Evesham Wood; Changing of the Guard

Not too long ago, I found myself down in the Salem area for a wedding. While I was in town I wanted see if I could visit one of the wineries in the Eola-Amity Hills that I hadn't previously experienced: Evesham Wood. When I got in touch with the folks over that way and inquired about a visit to the vineyards and a possible tasting there, I received a response from Russ Raney, the owner and winemaker for 24 years. Russ is hanging up his spurs to fulfill his dream of moving to France, but was kind enough to put me in touch with the new owner, Erin. (Yes, that's spelled correctly.) Erin said that he'd love to have Gwynne and I come by and he could tell us the story of Evesham Wood.


Evesham Wood is situated at the top of a hill and has an exquisite view of the central Willamette Valley looking out towards the Cascade Range. At the top of the property is a Tudor style home looking out over the vineyard. Gwynne and I met Erin at the top of the drive, where we talked about the history of Les Puits Sec, the reputation that Russ had built for both the wines of Evesham Wood, and his management of the estate vineyard. Evesham Wood adheres to some of the most rigid organic and biodynamic standards in the wine industry; 13 acres of Tilth-certified vines, farmed organically for ten years.

Erin never really planned it out like this. He got his start on the East Coast as a wine retailer and importer. His gameplan was to open a wine shop until then he moved to Berkley and got to work a harvest in Napa and Sonoma. In 2007, Erin moved to Salem and started working with Russ after some back and forth. As they worked together, and got to know each other, Russ and his family approached Erin and his wife about buying Evesham Wood. While Erin had always envisioned purchasing land or a vineyard as opposed to an established winery, he couldn’t say no to the opportunity presented.


Erin took us into the caves and we barrel tasted the 2009; Erin isn’t yet sure how the lower acidity of the vintage will reflect in the bottle as the acidity was so prominent in the Eola-Amity 2008 vintage. Evesham Wood is going for acid over alcohol, and they've also been very specific about the yeast they've been using, to the point of exclusively using a yeast that Russ isolated from a bottle of Burgundy 20 years ago.

Erin wants to honor the legacy that Russ has built with Evesham Wood, and looking for ways to expand that legacy. He’s already considering a few ways to grow, like releasing a Temperance Hill single vineyard Pinot and using his own label, Haden Fig, as a testing ground. Erin is interested in working with biodynamics as well as doing some different things with closures, screw caps and glass corks. While things at Evesham Wood are changing, it's clear that with his reverence for both the terroir of the Eola-Amity Hills and his admiration for the business Russ worked so hard to build, Evesham Wood is in good hands.

Spains' Favorite Oregon Pinot; Lenne Estates

I'm always on the lookout for new wines, new wineries, and varietals I've not tried. When one of my most trusted Willamette Valley sources, Jenny gave me the word, I had to go check out Lenne Estates.

Lenne Estates is located along 240 on the way to Yamhill from Newberg. It may not be that well known, but its vineyards lie among a number of the more revered Willamette Valley wineries such as Penner Ash, Willakenzie and Shea. The Lenne site is incredibly steep, and it provided a visual treat as we drove up the hill to the tasting room.

Lenne Estates is owned and operated by Steve Lutz and the winery is named after his father-in-law, Lenny. The label is a striking charcoal rendering of an image of Lenny in his younger days. Steve loves the sketch of Lenny but is a little less certain of the labeling that has been chosen for his second label Lenez, the sketch of a nose in a similar style to that original drawing. Its started to grow on him a bit though and he admits that he may be coming around.


Steve got his start in the wine business in the early 80s in Napa Valley, working harvests and tasting rooms and learning about the wine business as well as the business of wine. He began tinkering with Pinot Noir in 1984 making wine in Carneros. When Steve first came to Oregon he was working with Anne Amie to help develop their brand. The opportunity arose to acquire some acreage in the Willamette Valley and Steve jumped all over it.

Steve planted the Lenne estate vineyards in 2001 with some help from the winemaker from Anne Amie. Given its steep angle and his desire to dry farm the site, Lenne lost a lot of vines those first few years - 35% in the first year.

In 2005 Lenne Estates started selling fruit to Owen Roe and Steve took his winemaking to their location. Steve credits Owen Roe’s David O'Reilly for his aid in getting the results and the wine that Lenne Estates wants to make. In addition to lending production space and winemaking advice, Owen Roe also does a vineyard designate Pinot Noir with Lenne Estates fruit and uses it in their acclaimed Kilroy wine as well.

