Le Tour de Pinot Stage 1: A Journey to Belle Vallee

On June 19, five riders from The Oregon Wine Blog's cycling team braved the elements -- sun, some clouds, and a light drizzle -- on a grueling ride totaling 3's of miles to complete the first leg of the 2010 cycling season!  Stage 1 of Le Tour de Pinot 2010 began with an spark of excitement in the air and a noticeable lack of spandex as the team assembled at TOWB world headquarters in Corvallis, OR to kick off the series with more than double the number of riders from the previous season.

In addition to series founders and blog regulars Rick Goranflo and yours truly, we were joined by three dedicated cyclists:  Scott Alward, an OSU student training for a week-long cycling trek this summer, Andrea Flatley, a native Wisconsinonion who is slinging news in Portland these days, and Craig Newcomb, perhaps the most talented television photographer in all of mankind.  Our crack team of riders saddled up, 15 minutes late, for what was self-admittadly a short ride, meant to get our less experienced riders comfortable with the tour so we could trick them to come on longer rides later in the season.  As we started pedaling, the wind whipping through our helmets,  there was an immediate sprint as 3 of the riders left the peloton in their dust.  OK, so what really happened was the super athletic Rick, Scott, and Craig left the not so experienced Andrea and the injured Josh in their dust.  Luckily for us, stoplights served as an equalizing factor in this city stage so every 2 blocks we caught up.

A short 1.4 miles later, the group arrived at the destination: Belle Vallee Cellars, located in the Water Street Market building at 1st and Monroe. Belle Vallee was stage 4 on the inaugural Tour last year, and we were excited to hit them up again for some outstanding hospitality and great wine.  After taking far too long to lock our bikes up, we walked in to the winery and settled in to some bar stools for some good old fashion wine tasting.  Between the 6 of us, having been joined by Megan in the team car, we got 5 different flights of wine at a very reasonable price and shared all around. Offering the full spectrum of Pinot's and big reds, as well as three Pinot Gris and a port, there is something for everybody's taste at Belle Vallee. We also got a sneak peak of a chardonnay that was nearing release.  Two wines stuck out in a very positive way:

• 2003 Rogue Valley Merlot:  We loved the 2002 vintage of this, and the '03 is damn near as good.  With currants on the nose and black fruit flavors, this bottle is worth every penny of the $24.99 it is normally priced at.  This was no normal day, however, and the merlot was on sale for an amazing $8.99 a bottle. If you are in town, you should walk (or run) down there and pick up a case if it is still on sale. You won't be sorry.
• 2009 Chardonnay:  The dijon clone chard should be released in the very near future.  This was equally enjoyed by our chard fans and those who usually shy away from the whites.  If it had been bottled, we would have had a problem getting all of our wine home on our bikes.

After more than adequate tasting and great service, the team wandered around the Corvallis farmers market for a few minutes until it started to rain, and homeward bound we went.  All in all, a successful and relatively uneventful Stage 1; a great start to a great summer of riding.  Stick with us as we hit Stage 2 tomorrow and don't forget to email us if you'd like to participate in Stage 3 on July 17, as we head to Tyee Wine Cellars!

Ready...Set...Ride in Le Tour de Pinot

What could be better than a summer of wine in Oregon? A summer of wine in Oregon from the back of a bicycle, of course. Behold, the 2010 edition of Le Tour de Pinot! Le Tour de Pinot (LTdP) is an annual event themed around cycling to various wineries. LTdP was spawned initially as more of a joke after Rick and Josh had been watching Le Tour de France 2009. What if we took the whole summer cycling out to local wineries? Well, that's exactly what we did and Le Tour de Pinot was formed.

Each stage is a separate ride on a separate day spanning the summer, allowing riders to join based on schedule and ability.

Le Tour de Pinot's second year is going to be HUGE thanks to support from our new sponsors. Avalon Wine has been gracious enough to support us as Le Tour de Pinot's Jeroboam (primary) sponsor. Block 15 Restaurant and Brewery and Mahlum Architecs have also been gracious enough to sponsor as Magnum sponsors. The level of support we have is allowing us to do things we hadn't even dreamt of last year. What kinds of things?

More Posters. Last year's poster was honestly just something fun to do half way through the tour. We had no idea it'd win over so many people and ended up with a bunch of requests for prints, so this year we're going to have framed copies for every winery, sponsor, and then make any additional posters available for whoever else wants one. The 2010 poster itself will be revealed before the end of June.

Cycling Jerseys. Not bad for a second year cycling tour, huh? We are SO excited to have these made and it wouldn't have even been fathomable without support from our sponsors. Look forward to more info on these as well.

