Our Winemaking Dream Coming True!!!

After years of making wine for others, we're finally on our way to making our own Willamette Valley wine. The Willamette Valley has been forging a reputation as home to some of North America's finest cool climate wines over the past 40 years. It is now widely recognized as one of the world's premier Pinot Noir producing regions. The contracts are signed and we are sourcing Pinot Noir from the McMinnville AVA and Riesling from the Chehalem Mountains AVA...YAY!!! The wines will be made by us using the techniques we've learned during our travels. We've started a fund to help with the process and are asking for donations. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Plus, it's a great way to try our wines :) Check out our link for additional information @ http://www.gofundme.com/6nlx88

For those of you who are unfamiliar with our background, we met in Australia 2 years ago and discovered we shared a passion for wine. We then traveled the world together, working vintages and honing our winemaking skills. As for our work backgrounds, I am a Certified Sommelier who has worked vintages in Australia, Germany, New Zealand and France. Jason has worked 12 vintages in France, Portugal, South Africa, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. He is currently working a Viticulture Internship in the Willamette Valley. 

Chehalem Mountains vineyard...and our upcoming 2014 vintage!

Vintage 2013 in Alsace, France

Vintage 2013 in Alsace, France

Vintage 2012 in Martinborough, New Zealand

Our visit to Alsace after working vintage in Germany 2012

Vintage 2012 in Pfalz, Germany

Willamette Valley, Oregon

All great wines reflect their time and place. So now may be the biggest change in the range of wines produced. Due to the effects of global warming, many 'cool climate' growing regions of the world, which typically struggle to ripen some grape varieties are becoming major wine producers. There are many recently planted vineyards and relatively new wine producing regions in Tasmania, New Zealand, Canada and Oregon and among them are many rising stars.

In the midst of such a worldwide development, the Willamette Valley is a particular stand out among the crowd. In just four decades, Willamette Valley has transformed from a quiet, pastoral country into one of the world’s top Pinot Noir producers. In its early years, Willamette Valley produced a range of unpredictable wines, from mesmerizing to disappointing, but with time and improved practices the quality of Willamette Pinot Noir became more consistent and ethereal. Its elegance, structure and style has set Willamette Valley’s Pinot Noir apart and given this once sleepy countryside an impeccable international reputation and accolades from around the world.

The special character of Willamette Pinot Noir is created by no one factor. A unique blend of location, soil and climate all contribute to the quality of the wines. Willamette Valley is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and has naturally breezy conditions. Willamette’s range of soil types is derived from a series of massive ice age floods creating many mineral-laden vineyard sites. The cool climate allows for cool nights and warm days over many months, which builds depth and intensity of flavor. These conditions not only create spectacular Pinot Noir with excellent concentration and complexity but also distinctly fruity Pinot Gris and elegant Chardonnay.

Comparisons can be made to Burgundy, the classic home of Pinot Noir. Not only do Willamette’s Pinots have the ripe cherry fruit components of typical New World Pinot Noirs but also a savory and earthy quality traditionally associated with the great Pinots of Burgundy. Better priced than most Burgundies and have the aging potential with the best of them. Willamette Pinot Noir has a wide range of food pairing possibilities and can go well with roasted or braised pork belly, chicken in a mushroom cream sauce or poached salmon. If you haven’t already, pick up a bottle of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir today. Cheers!

Some geeky facts...Soil types & flavor profiles of Willamette Valley Sub Appellations

Chehalem Mountains

Soil: every soil type: combination of Columbia River basalt, ocean sedimentation and wind-blown loess derivation soil types

Taste: light red fruit to black fruit, brier and everything in between

Yamhill-Carlton/Ribbon Ridge

Soil: young, fine, marine sedimentary soils, over sandstone and siltstone

Taste: powerful black fruit aromas and color, minerality and highly structured

McMinnville

Soil: uplifted marine sedimentary loams and silts, with alluvial overlays

Taste: dark, powerful, black fruit and earth

Eola-Amity Hills

Soil: shallow well-drained basalt and marine sedimentary

Taste: bright acid and firm structure

Dundee Hills

Soil: drought resistant, volcanic Jory soils

Taste: primary red fruit; strawberry, cherry and raspberry

Best NZ Winery Restaurant

Pegasus Bay has been awarded the Cuisine Magazine New Zealand Winery Restaurant of the Year...for the past 5 years in a row. No small feat, especially coming from the less known region of Waipara Valley, meaning 'muddy water' in Maori, and just 30 minutes north of Christchurch. Not the most appealing name for a wine region in my opinion but Waipara's proximity to the ocean allows for warm days and cool nights resulting in a prolonged ripening period. This, combined with its terroir, promotes great flavor development while retaining natural acidity making wines from the region a true pleasure to drink and Pegasus Bay is a prime example!

