Taste of Terroir: 2008 Oregon Pinot Noir (Part 1 of 2)

Oregon’s recently released 2008 Pinots are garnering some serious buzz. "In the 2008's, you've got the best vintage Oregon has ever produced, the kind of vintage Oregon winemakers always hoped they could produce." Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator.

With that in mind, the time was right for The Oregon Wine Blog to explore this vintage in our Taste of Terroir series. To many wine drinkers, Oregon Pinot is Oregon Pinot, but that's too large a generalization. The Willamette Valley is certainly what people think of, but there's so much variety within the Valley itself that the sub AVAs provide an exploration of the valleys, elevations, soil types and micro-climates - and that's just what we hope to do with the 2008 Oregon Pinot Noir tasting. We've even got a Pinot from the Umpqua Valley.

This two-part post will start on the Northern end of the Valley in the Chehalem Mountains. As we progress, we'll pass through Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton District, the Dundee Hills, McMinnville and the Eola-Amity Hills AVAs, and as we work our way South we’ll end in the Umpqua Valley.

What kind of growing season was 2008? Here’s a description from our friends at Stoller: “In retrospect 2008 was the ultimate cool climate vintage, but it began rather apprehensively. A frost arrived when bud break, already a few weeks late, began. Everyone seemed to survive that frost and the fruit was right on track by late summer. Concerns about a wet harvest forecast never came to fruition as the end of summer and early autumn saw cool breezy days that allowed the necessary hang time to produce Oregon's world class Pinot Noir.”

Oregon’s Willamette Valley, 100 miles long and about 60 miles wide, was first declared an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 1984. Since then, it's become known as one of the greatest places in the world to grow Pinot Noir. Other varietals that do well in the Willamette Valley include Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.

Chehalem Mountains AVA
The Chehalem Mountains AVA rests on the far North end of the Willamette Valley and serves as the guardian to the rest of the Valley of the harsher weather that comes in from the Columbia River Gorge. The area is marked by great variation of soil types within the AVA, with volcanic basalt creating the foundation for much of the area's clay and silt, marine sediment and sandstone. The area’s soil is also comprised of a windblown silt, or loess. The AVA was granted designation in 2006 and has around 1,600 planted acres of vineyard. The AVA Association has a great website here.

Our Chehalem Mountains representative was a personal favorite: Anam Cara Cellars 2008 Nicholas Estate. The Nicholas Estate vineyard (LIVE certified) is probably one of the most distinctive vineyards I've sampled in Oregon when it comes to displaying terroir. The site is a former hazelnut and walnut farm, has unique characters that are present, particularly on the nose of the wine. The 2008 was no exception. The wine started out with a smokey, earthen nose, hints of moss and forest floor as well as pepper and toasted spice that speak more to the site than the use of newer oak. This wine saw less than 20% new oak. This elegant Pinot delivers brighter red fruits and a hint of that spice from the nose on the palate. The Nicholas Estate is a blend of 5 clones, nearly 40% 667, though Pommard, 115, 114 and 777 all make up the wine. The wine was named in the Top 100 by the San Francisco Chronicle and will retail at around $30.


Ribbon Ridge AVA
Within the Chehalem Mountains AVA lies Oregon's smallest AVA, Ribbon Ridge. Ribbon Ridge was planted in 1980 by Harry Peterson-Nedry, owner and winemaker at Chehalem Winery. The AVA is only three and half miles long and 1 and 3/4 mile wide and it sticks up out of the valley floor at 683 ft of elevation. Its comprised of a younger soil, a silty clay loam of the Willakenzie type, drains exceptionally well and is perfect for viticulture. There are only 350 acres planted in Ribbon Ridge and the first vineyard was Ridgecrest, at 55 acres, Ribbon Ridge was designated in 2005.

We sampled two wines from Ribbon Ridge, the Chehalem 2008 Reserve and the Chehalem Ridgecrest Vineyard Pinot Noirs. Both of these wines exhibit a bigger style and excellent acidity that come across right away. These are wines that will lay down that much is clear. The Ridgecrest Vineyard 2008 came across with spice and smoke from oak on the nose. The palate gave way to prominent tannins, certainly in comparison to the Anam Cara. The wine is really well put together and we found it to be one of the favorites among the guests. The dark red fruit on this nicely balanced wine made it a beautiful example of Oregon Pinot.
The Chehalem Reserve 2008, is not yet released and was even bigger than the Ridgecrest and exhibited significant tannins. Bright fruit notes and even some of the oak on the palate, guests found the nose to have herbal notes, and fennel or licorice came up many times. This is a big and really impressively structured wine. Certainly drinking very well now but this wine held the most promise for tomorrow of the 2008s we tasted. I would love to taste this wine again in a few years. Both of the examples from Ribbon Ridge were nice examples not only of what the AVA has to offer but also spoke to the experience and innovation of Harry Peterson-Nedry and the amazing things that are coming from Chehalem. Wines with incredible structure and finish. Impressive.

