Name: Rainbow Root Vegetable Gratin
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 red beets; 2 golden beets; 1 sweet potato; 1 parsnip; 1 cup of cream; 4 oz of grated parmesan; 1 tbs+ fresh thyme; 1 clove of garlic minced; 1 oz of shredded gruyere; Salt & pepper

Rainbow Root Vegetable Gratin and Baked Rainbow Trout paired with 2 Youngberg Hill – Pinot Noirs

Jan 25, 2021

Rainbow Root Vegetable Gratin and Baked Rainbow Trout Recipes

I guess we are on a rainbow theme here!

These dishes were for our pairing menu, to go with 2 Pinot Noirs we received as samples from Youngberg Hill.

We did the main course of Baked Rainbow trout. This is a fish that is a little meatier and fattier to stand up to the Pinot. For our side, this rainbow root vegetable gratin, that brings in earthier notes to pair with the Pinot Noir. I know, fish and cheese? It might be a little out of the box, but it worked.

This “Rainbow” was made with beets in red and yellow, sweet potato, and parsnip.

The baked rainbow trout with its distinctive flavor and fat stood up to both of the wines, even the brooding Natasha. The rainbow root vegetable gratin really worked well, much credit should be given to the Gruyere topper for pulling the pairing together. With the blend of 4 vegetables, I found I preferred the parsnips with the Cuvée and the beets with the Natasha. Overall, a very satisfying pairing.

Scroll to the bottom for the recipe cards.

Youngberg Hill

I have a connection with this winery. Years ago, Michael and I ventured to Oregon on our first trip to explore the Willamette Valley. An old friend of mine, Adam, met us and made sure we visited Youngberg Hill, where he and his wife had recently been married. We had a lovely day and I have great memories from visiting the winery.

2016 Youngberg Hill Natasha Pinot Noir

Our notes

This wine had a very integrated nose. It was heavier than the Cuvée with more brambles and bramble fruit. It was lively in my mouth with tartness, like tart blackberry and good acid. Notes of red currant, with bits of smoky vanilla, popped up as I paired it. The finish was lengthy and mouth and gum warming.

This wine is a bit more brooding and earthier than the Cuvée.

2017 Youngberg Hill Cuvée Pinot Noir

Our notes

The nose was full of red fruit with a waft of dustiness then brambles and spice. Baked strawberry came to mind. It was bright in my mouth with med/high acid and light drifty tannins that evaporate. A medium finish that brought up bits of cola.

Rainbow Root Vegetable Gratin and Baked Rainbow Trout

Rainbow Root Vegetable Gratin

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

We adapted this recipe for my vegetable with our Pinot Noir pairing. I went earthier choosing a root vegetable gratin, in a rainbow of colors, with red beet, sweet potato, golden beet, and parsnip.

Ingredients

2 red beets
2 golden beets
1 sweet potato
1 parsnip
1 cup of cream
4 oz of grated parmesan
1 tbs+ fresh thyme
1 clove of garlic minced
1 oz of shredded gruyere
Salt & pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 F
Grease a baking dish (2-quart size)
Peel and slice the vegetables thinly into rounds and place them in separate bowls. (How perfect and fancy you want to get depends
on your style. I hand cut these and was not concerned about having them all look the same size, but you could use a cutter to make all of your circles uniform if you chose)
To each bowl add bits of the cream (4 tablespoons each to the beets, 2 tablespoons each to the potato and parsnip you should end
up with about ¼ cup left)
Divide your parmesan in ½ and then divide that into 4 parts and sprinkle this on each of your 4 bowls.
Divide the thyme 4 ways over the 4 bowls.
Stir up each bowl seasoning with salt and pepper and make sure all the slices of vegetables are coated.
In the base of your buttered baking or gratin dish, pour the rest of the cream, add the minced garlic, and ½ of the remaining parmesan.
Now, layer your gratin, start with a bunch of the parsnip (5 or 6 slices) followed by the yellow beet, followed by the sweet potato, and finally the red beet, standing them on edge making rows. Continue until your dish is full. (Feel free to play with your patterns and colors artistically as you see fit).
Top this with a bit of S & P and the rest of the Parm.
Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.
Uncover and top with the gruyere
Bake another 20 minutes. (Cheese should be melted and lightly brown)
Sprinkle with a bit more thyme and serve)

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 419Total Fat 32gSaturated Fat 19gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 10gCholesterol 99mgSodium 705mgCarbohydrates 21gFiber 3gSugar 9gProtein 14g

Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.

Baked Rainbow Trout

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Salmon & Pinot are so traditional, we stepped just a bit outside the box. The key to red wine with fish is choosing a fatty fish and so we chose rainbow trout. The trout with its distinctive flavor and fat stood up to both of the wines, even the brooding Natasha Pinot Noir from Youngberg Hill.

Ingredients

2 trout (scaled and gutted)
1 lemon
Dill
Green onions (chopped)
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 450 F
Rinse the fish and pat dry
Sprinkle the inside with salt and pepper
Add half the dill and green onions inside
Drizzle with Olive oil
Do the same to the other fish
Cut 3 shallow diagonal cuts in the top of each fish
Drizzle olive oil on top of each fish
Stick a ½ lemon slice in each of the cuts.
One last sprinkle of salt and pepper and pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
Pop them back under the broiler for a couple of minutes to crisp up the skin and serve.

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 193Total Fat 12gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 46mgSodium 192mgCarbohydrates 5gFiber 1gSugar 1gProtein 17g

Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.

Read the whole piece on our pairing dinner for more details on the wines and this winery

Youngberg Hill – Reminiscing and Making New Memories with 2 Youngberg Hill Pinot Noirs

How to find Youngberg Hill?

The Willamette Valley is a beautiful place to visit and has so much wonderful wine!