Since I've been in New Zealand, I've learned about The Family of Twelve, which are 12 family owned wineries throughout New Zealand that strive to produce great New Zealand wine with the help and support from each other. Pegasus Bay is one of the 12. All are well respected and have great reputations for making consistently great wines. From the few I've tasted, I'd have to agree. I would love to taste at all 12 some day...9 down, 3 to go!

Not only does Pegasus Bay take special care of their wines, but they also take great pride in their restaurant cuisine. One of the beautiful things about the Pegasus Bay Restaurant is the menu is created for the wines they actually produce and each dish is matched with a recommended wine. They also use locally grown ingredients and change their menu regularly to utilize seasonal ingredients allowing for variety. Their highest rated dish by Cuisine Magazine is the whole Muscovy duck braised and crisp fried with fig jus. It's meant to be shared and served with roasted beetroot, Jerusalem artichokes, arugula, butter crunch, mint, orange, ricotta, fennel, pistachios, raspberry vincotto. It's a complete meal for two at only $98.00. It's suggested pairing is with the Pegasus Bay PRIMA DONNA Pinot Noir or the MAESTRO Merlot/Cabernet blend. Sounds amazing! However, we did not order the duck because we wanted to taste a wider range from their menu and we were not disappointed.

The Lineup: We had an amazing tasting at Pegasus Bay and were able to taste their entire range. Absolutely beautiful wines! You can really tell they take great pride in their craft. All wines had great balance, elegance and minerality.

One of the stand outs: BEL CANTO Dry Riesling 2011. The nose was rich with hints of botrytis, ripe stone fruits and slightest hint of green tea, which added an interesting component to this already complex wine. It was developed and reminiscent to German Riesling from the Pfalz. It's one of the highest compliments I can give because the Pfalz produces some of my favorite Rieslings.  

Our appetizer: The Golden Bay cockles, chorizo, fennel, garlic and parsley paired beautifully with the 2011 BEL CANTO Dry Riesling.

Sent out compliments of the chef...thanks! Smoked venison carpaccio, pinot cherries, horseradish cream and parmigiano reggiano. Yummy! Matched with VIRTUOSO Chardonnay or PRIMA DONNA Pinot Noir. 

Main dish: Char grilled Angus/Hereford 350g, 30 day aged rib eye with roast shallots, watercress, red wine butter, jus and served with a selection of mustards. Recommended pairing with PRIMA DONNA Pinot Noir or MAESTRO Merlot/Cabernet. This was my favorite out of everything! It was so tender, juicy and packed with flavor...it melted in your mouth! Went beautifully with the MAESTRO.

Main dish: Marinated Canterbury lamb cutlets with cavolo nero, chorizo, borlotti beans, ricotta, lemon and olive dust. Recommended pairing with PRIMA DONNA Pinot Noir or MAESTRO Merlot/Cabernet. I preferred it with the MAESTRO.

And our dessert was the pear tarte tatin, cardamom ice cream, pistachio praline. I asked the server to surprise us with dessert. The tarte tatin was secretly what I wanted and I was so excited when it came out that I forgot to take a picture...oops! We enjoyed it with the FINALE Semillon. Superb!

And our very happy faces enjoying one of the best meals of my life!

Later, I got to taste the 2010 vintage at Wine Tastes, a wine shop in Queenstown. Dare I say, better than the 2011?...yes I do! :)

Martinborough's Finest

The special character of Martinborough’s Pinot Noir is created by no one factor. A unique blend of location, soil and climate all contribute to the quality of the wines from Martinborough. Martinborough is located in a rain shadow with naturally breezy conditions. Most of the vineyards sit on a 20,000-year-old dry riverbed with mineral-laden soils. The cool climate results in low yields and allows for cool night and warm days over many months, which builds depth and intensity of flavor with finely textured tannins. These conditions not only create spectacular Pinot Niors with excellent concentration and texture but also distinctly fruity Sauvignon Blancs, aromatic and mineral Rieslings and elegant Chardonnays.

Te Muna Road Vineyard

Comparisons can be made to Burgundy, the classic home of Pinot Noir. Not only do Martinborough’s Pinots have the ripe cherry fruit components of a typical New World Pinot Noirs but also a savory and earthy quality traditionally associated with the great Pinots of Burgundy. One of the best examples of the region is 2011 Block B Pinot Noir from Schubert Wines. This wine has many layers, intense red cherry flavors with hints of herbs initially followed by savory spices and mushrooms with soft tannins, fine concentration and a fresh splash of acidity. 