Steve makes a few Pinots, and also promotes some of the Owen Roe wines in his establishment. His 2008 Jill's 115 was our favorite, a Pinot made from the 115 clone. This is a very nicely balanced Pinot with great structure. Though it hadn't been released, Steve let us pick up a bottle with a promise not to open it for some time to come. Steve sells most of his wine, a full 90%, through his Rootstocks club. His most far-ranging sale has been to a company in Spain. This Spanish restaurant company buys 50 cases of Steve's wine for some of their exclusive eateries, and they shared with him that it's the favorite wine of the Prime Minister's wife.

Even if you're not a head of state I recommend checking out Lenne Estates. Steve is an interesting character, the views are unforgettable and you'll be tasting some Oregon Pinot that is in exclusive company.

2010 East Valley Wine Association New Release Party

(Please let me start off by saying this is my first post on a mac, so I apologize in advance for any obvious formatting issues I may have missed.)

There is wine in them there hills!!!

...well at least on the other side of the river.

Several months ago I received an e-mail from Jason Hanson at Hanson Vineyards. The e-mail was asking if I was interested in being a wine judge at an event that was coming up. Now I have to admit, that while I was excited about the possibility, I was nervous. I didn't want Jason or anyone who reads The Oregon Wine Blog to think that any of us were misrepresenting our selves with regards to our knowledge of wine. And I have to say that while I have probably been enjoying wine longer than any other contributor here at TOWB, I definitely feel as though I am the least qualified to judge any wine events. After

some emails back and forth with Jason confirming I am not a expert on wine, I felt better about agreeing to judge. I would also learn that pretty much all of the judges were

not experts in wine, and we may have all been bloggers as well.

The premise was very simple actually - there would be several judges and we would be sampling wines from the 11 wineries that make up the East Valley Wine Association. All of them are small family owned wineries. The wines were broken down in different categories - Pinot Noirs, Other Reds, Whites, Deserts, and Other from what I recall. The request was made that if we started judging in one category, that we continue through that entire category. We did not have judge all of the categories, either. The worst part was that we could only end up picking 3 each category, with our top choice being given 3 points, 2nd 2, and 3rd 1 point.

So on a clear, sunny, and warm May day, I made my to St Josef's Winery with my colleague Kate, where the event was taking place. It was Kate's last weekend in Salem, as she was moving to the Puget Sound area for a new job. And considering Kate was the first person I met when I came to Willamette for my interview, it seemed fitting she and I hang out a bit this weekend nearly 3 years later. It was also helpful for me to have a designated driver as there was another get together for Kate later in the evening, so she was committed to not drinking as much this afternoon.

True to form, the wines I decided to partake in and judge were those in the Pinot Noir category. Kate jokingly observed that I did choose the category that had the most amount of wine. Hey, what can I say :-)

The approach I took to each was trying to engage the staff member who was there from each winery asking them and about the winery - mostly due to the fact that I was completely unfamiliar with all of them, but also to be polite, rather than just going up to them and asking for a sample, and just chat with them a bit about their wines. As a result, I have some notes about the wineries as well as the notes I made about their wines.

The first pinot I had was from Piluso Vineyard located in Aumsville, Oregon. They are a small winery, only producing about 500 cases a year. I remember their 07 Estate Pinot Noir to have a bit of a stronger aftertaste.

The 08 Estate from Pudding River Wine Cellars was next. Kate had had wine from them before, and while their labels looked familiar, I don't recall having had them before. Their pinot was one that enjoyable and clean. It was light, almost sweet on the nose and was subtle on the palate. Pudding River is based out of Salem. They are known more for their whites, with the grapes coming from the East Valley. They are also getting a bite more acclaim in the white area. Their estate is located near the Oregon Gardens.

I then went to try the 07 Pinot Noir of Hanson Vineyards. In talking with Clark Hanson, he told me about the farm being in his family since the 1930s I believe it was. They started growing grapes in the early 2000s after his son, Jason Hanson returned from the East coast. Clark did say that about 50% of the land is designated for grape growing. When I asked him why only 50%, he jokingly responded "You don't go 100% in with something like wine." That statement seems to be true with almost every winemaker I have talked to - they take their time growing and developing the art of viticulture. Their pinot noir was among my favorites of all of the ones I had that day.

