Wine Country Thanksgiving – Portland, Oregon, USA

After we paid the $5 tasting fee and collected our complementary wine glasses, the son of the winery owner greeted us at the door with a taste of their 2000 Pinot Blanc. Not a big fan of white wine, I was skeptical of this wine at first. I was pleasantly surprised. I was sure this was a red wine posing as a white; it was fuller bodied than your typical white wine and had a smooth texture and finish.

Although this Pinot Blanc was excellent, I’m a red wine lover at heart. But, trying to be a good little winetaster, I tried a couple more whites before moving on to the reds. (Note: you should start with lighter wines such as a Pinot Blanc or Pinot Gris before moving on to heavier wines such as Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon).

I worked my way down the counter and through several tastes. Despite popular belief, no one ever spits out the wine. There are buckets for discarding undrunk portions of wine, but no one actually spits. Not only is it kind of gross, but if you spit, you miss about half the taste. How the wine travels down your throat and its finish are just as important as its first impression. It would be like watching only the first half of a movie.

I guided my parents over to the special Pinot tasting section. I had been drawn to the special Pinot wines by one name in particular, the 1999 “La Nuit Magique (Magic Night).” Perhaps I was merely intrigued by the French name of one of the wines, but in any case I decided that any wine that was going to pose as French was worth a taste.

Of course in order to do the tasting properly, we had to start with the three lighter Pinot Noir wines before reaching “La Nuit Magique.” But it was worth the extra tastings. The winery promised “La Nuit Magique” would “knock our socks off,” and sure enough, it even sent little shocks down our spines. And our wallets too. Each bottle cost $50. Ouch!

The staff was friendly and knowledgeable, especially about which foods to eat with which wine. They also offered elegant snacks, such as portabella mushrooms. But I think they should have provided the baguette-style French bread and cheese that they had last year. However, we hadn’t even tasted half the sampling available, but we realized we needed to continue on our journey or we wouldn’t be leaving – ever.

Maresh Red Barn

Maresh was not as crowded as Erath, but they also offered fewer samplings. Of course, I doubt anyone could offer as many tastes as Erath. After tasting three red wines, decided I preferred the bold and spicy 1998 Maresh Red Barn Pinot Noir – Archery Summit. I didn’t feel the wines here were as good as those at Erath, but the samples added some variety to our wine tasting day.

Up until this point, I had taken fairly detailed notes on the wines I liked and disliked, but as the day wore on, my note-taking skills became rather hindered. We were off to vineyard #3, and any stress we may have had coming into the excursion had melted away sometime during our visit to Erath. Mom and I were getting pretty giggly. The funniest part for me was that my mom NEVER gets giggly – which of course made me that much more gigglier. It’s a vicious cycle. Although I think Dad was even more amused simply listening to our babble…

Sokol Blosser

Down in the tasting room we each had to pay a hefty $15 fee, but it allowed us into the Red Room, a room exclusively for Pinot Noir lovers. We started with the 1999 Watershed Block, which was excellent with bold, distinctive structure that would flourish as it aged. The wine pourer said that this wine would be excellent in about five years. But for it’s youth and roughness, the taste we had that day wasn’t too shabby either.

Then we moved on to the 1999 Old Vineyard Block. This one beat out the first wine, hands down. It was full-bodied with a smooth and satiny finish. Coming in to tie with this wine was a taste of the 1999 Twelve Row Block. This rich, full-bodied wine had a silky smooth texture and a long, luxurious finish. Both of these wines would age well, we were told, but they were ready to be drunk now.

Also, on the wine list, we were excited to see tastes of their older 1993 and 1992 Pinot Noirs. These wines we tasted last and were rather disappointed. They seemed to lack the same structure and body that the other three had. My parents and I agreed that that these wines did not age well.

Although a few of their wines were excellent, we felt that Sokol Blosser was over-priced for the quality of their wines. Some of their bottles were selling for $75. And the experience of the tasting room was somewhat ruined by the amount of fruit flies annoying the wine tasters. I had to constantly cover my glass with a napkin to keep the flies from taking a swim.

Cuneo Cellars

Cuneo’s specializes in red wines, and their 2000 Syrah was definitely the favorite this year. Everyone was buzzing about it. The wine was full-bodied, yet not too heavy. It had a crispness to it that was refreshing, while still pleasuring the palate with fruity flavor. The grapes were harvested in Southern Oregon, which yielded smaller grapes bursting with flavor.

Gino Cuneo, the owner, stood at two barrels with a three-foot-long tube that looked like a giant eye dropper, and offered barrel tastings of two excellent vintages, the 2001 Cana’s Feast Bordeaux-style blend from the Del Rio Vineyard in Southern Oregon and the 2001 Cana’s Feast Bordeaux-style blend from the Red Mountain vineyard. Both were excellent.

In general, this wine tasting experience was fun and exciting. But our favorite wineries, Cuneo Cellars and Erath Vineyards, still remain undefeated as our wine champs of the year. Both offer variety, affordable tasting and munchies to help cleanse the palate.

One thing I did miss this year, however, was music. In years past, many of the wineries hosted local or family bands. But we didn’t see any this time. Music just seems to add something extra to the wine tasting experience. But all in all, we had a great time out in the Oregon countryside.

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