Dining Around Seattle...with Oregon Wine

A few weeks ago, Chris and Megan made the journey from Corvallis to Seattle to check out the new digs. Knowing that they were both relatively familiar with the area, the typical tourist agenda just wouldn't do. As I racked my brain for some neat activities, I remembered an event that a coworker had mentioned to me, Dine Around Seattle, so I got on the trusty intertubes to do a bit of research and solidified plans for an awesome night out.

Dine Around Seattle is actually less an event and more a month of awesomeness. In it's tenth year of existence, Dine Around Seattle is a bi-annual promotion wherein during the months of March and November many of Seattle's finest restaurants offer a three-course gourmet dinner for only $30 (tax, gratuity, and beverages not included). Oh yea, the promotion is Sunday - Thursday as well, but totally a great an excuse to go out more than just Friday or Saturday. As I scanned the list of nearly 30 restaurants participating, a little bird in the back of my head kept saying "Rays, Rays, Rays." Sure enough, there it was, Ray's Boathouse, a fine seafood establishment in my neighborhood that many friends had recommended. I quickly made a reservation and we were all set.

The marketing pitch: Ray's Boathouse is world-renowned for its impeccably fresh Northwest seafood. The culinary professionals, led by Executive Chef Peter Birk, hand select the best products from local purveyors and then prepare them simply to enhance the naturally fresh, clean flavors and succulent textures. My analysis: Spot on, mate. We arrived for our reservation and were led past some prominently displayed Wine Spectator Award's of Excellence to the back of the restaurant, a gorgeous table overlooking the sound. We could see the seagulls out the window looking at us longingly, knowing that we were in for a phenomenal experience. I grabbed the wine list and dove in, poring over nearly 700 wines primarily with a Northwest focus.  Where to start!  Feeling a bit nostalgic for the Willamette Valley and knowing seafood was on the menu, I flipped to the Pinot Noir section and was pleased to see an old favorite:  Spindrift Cellars Pinot Noir.  Spindrift has been on the agenda for Le Tour de Pinot and have always been good friends to the Blog. I was sold and the wine was showing beautifully. Now was the difficult part, choosing the dining selection.

Ray's was offering 3 - 4 choices for each of the 3 courses for Dine Around Seattle, all of them looking amazing. After much deliberation, I selected the following:

• Sweet Potato Soup, Chorizo, Cilantro, Orange Crema
• Panseared Coho Salmon, Coconut Rice, Mango, Chiles, Thai Basil, Lemongrass Syrup
• Pistachio Cake, Roasted Pear Cream Cheese Filling, Chocolate Sauce, Candied Pistachios

The soup was creamy, spicy, and exuded fresh, local, and seasonal with every spoonful. The salmon was definitely the showcase of the evening, prepared medium rare with the lemongrass syrup and mango adding some nice accentuating notes. It paired perfectly with the wine I had selected (no big deal), and left me feeling full but just wanting a little more. The pistachio cake is not something I would normally order, however, it came highly recommended from the server and I learned long ago that it's good to push outside my box and listen to the expert serving staff. It was worth it.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end as this meal did.  You, however, still have the opportunity to experience Dine Around Seattle for one more week, and you'd be a fool not too.  Ray's was great, as I'm sure a number of other restaurants are as well.  Do it, and drink some great Northwest wine while you're at it!

Le Tour de Pinot Stage 2: Spindrift Cellars

On July 3rd, a much smaller crowd than our last stage departed to visit another familiar winery from last year's tour; Spindrift Cellars. Josh, Alyssa, and myself headed out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon for what turned out to be a quick stop for lunch before a bit of wine tasting. In Philomath and craving for loaded hot dogs? High Five Sports Bar will hook you up! More on that when we decide to start The Oregon Processed Meats Blog.

For those of you not familiar with Spindrift Cellars, it is a small winery in Philomath, OR owned by Matt and Tabitha Compton. What only a year ago seemed to focus mainly on a few varietals has turned into a winery with very progressive growth and variety. They're also very committed to sustainability with many Salmon-Safe and Live Certified wines all bottled with screw-top caps. I know we've been hammering this in a lot lately, but three cheers for screw caps!


Now onto the wine. First, I want to point out that this is probably the sixth time we've written about Spindrift Cellars. Why do we write about them so much? Because everybody who works there is incredibly warm and welcoming and the wine is phenomenal. They also have one of the best lines of white wines of any winery in the Willamette Valley. That's not to say their reds aren't great, but I rarely get excited about trying whites and Spindrift is one of very few exceptions to that.

