pegs in square holes when making choices. This supports a set of dominoes which keep the farm’s immune system strong. The easier things fit together, the less stress on the system, the more naturally the whole system works.

4. When you take, you must give back. That’s what makes any relationship work well and sustainably. If you remove the natural vitality from the soil (because it’s been absorbed by the products harvested), then that vitality needs to be given back. Indigenous cover crops and composting — created ideally from materials on the farm — are a couple ways to accomplish this.

5. Synthetic chemicals used in farming can help in the short term but come with side effects, including nutrient and diversity depletion. Think of taking medicine for an ailment and how it affects your system, especially if you take it long-term. How do you support your overall health, and what might you do to balance or counteract the side effects of taking medicine both short and long-term.

6. Agriculture doesn’t exist in nature; its roots go back approximately 10,000 years. When a farmer takes away the natural diversity, a lot of conscious work is required to reinvigorate the soil and the environment with diversity and vitality.

7. Farm as if it were 1850. Huh? Use what’s on the farm to support the farm. Think of it like a closed loop system. If you want to build a house or wall, where does the wood and stone come from? The idea is to create a closed loop system, where the nutrients and resources needed to nourish that system come from within that system.

A commitment to move in these directions can lead to sustainability defined as: leaving the land healthier than it was before farming; passing a healthier place on to our kids and their kids; and minimizing the pull of resources from outside the farm.

Specific practices include animals on the farm, biodiversity, Biodynamic farming, energy conversation, family farming, good worker policies, natural winemaking, packaging conservation, polyculture (growing or raising different plants and animals on the same land) and water conservation.

Cheers to the wineries walking the talk while putting in the bottle wines that rock. Luckily for us here in Oregon, this trend is becoming more the norm and less of an exception.

Jeffrey Weissler writes about natural and organic wine on his blog, ConsciousWine.com. Originally from New York, Weissler now lives in Portland, via Ashland.

In Demystifying Natural Wine, In The News, Jeff's Blog, Natural Winemaking, Sustainable Practices | Tagged with biodynamic, education, in the press, natural wine

By Kathy A. McDonald Mon., Jul. 9 2012

What’s in a glass of wine? The answer might be surprising. Wine is basically spoiled grape juice. (Whoever first ingested it millennia ago: hat tip.) But these days wine’s ingredients can also contain a laundry list of adds in’s: sulfur dioxide, egg whites, oak chips, water and numerous chemical additives, in addition to the base of fermented grape juice. As chefs and home cooks have turned to farmers markets for organic and small batch-grown produce, wine drinkers are increasingly seeking out natural wines, in response to the preservatives and stabilizers found in conventionally-made wine.

Natural wine is more than just winespeak or a marketing gimmick. Artisan winemakers are essentially going back to basics when making wine in a non-interventionist way, with as little manipulation as possible, avoiding mechanization in farming and production (foot stomping grapes is now in vogue), using grapes grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Some words frequently used to describe natural wine’s flavor profile: alive, snappy, complex, dense and fuller on the palate. Natural wines do taste and often look differently than conventionally made wine. Turn the page to discover why.

Those in the wine world debate its definition because there is no official standard of natural winemaking in the U.S. or internationally. Here France’s morethanorganic.com provides clear terms and an authoritative philosophy on the process. Berkeley winemakers Tracey and Jared Brandt of Donkey & Goat explain their natural winemaking do’s and don’ts. Some essentials from these manifestos follow, tested in whole or part by many winemakers.

The source: Wine begins in the vineyard. Natural wines come from vineyards where the farmer has used no chemical fertilizers (“no spray”) or pesticides. Sometimes certified organic, sometimes not, the grapes might also be grown following biodynamic precepts. Biodynamic vineyard management is the opposite of industrial farming in every way. (Portland Oregon’s Brooks Wine details the care taken in a biodynamic vineyard.) Among biodynamics homeopathic practices: using crop covers between vineyard rows, supplementing soil with herbal teas and keeping owl houses so that predator birds (instead of poison) reduce a vineyard’s rodent population.