Our journey through the 2008 vintage Oregon Pinot Noir continues in Part 2 coming later this week.

The Passport to Pinot; A tale of Reunion & Discovery

Traffic through Portland aside, going back to the Willamette Valley is always a joyous occasion for me. I savor the opportunity to reconnect with old friends like Sheila & Nick Nicholas of Anam Cara Cellars and I always eagerly look forward to making new friends, finding new wine gems and enjoying the people & the Pinot of the gorgeous Willamette Valley.

Gwynne and I packed up our car early Saturday morning and prepared to crash the campus of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, which has played host to the International Pinot Noir Celebration every summer for the last 24 years. We scored a room in one of Linfield's very satisfactory dormitories, which, I might add, had fantastically convenient proximity to the Grand Tasting, Passport to Pinot.

In the run-up to Sunday's Passport to Pinot event, there were lots of wines, vineyard visits and excellent food and you'll get to read about all of that. I want to focus on Passport to Pinot because that was the event that prompted our trip to McMinnville. Gwynne and I are both madly in love with Oregon's incomparable Pinot Noir and so the opportunity to sample much of the wine that was poured over the four days of the IPNC events was a siren call we couldn’t refuse.

The IPNC is four intense days of seminars, blending workshops and pairings stretching from Thursday to Sunday morning. The Passport event, held Sunday afternoon, reprises the Al Fresco tastings from Friday and Saturday, and so typically has different attendees. It’s a great offering of a more affordable tasting opportunity for the newcomer or the slightly less dedicated fan of Pinot. Passport also allows the wineries highlighted during the Al Fresco tastings to showcase their wines to a wider audience.

The Passport to Pinot was beautifully situated in the Oak Grove at Linfield College. Each attendee was given a Riedel Oregon Pinot Noir glass and invited to have at it, giving us an opportunity to taste Pinot from approximately 60 wineries pouring at the event in two shifts. While Oregon was the most well-represented region, there were wines from all over the world. It is, after all, the International Pinot Noir Celebration. Tending toward regionalism as I do, I was very pleasantly surprised by some amazing Pinots coming from Argentina, Austria, and Canada.

We ran into Sheila and Nick early on in the afternoon, and Sheila introduced me to Cole Danehower. Cole is the author of Essential Wines & Wineries of the Pacific Northwest and Northwest Palate Magazine. Cole & I got into a disagreement about Canadian wines when he told me there was some really good wine coming out of Canada. I confess that later in the day, I came to eat, or rather drink my words after I tried the Pinot Noir from Tantalus. A few hours later I sauntered up to Cole and said, "Cole, I do believe some humble pie is in order." Humble pie goes great with Pinot, Canadian Pinot especially.

I was really taken by some of the Pinot Noir coming out of California is well. (That's a sentence I never really thought I'd write. Geez.) The wines of Carneros and Santa Rita Hills were especially nice. Santa Rita Hills is a little cooler and so I think that helps them out quite a bit.

Another surprise, and the winery with the longest line was Bodega Chacra, an Argentinian Pinot producer. The Pinot from Bodega Chacra was an ‘09 and I found it very understated. The guy pouring the wine however was very handsome, and so maybe that's why there was such a long line?

I still defer to Oregon for my Pinot Noir, and today was no exception. The Eyrie Vineyards ‘07 Estate, aka The Godfather, was really showing beautifully and it's not even released. I always find the wines of Anam Cara to be very much to my liking in any crowd. It was a pleasure to try the Roco Pinot, and I had a great time talking with Rollin Soles about our screw cap chat on Grape Encounters Radio.

It was nice running into other wine bloggers like Tamara from Sip With Me, and Allie from My Wine Words. The Passport to Pinot was a great event that also included an excellent spread of Oregon, specifically Portland, eateries. Restaurants, bakeries and caterers making a wide variety of food options that went well with this wide variety of Pinot Noir. There were some great bites from Bunk Sandwiches, Ken's Artisan Bakery (with canelé that won Gwynne's heart quickly) and Two Tarts Bakery (which also won Gwynne's heart with amazing macaroons, notice a theme).