You can find Youngberg Hill at 10660 SW Youngberg Hill Road, McMinnville, OR 97128

Tastings are appointment only 10-4 daily, call them at 503-472-2727 or drop them an email at [email protected]

For more information on this region visit

https://www.oregonwine.org/

https://willamettewines.com/

Or check out some of these pieces right here on Crushed Grape Chronicles

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Youngberg Hill – Reminiscing and Making New Memories with 2 Youngberg Hill Pinot Noirs

Nov 13, 2020

Years ago, Michael and I ventured to Oregon on our first trip to explore the Willamette Valley. An old friend of mine, Adam, met us and made sure we visited Youngberg Hill, where he and his wife had recently been married.

I remember, having a joyful conversation with Adam in the backseat and me in the passenger’s seat. We had already stopped at one winery and Michael was being the designated driver. We were chattering away on the small roads leading to the winery. These were the days before in-car navigation systems and Adam was directing us. Of course, he and I kept getting distracted in conversation, and to Michael’s dismay, we had to turn around and backtrack, more than once.

We made our way to Youngberg Hill and Adam was greeted warmly as we arrived. He has a way of making friends wherever he goes. We tasted wine and toured the property, getting the play by play from Adam on the wedding, as he blissfully (and adorably) reminisced.

Recently we received samples from Youngberg Hill. The memories took me back to this earlier visit and I looked forward to opening the wines.

*We received these wines as samples, but all opinions are our own.*

An Arial view of Youngberg Hill – photo courtesy of Youngberg Hill

View of the vineyard at Youngberg Hill – photo courtesy of Youngberg Hill

View of the Valley from Youngberg Hill – photo courtesy of Youngberg Hill

The Youngberg Hill Inn in Oregon’s Willamette Valley – photo courtesy of Youngberg Hill

The History of Youngberg Hill

This property had been a family farm since the 1850s. Back then a Swedish immigrant named Youngberg established a 1600-acre homestead here. The family lived off this land for 130 years.

In 1987 the family sold 700 acres. The new owner planted vines in 1989 overseen by Ken Wright. These vines were sourced for wines at Panther Creek, Wright’s winery at the time.

The Bailey family arrived at the property in 2003 and began the process of making this a sustainable vineyard as well as an event venue, the views here are stunning.

They produce 2 labels, Youngberg Hill and Bailey Family Wines.

The approach to growing grapes was informed by Wayne Bailey’s youth in Iowa on a farm. He takes his stewardship of the land seriously. His career path, from mechanical engineering to supply chain management dropped him into the beverage field. That led to a bit of time in Burgundy which led him to want to grow Pinot Noir.

Bailey’s farming here, at Youngberg Hill, began with sustainable methods and a non-interventionist approach. He moved to organic and then beyond. The goal wasn’t certifications, the goal was the best way to take care of the land. They employ various organic and biodynamic practices to suit the site. They farm by the farmers’ almanac via the phases of the moon, as farmers have done for centuries. This practice is often considered “biodynamic”, but it has been used long before biodynamics was a thing. He’s pragmatic in his approach to farming.

“It’s like raising children,” he says. “You can’t make a rocket scientist out of a child who’s born to be a musician.”

The Youngberg Hill estate is 50 acres with 20 acres planted to vine. This is in the Western portion of the Willamette Valley which receives significant maritime influences sitting just 25 miles from the Pacific as the crow flies. While the maritime climate doesn’t come straight through, it sweeps it’s way up through the Van Duzer Corridor south of them. They don’t get as much rain here as the rest of the valley and the temperatures tend to be cooler overall. The original 11 acres are own-rooted.

We tasted two of the Youngberg Hill Pinot Noirs, one a blend of non-estate and estate fruit and one from the very specific Natasha Block.

Wayne Bailey of Youngberg Hill and Bailey Family Vineyards - photo courtesy of Youngberg Hill

2017 Youngberg Hill Cuvée Pinot Noir

This 2017 blend comes from fruit from the Bailey Block on the Youngberg Hill estate, as well as some fruit from Yamhill Valley Vineyards.

The Bailey block was planted in 2008. This is 3 acres of 777 clones. Soils here are well-drained mixed Steiwer/shale and the vineyard sits at 660-700 feet in elevation.

The rest of the fruit is from Yamhill Valley Vineyards and from Dijon 667 & 115 clones. This is a 150-acre estate. They are the oldest winery in the McMinnville AVA. We met their winemaker Ariel Eberle a few years ago pouring her own label “A Cheerful Note”.

Soils here are sedimentary clay with basalt.

The details:

100% Pinot Noir
14 months is 25% French Oak
Case production: 660
ABV 13.1%
SRP $35

Our notes

This wine is a bit more brooding and earthier than the Cuvée.

2016 Youngberg Hill Natasha Pinot Noir

The Natasha Block is a Bailey Estate Block, planted in 1989 and named after Wayne’s eldest daughter. Facing southeast this 6.6-acre block gets great sunlight and sits at 600 feet. The soil here is the Willakenzie series of Marine sedimentary and volcanic rock.

The details:

From 40% Wadenswil and 60% Pommard clones
14 months in 37% New French Oak
Case Production 859
ABV 14.3%
SRP $60

Pairings for these Youngberg Hill Pinots

Salmon & Pinot are so traditional, we stepped just a bit outside the box. The key to red wine with fish is choosing a fatty fish and so we chose rainbow trout. For my vegetable, I went earthier choosing a root vegetable gratin, in a rainbow of colors, with red beet, sweet potato, golden beet, and parsnip.

How did the pairings go?

The trout with its distinctive flavor and fat stood up to both of the wines, even the brooding Natasha. The gratin really worked well, much credit should be given to the Gruyere topper for pulling the pairing together. With the blend of 4 vegetables, I found I preferred the parsnips with the Cuvée and the beets with the Natasha. Overall, a very satisfying pairing.

