Henri Perrusset, Macon-Villages, 2011, Burgundy, France

This Chardonnay is fairly translucent in the glass with just a touch of darker gold.  The nose is dominated by lime, graham cracker crust, and pine sol.  This is a medium-bodied and crisp wine with a slight oily texture. It's a clean crisp classic with a hint of rock candy sweetness on the mid-palate.  Kermit Lynch once again delivers a nice understated balanced effort but somehow right now it's leaving me with something to be desired.  I mean its pairing quite nicely with a solo night of season 2 of Friday Night Lights and Pepperidge Farm Salted Pretzel Milano Slices cookies.  Still I'd rather be with a good friend and a plateful of Willapa Bay oysters.

tasting at HASR wine co.

Kelly and I went to a great tasting last week at HASR in Chinatown and had some decent value-driven California wines from Morgan and Bishop's Peak.  I keep forgetting the name of the guy who pours there on Tuesday and Friday nights but he is extremely nice, knowledgeable, and efficient.  The holy trinity of attributes for anyone working in a tasting room.

The 2011 Morgan Sauvignon Blanc was probably the star of the show with a surprisingly big body for the varietal and its clean, minerally, and old world flavor profile.   It is blended with small amounts Sauvignon Musque and Semillon as well as spends 6 months in mostly neutral oak to lend complexity and texture.   The 2011 Chardonnay from Bishop's Peak was lighter in body and color and had an extremely closed nose.  It had nice light clean citrus flavors but not much else to write home about.

BP's Pinot was temptingly priced at $20 and had a plump body with well-rounded tannins and true to the varietal rustic cherry flavors.  The Cabernet was also dominated by simple cherry notes on the front end that fell off too quickly.  It also had a bit too much oak and heat for me.  Finally, the Morgan rhone-style "cote du crow's" blend was much rounder and heavier on the palate with riper darker fruit.  There were some tertiary bitter subtle vinegary notes on the mid-palate that for some reason I was into.  
I would definitely recommend the free bi-weekly tastings at HASR.  And if you see a short dorky-looking haole scribbling tasting notes in the corner, say hi!

Raymond, "R Collection" Chardonnay, 2011, California

This Chardonnay is light pale and more translucent than gold.  It is rather mass market in approach but has nice clean flavors.  I picked up kiwi, golden apple, and fresh glazed doughnut on the nose.  The front end of the palate was dominated by rock candy, very very light lemon, and even some crisp iceberg lettuce.   This wine was a little too sweet for me and cried out or acid and body.  It got me thinking about balance and how some might like this wine for avoiding falling into the overoaked category of entry level Chards.  But for me balance in and of itself isn't enough.
It's a fine line between subtlety and boredom.  Too often wines that are subtle and balanced to some are boring to me.  I like it when flavors that are seemingly disparate come together in ways that wake up my palate and open my mind.  Opposites attract in real life and often in wine too.  I like music and people that are awkward and confusing.  Why can't these things be in the same with wine?  Sorry Mr. R Collection Chard for going off.  This is more about me than you.  You are just fine.

Vine Hill, Chardonnay, 2009, Santa Cruz Mountains, California

Dammit Vine Hill, I just can't quit you.  You went out of business in a shroud of mystery and then this random Hawaiian grocery store chain grabbed your entire inventory and I can't stop buying everything you have to offer.  Your Zin made me scream for joy and your Pinot left me crying in the corner.  Now it's time for you higher end Chard.
The Vine Hill is uniform medium gold in color.  The nose is dominated by chemical bretty poop with just a hint of spicy apple sauce.  I kept hoping the agent orange would blow off but it didn't.  I will say that there were some nice yellow apple notes on the flavor profile of this medium body wine.  Still I am such a nerdy smeller of wine, every single taste was tainted.  I don't think this bottle was corked and I do think something went wrong in the wine-making process or with the wine-making facility itself.  One shouldn't talk smack on the dead but this shit is still for sale and I care about my fellow island wine drinkers.  Seriously, you'd be better off spending a night alone on the KJ rez.

Louis Latour, Macon-Villages Chameroy, 2008, Burgundy

MORE FRENCH WHITES, PLEASE!   This Villages level Burgundy from Macon is iridescent golden yellow in the glass.  On her first smell, Kelly yelped, "Gorgonzola Apple Salad!"  I got sliced golden apple and poop (in a good way).  The mixture of fruit and funk in this wine is pretty undeniable.  I also picked up golden raisins and laughing gas.  This is a full bodied effort with a powerful flavor of perfectly ripe juicy gold apple with lovely soft citrus overtones and fig.  The wine-makers note this Macon-Villages has a "suave, billowing aftertaste."  I concur.  For all its weight, this wine gets has a surprisingly smooth de-crescendoing lightness on its long finish.  It completely blows my mind that that a chardonnay this complex and layered sees absolutely no oak.  It's something I have yet to taste in any domestic producers' wines, whose stainless steel chards I find too bracing and quick.  I'm happy that there are still bargains (picked this up for less than 20) to find there but I know that for most oenophiles, Burgundy can be a slippery slope.  Please don't let me blow my next paycheck on one of these!  

