Organic Wine Week, Part 2: Pinot Noir

My second organic wine pick for this week involves Pinot Noir--which still seems to be everyone's favorite red variety. There's a lot to like about it, so it's not surprising. They're flavorful, rich without being heavy, and pair well with a wide variety of foods.

So when the folks at Cooper Mountain asked if I'd like to try their latest vintage of Pinot Noir I said yes. Cooper Mountain Vineyards are in the Willamette Valley, perched on the slopes of an extinct volcano in Oregon. Robert and Corrine Gross started the vineyards in 1978 and began bottling their own wine in 1987. Robert Gross always explored alternative methods of treating his medical patients--he's a psychiatrist, a homeopath, and an acupuncturist--and his fondness for the road less traveled in his career can also be seen in his wine work. Within a few years, Gross became interested in sustainable, alternative farming and began to convert the vineyards to organic methods. They were certified organic in 1995 (the second vineyard in Oregon to achieve this status), and four years later received their biodynamic Demeter certification.

The wine I sampled, the 2006 Cooper Mountain Vineyards Cooper Hill Pinot Noir, was a light bodied, cheerful wine with excellent QPR. ($15-$17 through online merchants) Made with organic, biodynamic grapes, the wine tasted very pure to me, with lots of cherry and raspberry aromas and flavors that were intense and lively. The wine had Pinot's distinctive silky character, and after you swallowed down all those fruity flavors there was a nice fresh taste in your mouth that reminded me of the smell of a wet garden. Like most Oregon Pinot Noirs that I've tasted, this wine is not opulent and rich but cool and restrained--like Grace Kelley. It's a young wine, with refreshing acidity at its core and I found that the cherry had turned to black cherry and the raspberry to blackberry after I recorked it and left it on the counter for 24 hours. This suggested to me that this is a wine that will continue to develop with age. But it's delightful right now, so you shouldn't wait to try this one. And the price is amazing for a wine that is organic, small production, and so darn tasty.

We had the Cooper Mountain Pinot Noir with some BBQ shrimp and cheese grits made with shrimp tossed in some homemade red sauce with bourbon and spices and some creamy grits laced with extra sharp cheddar cheese. The acidity really cut through the red BBQ sauce, and the purity of the fruit flavors didn't clash with the spices. This summer, if you've got plans to BBQ, get yourself some of this wine.

Cooper Mountain makes a wide range of organic, biodynamic wines including Pinot Gris, Malbec, and several different Pinot Noirs. If you want confirmation from another blogger that Cooper Mountain is a winery to watch, check out Jeff Lefevere's review over at Good Grape. This is a winery that may not be on your radar screen, but it should be. Their wines are further proof of the numerous affordable, delicious choices that are out there if you would like to make organic and biodynamic wine choices.

Another Great Oregon Riesling

A few months ago, Jeff from Good Grape pulled together a blogger's 3-pack of Oregon wines with domaine547. Jeff promised us a trip to Alsace via Oregon with every sip of these wines. I just opened up my second bottle from the pack, and I think he's delivered so far. The two wines that I've had were both excellent , with distinctive flavors and an attractive price point.

The bottle I'm going to focus on today is the one in the far right of the picture: the 2005 Amity Riesling. (purchased as part of a 3-pack from domaine547 for $52.99; the winery is now sold out) Made in the Willamette Valley by Myron Redford, just 100 cases of this beauty were produced. There were pronounced floral, honeysuckle, and orange blossom aromas in this wine that suggested it would be decidedly off-dry when I sipped it. But the wine tasted drier than it smelled, with flavors of lemons and slate. There was a honeyed note in the finish, and a bit of a petrol aftertaste, which kept the wine interesting and engaging. I think it would be hard to find such a well-balanced, complex domestic Riesling for under $20--which this was--so this one earns excellent QPR.