Upon walking into their tasting room, Meagan immediately greeted us and introduced us to a group of folks from North Carolina and Tennessee who happened to be tasting. Introductions out of the way, it was time to do some tasting. Since we've done reviews of Spindrift's offerings before, I'm going to highlight a few we haven't talked about much.


Our very first tasting was of their 2009 Gewürztraminer. While a young wine, this was a perfect way to cap off having just rode into town on a warm day. This wine hovered just around 1% residual sugar and provided just enough sweetness while also being refreshing. Even after the entire flight, this one stuck out as a top two or three favorite for all three of us. Very good bottle of wine to pick up for only $14.

The next wine I want to highlight ended up being Josh's, mine, and anecdotally Tabitha favorite; their 2009 Pinot Blanc. I'm going to go on record and say that this is tied as my favorite white wine of all white wines. The one it's tied with is almost twice as expensive and given the option, I rather have two bottles of Spindrift's Pinot Blanc. Preferences aside, this is the ultimate white wine for many reasons. It's refreshing, it's crisp, it's every so lightly sweet, and it provides a light tropical fruit profile not seen as often in Northwest white wines. It holds its own by itself on a warm summer day while also pairing well with a multitude of food options. If I had to suggest leaving Spindrift with just one bottle, this would easily be my choice.

Finally, we were in for a treat when they poured us 2005 Pinot Noir from the cellar. This was part of a small, limited re-release and Alyssa declared it as her favorite. This Pinot Noir aged well as it presented a light amount of fruit with a low-medium level of oakiness that makes it the perfect sipping wine. Not much left (if any at this point), so pick some up while you can.

All in all yet another great trip to Spindrift. Thank you to everybody who gives their their time and energy into producing some of the best wine in the Willamette Valley. If you haven't had a chance to visit Spindrift or try their wines yet, do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle.


Up next for Le Tour de Pinot is Stage 3 at Tyee Wine Cellars TOMORROW (7/17). Want to join us for the ride? We'll be meeting up at Avalon Wine in downtown Corvallis at around 11:30. Hope to see you there!

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.

Le Fête de Syrah - Edgefield's Grand Celebration

At Edgefield's Celebration of Syrah last weekend, Pacific Northwest Syrah was king for a day. Actually, it was king for an entire weekend. Not the kind of king you see on those crazy Burger King commercials, either. We're talking a legitimate king, all royal like King Tut and stuff. I digress. Rick and I receive passes for the 9th Annual Celebration, an event orchastrated by the geniuses at McMenamins and hosted by their flagship Edgefield Winery.  Luckily, we were able to "squeeze" the event into our "packed" wine drinking schedule and bright and early Saturday morning we hit the road to Troutdale to Syrah it up.

If you haven't been to Edgefield, it truly is a magical place and was the perfect environment for this type of event.  An old poor farm, McMenamins has turned Edgefield into a destination resort it the mouth of the Columbia Gorge, not far from many of the Gorge wineries.  Hotel rooms?  They got 'em.  Golf?  Yep.  Fine dining restaurant?  Check.  Spa?  Purr.  A winery, distillery, brewery, and pub?  Glug glug glug.  A guy could stay there for a month and never leave the property.  They also host a summer concert series at a gorgeous setting.  Oh, did I mention that you can purchase beer and wine and wander around the entire 74-acre property?

The first event of the Celebration, which we were not able to attend, was a Gourmet Viognier Reception and Syrah Dinner. The dinner included a private reception featuring the winemaker's Viogniers followed by a multicourse dinner prepared by Edgefield's Black Rabbit Restaurant and paired with our guest winemakers' Syrahs. We heard it was phenomenal.

We joined the party for Syrah Barrel Sampling and BBQ Lunch. This was a relatively intimate event, hosted in a unique and historic ballroom in Edgefield's main building. Approximately 150 attendees crowded around 15 wine barrels throughout the room and "chewed the fat" with winemakers while tasting barrel samples of Syrah. Paired with a beef brisket lunch, chewing the fat was both a literal and figurative description. Some highlights of this barrel tasting include:

• 2008 Syncline McKinley Springs Syrah: Using fruit out of Horse Heaven Hills, this was probably my favorite of the barrel tastes.
• 2009 Spindrift Syrah: From the Seven Hills Vineyard, this was a delicious wine and even better conversation. We had been to Spindrift a few times but hadn't met Tabitha and Matt until this event. We look forward to future collaborations.
• 1998 McCrea Syrah: So clearly 1998 wasn't a barrel taste, but McCrea decided to buck the norm and bring their oldest syrah. Yum.

After a 2-hour break in which we shot pool on what had to be the largest pool table in the world (seriously, this thing was 12-feet long), we headed to the final event for the Celebration: Grand Syrah Tasting and Benefit Silent Auction.