Passport to Pinot is a great way to cram some of the amazingly rich experiences that make up the IPNC week into one day, with a much more approachable price tag. The event is as tasteful, or dare I say classy, as any tasting I've been to. Next year is the 25th year of IPNC, maybe it'll be my second. ( Tickets are already available.)

Anam Cara Cellars...A Truer Sense of Place

Six years ago, Gwynne and I made our first trip to Willamette Valley as new oenophiles. We were eagerly slurping down Oregon Pinot Noir, and enthralled with its elegance and its seemingly heightened sense of terroir when compared to much of the Washington wine we'd experienced. However, our youth came with certain monetary realities, and our ability to stockpile this gem in a bottle was somewhat limited. Nearly all of the wines we were tasting were over $20 and six years ago that was a stretch for us. With fish hooks sharpened in our pockets we made one last stop at August Cellars as we headed back to Seattle.

There was a lot going on at August Cellars: they were celebrating their recent grand opening and there were Oregon creameries and chocolatiers to round out the offerings. In the back of the facility sat a table with a Pinot Noir. One taste of Anam Cara Cellar's Pinot Noir and we were infatuated with the wine. We dug deep past the fish hooks. This was a wine we had to take home with us, price be damned. That wine - their first vintage - stayed in the wine rack for a few years, and when we did open it with friends, we relived that trip and those days when we had a sane wine budget.

Since that trip Anam Cara Cellars has always been the exemplar of Oregon Pinot Noir in my mind. On our recent trip to Willamette Valley we had the opportunity to visit with Sheila and Nick Nicholas of Anam Cara at their estate vineyard and home, located atop the 36-acre vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains AVA. Sheila invited us for a stroll through the vineyards and Nick talked a little about the work he had ahead of him with bud break coming. There was bud thinning to be done, but the weather had been miserable after a mild winter. The vineyard had been an orchard, planted in 1906 with hazelnuts, walnuts and plums. Those all, Sheila pointed out, lend appealing character to the soil that gives Anam Cara a unique element of terroir. She'll get no argument from me.


To get started, we tasted through a flight of cool-climate Rieslings by Trisaeteum, Argyle and Brandborg as well as the Anam Cara Riesling. Anam Cara is a part of a movement in the Chehalem Mountain AVA to promote Rieslings grown in cooler climes. The flight of Rieslings showed the range of this varietal often dismissed as a sweet wine. The cool climate wines ranged from sweet honey notes to a refreshing smack of green apple and other bright fruits. A number of the winemakers are also putting a slide gauge on the back label of their Rieslings to indicate how sweet the wine is on a range from dry to sweet.

As we moved into their Pinot Noir I had to chuckle a little. Here I was with the owners and viticulturalists for a wine that we enjoyed so much and which held so much nostalgia for me and I was drinking their wine with them, and hanging out in their dining room.

Anam Cara Cellars makes a few different Pinot Noirs. They consult with winemaker Aron Hess from Daedalus Cellars but are heavily involved in the crafting of their wine. Nick spends a lot of time and thought on the clones they grow, managing the growing conditions and the cooperage selection. A full 20% of their total barrel inventory is new oak, which Nick likes a medium to long toast to pair with his fruit.

The 2008 Pinot Noir marks their fifth vintage, and they did some screw caps on this release. Nick and Sheila did the math on that first vintage we took home with us, and it cost them a fortune at almost $900 a bottle. Our splurge that day looked quite meager in comparison. In addition to the Nicholas Estate Pinot, there is an Estate Reserve, the 2007 of which Nick feels is almost ready for release after 17 months in the bottle. They also make two wines that are single block or barrel select wines. The Heather's Vineyard Pinot is a single block 114 clone Pinot Noir. The wine is elegant with brighter fruit character and a beautiful ruby color. No new oak is used on the Heather's Vineyard so you get a real sense of the fruit and floral aromatics on the nose. Like its namesake, their daughter, the Nicholas were looking to craft a beautiful and expressive wine, highlighting the elegance of the grapes. In contrast, the barrel-select wine, the Mark I, is a broad-shouldered Pinot Noir that speaks to the new oak and toasted notes that come along with it. While the Heather is chosen based on the block, Mark (so named for their son) is a barrel selection. When you compare the earthen characteristics and deep dark color of the Mark I to the light fruit character of the Heather, it goes a long way toward showing the versatility of the Pinot Noir grape.