This is the kind of wine that begs for spicier food. When you're eating something fiery, it's best to have a wine that's just a bit off-dry but not cloying. We had the Amity Riesling with a Goan Shrimp Curry from the cookbook American Masala by Suvir Suran. The recipe combined aromatic spices, coconut milk, shrimp, and peppers and the wine stood up to if nicely. (hint: if you can't find curry leaves near you, then you can use 2 bay leaves instead. It's not exactly the same, but it will do if you don't have a good Indian grocery nearby) The citrusy notes in the wine were particularly nice with the shrimp, and the floral flavors wafting up from the wine combined with the spices wafting up from the pot.

In a few weeks we'll be tasting Old World Rieslings for Wine Blogging Wednesday #45 with Tim Elliott of Winecast, and this wine definitely got me thinking ahead to that event. Rieslings are great food wines, they're lower in alcohol than most whites, and they are perfect for spring time, so go out and find yourself a Riesling. Even if you haven't liked them in the past, wines like this Amity Riesling are going to change your mind.

Taking the Riesling Shortcut to Alsace Via Oregon

When I bought the Good Grape blogger pack from domaine547 I was promised a trip to Alsace via Oregon. I got one! Even better, I discovered a winery I think I want to develop a lifetime relationship with--and it's a small producer I would never have heard of or had the chance to try in the normal course of buying and tasting wine in Southern California. So thank you to Jill and Jeff Lefevere of Good Grape for introducing me to Brooks Wines.

There is a heart-tugging story behind this winery, and it revolves around Pascal Brooks--who just may be the youngest winery owner in the US. Pascal was just 8 years old when the winery's ownership sadly passed to him after the death of his dad, Jimi. Friends and neighbors rallied to support the Brooks wine-making efforts to provide Pascal with a steady source of income and financial support. Since 2004 Pascal has had help making his wine, including the assistance of his aunt, Janie. They continue to bottle wine made from only organically- produced grapes, and to adopt biodynamic farming methods dedicated to sustainability. (photo of Brooks founder Jimi Brooks mixing biodynamic preparation for the vines, geolinkwine.com)

I got two Brooks wines in my blogger pack, and the first one I opened was the 2006 Brooks Riesling from the Willamette Valley (included in the domaine547 Good Grape Blogger pack of 3 Oregon wines for $52.99). This was an excellent QPR domestic riesling that (quite frankly) blew the highly touted Eroica of Chateau Ste. Michelle and Dr. Loosen out of the water. If you like that wine, and pay more than $20 for it, then treat yourself to a Brooks Riesling. There were complex aromas of lime, apple, Meyer lemon, petrol, and stone. I could have sniffed the wine all night without drinking any of it and kept myself happily busy. Flavors of lime, honey, slate, and even a hint of fresh red currants zinged in my mouth. I preserved the wine and left it overnight, and I think it should age nicely over the next 12-24 months, if you can wait that long.

With our Oregon Riesling we had a delicious pasta dish that used butternut squash and some zingy spices created by Mario Batali. It may seem odd to put Riesling with pasta and squash, but it was a dynamic pairing. The creaminess of the squash and pasta was nice with the silkiness of the wine, and the acidity of the Riesling cut through to the heart of the thyme, red onion, and red pepper that spiced the dish.

Brooks Wines are committed to making "exceptional wine at modest prices," and with this bottle they have succeeded and then some. Only 493 cases of this wine were produced, so get it while you can. And if you're in one of those states like Massachusetts that domaine547 can't ship to (and you know who you are!), check out Table & Vine in West Springfield. They have it, too.

A Pair of Pinots from Adelsheim

Regular readers will know that I don't drink as much wine from Oregon as I should (or Washington, either). Living in California as I do, my state's wines tend to push other West Coast bottlings to the side, there is surprisingly little on the store shelves. In the past this has left me wondering about what I was tasting in some of the wines I drank. Comments left by readers on the site convinced me that sometimes what I was tasting was a problem with the specific bottle, and so I was delighted to accept samples of recent Pinot Noir and Pinto Gris vintages from the well-known Oregon producer Adelsheim to help me put some of my recent tastings in better focus.