The grand tasting was organized in more of a trade show format, with approximately 40 wineries pouring in Blackberry Hall and the adjoining circus tent. The crowd was larger than barrel tasting and the appetizers were quickly devoured, but we elbowed our way through and bellied up to some of our favorite wineries and some new ones. After another great stop to see our friends at Spindrift, we discovered the following treasures:

• Penner-Ash: Pouring a syrah with a blend of Columbia Valley and Rogue Valley fruit, the staff was nice and the wine delicious.
• Cana's Feast: Pouring a 2006 and 2007 Syrah out of Horse Heaven Hills, Cana's wine knocks it out of the park. Behind the bottle we found Patrick Taylor, the winemaker and a compatriot in our vision of bringing wine to a younger crowd.

Among my favorite components of the Celebration was the variety of audiences the three events catered to. Whether you were young, older, wine novice or an expert, one or all of these events were for you. A great setting, awesome wine, and amazing conversations. Edgefield's Celebration of Syrah. What more could we ask for?

Maybe a crown and a scepter...

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!

The OWB 2009 Tour de Vino Stage 1 Results

It's no secret that we at The Oregon Wine Blog love wine, but a littler known fact is that some of us are big fans of cycling as well. To both celebrate the 2009 Tour de France as well as the beautiful scenery of the Willamette Valley, we're starting our own (mostly) cycling tour. Let me introduce you to our very first cycling event; the 2009 Tour de Vino.

The Tour de Vino has been designed as a tour for amateur cyclists from all difficulty levels. Each stage is optional and instead of being a race, this tour is essentially one giant group ride where we all end up winning. Of course, how can you lose when wine is involved? Here's what we've set up so far with all dates subject to change:

7/4 - Spindrift Cellars | Philomath, OR
7/12- Edgefield (rest day) | Troutdale, OR
7/17 - Tyee Wine Cellars | Corvallis, OR
7/18 - Springhill Cellars | Albany, OR
7/20 - Enoteca | Corvallis, OR
7/26 - Airlee Winery | Monmouth, OR
8/1 - OWB Headquarters (French-style wine dinner) | Corvallis, OR

What you may have just noticed is that the first stage already happened. We apologize for not publicizing our tour ahead of time, but the first stage was a mix of incredible wine and tragic mechanical problems. First, to the wine:


Spindrift Cellars is a small, family-owned winery located in downtown Philomath. We made this ride a little longer than the typical straight shot from Corvallis to enjoy the beautiful scenery via back roads. We ended up arriving exactly as Spindrift was opening and were delightfully surprised by a rather beautiful tasting room. Neither Josh nor I had tasted many wines from Spindrift before, so we elected to do a full tasting of both their reds and whites. Of the ten total wines we tasted (don't worry, we split each tasting), a few specifically stood out to us.

2007 Pinot Gris - This wine is rated a 90 and a best buy from Wine Enthusiast magazine. Needless to say, this wine was the perfect way to begin a wine tasting after cycling in 90F+ weather. What won me over with this wine were its strong hues in the realm of more citrus fruit than some other pinot gris. This also won Josh over indicated by his purchase of a bottle.

Spinnaker 2007 Pinot Noir - What's interesting about this pinot are a few things: Spinnaker is Spindrift's restaurant wine label, the wines aren't certified sustainable or salmon safe (as are the rest of Spindrift's wines), and the initial feeling is that these wines may not be replicable. Long story short, something went very right in the fermentation process and an 88 score from Wine Enthusiast was awarded. Spinnaker's 2007 pinot noir is lighter on fruit than some other pinots, but still manages to convey bold flavors of darker fruit. At only $18 a bottle, this is a steal.

2007 Syrah - We like big reds and it is always a pleasant surprise to find a Willamette Valley winery putting one out on the street. The 2007 Syrah has some spicy oak and black pepper, and was a nice end to our tasting flight. Produced with fruit from Seven Hills Vineyard from the Walla Walla AVA, this new release provides a solid anchor point on the red end of the spectrum. With a relatively small production, better grab some soon.

With tasting out of the way, it was time to ride back home. At approximately .25 miles away from Spindrift, our very first mechanical issue of the tour reared its ugly head. As we rode through our first green light in town, I somehow ended up popping my back tire. This was no ordinary flat as instead of a normal puncture like most flats, a large section of the sidewall of my tire completely blew out. This is where our stage ended and we had to wait for our team car to come pick us up. Even with our stage ending sooner than we thought, Stage 1 was still a really fun ride and a great day tasting wine.