By moving away from chemicals in the field, Hank Beckmeyer of La Clarine Farm (his wines are available at downtown’s Buzz Wine Beer) elucidates on his winery’s website what these vineyard practices mean, “In essence, the farmer/winemaker/vigneron becomes the crucial link in allowing a vineyard, its grapes and the vintage to express itself,” he writes. “He or she allows a terroir to become explicit. ”

Jamil Williams, buyer and a manager at Buzz Wine Beer, punches it down: “If you had to make a hard definition of natural wine, it means minimal chemical and technological intervention in the vineyard and winemaking process.

“Yeasts from the vineyard wild. For more than 30 years California winemakers have utilized native yeasts (rather than laboratory-grown strains) to ferment wines. (Chalk Hill’s estate Chardonnay from Sonoma County is one example. Bonny Doon Vineyard’s Le Cigare Volant is another). “The micro-biology of a vineyard drives the characteristics of a bottling,” explains winemaker Greg Bjornstad of Pfendler Vineyards. Using wild yeasts is another way to express native terroir, he adds.

Once grapes are harvested and set out in tanks or bins for fermentation, winemakers typically inoculate them with yeast — this jumpstarts fermentation. As a comparison, a baker has the choice of store bought packaged yeast or a cultivated starter with the end result: Wonder Bread vs. an artisan made sourdough baguette. In a similar way, winemakers rely on airborne ambient yeasts present on the grapes and in the winery to propel fermentation spontaneously.

“Wild yeast turns out wine with soul and complexity,” contends Dieter Cronje, winemaker at Presqu’ile Winery in Santa Maria Valley. “The wild yeast comes with our terroir; if we are making terroir driven wine or sense of place, using natural yeast is essential to reach that.”

Aging, filtering and fining:Wine distributor and importer Amy Atwood finds that although the definition of natural wines is contentious, she feels there are some absolutes. Neutral oak barrels should be used for aging (they won’t import that toasty, buttery oak flavor), and no filtering or fining (adding egg whites to remove sediments) should be in the natural winemaker’s playbook. Sulfites should only be added minimally at bottling for stability purposes.

Atwood finds natural wines slightly more elegant, and definitely more food friendly than conventionally produced wines. (She distributes Andrea Calek’s yeasty low alcohol (9%) Blonde (pictured above), a blend of hand-picked Chardonnay and Viognier). “Angelenos are open and are interested in how their wines are made,” she says. Because so many now shop at the farmers market and question their foodstuff’s sources, “It hasn’t taken too long to question how wine is made and grapes grown.” She recommends reading Alice Feiring’s The Battle for Wine and Love, for a deeper understanding of the subject.

At Salt’s Cure restaurant, the almost all California wine list features natural winemakers like Donkey & Goat and Sonoma’s Scribe Winery. “We’re bringing in what is the best representation of the grape in California rather than what is commercially popular,” explains co-owner Zak Walters. He continues, “Our wine list is a direction reflection of what we doing with food, how we’re making food, and knowing where our food comes from.”

As always, there’s more to wine than what’s in the glass — more food for thought while sipping that summer rosé.

In Brooks, In The News | Tagged with brooks, education, in the press

33% Pinot Blanc, 24% Pinot Gris, 18% Gewürztraminer, 14% Muscat and 11% Riesling from Willamette Valley, Oregon.

From the bottle:

“A delightful blend of Pinot Blanc (33%), Pinot Gris (24%), Gewurtztraminer (18%), Muscat (14%) and Riesling (11%). Crisp, floral and round with a touch of mineral undertones capable of pairing itself with a variety of foods as well as being enjoyed alone! 1,172 cases produced.

Founded in 1998, Brooks Wines is dedicated to utilizing sustainable farming practices, intervening as little as possible in the winery, and producing small lots of wine to respect vineyard individuality and to create unique blending components. This results in wines with great depth, flavors and balance. Enjoy!

12.8% Alcohol”

Today’s wine is the second we’ve sampled from Brooks Wine, after previously enjoying their Ara Riesling. This one is quite an intriguing combination of white grapes that all do well in the Willamette Valley area. And more importantly, they do well in the glass as well.