Public Stage. We're welcoming the general public (anybody with a bike, some guts, and a hankering for wine) to join us [at your own risk, The Oregon Wine Blog assumes no liability for any cycling mishaps] for our public stage on July 17! We'll be departing from Avalon Wine, heading to Tyee, and returning to finish up at Avalon. Contact us for more details.

The idea behind this year's tour was to do a little mix of old and new. You'll see a couple familiar names as well as some new. We're also branching out on distance for a few rides and trying to get some more community involvement for some of the shorter rides. We'll be posting more info about this as well, but dust off your bike and hit your trainer if you think you may want to join us.

Tour Stages:


Stage 1 (June 19): Belle Vallee Cellars - Corvallis, OR; 2.8 miles
Stage 2 (July 3): Spindrift Cellars - Philomath, OR; 15.5 miles
Stage 3 (July 17): Tyee Wine Cellars - Corvallis, OR; 24 miles (Public Stage)
Stage 4 (July 25): Harris Bridge Vineyards - Philomath, OR ; 30 miles
Stage 5 (August 7): Airlie Winery - Monmouth, OR; 35 miles
Stage 6 (August 21): Willamette Valley Vineyards - Turner, OR; 57 miles
Stage 7 (August 22): Finale Dinner - TOWB Headquarters - Corvallis, OR

Sponsors:


Avalon Wine - Jeroboam Sponsor
Block 15 Restaurant and Brewery - Magnum Sponsor
Mahlum Architects - Magnum Sponsor

So, are you convinced yet?  Watch out as we cruise by in our styling jerseys and spandex, with a backpack of wine.  Don't forget to mark July 17 on your calendar and get ready to hit Tyee with us.

Movie, Company, Cheese, Crackers, and of course, Wine!

Those of you who have read many of my posts, you know that I like to start my week off with a glass of wine at 8pm on Sundays, and this particular Sunday was no different. The time was 7:30pm and I opened my bottle of wine. I had invited Ryan, a former student of mine, over to enjoy this recently procured bottle and to hear about how his Spring Break.

While the wine was breathing, I cut and plated some Tillamook cheddar and pepper-jack cheeses, with some garlic Triscuits. When I poured the wine, the first words out of Ryan's mouth was, "That's good!" Ryan was enjoying the flavor of the pinot noir that was in front of him. With a rich color, oak-filled and spicy flavor, and an enjoyable nose, it would be hard to not find this wine good. This is not a big red wine, but rather a "regular" pinot noir that I enjoyed the moment it first hit my tongue, and I knew Ryan would enjoy it as well.

Over the last nearly two years, Ryan and I have talked about wine. What is good wine, what is bad one, and what makes it that way. We have talked about wines that we enjoy and ones that didn't sit well either of us. This particular evening, Ryan told me about some of the wine he had while in Seattle with his girlfriend over this last Spring Break. We continued to enjoy the wine, cheese, and crackers, and decided to put a movie in the background, so on went "The Talented Mr. Ripley." But then Ryan asked how I come about this particular bottle of wine. I re-told the story of Josh and I from just the week before.

Josh did a great job of telling you how we ended up at Belle Vallee, but I have to say, when I walked into the tasting room, I kind of just thought it was the place that I was meant to be at that exact moment. I know it's a bit odd to say about wine and a tasting room, but it was perfect. From the enthusiastic conversation I got the chance to observe Aubrie and Josh having, to the ambiance of the tasting room with its various maps of Oregon growing areas, it was a great experience.

This 2007 pinot was the first one Aubrie poured for us, and everything about it was so amiable, that I knew I would minimally be leaving with at least one bottle of it. Knowing how much I enjoyed it made me realize that this would be a good wine to catch-up with Ryan over. I did subsequently leave Belle Vallee with four bottles of wine, and I will do my best to write about all of them here on the TOWB. But this is a pinot you should go out and secure, you will not regret it!

As for this particular Sunday, it was a great way to start the week.










Until next time...

Epic Failure? Not with Belle Vallee in the Equation

The plan was simple.  That is what made it so great.  Take Friday off of work [from my day job], convince Micheal to do the same, and spend the afternoon wine tasting in Willamette Valley topped off with a nice dinner in Corvallis.  If only that is how the day materialized, I wouldn't be writing this post right now.  I am, so clearly things went awry at some stage in the game.