The wines were a Pinot Noir and a Pinot Gris from the 2006 vintage. What I observed about both wines was their freshness and a purity of taste that can often be lost in warmer weather versions of these same varieties. They reminded me much more of Old World wine than New World wine, but at the same time they were unlike anything else I've ever tasted.

The first wine I have to recommend, the 2006 Adelsheim Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, is clearly at the beginning of its life. (available from online sources for between $20 and $30). Though it's drinking beautifully now, it will only improve over the next 12-24 months. It poured with a clear, bright garnet color and there were aromas of smoky cherry and a bit of earth. The fresh fruits made the first taste impression, with flavors of raspberry and black cherry. As the wine opens a bit, there is some spicy cedar and a bit of earth in the finish to keep things interesting. Very good QPR and if you can manage to hold on to it until next fall, you may discover that it can be even notched up a bit into the excellent category.

The second wine, the 2006 Adelsheim Pinot Gris Willamette Valley, was a revelation. (available online for between $13 and $20) If this is Pinot Gris, what have I been drinking until now? It was a clear, pale straw in color and had delicious aromas of peach, honey, and a kiss of carmelized sugar. There was lots of acidity in the wine,w hich kept the peach and apple flavors in mouth-watering balance. During the long, luscious finish the back of your throat filled with honeyed, peachy aromas--which sent you straight back to the glass for more. This was a dry yet intensely aromatic wine and represented excellent QPR.

We drank both wines with the same meal, and it was a toss-up which was better with it--a real testament to the food-friendliness of both. I made a simple poached salmon and served it with Indian cucumber raita, a side of saffron rice pilaf, and some Punjab eggplant (from a packet at Trader Joe's, I'm afraid, though you can make it from scratch). Both the red and the white wine worked beautifully with the full array of dishes and neither were overwhelming nor overwhelmed by any one dish.

An Expensive Disappointment

I don't often write about wines that I find disappointing. With so much good wine to review, and only so much time, I would rather focus on the great finds that you can make in your local wine store, rather than listing all the wines that I'm less thrilled with once I've opened them. I also do a fair amount of research and go to a lot of tastings, so I'm less likely to wander too far away from wines that I have a reasonable expectation of liking.

There are times when I pop the cork only to discover that the wine inside the bottle doesn't live up to my expectations. This is even more aggravating when I've spent more than usual. I found a bottle of the 2005 Adelsheim Pinot Noir for a great price, and was excited to try it. (Red Carpet Wine, $24.83; available elsewhere for between $23 and $34) There is a lot of positive buzz about this winemaker, the WineScamp loved this wine, and I'd never had one before. I love pinot noir. It all looked good!

It turned out to be an expensive disappointment.

The 2005 Adelsheim Pinot Noir had aromas of funky earth, acetone, and stewed cherries. There were flavors of earth, pine, and sour cherry. The wine was reasonably complex, but the flavors and aromas didn't hang together and that acetone note was hard to get past. It made the fruit fade into the background, and the wine lacked balance as a result. For this price, I didn't feel that QPR was there, so poor QPR on this bottle.

I don't drink much Oregon Pinot Noir, it should be said, and I'm not the world expert on wine chemistry either. Anyone who is reading this who'd like to chime in with their experiences with this wine, or to let me know whether this may have been flawed by volatile acidity, please do so. Otherwise, I'm just chalking this up to experience.

Cellaring White Wines

I read an interesting article the other day by Jancis Robinson, one of my favorite wine writers. She wondered why there is so much more expert wine writing focused on red wines than on white wines. (image from Ian Britton and FreeFoto.com)

There are a few possible explanations. But one leading reason is that most folks drink white wines young and fresh--they don't cellar them, and they often don't spend much money on them in the first place so they aren't seen as an investment that demands a lot of time and thoughtfulness. In the case of reds, however, many wine drinkers do age their wines, and are willing to pay hefty price tags for their favorites--both of which lead to a desire to know more about what will soon be taking up precious financial and storage resources.