Rainbow Root Vegetable Gratin and Baked Rainbow Trout with Youngberg Pinot

One more unexpected pairing!

We did not finish both bottles in one sitting, so we had some left over to pair with lunch. Youngberg Hill mentions that the Cuvee will pair with everything!

“You can even pair this with PB & J or spiced tacos.”

Challenge accepted! We paired with PB & J to our delight and it was wonderful, the acid in the wine cutting through the fat in the Peanut Butter and melding beautifully with the fruit in the grape jelly! Do It! Preferably in your jammies on the couch with a good book or a great movie. This is genius for a nesting day!

Rainbow root vegetable gratin

Cutting red beets for Cheesey Root Vegetable Gratin — Cutting red beets

Cutting Sweet Potato for Cheesey Root Vegetable Gratin — Cutting Sweet Potato

Cutting Parsnips for Cheesey Root Vegetable Gratin — Cutting Parsnips

Preheat the oven to 400 F
Grease a baking dish (2-quart size)
Peel and slice the vegetables thinly into rounds and place them in separate bowls. (How perfect and fancy you want to get depends on your style. I hand cut these and was not concerned about having them all look the same size, but you could use a cutter to make all of your circles uniform if you chose)
To each bowl add bits of the cream (4 tablespoons each to the beets, 2 tablespoons each to the potato and parsnip you should end up with about ¼ cup left)
Divide your parmesan in ½ and then divide that into 4 parts and sprinkle this on each of your 4 bowls.
Divide the thyme 4 ways over the 4 bowls.

Rainbow root vegetable gratin

2 red beets
2 golden beets
1 sweet potato
1 parsnip
1 cup of cream
4 oz of grated parmesan
1 tbs+ fresh thyme
1 clove of garlic minced
1 oz of shredded gruyere
Salt & pepper

Stir up each bowl seasoning with salt and pepper and make sure all the slices of vegetables are coated.
In the base of your buttered baking or gratin dish, pour the rest of the cream, add the minced garlic, and ½ of the remaining parmesan.
Now, layer your gratin, start with a bunch of the parsnip (5 or 6 slices) followed by the yellow beet, followed by the sweet potato, and finally the red beet, standing them on edge making rows. Continue until your dish is full. (Feel free to play with your patterns and colors artistically as you see fit).
Top this with a bit of S & P and the rest of the Parm.
Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.
Uncover and top with the gruyere
Bake another 20 minutes. (Cheese should be melted and lightly brown)
Sprinkle with a bit more thyme and serve

Cheesey Root Vegetable Gratin ingredients

grating Parmesan for Cheesey Root Vegetable Gratin — grating Parmesan

Mixing Sweet Potato for Cheesey Root Vegetable Gratin — Mixing Sweet Potato

Baked rainbow trout

2 trout (scaled and gutted)
1 lemon
Dill
Green onions (chopped)
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Preheat your oven to 450 F
Rinse the fish and pat dry
Sprinkle the inside with salt and pepper
Add half the dill and green onions inside
Drizzle with Olive oil
Do the same to the other fish
Cut 3 shallow diagonal cuts in the top of each fish
Drizzle olive oil on top of each fish
Stick a ½ lemon slice in each of the cuts.
One last sprinkle of salt and pepper and pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
Pop them back under the broiler for a couple of minutes to crisp up the skin and serve.

Youngberg Hill Recipes

Salmon & Pinot are so traditional, we stepped just a bit outside the
box. The key to red wine with fish is choosing a fatty fish and so we
chose rainbow trout. For my vegetable, I went earthier choosing a root
vegetable gratin, in a rainbow of colors, with red beet, sweet potato,
golden beet, and parsnip.

Baked Rainbow Trout

Rainbow Root Vegetable Gratin

We adapted this recipe for my vegetable with our Pinot Noir pairing. I went earthier choosing a root vegetable gratin, in a rainbow of colors, with red beet, sweet potato, golden beet, and parsnip.

How to find Youngberg Hill?

The Willamette Valley is a beautiful place to visit and has so much wonderful wine!

You can find Youngberg Hill at 10660 SW Youngberg Hill Road, McMinnville, OR 97128

Tastings are appointment only 10-4 daily, call them at 503-472-2727 or drop them an email at [email protected]

For more information on this region visit

https://www.oregonwine.org/

https://willamettewines.com/

Or check out some of these pieces right here on Crushed Grape Chronicles

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

It’s Oregon Wine Month

May 9, 2019

It’s no secret that I’m kinda infatuated with Oregon wines. More than just the wines…it’s the people behind them. That whole “Keep Portland Weird” thing, kinda speaks for much of Oregon. But then again, with all the delicious weirdness, there is a simple, elegant classy side also. I love it so much, let’s delve in a little.

The Oregon Wine Trailblazers

This is a relatively new region for wine. The first winery, post prohibition, appeared in southern Oregon’s Umpqua Valley back in 1961, thanks to Richard Sommer who refused to listen to the UC Davis folks who told him it wouldn’t work. There were a couple of other UC Davis grads who bucked the trends in the mid to late 60’s and headed North including David Lett (Eyrie Vineyards), Dick Erath (yep, you guessed it, Erath) and Charles Coury (which is now David Hill Winery). If you have been into a wine store (or a grocery store) you will recognize Erath. Obviously growing grapes here worked.

My Introduction to Oregon Wine – At Home in the Vineyard

I’ll admit that my knowledge of early Oregon wine history came from reading Susan Sokol Blosser’s book “At Home in the Vineyard”. this memoir is her personal story of the struggle to build the Sokol Blosser Winery in the Dundee Hills. These were not people with money looking to invest and have a retreat in a vineyard. They were idealists and they struggled with the weather and the soils as they figured our this new area for wine.

This was the way for many of the early vineyard owners and winemakers and it’s still that way for many today. (I had a wonderful conversation with Annedria Beckham of Beckham vineyards in the Chehalem Mountains that I will share with you soon, about the continuing struggles of planting and growing their vineyard and winery).