The first issue, which I failed to take into consideration in this wonderful plan, is the fact that it is still March...and in March, many of the Benton County wineries haven't opened yet for the season; the ones who have are only open on Saturday and Sunday.  The day being Friday, clearly a Saturday or Sunday tasting just wasn't going to work out.  Micheal was driving to Corvallis from Salem, so I felt really bad asking him to go back North for wine tasting....and really didn't feel like driving to the South much either.  That is where Plan B came into effect.

Plan B was masterful as a backup, if I do say so myself.  A nice afternoon hike up Mary's Peak, followed by a delicious dinner and some wine back in town.  It was patchy sun and rain on the drive to Mary's Peak Road, during which I was telling Micheal about the views from the Peak and how it had opened back up for the season a few weeks prior.  Perhaps the first sign of warning should have been the significant runoff apparent as we started our ascent.  Perhaps the second sign of warning should have been the glint of snow up the road as we progressed.  I certainly should have taken caution when the snow started bottoming out my 4-door all wheel drive german sedan, but alas, I was as cocksure as Clive was in navigating our journey to Portteus in February.  The final warning sign, of which we started to take heed, was a suburu wagon backing down the mountain because it was too slick and narrow to turn around.  It sunk in...this was a bad idea.  Ahead of us, we saw:

A lack of traction devices and a bit of common sense for once in my life led to the wise decision to turn around.  Who wants to be stuck in the middle of the wilderness, after all?  The afternoon was shot. Wine tasting failed, the hike wasn't to be.  What were we to do?  Fortunately, the wine gods came to our rescue in the form of Belle Vallee Cellars.   Returning to downtown Corvallis after the mishap, we popped in to Avalon Wine, Wineopolis, and Enoteca to browse the bottle selection before retiring home to cook a seafood dinner.  The final stop of the afternoon, almost as an afterthought, was Belle Vallee on the Corvallis waterfront.  Aubrie welcomed us in, and before we could even take our jackets off, we were met with what can only be described as a pot of gold for some wayward travelers:

Two Pinot's, a Syrah, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a vibrant conversation about winery branding and social media later, Micheal walked away with a quarter case of wine and me with a nice buzz, having entirely forgotten about the mishaps of the afternoon.  If you haven't been to Belle Vallee yet, you need to check them out.  Solid Pinot, solid big reds, and a delicious Pinot Port...you will not be disappointed.  With a nice deck on the waterfront that will be scrumptious in a few weeks...they are one of the best kept secrets in town.  When we were done, we retired to The Oregon Wine Blog headquarters for some steelhead, shrimp, and 2007 Willamette Valley Vineyards Elton Vineyard Pinot Noir.

So, there you have it.  A tale of two guys, a mountain, snow, a car, and a lot of wine...an afternoon which could have reeked of epic failure but resulted in a great day.

A Celebration of Cycling and Wine!

If you've been following The Oregon Wine Blog recently, you know that over the past month we've been participating in Le Tour de Vino -- a cycling journey to 6 wineries in the Willamette Valley. The tour brought blown tires, gravel roads, dead ends, torrential downpours, tight spandex, and a lot of great wine and scenery. As a finale celebration, Rick and I hosted Drew from TOWB as well as Nick, Kristin, and Chris from Block 15 Brewing Company for a feast featuring local, fresh food and some of the best wine from our tour.

We started menu development by choosing the wine, featuring selections from Tyee, Spindrift,

and Belle Vallee. Then came the quest of matching gourmet culinary features that would highlight the wine. We consulted a number of resources, but I want to give a plug for a cookbook that provided the majority of the recipes for the evening -- Best Places Northwest Cookbook. The book is amazing and we suggest picking up a copy from Powell's Books in Portland or another fine book purveyor. From there, Rick and I toiled in the kitchen for many many hours, getting ready for the perfect evening. All dishes were made from scratch with the exception of the Lemon Sorbet.

As we've already discussed the wines in previous Le Tour de Vino posts, I'll highlight the food and how the pairing worked, taking you through the courses as we enjoyed them:

Appetizer -- Oregon Honey Wheat Hazelnut Bread with Aged Gouda, Farmstead Smoked Fontina, and Rogue Oregon Bleu cheeses; paired with the 2007 Tyee Gewurztraminer. A great start to the evening, the cheeses were wonderful and our guests noted that the crisp wine cleaned the creaminess of the cheese off of the palate. We're particularly proud of the bread and it was probably the technically best executed dish of the night.

