14 Aug Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Maysara 2015 Immigrant Pinot Noir, McMinnville, Oregon

Spending a week in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, I drank a lot of really good Pinot Noir, as well as Pinot Gris, Riesling, Chardonnay and more. I drank so many delicious wines, it would be hard to pick just one as the Wine of the Week. However, one wine did stand out, not only because it is a Pinot Noir, but because it communicates an important message that resonates with me and should all of us. That is why the Maysara 2015 Immigrant Pinot Noir from McMinnville, Oregon, is the Please The Palate Wine of the Week. Maysara, which means “house of wine” in Farsi, is the wine produced by Moe Momtazi and his family. The 532-acre (orignally 496 acre) Momtazi Vineyard was was purchased in 1997. There are 260 acres planted to vines and the vineyard was Demeter Certified Biodynamic in 2005 (and the winery was certified in 2007). Moe Momtazi is originally from Tehran, Iran. He came to the US originally in the early 1970s with his family and went to University in Texas. Moe returned to Iran but in 1982, when his wife was 8 months pregnant, they had to flee Iran and went to Spain and eventually came to the US. Moe worked as a civil engineer and then bought the property and built a beautiful winery with re-purposed materials. Moe and his wife raised three daughters who today all work for Maysara – the oldest is the winemaker, the middle daughter handles national sales and the youngest daughter manages all of the events. Moe and his family are the quintessential example of the immigrant experience….coming to America to make a better life for their children. This is what American was founded on. This is what makes America great. This is why I love the idea behind the Maysara 2015 Immigration Pinot Noir. Maysara Immigration Pinot Noir is made from estate fruit, like the other Pinot Noirs in the portfolio. But this wine is “dedicated to all the immigrants, including our own family members who risked their lives to escape and make it to America for the values of freedom and opportunity that this country stands for. Coming from many cultural backgrounds worldwide, immigrants have played an integral part in making America the great nation we call home.” The Maysara 2015 Immigrant Pinot Noir retails for $45 and 33% of proceeds will be going to Refugee & Immigrant programs servicing permanent residency, family based visas, low-cost immigration counseling and much more.