The two wines produce a Yin and Yang effect. Using different clones, the Nicholas' have been successful in demonstrating the versatility of their fruit and site. Nick has crafted wines that speak not only of Oregon in a way that shows reverence for the terroir but also of his skill at producing Pinots that allow different elements of the fruit their chance at the spotlight.

Our time with Sheila and Nick was really incredible. We got to experience a wine that we really love with the people who know it best. We made new friends that morning and were thrilled and thankful for their hospitality and generosity. The name, Anam Cara, is Celtic for "friend of my soul" and is really the only applicable name for this wine made by these friends who clearly put their heart and soul into their vineyards, and ultimately their wines. We look forward to seeing Sheila and Nick again, and highly recommend you check out their wines, or pay them a visit when you're in the neighborhood.

Wine Country Dining: Newberg Oregon's The Painted Lady

As Gwynne and I were planning our Willamette Valley weekend, we solicited some advice from friends and fellow winos on where to eat in Newberg. Many of the recommendations included the line, "Go back to Portland and then...". We had already driven from Seattle to Newberg that day and had no desire to get back in the car. We wanted to let Newberg wow us, and we knew from experience that when talented culinarians set up shop in wine country, they know what they're doing. They are looking to highlight the local produce, but most especially to make food that is deserving of excellent wine. With all that in the cards, we headed to dinner at The Painted Lady.

The Painted Lady is located in a painted lady, a Victorian era home painted in multiple and contrasting hues. The Painted Lady movement was born in San Francisco to restore beautiful Victorian homes to their former splendor in accordance with the established standard. The house is only about a block off the the main street in downtown Newberg, and is surrounded by a white picket fence. The proprietors have granted a special meaning to The Painted Lady, applying the ethic of the movement behind these beautiful homes to their food. As the paint colors of the house compliment each other, bringing out aspects that might otherwise be unnoticed, so too, does their food strive to use complimentary flavor profiles that enhance the natural flavors of their ingredients.

The Painted Lady offers multi-course meals of local Northwest ingredients and wine pairings with each. The prix fixe menu allows diners a a four course offering for $60 per person, and you can have the courses fully paired with wine for an additional $40. During the slower season, The Painted Lady does a three course meal with a wine pairing for $60, featuring a different local winery each month. We signed up for two and made reservations for a Friday. We were excited because the featured winery for the April menu was Anam Cara Cellars, which is a personal favorite for Gwynne and I and was on our itinerary for the following day.

The three course meal started with a Oregon Shrimp Napoleon, paired with the Nicholas Estate 2008 Riesling. I was really surprised by this dish, it was a local item that made me feel like I was eating in a slightly more tropical clime. The shrimp and avocado were placed on and paired very well with the bright cool climate (Chehalem Mountain) riesling from Anam Cara. The meal was amazing, with the textures and flavors marrying extremely well. The wine pairing was suburb, bringing out the delicacy and sweetness of the shrimp and nicely complimenting the other ingredients.

The second course was more food than you could ever imagine, the pork shank with mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. The pork shank is visually stunning standing in the middle of the plate atop the roasted cauliflower and potatoes. There is a metric ton of meat on the shank, and while I was able to plow through it, Gwynne didn't even come close to finishing her meal, and truth be told, were I not there, she would have had an embarrassing amount of meat left. The pork shank was paired with the 2007 Nicholas Estate Pinot Noir. The wine is an incredible statement of the terroir over on Chehalem Mountain. It did very well with the natural flavors of the pork shank and the seasonal vegetables. This dish and pairing had Oregon written all over it.

At this point, as we tried deep breathing exercises to get us through the amount of food we had already eaten, and prepared for the dessert course, the chefs threw us for a loop by bringing out a complimentary cheese and Madeira interlude. This was an incredible adventure through Oregon's cheese-producing acumen. We were brought four cheeses, hazelnuts, quince paste and some local honey, complimented by a Madeira from The Rare Wine Company. The cheeses were an almost otherworldly experience and the Madeira changed Gwynne's opinion of that wine forever. The cheeses, from Rogue Creamery, River's Edge and Ancient Heritage make me wonder if cheese should have just waited to be invented until Oregon came along (no offense, France.)

Dessert arrived. It was an apple tart tatin topped with homemade ginger ice cream. It was perfection and delicious and was paired with the Anam Cara 2009 Late Harvest Gerwurtraminer. The pairing was spot on, the sweet fruity wine with the apple flavors and the tatin pastry. The ginger ice cream was incredible and brought a refreshing bit of zing to the dessert. Tatin is French, I think, for "ginormous."