At $40 per bottle, Schubert Block B Pinot Noir is better priced than most Burgundies and has the aging potential with the best of them. It has a wide range of food pairing possibilities and can go well with roasted or braised pork belly to chicken in a mushroom cream sauce to poached salmon.

The owners and winemakers of Schubert Wines, Kai Schubert and Marion Deimling have traveled the world in search for the best Pinot Noir site and they chose New Zealand over Oregon, California and Australia. The winemakers explored over 100 properties in New Zealand before settling in Martinborough in 1998. Their efforts were well worth it and their Pinots have out ranked many worldly competitors. In 2010, Schubert Wines’ 2008 Block B won the International Trophy for best Pinot Noir, beating 19 other countries including many of the world’s most famous wine producers of Burgundy.

The man himself, Kai Schubert, a truly lovely person

Another fine example of Martinborough Pinot Noir is the 2012 Pinot Noir of Poppies. After 12 years of grape growing and making wine at award winning Dry River Wines also located in Martinborough, Poppy and Shayne Hammond left to open their own boutique winery. They continue their same roles with Poppy as the Chief Winemaker and Shayne as the Viticulturist…a wine couple’s ultimate dream. The wine production is small scale and very personal. Shayne manages small plots of old vines while Poppy transforms the grapes into elegant wines. The inaugural 2012 vintage has proven more successful than even they anticipated. All their 2012 wines have sold out except the 2012 Pinot Noir, which they just released in May. The wine is perfectly balanced with clean fruit flavors of fresh cherries and a great mouthfeel.

Shayne has also worked as a chef and creates local seasonal platters to enjoy with their beautifully crafted wines. Not a bad way to spend a sunny afternoon in Martinborough!

The exceptional conditions of Martinborough also share some of the same qualities as the Rheingau region in Germany, which produces world class Rieslings. One of the best Rieslings in Martinborough is from one of the most surprising and interesting producers, Hiroyuki Kusuda. I say surprising because of his unique path into winemaking. Hiro is from Japan and with that said didn’t drink wine until he traveled Europe while on break from law school. He fell in love with wine upon his first introduction but continued to practice law after graduation and kept wine as a hobby. After very successful years of practicing law, he could no longer resist the idea of becoming a winemaker. In 1996 he moved to Germany to learn the language and then started studying Oenology and Viticulture at Geisenheim University the following year. This man learned a third language from his second language! How amazing is that?! An experiment for his thesis brought him to Martinborough where he fell in love the region. After graduation, he moved to Martinborough and started up his own wine label, Kusuda Wines, in 2001.

It was such an amazing experience tasting with Hiro. He welcomed us into his home, gave us slippers to wear [Japanese style as he would say], introduced us to his family and poured wines from his cellar.

Each vintage, Hiro gets about 20 Japanese student volunteers to travel to Martinborough for the honor of working for him and learning his craft. He prides himself on the careful selection of each berry. It is even said that he uses tweezers on the sorting table. He delivers impeccable purity of fruit and place with such finesse. 

Hiro didn't think he could make Riesling in Martinborough but found it a 'pleasant surprise' and so did I! The nose is mirrored on the palate with ample and integrated ripe peaches and apricots with fresh and bright green apple acidity. The fruit and minerality are in perfect harmony...clean, driven and well structured.

Research into its climate and soils has revealed small areas in Martinborough share the same qualities to some of the world’s finest wine regions. The Rhone Valley has many high quality sought after characteristics similar to Martinborough. Martinborough is sited in the driest location on the North Island. The soils of the Martinborough Terrace are alluvial loam layered over very deep gravels, which ensures exceptional drainage and warmer profiles similar to Rhone. The diurnal temperature, hot days and cool nights, allow fruit to ripen slowly and gently. It is a known fact to build depth of flavor takes time and with one of the longest growing seasons [from flowering to harvest] in New Zealand, Martinborough has no trouble with that!

View of the Martinborough Terrace from Escarpment Wines. 

Syrah is the dominant red grape varietal in the Northern Rhone Valley. It is common practice in Cote Rotie to blend Syrah with small amounts of Voignier, the dominant white varietal of the Northern Rhone. Syrah produces some intense and rich wines but blending with Viogner softens the wine both on the nose and palate. One of the best examples of this classic Syrah Viogner blend is made by Martinborough Vineyards and it was a pleasant surprise to find this blend in Martinborough's repertoire. 

The 2009 Syrah Viognier is a lush, spicy and complex yet delicate wine. It has intense aromatics of black pepper, cured meat and dark fruit with a lovely floral lift of violets. The palate is generous and succulent with velvety smooth tannins. 

Wine from the middle of Middle Earth

San Diego Scoop April article: Schubert Wines