Posted October 28th, 2009 01:10 by djkearney
This month my sipping and nipping has revolved around Oregon and BC. As I've pottered about the Willamette and Okanagan valleys with my drinking buddy Mr. S, we've revelled in cool-climate, lettuce-crisp whites and reds. Some really, really good grub too.
The pinot family is obviously well represented both sides of the border, but with marked style differences. Pinot noir seems particularly pleased with the fringe conditions both valleys share ... short growing season, hot days and cool nights, the threat of summer drought and autumn rains. The Willamette Valley, a 40 minute drive from downtown Portland has had pinot planted from the mid-1960's (Eyrie Vineyards) where styles run the gamut from juicily fresh berries and herbs, to woodsy, gamey, gently hued and Nuit-like, and inky, broad-shouldered generously wooded versions. A unifying theme of cleansing crispness, purity, proper pinot texture and good manners appears. Older vines and intense clonal trialling has much to do with this, and it's impressive to see sub-regional identity emerging.
Wineries largely have the 2007 pinots available for tasting, as the vaunted, ripe and high-scoring 2006's disappeared swiftly. No worries, though, the 2007's are lively, tangy and possess a charming balance... buy them to drink whilst the 2006's unfurl in the cellar. Favourite pinots tasted this trip: Adelsheim, Archery Summit, Bergstrom (man-oh-man is their riesling and tiny-production gewürztraminer tasty), Bethell Heights, Dobbes, Drouhin and St. Innocent.
A most touching, generous moment occurred at Archery Summit. I told the chaps behind the tasting bar (Reid and library specialist guy Chris) how an inferno wiped out our home and cellar 16 months ago, and that one of the few bottles miraculously salvaged was a 2000 Archery Summit Arcus. We opened it a few weeks ago and savoured the pinot in near-perfect form. At the winery we were blissfully sipping the 2006 Arcus, when Reid produced another glass... of the 2000 Arcus. It was a weepy moment, an incredible gesture, but you come to realize that the kinship of wine is very, very special. And it is worth knowing that wineries often have library vintages for sale ... naturally we bought some 2000 Arcus.
Grub guff: perhaps the best breakfast I have had in decades was the corned beef hash and poached eggs at the Heathman Hotel - truly hall-of-fame. Huckabee's BBQ joint in Dundee for pulled pork and smoked tri-tip beef bunwhiches... buy as many bottles of the bbq sauce as you can decently manage ... and a fritter to end-all-fritters was found at Ten-01 Restaurant in the Pearl District... ethereally-battered pear, impeccably fried and served with cardamom crème anglaise.
Eyrie food Heathman Hotel Okanagan Oregon Willamette
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