I encourage you to visit the fantastic site of the Oregon Wine Board and read all about the history of this great region.

Early visit circa 2011

My introduction to Oregon wine came with a visit back in 2011. We came to spend 3 or 4 days, visit wine country and catch up with an old friend of mine. We stayed at the cottage at Winter Hill. Winter Hill Winery is in the Dundee Hills, the cottage was over the hill with a separate entrance. There were chickens running about and an amazing view of the area and the stars from the porch.

On this visit we took in, Winter Hill Winery, Erath, Youngberg Hill, Stoller Family Estate, Lange Estate, Argyle, Cana’s Feast, Willakenzie, Rex Hill, Trisaetum, Domaine Drouhin Oregon, Sokol Blosser, Torii Mor, Vidon & Vista Hills. It’s a list, I know!

I remember them all. Here are a few of the stories…

Winter Hill

Winter Hill at the time was tasting in the middle of the working winery on a folding table. It was a humble for a tasting room, but warm and friendly, and we got a first hand look at the wines with the people who were putting their heart and soul into the endeavor.

Youngberg Hill

Michael was driving to get to us Youngberg Hill and Adam (my friend who had been married there just a year before) was giving directions. Adam and I got busy talking and we missed a turn, and then another. We arrived to views and VIP treatment thanks to Adam. The views here are wedding worthy that’s for sure!

Stoller

At Stoller, Adam was also a member, and he was doing a pick up, so we got a little extra special treatment. I remember a Tempranillo they had that I wish we would have taken home with us. And I remember a story about the honey that they were hoping to get from hives in a black berry patch part way up the hill.

Lange

Up on the hill at Lange, we were greeted by Jack, the vineyard cat and stepped into the tiny tasting room where they were boxing up their wine club shipment. I remember a moving experience tasting their Pinot Noir (if I close my eyes, I can still taste it).

Argyle

At Argyle we enjoyed some bubbles and I got hooked on their Black Brut. This was back when Rollin Soles the pioneering vintner was still the winemaker. I remember thinking how cool it was that Lyle Lovett was his friend from college. They are two unique and iconic individuals in their own right.

Vidon

When we visited Vidon, we met Don the owner, when he came in off the tractor. Don was still busy in the vineyard back then. He was a particle physicist by training and worked with NASA before he purchased the property in the Chehalem Mountains in 1999. We also visited Vista Hills. It was late in the day, and close to the cottage and they snuck us in as their last tasting. The views are stunning and the wines delicious. We returned to them on our last trip again, just before the announcement that they had been purchased by Coppola.

We’ve waxed poetic on some of this before…

You can read a little about the Stoller Tempranillo, the Lange Pinot Noir and the Argyle Black Brut in our piece Wines I can’t forget Part 1

Or about that Trisaetum Coastal Riesling in Wines I Can’t forget Part 3.

And in our piece on Gravity flow wineries, we talk a bit about Willakenzie.

Returning to Oregon in 2018

Last year we returned to this region that had so enchanted us. We spent 5 days exploring AVA’s within the Willamette Valley. Actually trying to visit each of the AVA’s and the proposed AVA’s. We gathered so much content, that we are still putting out pieces! We also were able to enjoy the last “Uncommon Wine Festival” at Vista Hills, where we spent a day tasting and talking with up and coming wine makers.

Winemakers setting up for the Uncommon wine Festival at Vista Hills
Deven & Calli with Joyful Noise
Vista Hills Uncommon Wine Festival Ryan Pickens
Libertine Wines, Alex Neely
Libertine Bottle Shots
Libertine Pouring Botrytis Reisling
a Cheerful Note, Ariel Eberle
A Cheerful Note with Ariel Eberle, the story behind the label
Ross & Bee Maloof
Maloof 2017 Where ya Pjs at?
Leah Jørgensen Wine – inspired by the Loire Valley
2016 Oregon “Tour Rain” Vin Rouge
Fossil & Farm Jim & Jenny

You can see Mega Mix Video and read about the day at Vista Hills Vineyard and the Uncommom Wine Festival.

Willamette Valley AVAs

Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association Map data by everyvine.com, design by John Fisher, geologic cross section by Timothy A. Cross, special thanks to Patrick Reuter.”

We did a Primer on this that you can read here. We managed to visit most of the AVAs.

Current Willamette Valley AVAs

We managed to visit a winery or tasting room representing each of the current AVAs

Chehalem Mountains AVA from Beckham Vineyards
Trisaetum Vineyard in the Ribbon Ridge AVA
Sunset in the Willamette Valley (Vista Hills Vineyard in the Dundee Hills AVA)
View of Yamhill-Carlton from Fairsing vineyard
Johan Vineyards in the proposed Van Duzer Corridor AVA
Vineyards in the McMinnville AVA
Brittan Vineyards in the McMinnville AVA
The Eola Amity Hills

Chehalem Mountains AVA – est 2006 where we visited Beckham Vineyards and met both Annedria and Andrew.
Dundee Hills AVA – est 2005 where we visited Vista Hills to taste their wine as well as enjoy the hospitality of the Uncommon Wine Festival
Eola-Amity Hills AVA – est 2006. We visited the Evening Land tasting room in Dundee and then drove to see the vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills.
McMinnville AVA – est 2005. We visited Brittan Vineyards tasting room and then did a drive by of the McMinnville vineyard on the way to the coast.
Ribbon Ridge AVA – est 2005, where we revisited Trisaetum.
Van Duzer Corridor AVA – est 2019, actually established after we visited! We visited Johan here and fell in love.
Yamhill-Carlton AVA – est 2005. We spent a wonderful evening enjoy the sunset view at Fairsing Vineyard (along with smores!)