The 2009 Brooks Amycas begins with a wonderful aromatic bouquet of sweet honeysuckle and tropical fruit. Very nice, but it gets even better when tasting this smooth and creamy wine. Add sweet notes of tangerines, tropical fruit and melon plus a nice underlying minerality and you’ve got a winner. Not only that but it has a great lively mouthfeel. It ends with a sweet, satisfyingly long finish with a nice bit of spice coming through. This is a very easy to drink and refreshing wine and a fabulous wine to pair with chips and freshly made guacamole, especially if it has a bit of spice to it!

Taste Rating: 8
Cost Rating: 8
Overall Rating: 8.0
Recommended Buy

From The Reverse Wine Snob, June 7, 2012

In Brooks, In The News | Tagged with brooks, in the press, organic wine

From On the Way to Somewhere Else, by Skip Walter

Posted on May 21, 2012

On a dreary Seattle day, an intriguing invitation from Dominio IV showed up in my inbox to come plant a grape vine labyrinth near Mosier, OR at their Three Sleeps Vineyard. I checked my calendar and I had nothing planned for that day.  It has been way too long since I’d been to Oregon Wine Country so this was a great excuse to have another authentic experience for my wine geek education. I usually try to get down to their McMinnville winery a couple of times a year to see what Patrick Reuter is innovating around the making of fine wine. I also try to arrange to help out in the tasting room or with the fall crush.  However, it has been over a year since I’ve made time to visit my favorite wine making family.  While I’ve been hearing for years about their biodynamic vineyard in the Columbia Gorge, I hadn’t managed to make my way to the property. Clearly, now was the time to go learn some more about fine wine growing.

Wiltshire Labyrinth

Many moons ago when we toured England as a family, our children insisted that we go visit the labyrinth in Wiltshire, England near Stonehenge.  We were fascinated with the distinction between a labyrinth and a maze.  A maze is a complex puzzle while a labyrinth has only a single non-branching path which leads to the center.  We enjoyed walking through the labyrinth and the kids wished that there was one of these closer to home in Seattle, WA.

Patrick Reuter was so fascinated with the experience of labyrinths that he encountered while working at different wineries in Europe, that he chose the labyrinth as the symbol for Dominio IV wines. For ten years, Patrick has tried to convince his co-owner and wife, Leigh Bartholomew, to let him plant a labyrinth on their vineyard property.  Leigh being an amazing vineyard manager at Archery Summit, has resisted because she dislikes driving a tractor in circles through rows of vines.  Maybe one day we’ll all find the real story as to why she relented and decided to support Patrick’s dream of having a labyrinth of grape vines that friends of the winery can come experience the journey to the center.

Three Sleeps Bed and Breakfast

Glenn and Liz Bartholomew who live on the property and run the Three Sleeps Bed and Breakfast along with other family members laid out and prepared the ground for twenty of us to come do the “shape planting.” [Note:  As a way to remember the taste of his wines, Patrick invented something he calls "shape tasting."] Glenn had prepared all of the irrigation lines and then augered all the holes for the vines. The rest of the family pounded in the bamboo stakes into the planting holes to help guide the upward spreading of the grape vine.

Patrick Reuter describing the labyrinth layout

We all gathered on the front porch of the Bartholomew’s home where Patrick shared his vision and philosophy for the labyrinth. He described the difference between a maze and a labyrinth and his fondest hope that these vines would last 100 years and provide opportunities for thousands to make the spiritual journey of the labyrinth. From the porch we could see the primary east/west line of the concentric circles. His design challenge was how to lay out the labyrinth so that it would be both an interesting walk and allow the farming and irrigation of the vines to occur.

Mt Adams rising about Three Sleeps Vineyard

From his winemaker’s view, he is planting an interesting mix of Tempranillo (the majority of the grapes planted on the rest of the property), Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot. His goal is to produce a “field blend” in a couple of barrels that will be available to wine club members and those who journey through the labyrinth. What we are planting today will be harvested in three years and then take two to three years to age before being released. Once again I am reminded of the long range thinking that one has to do in the wine industry – what we do today won’t be available for the market for at least five years.

