The Saturday after Thanksgiving we made the trip again to Oregon's wine country in Yamhill county. We went with my brother Paul. We had futures to pick up at Domaine Serene and Paul wanted to go to White Rose.
We visited:
 
Domaine Serene http://www.domaineserene.com/
White Rose http://www.whiterosewines.com/
JK Carriere http://www.jkcarriere.com/
 
We started with Domaine Serene. We were picking up our futures of Fleur de Lis Vineyard Pinot Noir. Their 2004 Rockblock Viognier and 2002 Evanstad Reserve Pinot Noir were sold out. We started with Clos du Soleil Chardonnay, which we purchased futures with Steve and Janet (they are picking up).
 
Here is the list of wines we tasted:
2003 Clos du Soleil Chardonnay
2003 Yamhill Cuvee Pinot Noir
2001 Rockblock Del Rio Vinyard Syrah
2002 Rockblock Seven Hills Vineyard Syrah

 

The Futures we tasted were:

2004 Cote Sud Vineyard Pinot Noir

2004 Winery Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir

2004 Rockblock Carpenter Hill Vineyard Syrah 
 
We then tried some Pinot Noir futures in the Caves. This year the single vineyard bottlings were only available as futures. They have a barrel tasting and then you need to decide then if you would like the wine or if you want some. The remainder is used to blend to make the Evanstad Reserve.
 

 We then went to the main room to try the Cuvee and one of the Syrahs. I was bad and didn't take notes. Neither really appealed to us. It think the Syrah was a different year than any of them listed.

 

We then went into the case buyers room. There they had all three of the Syrahs. We loved all three. We bought six of the syrah futures, two of each of the other syrahs and a magnum of the 2001 Evanstad Reserve (they had a few left they were selling).

 

Ok why we picked the futures we picked, including last week at Beaux Freres. The Beaux Freres futures were easier to take a chance on since we could buy single bottles, versus making the investment of six required by Domaine Serene. The three wines we selected all had a young fruity yet very full taste. They had the start of complex flavors that will hopefully develop with time. Each wine had different hints of flavor, but they were all pleasant.

 

The two futures we did not select did not have the full fruity flavor. Cote Sud was not very balanced, it had a very mild start and a very tanin finish - which would probably get stronger as it aged. The Winery Hill was balanced but very very mild - there were hints of flavors, but not much, so we decided against it. The problem with these two is that since they were limited to futures and would not be sold again, we probably will not taste them when mature.

 

While at Domaine Serene we met a nice couple from the Los Angeles area. They enjoy wine tasting and took a vacation to the Oregon winecountry for the big tasting weekend. She was an accountant working in the entertainment industry. She worked for a television show and did the payroll, so on payday everyone was happy to see her. He is a musician who also taught music, specializing in guitar. We started asking his advice on teaching Carl to appreciate music and when to start him on guitar since he is so interested in the instrument - ok he points at the guitar and says guitar guitar until we acknowledge it as a guitar. The recommendation was to wait until he is 8 to start formal lessons, but encourage his playing with the instruments. They also said to make sure he hears good music, not the out of tune pop that is so prevelant. They recommended adding jazz to music we play for him.

 

Right now Carl is dancing around to "I am a Fine Musician." I think this is the 20th time this morning. It is amazing that in such a short time he has gone from someone so small and helpless to such a smart and funny boy who sees the world with such wonder.

 

Back to my thoughts on our winetasting. We then went to White Rose, a winery we discovered in 2003 when they had their first bottling. This year they were tasting (all Pinot Noirs):

White Rose Estate 2002 
Michelle 2003
Quiotee's Lair 2003
Nekaia 2003

 

We enjoy their wines. We purchased 3 Quiotee's Lair. Though we like the Estate and Michelle, we still have a good supply of Michelle. There was a big price difference between the Estate and Quiotee, $25. Though we liked the Estate, we didn't like it that much more than Quiotee's Lair. Though Nekaia was under $20 a bottle, we have other wines we like better for that price.

 

We then parked for a while through Dundee to get back to town. They really need a bypass. I certainly do not want to stop anywhere in Dundee on one of the big weekends.

 

We then got to JK Carriere. I was hoping to get some Glass, their white Pinot Noir and Provocateur Pinot Noir. We also bought the 2002 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and recently drank the last of it. They received some very good reviews on the 2002 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.  There was no Glass and Provocateur left. They were tasting (all Pinot Noirs):

2003 Willamette Valley

2003 Anderson Family

2003 Antoinette

2003 Shea

 

The Shea was ok, but a bit choppy for a Shea bottling. The Shea wines we purchased the previous weekend for about $40 a bottle were much better. So was the Quiotees Lair.

 

To end the visit to JK Carriere on a positive note, I look forward to trying the next bottling Provocateur and Glass. I also love going their because they have nice tasting cards - with their notes and space for yours.