Proposed Willamette Valley AVAs

In addition there are 4 more proposed AVAs, which include:

Illahe Panorama view
Lowell Ford on the patio at Illahe Vineyard
Montinore Vineyards
Rudy Marchesi of Montinore Estate
Panorama from Ponzi

Mt Pisgah/Polk County AVA. Located near Salem, we spent 1/2 a day with Lowell Ford owner of Illahe Vineyard.
Laurelwood AVA. We visited Ponzi Vineyards in this proposed AVA which is the Northern facing slopes of the Chehalem Mountains.
Tualatin Hills AVA. Located North of Yamhill-Carlton and West of Chehalem Mountians, we visited with Rudy Marchesi of Montinore Estate.
Lower Long Tom AVA. Okay…we didn’t make it here. It is far south between Corvalis and Eugene and there was just not enough time.

Do it!

Our trailer on Willamette Valley AVAs and proposed AVAs

Get yourself to Oregon. You won’t regret it. Be it the Willamette Valley or further south in the Umpqua, Applegate or Rogue Valleys. Or maybe you head to some of those border areas that share AVAs with Washington. (they are good about sharing in Oregon)

You can find great information on Oregon from the Oregon Wine Board, Willamette Valley Wineries and the Southern Oregon Winery Association to get you started!

And don’t forget to check back here! We have loads of posts on our last trip and there will be more as we head back again this July!

Oregon Wine Country

Join us on our exploration of Wine from across the Oregon Wine Region. Interviews with winemakers. Wine Festivals. Explore the AVA’s and discover the Terroir, The stories, The Wine, all across Oregon Wine Country beginning in the Willamette Valley. Follow us at Crushedgrapechronicles.com for your Oregon Wine Adventure.

On A Cheerful Note with Ariel Eberle

Aug 23, 2018

Ariel Eberle is a native Oregonian, and the founder/winemaker for A Cheerful Note. She spends her days as the winemaker for Yamhill Valley Vineyards, so you would think she would have been a shoe in to the wine industry, but she came the long way around to wine making.

Ariel Eberle

a Cheerful Note, Ariel Eberle

Ariel’s background is in biology and chemistry from Oregon State, where she was Pre-med, and working at a hospital and a clinic. It wasn’t clicking. Looking for adventure she ended up in Korea teaching English. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and so it was for her. She found herself missing and appreciating Oregon. Having always been drawn to vineyards, where the wild bits of nature are set into an organized fashion, she looked that direction. The aesthetics appealed to her. She applied at Yamhill Valley Vineyards and did a harvest with them.

“I didn’t have any wine making experience at that time. But I met with their then winemaker, Stephen Cary and I said, I’m a quick study and I’m interested in this and I’ll work hard. He hired me on and I am now going to be celebrating 10 years with them in October. I’m now their head winemaker. So that’s how it happened and the rest is history.”

The Lakeview Vineyard Block

Ariel started at Yamhill in 2008 for harvest and the next year it was decided to plant the last plantable place on the site. Te area was a really high slope at the top of the vineyard. So right at the top of her time with Yamhill, she helped to plant this vineyard.

“There’s a huge sentimental connection, when you crawl around on the ground and you’re with your crew. We put those babies in the ground together and 2013 was the first year that came off of that. I could have worked with different fruit from our site, we are all estate there, but I wanted to work with that site because the one thing that I was lacking with my experience at Yamhill was the ability to grow with a vineyard, because the rest of our vineyard is so well established. So, this was my opportunity to kind of see a vineyard come from it’s infancy and go through the same stages that people go through, that awkwardness through their adolescence and learn those lessons along the way.”

The 2013 A Cheerful Note Pinot Noir

A Cheerful Note Cellars, 2013 Pinot Noir

Lucky for us, it was the 2013 vintage that she was pouring, because it is her favorite.

“A funny thing that happens with the vines so far, is that in their infancy they show really well and then they kind of go through that awkward phase. So I would say that probably the 15 vintage is the one that I struggled with more, just because there were some heat spikes during that year so a little more acidity, kinda let it age a little bit longer, and I decided to bring the 13, it’s just showing really well it’s a very acid driven site, so it’s benefited from the bottle age and I’m really happy with the direction that it’s gone.”

If you have tasted Yamhill Valley Vineyard wines, you will note that these are made in a different style. Her gratitude for Yamhill indulging her in this side project, and allowing her to make this wine at the winery is evident and she chooses to make this wine differently so as not to directly compete or imitate the Yamhill wines.

To keep this wine different, she does 10 to 30% whole cluster, a different yeast selection and pump overs instead of punch downs.

“It’s it’s own little bin that sits in a sea of Yamhill bins and the things that I do differently are I do whole cluster, depending on the year, it will be between 10 to 30% whole cluster, This 2013 was 20% whole cluster because it was a little bit of a cooler year so we didn’t want to get too much extraction of stems that are not lignified, so it was really careful selection of what was going in as the whole cluster component. But those lignified stems really contribute a very woody character, almost like a barrel would contribute with some of the same spicy characteristics that a barrel can contribute, but I’m actually aging it in neutral oak barrels. So, a lot of people get vanilla and different unique characteristics that are associated with barrel, but it’s a neutral oak barrel. That was intentional, because I didn’t want to overwhelm that fruit and just see what that fruit was that first year.
I also use a different yeast selection, so I’m using a 3001 yeast and that really highlights the fruit characteristics. You get a lot more of the red fruit and the brightness, than what we use at Yamhill, which tends to be what I refer to as more masculine flavors, a lot more spice, earth those kind of components, whereas this tends to be more fruit forward.
And then we are also doing pump overs instead of punch downs. So really gentle on the fermentation, good at extracting color but not over extracting the skins and the seeds and just being gentle, getting it mixed up but letting it do it’s thing and tasting every day and deciding, where’s that sweet spot.”