R.H. Phillips, Toasted Head Chardonnay, 2011, California

Gary Vaynerchuk was right about this wine.  I've watched all 1,000 episodes of his eponymous show and guest what, I've come to trust the guy.  Kelly said the toasted head was the color of  girl pee and I don't really know how that is differentiated from other types of pee but it was pretty light for an oaky chard. The nose is pleasant with notes of dandelion, edamame, canned peaches, and lime.  This is a relatively simple yet balanced effort.  It has notes of sweet almond and coconut milk and pure citrus on the mid-palate.  The oak is present but doesn't beat you into submission.  There is also a seamlessness to the toasted head that I appreciate.    I can't really remember the last time I had a wine this good for 10 bucks.

Gina, Chardonnay, 2009, Napa Valley, California

I found Gina hiding on the bottom corner shelf at the gourmet section of the grocery store one unbearably hot afternoon in Honolulu just as the vog was settling in for the week.  It was gonna be another hot humind winter and I was looking for something cheap and cool to help settle my nerves.
Okay, enough with the hard-boiled bullshit.
This second label from Flora Springs Winery is a full-bodied fruit-driven Chardonnay that the folks at R. Field have for some reason marked down from 19 to 9 bones.  It's relatively light in color for what it delivers on the nose and palate   I smelled banana chips, fluffernutter, sour melon, and a  touch of soapiness.  The flavor profile on the front end was rich and fruity.  Think banana nut bread and pineapple settling into more round honey and jammy orange notes as it had time to settle in the glass.  The juice hit the edges of my tongue but never could quite find the middle.  This is a quick dessert in a glass without being an actual dessert wine.  If you are looking for something outgoing and extroverted (if not easily forgettable) that isn't asking to be paired with a meal, then Gina might just be for you.       

P.S. Letterpress art by my old pen-pal Rebecca at Rar Rar Press.  Lyrics by my main man, Blake.

L'Ecole No 41, Chardonnay, 2011, Columbia Valley

This Columbia Valley entry is light in color for a chard that sees oak with glisteny white highlights.  Served on the super cold side bits of lemon and watermelon candy dominate the nose but as it warms up more bug spray comes out.  Medium to light bodied.  I think this sees a little bit of second or third year oak but it steers clear from any new French oak influences.   The roundness factor is definitely there as the flavor is dominated more by lemon curd than lemon tart.  There are hints of honey throughout and a subtle balancing bitterness on the mid palate.  Nothing particularly “bad” about this wine but still it’s pretty one dimensional.   It doesn’t taste cheap but for the twenty dollar price point I have had better.  L’Ecole is one of the first tasting rooms you hit when approaching Walla Walla from the west.  The historical old schoolhouse is definitely worth a stop as there is plenty to taste and the staff are friendly and knowledgeable.  Personally, I felt their Semillon had a lot more to say for a Columbia Valley white than this wine for about the same price.

P.S. This tasting room completely blew my mind last time I was in town and this swimming hole made my summer day!  

a jaunt to a few wineries in newberg and carlton

Nora and I set out with my parents for some wine tasting on the day before my birthday and hit a few places I have never been to before. The first stop was August Cellars. August is actually the first winery one comes upon when taking 99 from Portland out to wine country. August has a rather upscale and open tasting room. Unfortunately, the wines were pretty uneven to say the least. The first of the line up was the 2008 Oregon dry Riesling. The nose was a mixture of canned pears, lime, and balsa wood. It was an extremely fruit forward wine with a very thin body. A one dimensional puckery lemon flavor dominated the profile. Nora said it was like drinking water with citrus fruit in it. I concurred.

The 2007 Washington Riesling didn’t fair much better. Its nose reeked of laughing gas and the inside of a balloon with a hint of confectionary sugar. The awkwardness of the nose carried through on the body. Finally, the sweet Riesling with fruit from Eola-Amity Hills had a nose like gummy candy and mashed over-ripe peaches. Its touch of acidity and understated sweetness gave it a better balance than the other two efforts but it was still nothing to write home about.