As we prepared to depart, our waitress brought us a selection of chocolates, which they boxed in a small takeaway box when we cried uncle. There was so much food and all of it was delicious. The staff was highly attentive and very well-informed.

As we were planning our trip and when people asked where we ate, their responses confirmed our choice. People in Oregon are clearly impressed with what The Painted Lady is doing. Cliff Anderson of Anderson Family called it "the best restaurant in Oregon" and someone else said, "it's probably better than we deserve here in Newberg." I'm not in a position to confirm or deny what Cliff said, but I can easily argue what that other person had to say. Newberg is highly underrated and its producing some of the best Pinot Noir I've had. Allen and Jessica of The Painted Lady knew that when they selected Newberg. In addition to the great terroir, Newberg is home to some great people in the wine industry. I'd recommend you head down and grab a meal and a glass of wine with some of them. And The Painted Lady should be your first stop.

Exodus...Willamette Valley Block Party in Seattle

I believe it's impossible for Al Gore to have known what a powerful tool he created when he created the internets. On March 10th I tweeted that the Oregon Wine Blog had more Washington readers than Oregon readers. And like that, the next day about 52 Willamette Valley wineries came to Seattle. Can you blame them really, when during the month of March Oregon readers turned their backs on our blog?


I was happy to meet the wineries in Sodo Park at Herban Feast, where the staff from the Willamette Valley Wineries welcomed me with a media guide and credentials (I attended the trade event prior to the public ticketed event). Included was a booklet that listed the wineries present and gave me a little space for notes as well as the wines they were pouring, and the retail prices of each. I took this handy booklet, my credentials and made my way into Sodo Park. This was the first such block party by the Willamette Valley Wineries, and it was a successful one, with 350 trade members and 425 folks from the general public coming out to the event.

The 52 wineries were laid out alphabetically which made it easy to find wineries I had my eye on. Stumptown, a Portland institution, provided some coffee in cased you needed some help getting out the door at the end of the event.

Oregon's bread and butter is, of course, what I would argue is the best Pinot Noir on the planet. Some wineries were also pouring blends, such as those on hand at the Sokol Blosser table. The Meditrina, and Evolution are some of the state's most interesting and most approachable blends. Though there was Oregon Chardonnay and Pinot Gris available at many of the tables as well, I was really there for the Pinot Noir.

I sampled several, but I've honed in on a few standouts for our purposes. I made my way to the table at Cooper Mountain Vineyards, where their Mountain Terroir caught my eye with it's slick all-black label. The Mountain Terroir Pinot is a blend of three vineyard sites that blend together to accentuate the terroir that is Cooper Mountain. The winemaker at Cooper Mountain is "very French" and doesn't believe in single vineyard efforts. The Mountain Terroir ($45) is very good, and there were only 300 cases made.



There were somehow some Oregon wineries on hand which I had never before sampled. Among them were Thistle, Retour and Patricia Green Cellars, where winemaker Patty was the original winemaker at Torii Mor.

I also found some old favorites - Jim Bernau from Willamette Valley Vineyards welcomed me to the table. WVV and TOWB are great friends. Jim told me he had a couple special wines on hand and asked if I'd be interested in giving those a whirl. He poured the 07 Signature Cuvee and the 06 Griffin Creek Syrah from Southern Oregon. While I was tasting, I told Jim that one of my seminal wine experiences came five or six years ago at WVV with their Bourdeaux style blend from Southern Oregon, The Griffin.

My favorite wine of the event was the Anam Cara, 2007 Nicholas Estate Pinot Noir. This wine was DYNAMITE! Anam Cara is a sentimental favorite of mine from one of my earliest trips to the Willamette Valley. While I hate to play favorites, this wine left me little choice in the matter. The 2007 Nicholas Estate is the product of five different Pinot clones. I feel like the Pinots that they're making at Anam Cara are a bit more earthy, that they're capturing what makes Oregon Pinot so special and just turning the volume up a little bit. This wine certainly did that for me.

This event was a lot of fun, and there were a few wineries that I hope to bring you more on in a separate post. The folks pouring did a great job telling us about their wine and the WVW staff were brilliant hosts. (If Oregon ever does decide to move here permanently I'd be happy to help carry a few of the boxes.) If you're heading down Willamette way, make sure you check out the Willamette Valley website, or go ahead and give them a call to help you figure out your itinerary. While they're not in a position to recommend one winery over another (they represent all of them), they can help you figure out which wineries are close to where you're staying or eating on your visit. Be sure to give them a call (503) 646 2985.