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 Lazy River Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA of the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

Deven’s pairing suggestions

I reached out to Deven to ask about a pairing for the holiday season and he was kind enough to respond with a pairing that makes things simple so that you can relax and enjoy the time at the holiday with family and friends.

Here is what I thought of when planning out our Christmas Dinner menu….my favorite part is all the excitement and build up to dinner which starts a few days before Christmas so we can best enjoy the crazy!

Deven Morganstern, Executive Noise Maker and Grape Wrangeler at Joyful Noise

In our house, Christmas Dinner is really an all day affair. Everyone wakes up, we make coffee, have pastries from the shop down the street and do the present thing. That all gets us to about lunch time when friends and other family start to stop by. Either just for a minute or coming early for Dinner you’ve got to have some snacks ready in advance or you will never get out of the kitchen. So, a couple days ahead I’ll bake loaves of Ken Forkish’s Saturday White Bread recipe from Flour Water Salt Yeast, pick up a ton of charcuterie from Chop and Olympia Provisions here in Portland, some pickled and fresh veggies, and then make this tuna spread (see below) with Jacobson canned tuna in oil. All can be whipped up days ahead of time, other than grilling some of that bread, and you can keep those hungry folks at bay while wrapping up the main show in the kitchen. Perfect thing about the 2015 Lazy River Vineyard Joyful Noise Pinot Noir is it can roll with all these snacks and transition straight into dinner time with roasted Duck, Prime Rib, or at our house this year, Smoked Ham. With enough color and structure that your Cabernet drinking Uncle will be cool with it and all the acid and fruit anyone that loves Oregon Pinot Noir will be filling their glass a second time, you can pop open a couple bottles and let the day fill with the noise of friends and family. 

Deven Morganstern, Executive Noise Maker and Grape Wrangeler at Joyful Noise

I didn’t have time to order tuna from Jacobson. But I will be sure to pick some up when I am back on the Oregon Coast.  (We will be heading to a wedding just up the road from there next year).  While I am familiar with Jacobson salts (and have been happily gifted a few), the tuna is new to me and I can’t wait!

I headed to the market and picked up a higher quality tuna than I typically do for sandwiches for this recipe.

The Tuna Mousse recipe

It’s an actual recipe, from Patricia Wells’ Trattoria.

Lemon and Oregano Tuna Mousse

One 6 1/2 ounce can best quality tuna packed in olive oil. Do not drain (the Jacobson tuna was 7 1/2 ounces, but no big deal)
4 T unsalted butter, at room temp
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 T olive oil
1/2 t dried oregano
1 plump fresh garlic clove, finely chopped

Put it all in a food processor and process till smooth and creamy. Taste for seasoning. I usually add salt and pepper.
It’s best served at room temp and will keep for about 3 days. 

We also put together a cheese plate to graze on. filled with a wide variety of cheeses, charcuterie etc. 

The Pairings

I will pull this quote again from Deven

“With enough color and structure that your Cabernet drinking Uncle will be cool with it and all the acid and fruit anyone that loves Oregon Pinot Noir will be filling their glass a second time, you can pop open a couple bottles and let the day fill with the noise of friends and family. “ 

Nothing could be more true.  I think of this as a relatively “big” Pinot.  Full of flavor.  It went beautifully with everything!  Not a single bad pairing.  I was a little skeptical of the tuna spread pairing.  I read the recipe, thought it sounded tasty and was charmed by Deven’s story.  But quite honestly I did not think this would be a spectacular pairing.  Boy was I wrong.  The acid in the wine was brilliant pairing with the lemon in the spread and then contrasting with the fat and and richness.  This was an enlightening pairing for me.

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