I went over to King's Raven next where they had two pinots. One was an 08 Reserve which I thought was very good and among my favorites. I noticed the color on it immediately and I found it to be great on the tongue. The other was an 08 Estate which I found the spices to be noticeable and enjoyable immediately.

I don't have any notes on the winery or vineyard itself, which could be

because I find myself missing a page of my notes, which may mean I will undoubtedly leave a winery or two out. My apologies to our readers and the wineries for that mishap on my part.

Another winery I don't have complete notes on is Alexli Vineyard and their 08 Pinot Noir. Alexi used to be known as Markham Hill, and through Markham Hill have around for about 30 years. They decided to take a different direction and along with that re-branded themselves as Alexli, which has been around for about 3 years. At Alexli, they do everything by hand. I also learned that their whites are aged in steel barrels.

Last, but certainly not least was Christopher Bridge based out of Oregon City. While I don't have a lot of notes about the winery, I have some on their wine. The first wine I had as a 07 Estate. This was another good wine to help round out the day. I found that it didn't linger too much on the palate, but it had a full, yet subtle, lasting aftertaste. One of the other wines I had from Christopher Bridge was their 08 Estate Muscat. This was not as sweet as other muscats, with a lighter sweetness to it.

This was such an amazing day, with great music, wine, food, and desserts. I was excited to have experienced an event like this because it was my first experience seeing the collegiality of wineries in an area. They all knew each other and complimented each other so much - these family vineyards were together like a family in the East Valley Wine Association. I look forward to visiting the wineries individually and seeing what else they have to offer.

Until next time...

There's #Cabernet in the Bin at Bin 41 Wine

The twitter machine is an enigma, wrapped in a puzzle, inside a mystery. Much like the deep sea or outer space, its frontiers are in many ways still unmapped. We know that in the deep sea, there are fish, and fish-like things. In space, there are stars and planets and such. In the twitter machine there are people in images the size of postage stamps and then lots of hashtags, and “at” signs; otherwise know as @.

Like any new frontier, this can, of course, be very perplexing, but some people are naturally talented when loosed in a new frontier. Rick Bakas is one of those people. He talks a lot about bacon, but he'll also say very insightful things about wine and social media (which is really just code for the twitter machine, and maybe facebook).

On September 2nd, Rick Bakas unleashed a twitter-based, singular yet plural ode to one particular wine: Cabernet. Cabernet is often seen as the most luxurious of wine varietals. It can be big and brawny, as is often the case in California; or it can be more nuanced and elegant here in the winederful state of Washington. In both cases it can be mindnumbingly beautiful. And so, #Cabernet was born.

People all over the world took part in this #twitter tasting of the Cabernet variety. I went to West Seattle and met up with my twitterati friends from Seattle at Bin 41. Bin 41 is a small family-owned wine shop in the heart of West Seattle, in the area known as the Junction. Junction sounds like a fancy word for Intersection, but somehow better. So, well played, West Seattle. This wasn’t the first time I’d been to Bin 41, and it’s an excellent wine shop. It’s small and personal with a very impressive selection.


Bin 41 hosted six smaller Washington winemakers and their Cabernets or Cabernet-based blends. Guardian Cellars poured their 2008 Chalk Line blend and Bart Fawbush poured his Bartholomew Wine blend Reciprocity. There were also Cabernets from Forgeron, Beresan and Balbao winery. Two other blends were poured by Stevens Winery, their 424 and Patterson Cellars Red Mountain blend.

For $5, the approximately 130 guests were given access to six pours of some of Washington's smaller boutique wineries as well as pizza from Talaricos, located just across the street. The wines were fine examples of what Washington Cabernet is capable of, both on it's own and as a blend. Two of the wines that I'd not had before were the Guardian Cellars Chalk Line and the Stevens 424. I thought both were very well done. Jerry from Guardian Cellars called the Chalk Line blend his "pizza and Doritos wine." While I agree the wine is approachable, I feel like it's a good example of Washington fruit worthy of a bit more appreciation than that.


This was the first foray into a twitter event for Jon and and his wife T, who own Bin 41, and he was very happy with how the evening turned out. From an attendee perspective, Jon and T certainly know how to bring the community together and I hope this is the first in a long line of twitter events at Bin 41.

(Check out information on Bin 41 tastings and classes here.)