Leigh Bartholomew on Shape Planting

Leigh then took over to move us from the visionary spiritual to the pragmatics of how we would plant the vines. We moved down to the labyrinth and Leigh went through a detailed explanation and show and tell of how to plant. First, we put some all natural rock phosphate fertilizer on the mound of dirt piled on the side of the hole. She explained that we needed to mix this in with the dirt and put this in the hole first followed by a couple of inches of dirt so that the fertilizer didn’t “burn” the root structure. Ideally, you wanted to have about a fist of root stem above ground right next to the bamboo shoot pole. With the one example we were now educated to go plant our way around the circular rows. I love the process of see one, do one, teach one approach to experiential learning.

Of course I had to encourage Patrick to plant lots more Cabernet Franc which has become my favorite speciality varietal.  I lovingly planted about ten Cab Franc vines with focused intentionality so that they would thrive and Patrick would see the light to plant even more in the future. In addition to the Cab Franc I was able to plant some Petite Verdot and Tempranillo varietals before all of the vines were in their respective holes.  It is amazing how quickly what seems like a forever task is finished with 25 motivated wine lovers.

Many hands makes fast shape planting

As the planting was winding down, I asked Patrick how the journey would flow through the labyrinth vineyard. In his wonderful way, Patrick started with “I’m not sure.  Now that all the vines are in, I have to figure out how to set up a symbol system to guide the flow through these open spaces we have to leave for the tractors. I thought about putting stone markers where people need to turn, but they are so heavyweight for the vineyard.  The tractors will run over them and drive them into the ground compacting the root systems.”

Before we start the labyrinth grape vine planting

I immediately lept to a technical solution to the problem laughing at myself the whole time that I shared it with Patrick.  “Look we could do a quick labyrinth navigation app.  All you would have to do is get one of those augmented GPS transmitters like wheat farmers use to precisely plant a field.  Then the user could look at the app and navigate their way through the vineyard.”

Neither of us could stop laughing at the thought of wine lovers looking to get back to nature and do something spiritual in the vineyard looking at their iPhone the whole time.  Some things are just so wrong.

The planted labyrinth from the existing vineyard

Throughout the afternoon, Patrick and Leigh’s two young boys and a friend were navigating the tall grasses within the maze as they acted out their fantasies of hunters looking to prey on these farmers planting their vines. The lyrics of lions and tigers and bears from Wizard of Oz kept running through my head.

The hunters ready to soak the planters.

After cleaning up a little, we retired to the front porch to have some tacos, fresh vegetables and of course, Dominio IV wines. The Bartholomews know how to put on a fresh food spread. We started with the 2011 Viognier to accompany the chips and salsa and then moved through a progression of reds – Pinot Noir, Syrah, Syrah-Tempranillo blends, and finally a Tempranillo.

As the evening wound down and the labyrinth planters began to drift off, Patrick suggested that Jeff Weissler of Conscious Wine and I chat a bit. Jeff and I had exchanged emails a couple of months back after I’d written the blog post on Shape Tasting and Patrick pointed me to Jeff’s videos on Shape Tasting with Patrick. We did the “do you know” routine to establish our wine geek credentials. We have many mutual friends on our respective journeys including Bill and Barb Steele of Cowhorn Winery, Alan York, Paul Dolan, and the Benzigers.

Jeff is doing some interesting work promoting his four principles and twelve practices of fine wine making.  His focus is on figuring out how to rate wineries over the long term rather than myopically only pay attention to a particular bottle of wine from a particular vintage. I look forward to many great interactions in the future with Jeff as he helps all of us be intentional in what we look for in fine wines and fine wine growers. Jeff posted his video of the labyrinth planting earlier today.

Very early stage grape cluster growth

With lots of hugs for old friends and new wine fellow travellers it was time to head back up the road to Bainbridge Island.