As I stuck my nose into the glass, I mentioned how you really do get that cinnamon on the nose, and she gave me some great insights into on the crazy things we smell in wines and the difference stem inclusion can make.

“Yeah it’s interesting that all those flavors come from the grape itself and I just find that so fascinating. Especially with the invent or the application of high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) they can actually go in and sample the fruit or sample the wine, measure different chemical components and constituents that are actually that blackberry flavor or that cinnamon flavor and it’s this graph. So it’s not just in our heads, it’s there and it’s from the skin of the grape.
I love that you can utilize the stem and get those cinnamon and other flavors without having to add that through the barrel aging. It’s a whole different component. And then it also offers you some whole berry clusters and what that does for you is it gives you that carbonic masceration, which gives you that nice, lifted, bright, juicy confectionary kind of style. But it really helps to give you that complexity.”

The stories behind the label

A Cheerful Note’s wine label is filled with stories. The name itself comes from an adorable love story…

The name “A Cheerful Note”

“The name “A Cheerful Note” was inspired by a fortune cookie. My partner and I started dating 2013 and he lived in The Dalles and I was here. I was actually living in Tigard at the time. He opened a fortune cookie and it said “A Cheerful Note is on it’s way to you.” I was going to visit him that weekend. He took a picture of it and sent it to me. We had bottled our Pinot Gris at Yamhill Valley without labels, we were going to label it later. So I took one of those bottles to give to him and I put a little sticky note on it that said “A Cheerful Note” to make the fortune come true and the name just stuck.”

The beautiful handwritten font

The font that is used for “a cheerful note” is based on her mother’s actual handwriting. She dedicated this wine to her mother who passed away in 2012 to melanoma (she reminded me to wear my sunscreen as I was pink from being sunscreen free the night before watching sunset).

A cheerful Note

“I wanted to dedicate it to her and have it be a reminder of her, because she was always so supportive and told me I could do anything. Even when making wine back in 2008 was really a challenge, she was really supportive. So that’s her handwriting. She actually did write this, because I told her about the idea, but I couldn’t find the paper, so I had a graphic artist take her journal and piece together her handwriting from the journal and was able to make this in her perfect handwriting which her handwriting is just beautiful.”

The girl on the label

Yep there’s more, artwork of the girl on the label was done by Tracy Hayes, an artist and graphic artist in McMinnville.

a cheerful note image
“We worked together, she drew this and what it represents, is what’s in the bottle. So I talked a little bit about masculine verses feminine flavors in wine and if you were to anthropomorphize the wine and give it human traits, this is the girl, this is the wine itself, very elegant, very classic So that’s what she is, she is the embodiment of the wine.”

The back label, a way to give back

The last story on the label is on the back. The logos there represent the way Ariel gives back.

A cheerful Note 2013 Pinot Noir Bottle Label
“So I had an ethical dilemma about 2 years into making wine because I was like “I’m making booze for a living”, what am I doing? What am I giving back to society? With Yamhill I had partnered with a non-profit and done some fundraising with them. I had a great experience and ended up donating 10% of my profit to Boys and Girls Aid Society, so they are right in Portland and they have been around for over 130 years. They basically help children find their forever homes. They give them therapy, because a lot of them have been through the foster system, so they help them to be able to have trusting relationships with adults again. They have an afterschool program, some of them stay at the facility there. I just fell in love with what they do and now it makes me feel better about what I do.”

You can find Ariel’s wines on her site A Cheerful Note

And you can find her on social media on facebook, Instagram & twitter.

For more information read our piece on the Uncommon Wine Festival, with our interview with Dave Pettersen the Winemaker and CEO of Vista Hills who founded the event, and check out another interview we did at the festival with Ryan Pickens of Esther Glen Farm and Winery. We look forward to bringing you interviews and discussions with all of the winemakers from this event, as well as details and visits with wineries in each of the Willamette Valley AVAs. So check back here at Crushed Grape Chronicles and don’t forget, you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

And if you want to dive into details on the Willamette Valley, you can read our recent post Oregon’s Willamette Valley AVAs – a Primer

Oregon’s Willamette Valley AVAs – a Primer

Aug 2, 2018

Oregon’s Willamette Valley …You picture green hills, rain, and beards, don’t you? Well as we visited in July, we found lots of the first, very little of the second, and enough of the third to keep the myth alive.

After flying into Portland, we made the relatively quick drive, over one of the many bridges across the Willamette River and into the Willamette Valley. Our goal with this trip was to visit each of the AVAs (American Viticulture Areas) and most of the Proposed AVAs and learn a little about them to give us a better overall understanding of the area. We managed to visit all but one of the Proposed AVA’s. We did not have the time to make the drive to the proposed Lower Long Tom AVA, which is much closer to Eugene than to Portland.

I did a bit of research to prepare for the trip and thought I would share some of that, in case you are not familiar with the region.

Oregon

Everyone we met told us how young the area is as far as vineyards and wine. They just passed 50 years. Humility is a virtue in Oregon. The grapes began in the Willamette Valley, but today you will find 2 other regions, the Columbia Gorge and Southern Oregon, where vineyards and wineries have a definite foothold. The state has 18 AVAs with the new Van Duzer Corridor within the Willamette Valley the possible 19^th. Here are a few stats from the Oregon Wine Board. https://industry.oregonwine.org.

72 Grape varieties – 725 Wineries – 30,435 planted vineyard acres

But there is more to it. 47% of the vineyards in Oregon are certified sustainable. And while they only tap into a 1% share of the US wine market, they held 20% of the Wine Spectator 90+ scores in 2015 & 2016. Quality is something they take great pride in.

Willamette Valley

This trip was focused on the Willamette Valley and the Willamette Valley Wineries Association has a gorgeous map of the Valley.

Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association Map data by everyvine.com, design by John Fisher, geologic cross section by Timothy A. Cross, special thanks to Patrick Reuter.”

