Tendril Wine Cellars White Label Chardonnay 2014
From winemaker Tony Rynders, his 2014 White Label Chardonnay shows his skill in crafting wines with stunning precision and grace. Classic aromas of d’Anjou pear and yellow apple are rendered more complex by layers of lemon curd, pastry cream, allspice, white flowers, and toast. Aged fifteen months in 30% new French Oak, Rynders shows us […]
Knudsen Vineyards Pinot Noir 2015
Established by Cal and Julia Lee Knudsen in 1971, Knudsen Vineyards had long been a primary supplier of fruit to Argyle. The family’s second generation, Page, Colin, and David Knudsen were determined to make their own wines from the estate. The 2015s mark their fourth vintage, and the wines are still vinified at Argyle. The […]
Rain Dance Vineyards Nicholas Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016
From the Chehalem Mountains sub-appellation, Rain Dance’s Nicholas Vineyard sits at an elevation of 544 feet and consists of silty clay loam Jory and Laurelwood type soils—the expression is more black fruit than red. A spicy mélange of black cherry and black raspberry hovering between vanilla and more compact forest floor notes. Smooth and silken […]
Patricia Green Cellars Estate Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2016
These notes, posted in honor of Patricia Green—her untimely passing was announced on the winery’s website today. I enjoyed this elegant 2016 Sauvignon Blanc only a few days ago. Glinting lemon yellow in the glass, with heady tropical notes of kiwi fruit and papaya rendered more complex by lilting herbaceousness. It’s generous in the mouth, […]
Aberrant Cellars Philtrum Pinot Noir Blanc 2015
Pearlescent and ethereal, Aberrant Cellars 2015 Philtrum Pinot Noir Blanc is a delicate shade of honey alabaster and imbued with peach pit, golden raspberries, white flowers, and a breezy top note of line-dried linen. In the mouth it’s fine boned and linear, there is much to be said about the texture—fruit at the core is […]
Brooks Rastaban Pinot Noir 2014
Showing beautifully, Brooks’ 2014 Rastaban is named after one of the stars in the Draco constellation, derived from an Arabic phrase “Rās al-Thu`bān, or head of the serpent. 2014 is a riper, lusher vintage than the 2011, the last I sampled under this label—this striking estate-grown Pinot Noir presents a broad sensory arc of ripe […]
Experience Oregon & Washington Wine Country Aboard a Replica Coastal Steamer
Join Me for a 7-Night Wine-Themed Cruise on the Columbia, Snake & Willamette Rivers Evidence of the ice age floods is easy to spot — 15,000 years later, the results are as profound as they are delicious. Lifting a glass of glinting ruby-hued wine, it’s impossible not to appreciate the lasting effects ancient geology had […]
Domaine Nicolas-Jay Pinot Noir 2015
Comprised of grapes sourced from seven vineyards throughout the Willamette Valley, 35% of which is from the winery’s own Bishop Creek Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA—the 2015 Nicolas Jay Pinot Noir strikes a balance between power and elegance. More red fruited than black, the nose is perfumed with rose hips, underbrush, damp soil, and crushed […]
Bluebird Hill Cellars Duology 2016
BlueBird Hill Cellars is a tiny winery located in Monroe, Oregon—one can find it navigating a series of winding, scenic backroads between Salem and Eugene, that wend their way to the foothills of the Coastal mountain range, their 2016 Duology is a blend of 55% Viognier and 45% Chardonnay that emits pear, white peach, white […]
Illahe Project 1899 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2014
Illahe’s winemaker Brad Ford is a former English and poetry teacher—tasting his wines it’s impossible to ignore the prose in them. Pinot Noir used in the 1899 is delivered to the winery by a team of horses, and it’s racked by way of a bicycle pump, in short it’s a wine made entirely without electricity. […]