Robinson points out that this ongoing media fascination with reds is especially odd given the kinds of food we tend to eat these days--chicken, fish, vegetables and other foods that go far better with white wines. And she provides some good tips on white wines that do improve with aging and deserve a place in your cellar. Chardonnay, for example, is a white varietal that often shines after a little cellar time. Recently, I pulled out two older chardonnays--a 2001 chardonnay from Burgundy, and a 2003 chardonnay from Oregon--to see whether they agreed with my palate. I didn't buy either one of these wines specifically to age, so take my findings with a grain of salt, but I felt that in neither case were the wines necessarily improved with their extra time in bottle.

First, there was the 2001 Domaine Anne Gros Chardonnay ($16.99 on sale; now I can't find it anywhere else, but you can buy a more recent vintage for under $30). Recent tastings that others have had of the 2006 wine suggest that this may be a wine that is best drunk young. This is the entry-level wine for the talented Anne Gros, and I think this was past its prime. The aromas of toast, butterscotch, and apple were very promising, but these notes did not emerge in the flavors. When you took a sip, it was flat a bit acidic on the palate. I didn't store it myself, so there is no way of knowing whether this was because of improper storage somewhere in its life, of whether it was just a bit tired.

The next older chardonnay I tried was the 2003 Argyle Chardonnay ($8.99, Costco; available elsewhere for around $14). This wine was sealed with a Stelvin closure, and was holding up pretty well with pear and lemon aromas that were muted and subtle. More pear flavors emerged as you drank the wine, which veered towards apple towards the end and was accompanied with a high, citrusy note. There was a creamy, tangy finish that reminded me of creme fraiche. What was interesting to me was to compare my note with one made by Jerry Hall at Winewaves in September 2005, almost two years ago. He found much brighter aromas, and much tarter flavors. The creme fraiche I seemed to taste was a "butterscotch twang" when Jerry drank the younger wine.

Based on this experience, I'm not sure how to proceed with cellaring white wines. Is it worth the space in my cellar, given my preference for crisper, fruitier whites? Am I buying the right kinds of white wine to cellar, or should I steer clear of chardonnay for the moment and focus on rieslings or some other varietal? If you've got experience cellaring white wines, I'd love to hear your advice. And if you have questions, like me, feel free to leave them in the comments in hopes someone will know the answer.

A Fashionable White: 2005 Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Gris

According to most wine marketing experts, Pinot Gris (or Pinot Grigio) is one of the most popular white wine varietals at the moment. As you know, I like drinking unfashionable wines because they typically represent good value for money. But I've always liked Elk Cove wines (used to drink them even more before Pinots Noir and Gris got chichi), so I picked up a bottle in November. I see that its inclusion on the Wine Spectator's annual top wines list has made the prices on the remaining bottles go up! But this wine can still be found in most parts of the country for under $20

The 2005 Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Gris from the Willamette Valley ($12.99, Beverages and More) doesn't exhibit all the varietal characteristics of a classic pinot gris, but its relatively low price point compared to many other Pinot Gris wines in the market means that this is still a wine with very good QPR. Light straw color, it has a sweet peach (rather than the more typical citrus and pear) aroma coupled with mild floral scents. Flavors of peaches and cream follow on your palate, with a hint of toasted almond at the end. Lush and delicious, this wine invites you back to the glass again and again for more.

Because this wine was softer, rounder, and richer than most Pinot Gris, I felt it would be best with foods that you might have with gewurztraminer, such as spicier fare and shellfish. We had this with one of our favorite Rachael Ray recipes: Thai Chicken Pizza. This wine would also be excellent with other spicy foods, be they Thai, Indian, Chinese, or Creole.