Honeywood 2006 Pinot Noir

I have a confession to make - I have been consuming quite a bit of wine, yet not blogging about it. I am hanging my head in shame, as I write this entry.

Those of you who read some of my entries know that I am a fan of starting the week/ending the weekend with a nice glass (or 2) of great wine, and this week is no exception. Today, while looking at my quickly diminishing wine selection and deciding what I should partake in, I decided I would open a 2006 Honeywood Pinot Noir. About a week and a half ago, Aileen, Kristen, Dan, and I decided that a trip to Honeywood was in order. Stan was unavailable, so another one of the staffers assisted us with the tastings. Once again I tasted the 2006 Pinot Noir.

I really enjoy this Pinot Noir. They have an 04, which just doesn't compare (I am tempted to buy a bottle and review that one as well...). Everything about the 06 just speaks volume of the quality wine this is - from it's color, coat, nose, and taste, everything is absolutely enjoyable.

I left the bottle to breathe for about 45 minutes while I prepped some pasta for dinner and did a little bit of cleaning up. Then came the first pour. The hue on this wine, from the very beginning, is one of a very deep grape red in shade. The nose is one rich with oak and spices. The website writes - "in the nose are strawberries, black cherries and cinnamon, but there's more in the background with bay rum, violets and black pepper." I, unfortunately, am not able to smell the strawberries and cherries as much - I find them to be very light and the cinnamon to be only slightly heavier (this could be due to my allergies).

The first sip is very subtle. It really takes the second sip for things to really kick in, but it is worth it. After a couple of sips, you can really taste the oak and spices, and feel them warm your body as you swallow. This Pinot is not very heavy on the palate, even after it goes down. When you take in the wine, there is a burst of flavor and sensations on the palate, but then is dies down, almost like a wave - coming in, then receding. The aftertaste leaves the palate warm with the spices lingering, but not annoying. There are some moments where some of sips are sweeter than others, something I am crediting to the fruits. After a little bit, things mellow out a little with this Pinot.

Overall, very enjoyable, two thumbs up on my end for this great Pinot Noir. If you are feeling adventurous, you can try the 04, but the 06 is definitely better.

Honeywood - Mulller Thurgau

May 20, 2008 means election day here in Oregon.

As I watched the Kentucky and Oregon results, I decided it was important for me to enjoy some wine to either ease my pain, or assist with the celebrating based on how candidates performed. Now, you may recall I wrote about Honeywood Winery a couple of weeks ago. In that time, I, mostly with the help of Aileen, have consumed the other two bottles I purchased while there - without being a true blogger and writing about them. Tonight I knew I had to remedy that and make sure I wrote about this Muller Thurgau.

When we were at Honeywood, Stan, the salesman/proprietor who chatted and gave us our tasting, and I spoke about Muller Thurgau wine as Aileen and her friends were unfamiliar with it. While not bad wines, a Muller Thurgau is a wine that just is. The noses may vary, the coats and the clarity may waver slightly, but you are just not going to find a Muller Thurgau that will differ too much from another. Nor will you generally come across a Muller Thurgau that you find tastes amazing or any of those other adjectives that people use to describe something overly desirable. This one from Honeywood is no different.

According to the Honeywood website, their Muller Thurgau is a "distinctive dry white wine with a hint of muscat aroma, finished in a traditional European wine style...Flavorful, spicy and complex food demand a wine that is refreshing and uncomplicated." The nose on this wine is one that might deceive the drinker. There is a sweetness that you perceive might occur based solely on the nose, but it isn't a heavily sweet scent, rather a light one with a mixture of grapes and pears.

When you take a sip, your tongue and taste buds wonder and battle each other a little bit for who will win - the spices or the sweet, and it ends up being a draw, almost. Initially, you feel this spiciness which feels good on the palate. After you swallow, there is a light sweet aftertaste that makes you wonder what you just drank. (After a glass or two, that slight sweet aftertaste almost goes away, but not completely.) But it isn't over yet. Just a second after the sweet aftertaste comes, once more, the spices - they are not heavy, but just ever so lightly.

I need to be clear - this tasting battle that occurs does not mean that this is a wine that is going to be "complicated," because Muller Thurgau is not - it is a simple wine. It is neither a great wine, nor is it a bad wine, it just is, and that's completely okay.

Honeywood Winery

My colleague, Aileen, had two friends/family members in town - Daniel and Sophia. We decided there was no better way to spend the very first thing on a beautiful Saturday morning than to explore a new winery. So at about 10am, I met them at Aileen's apartment and we walked the 10 minutes south and arrived at Honeywood Winery.

Honeywood is known as the oldest winery in Oregon. Stan, the person who greeted us and subsequently gave us our tastings proceeded to tell us a bit about Honeywood. They get their grapes from growers in the Eola Hills just west of Salem. They also just recently planted their own grapes, so it will be a couple more years before their are able to see the end result of that. In the meantime they are able to produce over 50 types of wine.

Stan told us about the second owner of Honeywood, whose name I forget, who is responsible for both tasting rooms and the ability of wine makers to sell wines directly to consumers in tasting rooms through lobbying and bills being passed.

Aileen, Sophia, Daniel, and myself tried quite the array of wines and left with about 9 bottles between the 4 of us. I purchased 3 - a Muller Thurgau, a Cranberry L'Orange, and a Pomegranate. I am sure that I will be consuming at least one of those bottles over the course of the next week, once I get them from Aileen's apartment.

So be on the lookout for those reviews.