Illahe into the Cellar, out to the vineyard and back in time
We continue our visit with Lowell Ford of Illahe Vineyard in the proposed Mt. Pisgah/Polk County AVA in the Willamette Valley, by leaving the upper level of their gravity flow winery and heading into their new wine cave completed in 2015. Both the winery with it’s barrel shaped ceiling and the wine cave, set into […]
Where are the Women in Champagne? #Winophiles
Women in Champagne. It’s a simple title. I looked forward to learning and researching about Women in Champagne as we put together our piece for the Winophiles this month. As I set forth to do some research, I found two stumbling blocks, Champagne and Women. Do a search, try it now…I’ll wait. Probably the first […]
Yakima Valley – Wine and beyond with Wine Yakima Valley’s Flavor Camp
We had an opportunity this past fall to travel to Washington to explore their wine scene as we attending the Wine Bloggers Conference (which has since been renamed the Wine Media Conference) held in Walla Walla Washington. One of the great things about the conference is that they offer Pre and Post Conference Excursions. These […]
Illahe Vineyards – Into the Winery
Last July we made the drive out to Illahe Vineyards in the southern part of the Willamette Valley. The vineyard is south west of Salem, Oregon, in the proposed Mt. Pisgah/Polk County AVA. Kathy Greysmith, the tasting room manager, took us through a tasting of the white wines and then Lowell the owner and grape […]
Illahe – flowers, deep roots, happy cows and birds…oh and wine grapes.
We made the drive toward the southern part of the Willamette Valley to visit Illahe. (ILL-a-he) We were staying in Newburg and took the opportunity to get up early and drive south through the Eola-Amity Hills and then down to Salem. In Salem we made a stop along the Willamette River at Minto-Brown Island Park […]
Curled up with a Bandol and a book – #Winophiles
Life gets busy. These days I find myself reading quite a bit, but the reading I am doing is often short articles or posts on my phone. I long for a cold, perhaps rainy day where I can curl up on the couch with a blanket and a book. Oh and perhaps a good glass of wine.
Crushed Grape Chronicles & a visit to Illahe Vineyards
We made the drive toward the southern part of the Willamette Valley to visit Illahe. (ILL-a-he) We were staying in Newburg and took the opportunity to get up early and drive south through the Eola-Amity Hills and then down to Salem. In Salem we made a stop along the Willamette River at Minto-Brown Island Park […]
Barrel Tasting with Rudy Marchesi at Montinore Estate
After a wonderful interview with Rudy Marchesi of Montinore Estate discussing the Missoula Floods, the history of Montinore estate and their wines as well as Biodynamics in the vineyard and garden, Rudy invited us to the cellar for a barrel tasting. Winemaker Stephen Webber On the way, we went through the lab, where we met […]
Fabulous French Biodynamic Wines and some Exquisite Pairings #Winophiles
biodynamic adjective bio·dy·nam·ic | \ˌbī-(ˌ)ō-di-ˈna-mik, Definition of biodynamic 1 : of or relating to a system of farming that follows a sustainable, holistic approach which uses only organic, usually locally-sourced materials for fertilizing and soil conditioning, views the farm as a closed, diversified ecosystem, and often bases farming activities on lunar cycles Followers of biodynamic […]
Biodynamics at Montinore Estate
In our conversation with Rudy Marchesi of Montinore Estates, we asked him about biodynamics. The winery was Certified biodynamic in 2008. Rudy had set this process up while he was still working for the Montinore Estate as an employee. The Motivation & learning Pheloxera was what originally motivated him to look at biodynamics. They had […]
Pairing with Bubbles – Gloria Ferrer and the amazing Sarah Tracey
It’s the season for bubbles and this past October I was able to do an amazing tasting and pairing event with sparkling wines from Gloria Ferrer at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla Washington. I met Sarah Tracey of The Lush Life the evening before her Bubbles and Bites Seminar at WBC18. At the […]
The 12th Day arrives…2009 Esprit de Beaucastel Panoplie & Duck
The 12th Day of Wine demanded digging in the cellar for something special and Michael perused the Tablas Creek Wines that we patiently wait to open, allowing them to age as we gaze longingly at the Vintage chart waiting for them to be in their prime. It’s worth noting that as we gazed at the […]
On the 11th Day – A Ballard Canyon Syrah from Larner & Beef Stew
We’ve come to the 11th Day in our 12 Days of Wine and we pulled a beautiful bottle of Ballard Canyon Syrah out from Larner Vineyard & Winery. 2013 Larner Estate Syrah – Reserve Our finest Syrah from the 2013 vintage has a vivid bouquet of violets, cassis, blueberries, pepper, vanilla and espresso. The intense, […]
On the 10th Doon of Wine…short ribs and Syrah from Bonny Doon
Randall Grahm is one of the hardest working guys in wine and he has always been an “of the people for the people” kinda guy. I remember meeting him for the first time at a conference dinner 5 or so years ago. A fan of his blog, I was a little star struck, but he […]
Day 9 of the 12 Days of Wine with Beckham Estate AD “Creta” Pinot Noir & bacon wrapped dates
Andrew Beckham has merged his two loves, ceramics and wine. The bottle for this wine lists it as “Creta A.D. Beckham MMXVI Amphora Pinot Noir”. This wine was made in a terra cotta vessel. A vessel made right here in his studio on the vineyard. There is a long story to go with this. A […]
On the 8th day…a Cabernet..well a Cabernet Franc…a Blanc de Franc at that.