The only Pinots on the tasting menu were from the 2004 vintage. The staff admitted that it was an extremely difficult vintage and that the grapes got picked a little later than they would have liked. He further explained that they tried to make up for the watered down flavor profile with exposing the grapes to more oak. There was a Willamette valley pinot as well as a single vineyard designate from the Aubre Vert vineyard. Both the wines were still alive and vibrant but without a doubt overly-oaked. They had a crimson color with hints of brown beginning to take over on the edges. The smells reminded me of smoke from a BBQ with hints of smoked cheese and a bit of cherry. The wines did have a silky big body for such a rainy vintage probably imparted by the oak. Nora said they tasted like an oak sponge. I got beef jerky, tar, and bitter fruit as well.

The 2005 Washington Merlot was probably the best of all. It also had a big punchy nose with English garden rose, chocolate cake, red fruits, and a hefty dose of alcohol. It was a rather simple wine with an explosion of strawberry on the front end and a white pepper tinged acidity with a fairly short finish. There was a fair amount of burning alcohol on the end as well.

Our next stop was the Dark Horse Wine Bar in Newberg. The wine bar operates as a tasting room for Sineann Wines, Medici Vineyards, and Ferraro Cellars. We were able to taste through a number of selections. Sineann sources most of its fruit from vineyards in Willamette and Columbia Valley. But they also make some wine from California and even New Zealand. We tasted two northwest gewurtztraminers that both had beautiful fresh fruit and spice noses and round exotic flavor profiles. A Columbia Valley Sauvignon Blanc proved to be clean and full bodied with hints of peach and candied nuts. It’s Marlborough counterpart was true to the variatal and style with an overwhelming fresh red grapefruit flavors and a persistent acidity.

A pair of 2008 entry level Pinot Noirs from the Columbia Valley had pleasant dark fruit flavors with toned down acids while still remaining balanced and lean. Next up was a 2002 and 2003 estate block designate Pinots from Medici. Time in the bottle had rounded out the tannins beautifully and brought to the foreground hints of spice and caramel. Still the cherry fruit notes were lively as ever. The 2003 block 1 and 2 designate was my favorite wine of the bunch with its abundance and purity of fruit. It’s a great value at $30 and will drink well for at least another 5 years. The Columbia Valley Cab-based wines from Ferraro and Sineann were all about candied and sweet pastry fruit. Still they were fairly elegant for the price point.

Trisaetum Vineyards is a fairly new project based in the Carlton AVA. They have gotten a lot of buzz recently for their Rieslings. A 94 point rating from Wine Enthusiast for their twenty some dollar 2008 release had me excited. Though it wasn’t quite up to the hype, I was still impressed with how open the wine already had become with layers of ripe lemon and pear fruit and spice. The tasting staff gave us a sneak peak of the 2009 dry Riesling which was still quite tight and lean but showed good potential. We tasted an entry level 2008 Pinot as wells as a 2008 artist series (barrel select) and a higher end 2007. As so often is the case, I was most impressed by the entry level with its wet stone and brambly fruit notes on the nose. Those same notes came through on the flavor profile as well as a strong dose of anise. It had a medium body and a nice long finish with those seamless fruit flavors carrying through to the end.

Our final stop was Lemelson Vineyards and admittedly at this point I was feeling a bit of palate fatigue. We tasted a decent Pinot Gris and dry Riesling. The 2007 reserve Chardonnay was a real stand out. It was the most fragrant wine of the day with exotic notes of sandalwood, sweet incense, ginger bread, and key lime pie. It was silky smooth on the palate with a pronounced lime flavors and a nice acidic lift in the middle. The oak had been integrated so beautifully and was a perfect platform for the fruit to shine. The higher end Pinots leaned more toward a lush style and were perfectly fine but I was slightly unimpressed with their 2007 “6 vineyards” Pinot. It was fairly fruit forward with fresh strawberry but fell off pretty quickly. The acidity was super salty throwing it off the balance. The “6 vineyards” goes for only 20 or so dollars but I have had better Pinots even at that price-point.

Iris Hill, Chardonnnay, 2006, Oregon

The folks at Iris Winery have opened up a new tasting room in Cottage Grove. Although not the most picturesque setting, the staff there were super nice and informative. For a measly 3 dollar fee, one gets to taste through the current Iris offerings and take home a nice sturdy tasting style glass. What stood out most for me at the time was the 2006 Oregon Chard (partly because it was selling at half price). The nose was dominated by crisp yellow apple, lemon pledge, white chocolate, and a bit of candied banana and funky cork taint. It had a shimmering gold evenly distributed color. This is a fairly round wine with an oily texture on the front end leading to a brief burst of acidity and finally a softer lingering finish. Rich dense syrupy lemon is most present on the flavor profile with hints of butter popcorn jellybelly on the mid-palate. Overall there is a nice balance of acidity and roundness on this simple kinda shrilly wine. I think it is best served on the colder side and within the first few days of being open. After three days and as the wine begins to warm, it quickly becomes disjointed and awkward. I think this chardonnay would pair well with a simple salty fish dish. Fish and Chips anyone?