As I headed out from the peace and aliveness of Three Sleeps Vineyard, I once again reflected on Brian Doyle’s insightful quotes from  The Grail:  A Year Ambling and Shambling through an Oregon Vineyard in pursuit of the best pinot noir wine in the Whole Wide World about fine wine growing:

“Grapevines are amazing life forms when you think about it, they plunge their fingers a hundred feet down into the rocky soil, they can live for hundreds of years, they fend off all sorts of insect attacks, and they have been working with human beings for so long, thousands and thousands of years, that you wonder sometimes who cultivates who, you know what I mean?  Are people manipulating and taking advantage of grape vines, or are grape vines deftly using human beings to take over the world?“

…

“On my way back uphill to my car I remember what Jesse told me once, that each vine produces enough grapes to make about three-fourths of a bottle of wine, and I chew on the idea that three-fourths of a bottle of excellent wine is probably just the right amount necessary for two or three people to start telling stories fast and furious,so that each of the vines I pass is pregnant with stories, some of which were never born into the world before, and this idea makes me happy also, so by the time I get to the town where I am supposed to give a talk I am cheerful as a chipmunk.“

Click here to discover more about Skip Walter

In Dominio IV, In The News, Jeff's Blog, Winery Events | Tagged with dominio iv, in the press, willamette valley

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

Hello Again Everyone,

Spring is finally in full swing! Farmer’s Markets across the state have opened to the delight of customers, pastures are green and glowing, and Farm Dinner Season is just around the corner.

Here are a few quick updates on our 2012 events. Later this week, we will send you the exciting details of the first installment of our new FOOD ADVENTURE SERIES: The Farm to Fork Rafting Adventure

.

APRIL UPDATES:

UNDERGROUND SERIES
The first installment of our Underground Series will begin in early June in Southern Oregon. Those of you who are on the private guestlist will receive an email in May with event details and reservation instructions. If you aren’t on the guestlist yet, find the Underground page on our website and follow the instructions.

July 21 FARM DINNER – BEND
(seats available)

• PARTNER CHEF FINALIZED: T.R. McCrystal from Jen’s Garden in Sisters, Oregon!
• FEATURED PROTEIN FARM FINALIZED: Grass-Fed Beef from Dancing Cow Farm.
• SPECIAL SURPRISES: In addition to serving the wonderful wines of Maragas Winery with dinner, 10 Barrel Brewing Company will be crafting a one-of-a-kind beer for the “happy hour” portion of the event and Brewmaster Jimmy Seifrit will tap the keg!

August 11 FARM DINNER – ASHLAND

(sold out)

• PARTNER CHEF FINALIZED: Neil Clooney from Smithfields Restaurant in Ashland, Oregon!

September 2 FARM DINNER – CORVALLIS

(seats available)

• PARTNER CHEF FINALIZED: Eric Bechard of Thistle Restaurant in McMinnville, Oregon!
• FEATURED PRODUCE FARM FINALIZED: Organic Produce from Gathering Together Farm.

September 8 FARM DINNER – HOOD RIVER  (some seats available)

• PARTNER CHEF FINALIZED: Jon Moch of Celilo Restaurant in Hood River, Oregon!
• FEATURED PRODUCE FARM FINALIZED: Organic Produce from Hood River Organic.
• SPECIAL SURPRISES: In addition to serving the stellar selections of Viento Wines with dinner, Double Mountain Brewery will join us for the “happy hour” portion of the event and guest will get to enjoy a Double Mountain brew in the orchard.

October 6 FARM DINNER – JACKSONVILLE

(a few seats available)

• PARTNER CHEF FINALIZED: Courtney Sproule of Din Din Supper Club in Portland Oregon!
• FEATURED PROTEIN FARM FINALIZED: Pastured Poultry from Rogue Valley Brambles.

Thank you so much for your support of our organization. We appreciate any help spreading the word about Farm to Fork Event Co. to your friends, colleagues, and local media outlets. With your help, we believe we can make a difference in our local communities, and have fun doing it. See you out on the farm!

By Matthew Domingo, Director of Farm to Fork Event Company

In In The News, Winery Events | Tagged with Dinners, education, Food Related, in the press, Matthew Domingo, oregon, Travel

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