Day 8 of our 12 Days of Wine found us doing a late night pairing. We met Leah Jørgensen of Leah Jørgensen Cellars this summer and had a wonderful conversation with her about her wines and so many other things. You can find all that info here. One of the unique wines that she makes […]
The 7th day Pizza & wine in your PJ’s
On the 7th day…well we rested! Eating Pizza and Sucking Glass with Maloof Wines. Eat pizza, suck glass. The Mantra from RossandBee at Maloof Wines We have been cooking a lot lately, and these 12 Days of Wine are keeping us busy. Today on the 7th day of Wine, we rest. We pick up a […]
On the 6th day there was Joyful Noise
On the 6th day of Wine we opened our bottle of Joyful Noise Pinot Noir made by Deven Morganstern. 2015 Joyful Noise Pinot Noir We met Deven and Callie of Joyful Noise at the Uncommon Wine Festival this summer and spoke with them about the 2015 Pinot Noir. The grapes for this wine come from […]
Day 5 Müller Thurgau from Montinore Estate and crab and celery root crostini
It’s the fifth day of wine here at CGC this holiday season, and today we are enjoying a wine from the Northwest Willamette Valley, in the proposed Tualatin Hills AVA from Montinore Estate. We have been doing a bit of posting lately about our trip to Montinore Estate and our visit with Rudy Marchesi. You […]
Illahe Vineyards – Stepping back to a simpler time
Well, I suppose “simpler” is all about perspective. They have a wine here called 1899 that they do with all the conveniences that could be had at that time. That means no tractors, no electricity, no motorized vehicles. Illahe means “earth” or “place” or “soil” in the Chinook local dialect. We visited Illahe this past […]
On the 3rd day we pair Riesling with a Tamales!
As we arrive at the 3rd of our 12 days of Wine, we are channeling a little decadence. When I spoke with Alex Neely about pairing the Libertine 2015 Dry Riesling here was his suggestion: This holiday season pair the 2015 Riesling with pork tamales doused in your favorite hot sauce. The flowery aromatics and […]
On the Second Day a Viognier
As we move to the 2nd day of our “12 days of Wine” we head to Washington to pair a Washington Viognier with one of our favorite traditional holiday foods, Thai take out! Yep…Carry out at the holidays always takes me back to “A Christmas Story”. Maryhill Winery 2017 Viognier Columbia Valley We were lucky […]
Un repas de Noël pour les fêtes de fin d’année (A Christmas Dinner for the end of the year celebrations)…with wine. #Winophiles
When the French #Winophiles mentioned that they were going to make a “French-Style Season” the theme for our December discussion and tasting, I was all on board. I knew I wanted to pair these wines with authentic French holiday and winter foods, so…I went straight to my favorite Frenchman, Arnaud, to ask for suggestions. He […]
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a Gerwürvignintocloniger!
Okay, well he didn’t really give it to me, he pulled it out of the cellar (“cellar” being a fancy word for the wine rack downstairs). When we thought about how to celebrate the holidays and to share them with you, the first thing that came to mind was Wine (of course). So we raided […]
Montinore Estate – About the wines
Continuing our conversation with Rudy Marchesi at Montinore Estate After looking over the Willamette Valley AVA map and having Rudy give us some background on the soils and the impact of the Missoula floods we sat with him to talk about how these soils influence the wines at Montinore Estate. Pinot Noir Pinot Noir is […]