Salad -- Pepper Steak Salad with Mango, Avocado, and Jalapeño Vinaigrette; paired with the 2002 Belle Vallee Merlot. We knew we wanted to feature the merlot and also knew it wouldn't pair with our desired main dish, so the challenge became finding a pairing that would work using a non-traditional wine progression. This salad hit a homerun! We found it to be a flavorful, spicy salad with quite a bit of heat, although the avocado and mango had wonderful mellowing effect. The wine stood up to the spice and helped temper the heat. The salad had the best presentation of the night and the merlot was our favorite wine.

Palate Cleanser -- Lemon Sorbet. This allowed us to go from the bold merlot with the salad to a more subtle pinot with the main course. Thanks Dryer's!

Main Course -- Rosemary Lamb with a Curry Yoghurt Sauce and Ginger-Garlic Grilled Carrots; paired with the 2007 Spinnaker Pinot Noir from Spindrift Cellars. By far the favorite overall dish, the lamb from Cattail Creek was tender, flavorful, and perfectly prepared. The Pinot complemented both the lamb and the carrots, and we couldn't have hoped for a better match. The lamb melted in our mouths and the curry / rosemary flavor profile was exquisite.

Dessert -- Espresso Creme Brule with Espresso Crumb Cookies. Initially, we hadn't planned a wine pairing with dessert as we hadn't picked up anything sweet on Le Tour. Also, we figured folks would have had enough by that point in the evening. Well, we ended up cheating and making a last minute addition not from the tour and cracked open 2007 Willamette Valley Vineyards Riesling. The approximately 5% residual sugar was perfect. The creme brule tasted wonderful, however the texture was a bit off due to a broken custard. The cookies, however, were the biggest surprise of the night and melted in our mouths.

All in all, Le Tour de Vino Finale Dinner was a smashing success. It was the first time that Rick or I had prepared a multi-course meal of this magnitude, and it was the perfect capstone to a month of biking and drinking. Send me an email if you'd like the recipes and leave a comment and share your perfect pairing experience.

Cheers!

Le Tour 4: A Journey to Belle Vallee Cellars

After Friday's hot and intense ride to Tyee, The Oregon Wine Blog staff made the wise decision to revise Stage 4 of Le Tour de Vino to a more relaxing journey in which others could participate. I know what you are thinking -- those lazy bums -- but we found a treasure in downtown Corvallis that was totally worth the modification. Alyssa, Rick, Megan, and myself headed to the Corvallis Farmers Market and hit up Belle Vallee Cellar's new tasting room located in the Water Street Market building at 1st and Monroe.

I have driven by Belle Vallee's winery on Buchanan for a few years and have always been intrigued, so the opening of a new tasting room was the perfect opportunity to check out the winery. Immediately we were struck by the gorgeous tasting room and expansive deck (where they serve appetizers and wine by the glass on the riverfront), and were greeted by Brad, the new Director of Sales & Marketing. Belle Vallee offers a few different flights for tasting; we decided to go for the big red flight.

Upon chatting with Brad, we found that not only is he a heck of a nice guy, but it's clear he knows the Oregon wine industry inside and out and was a great rep for Belle Vallee. They haven't done much retail business prior to the opening of the tasting room, so Brad was pouring some of the 2002 vintage reds from the first year of production. Belle Vallee sources from some wonderful vineyards, the wines we tasted were from Quail Run and Del Rio in the Rogue Valley. After taking a small deviation to the Whole Cluster Pinot Noir, which winemaker Joe Wright learned in his time at Willamette Valley Vineyards, we dug into 4 big reds. We walked away with two bottles:

2002 Merlot: As one of the inaugural vintages, we were lucky to taste this wine and I immediately knew I was coming home with one. It's obvious the years have treated it well, and it was very nicely received by our non-merlot drinking friends. With "opulent black fruit flacors" and a nice finish of blackberries and chocolate, our taste was quite enjoyable despite the heat of the day.

2006 Southern Oregon Red Wine: This Southern Oregon red blend consists of mostly Cab Sauv with Merlot and Cab Franc rounding out the finish. While this is not a wine that I predict will win many awards, what's great about this blend is that it's one of those perfect "utility" wines. It's blended in a fashion that it will go well with a variety of food pairings, is inoffensive to both enophiles and non-enophiles, and can even hold its own by itself. Just enough spice on the nose with a healthy dose of fruit behind it made this one a winner for all of us.

As Brad noted, it seems that Belle Vallee is better known in New York than in Corvallis due to the distribution model -- and they are hoping to change that. We look forward to seeing that change as they are putting out some wonderful wine from great fruit. I foresee many a Friday evenings spent on their deck sipping some vino by the river.

Up next, we have Stage 5 which will take us to Enoteca, also on the Corvallis waterfront.