This map shows the current AVAs, soils, and even the vineyard blocks. We thank the Willamette Valley Wineries Association for allowing us to use it and pass along their acknowledgments “Map data by everyvine.com, design by John Fisher, geologic cross section by Timothy A. Cross, special thanks to Patrick Reuter.”

The Willamette Valley is 60 miles wide at it’s widest (east to west) but is over 100 miles long (north to south), so you will note that the map is flipped so that as you look at it North is to the left, East is up, South is to the right and West (where you will find the Pacific Ocean over the Coast Range) is down.

The overall valley is the Willamette Valley AVA and within it, there are currently 6 sub-appellations.

Willamette Valley AVA

The overall AVA spans the area from Portland in the North to Eugene Oregon in the South and sits between the Coastal and Cascade Ranges. Plantings began in 1966 and the AVA itself was established in 1983. The base of the valley itself is fertile and great for agriculture, except of course for grapes. Grapes need the struggle to be tasty enough to make wine. As a result, most of the vineyards will be between 200 and 1000 feet in elevation.

Within this large AVA, you will find the 6 sub-appellations, one of which is nested inside another. We will work our way from North to South (left to right on the map as you look at it)

Chehalem Mountains AVA

Chehalem Mountains, Ribbon Ridge AVAs (Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

Furthest north and to the east side of the valley, you will find the Chehalem (Sha-HAY-lum) Mountains AVA. The Chehalem Mountain Range is 20 miles long and 5 miles wide and was established in 2006. Within the Range, you will find Ribbon Ridge (which is its own AVA) and Parrett Mountain. The area is home to around 150 small vineyards, most average around 12.5 acres and are family-owned.

Chehalem Mountains AVA from Beckham Vineyards

Soils here vary. This was after-all an uplift that created the range and you find sedimentary seabed, red soils from lava flows, and glacial sediment. So you find variety in soils and within the AVA there will be both similarities and contrasts. This would be part of the reason for the nested Ribbon Ridge AVA and the proposed nested Laurelwood AVA. http://www.chehalemmountains.org/home

Yamhill-Carlton AVA

Yamhill-Carlton AVA Map (Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

West of the Chehalem Mountains and North of McMinnville you will find the Yamhill-Carlton AVA established in 2005. The AVA was named for the two hamlets, Yamhill and Carlton nestled in the center of the horseshoe shaped ridges in the foothills of the Coast Range. The Coast range provides a rain shadow (an area where the rain typically does not fall) over the whole area.

View of Yamhill-Carlton from Fairsing vineyard

The soils here are the oldest of the marine sedimentary soils in the overall Willamette Valley. The soils are coarse-grained and drain easily, which is great for making the vines struggle. https://yamhillcarlton.org/

Ribbon Ridge AVA

Chehalem Mountains, Ribbon Ridge AVAs (Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

This AVA sits within the Chehalem Mountains AVA and was established in 2005. Ribbon Ridge is a spur of ocean sediment uplift that is contained within 5.25 square miles on the northwest end of the Chehalem Mountains.

Trisaetum Vineyard in the Ribbon Ridge AVA

The uniform soils of ocean sediment that is high-quartz sandstone and weathered bedrock set this area of the Chehalem Mountains apart. http://ribbonridgeava.org/

Dundee Hills AVA

Dundee Hills AVA (Willamette Valley Map Courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

Here is the place where the first of the grapes in the Willamette Valley were planted. It remains densely planted with around 50 vineyards in one of the busiest areas in the Willamette Valley.

This was the start of Pinot Noir in Oregon. The first Pinot vine was planted here. When we speak about the area being in its 50 years of growing grapes, we are talking about this place, the Dundee Hills. Eyrie, Sokol Blosser, Erath…if you know Oregon wine, you know those revered names. It was here that David Lett, Dick Erath, and the Sokol Blossers took a chance and planted those first vineyards.

Vista Hills Vineyard in the Dundee Hills AVA

The Dundee Hills AVA was established in 2005. The soils here are almost all basaltic (volcanic) soil deposited by a lava flow 15 million years ago. https://dundeehills.org/about/

McMinnville AVA

McMinnville AVA (Willamette Valley Map Courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

Also established in 2005, the McMinnville AVA takes its name from the city of McMinnville which sits just east of the AVA.

Vineyards in the McMinnville AVA

The vineyards sit on the east and southeast slopes of the Coast Range where the soils are uplifted marine sedimentary over basalt. The soils here are shallow and the Coast Range protects the area from rain. https://mcminnvilleava.org/

Eola-Amity Hills AVA

Eola-Amity Hills AVA Map (Willamette Valley Map Courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

This AVA sits in the Eola Hill’s along the Willamette River and straddles the 45^th parallel (just as Burgundy does) and reaches north to the Amity Hills.

Vineyards in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA

Soils here are shallow and mostly volcanic basalt with marine sedimentary rocks. It’s shallow and rocky (that tends to make small concentrated berries). The Van Duzer corridor causes summer afternoon temps to drop, which is especially helpful in late summer as the grapes are ripening, to keep the acids firm. https://eolaamityhills.com/

Proposed AVAs

There are 5 AVAs that are proposed and in process. While the Van Duzer Corridor AVA is likely to be the next approved, we are going to go North to South again so that you have a better geographical idea of where these AVAs sit. Keep in mind that we are showing you maps of the general area, the boundaries are actually much more detailed. We will dive into that as we explore each of these proposed AVAs in a future post.

Tualatin Hills AVA Update Approved June 3, 2020

General Area of the proposed Tualatin Hills AVA (Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

This area sits North of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA and West of Chehalem Mountains AVA. This AVA is horseshoe-shaped and its southern edge butts up to the northern edge of Yamhill-Carlton. From there it stretches north following the edge of the Willamette Valley AVA and then takes a right turn East toward Portland. It shares a little bit of a border with the Chehalem Mountains AVA on its southeast side and well as a tiny bit with the proposed Laurelwood AVA.

