Tasting Notes May 28 2005

This was the big Memorial Day Wine Tasting Event in Oregon. This is one of two big weekends to head to wine country and try wines. The majority of wineries are open - including those that are not open to the public the rest of the year. This year we visited Shea (a favorite of ours) Chehalem and JK Carriere. One of our goals for this weekend is to find some more under $20 wines that we like. Finding a good wine for $30+ is not hard (though not all wines over $30 ARE good). We stuck to the wineries north of Dundee as traffic on wine weekend in horrid through that town.

Shea
Shea was tasting at Adelsheim Winery. They have a selection of Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays.

Selection:
2003 Chardonnay
2003 Pinot Noir Estate
2004 Pinot Noir East HIll (futures)
2004 Pinot Noir Wädenswil Clone (futures)
2004 Pinot Noir Block 23 (futures)
2004 Pinot Noir Homer (futures) (this had a distinct violet color)

The futures were all barrel tastings. What I like about Shea's futures is they tell you how much they will charge when the wine is released - no guessing. We purchased 1 bottle of chardonnay (once again I found a Chardonnay I like) and futures on the Wädenswil, block 23 and Homer. In the past we have bought block 23, block 32 and estate, and maybe Homer. These do not fall into the under $20 catagory.

Chehalem
Chehalem was also hosting two other wineries - Stoller and Ribbon Ridge. Stoller sells their grapes to Chehalem and produces their own wines. Ribbon Ridge is owned by the same person that owns Chehalem.

Selection
Chehalem
2004 INOX Chardonnay
2004 Reserve Dry Riesling
2003 Cerise (Gamay/Pinot Noir)
2003 3 VIneyard Pinot Noir
2003 Corral Creek Vineyards Pinot Noir

Stoller Vineyards
2001 Stoller Estate Pinot Noir
2002 Stoller Estate Pinot Noir
Chardonnay (futures)

2002 Ribbon Ridge Winery Pinot Noir

Once again I liked this Chardonnay. While at Chehalem, I start to realize maybe I do like Oregon Chardonnays. We bought INOX, Riesling, Cerise, 3 vineyards and Ribbon Ridge. Cerise meets our goal of a good under $20 Pinot Noir. Granted it is a blend but it is good. Plus I like unique grape wines like Gamay

JK Carriere
This is a newer winery. The owner, Jim Prosser and his family and friends were running the tasting. They give out notecards with tasting notes, a very nice touch.

Selection
2004 Glass- White Pinot Noir
2003 Provocateur Pinot Noir
2002 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

We bought all three wines. I forgot to grab a price list before we left, but I think Provocator met our pricing goal for the weekend. I also liked the White Pinot Noir (another unique wine).

Ok, so we have found three under $20 Pinot Noirs that we like:
White Rose - Greg's River
Chehalem - Cerise
JK Carriere - Provacateur

Saturday evening we had dinner at my mothers to celebrate her mortgage burning. We had picked out some special wines for the occation. She is only the second person I have known to pay off a mortgage - the first being her mother, my grandmother. We really didn't burn stuff - we figure after drinking a lot of wine we shouldn't be playing with fire anywhere near mom's payed off house. Instead we all shredded papers. Anyway, the wines we picked out were:

Archery Summit Arcus Estate Pinot Noir
Domain Serene Jerusalem Hill Pinot Noir
Shea block 32 Pinot Noir
(I forgot to get the years, bad Leslie)
We decided we liked the Shea Block 32 the best. They all were really good.