Montinore Vineyards in the proposed Tualatin Hills AVA

The soils here are Laurelwood. Not to be confused with the proposed AVA, this soil series is volcanic basalt and loess (windblown silt). In addition, the reddish soils here have pisolites (tiny balls of iron manganese).

Being due east of the Coast Range also allows them a rain shadow, so conditions here are dryer and allow for diurnal temperature shifts (day to night temperatures).

Laurelwood AVA Update approved June 2, 2020

General Area of the proposed Laurelwood AVA (Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

This area is nested within the Chehalem Mountains AVA. This proposed AVA encompasses the Northern facing slopes of the Chehalem Mountains, honing in on the Laurelwood soils.

Ponzi Vineyard in the proposed Laurelwood AVA

These Laurelwood soils are Ice Age Loess (windblown silt), contained within the Northern slopes. The southern and western facing slopes in the Chehalem Mountains are primarily Columbia River Basalt and Marine Sediment.

Van Duzer Corridor AVA Update Approved December 14, 2018,

General Area of the proposed Van Duzer Corridor AVA (Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

On the west side of the Eola Hills, you will find the Van Duzer Corridor AVA.

Johan Vineyards in the proposed Van Duzer Corridor AVA

Soils here are basalt and marine sedimentary over siltstone bedrock. The winds here are key. Eola-Amity brags about the Van Duzer Corridor winds, but here, on this side, the strong winds cause the grapes to thicken their skins.

Mt. Pisgah/Polk County AVA

General Area of the proposed Mount Pisgah AVA (Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

South of McMinnville and West of the Eola-Amity Hills, kind of out on its own you will find the proposed Mt. Pisgah/Polk County AVA. West of Salem Oregon, there are just 10 vineyards and 2 wineries in this area.

Illahe Vineyard in the proposed Mount Pisgah/Polk County AVA

Here the base is some of the oldest rocks in the Valley, Siletz River volcanics, and it is covered in a shallow layer of marine sedimentary soils.

Elevations here are higher and the vineyards on Mt. Pisgah are protected from extreme temperatures and wind.

Lower Long Tom AVA

General Area of the proposed Lower Long Tom AVA (Willamette Valley Map courtesy of Willamette Valley Wine Association)

Far south between Corvalis and Eugene you find the proposed Lower Long Tom AVA. This region is south of Corvalis, north of Eugene, and sits on the western border of the Willamette Valley AVA. Soils here are marine sedimentary soil in the Prairie Mountain and Bellpine series.

Temps here are higher with Prairie Mountain diverting winds North and South around the area.

Next, the details….

That’s just our overview. We visited all but one of these areas and we look forward to deeper dives into each AVA, with more geeky details about climate and soil and what that means for the wines. In the meantime, if you are looking for further information, you can visit Willamette Valley Wine, Oregon Wine, or check out this great article in the Oregon Wine Press.

And if you are as in love with this beautiful map as I am, you can get one of your own at Willamette Valley Wine

Watch here as we delve deeper into Oregon Wines. We have multiple interviews with fascinating winemakers to share with you, including a morning spent with Rudy Marchesi of Montinore Estate, who is instrumental in the proposed Tualatin Hills AVA.

You can also read our piece on the Uncommon Wine Festival, with our interview with Dave Pettersen the Winemaker and CEO of Vista Hills who founded the event. We look forward to bringing you interviews and discussions with all of the winemakers from this event. So check back here at Crushed Grape Chronicles. And don’t forget, you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

McMinnville AVA

Rainbow Root Vegetable Gratin and Baked Rainbow Trout Recipes

Youngberg Hill

2016 Youngberg Hill Natasha Pinot Noir

2017 Youngberg Hill Cuvée Pinot Noir

Rainbow Root Vegetable Gratin and Baked Rainbow Trout

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

Did you make this recipe?

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

Did you make this recipe?

How to find Youngberg Hill?

For more information on this region visit

Or check out some of these pieces right here on Crushed Grape Chronicles

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The History of Youngberg Hill

“It’s like raising children,” he says. “You can’t make a rocket scientist out of a child who’s born to be a musician.”

2017 Youngberg Hill Cuvée Pinot Noir

2016 Youngberg Hill Natasha Pinot Noir

Pairings for these Youngberg Hill Pinots

How did the pairings go?

One more unexpected pairing!

“You can even pair this with PB & J or spiced tacos.”

Rainbow root vegetable gratin

Rainbow root vegetable gratin

Baked rainbow trout

How to find Youngberg Hill?

For more information on this region visit

Or check out some of these pieces right here on Crushed Grape Chronicles

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The Oregon Wine Trailblazers

My Introduction to Oregon Wine – At Home in the Vineyard

Early visit circa 2011

Winter Hill

Youngberg Hill

Stoller

Lange

Argyle

Vidon

We’ve waxed poetic on some of this before…

Returning to Oregon in 2018

Willamette Valley AVAs

Current Willamette Valley AVAs

Proposed Willamette Valley AVAs

Do it!

More on Oregon wine Country

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Oregon Wine Country

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Ariel Eberle

The Lakeview Vineyard Block

The 2013 A Cheerful Note Pinot Noir

The stories behind the label

The name “A Cheerful Note”

The beautiful handwritten font

The girl on the label

The back label, a way to give back

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Oregon

72 Grape varieties – 725 Wineries – 30,435 planted vineyard acres

Willamette Valley

Willamette Valley AVA

Chehalem Mountains AVA

Yamhill-Carlton AVA

Ribbon Ridge AVA

Dundee Hills AVA

McMinnville AVA

Eola-Amity Hills AVA

Tualatin Hills AVA Update Approved June 3, 2020

Laurelwood AVA Update approved June 2, 2020

Van Duzer Corridor AVA Update Approved December 14, 2018,