Please The Palate |

The Willamette Valley wine pioneers – legends of the wine industry

I have the good fortune of meeting lots of winemakers. I have met some of the icons in the industry, people who helped establish their regions and set trends. But, when I was in the Willamette Valley as part of the Wine Writers Educational Tour, we attended a seminar with the Willamette Valley wine pioneers. This was not just a discussion of the people or a tasting of their wines but they, the original wine pioneers of the Willamette Valley, were there. It was not lost on me how legendary this panel was. These are the people who built the Willamette Valley and they shared their stories which I wrote about in the Napa Valley Register and you can read here.

“It takes a village to raise a child. This is my village and I am the kid,” declared Jason Lett as he welcomed a group of wine writers to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Jason’s father, David Lett, first saw the potential of Pinot Noir in Oregon.

A Utah native, David Lett moved to San Francisco for dental school in 1963 and was introduced to Napa Valley. He decided instead to study viticulture at UC Davis and after graduating, he moved to Oregon. According to Willamette Valley Wine, Pinot Noir was the first post-Prohibition vitis vinifera variety planted in the north Willamette Valley and the reason Lett came to Oregon. After studying the geography and climate of western Oregon, he had an idea of what would do well in the cool climate. Lett planted his vines in the Dundee Hills, establishing the Eyrie Vineyard, and produced his first wine in 1970.

As Jason spoke about his father, he sat alongside Richard and Nancy Ponzi, David Adelsheim, Harry Peterson-Nedry and Susan Sokol-Blosser.

22 October, 2019

Getting to Know The Willamette Valley AVAS

The Willamette Valley in Oregon spans from Portland in the north to Eugene in the south. Within this larger AVA, there are seven AVA's. Perhaps you have heard of Chehalem Mountains, Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, McMinnville, Yamhill-Carlton, Ribbon Ridge or even the newest Van Duzer Corridor. But, how can you remember each of these AVAs and what is the difference in the Pinot Noir produced in each area. I spent four intensive days in the Willamette Valley on the Wine Writers Educational Tour in August and we delved into each AVA. I wrote about it in the Napa Valley Register which you can read here. But, take a close look at the map of the Willamette Valley AVAs and you will find some unique shapes that make the AVAs all the easier to remember.

When we talk about wine regions, we see the big picture: Napa, Sonoma, Santa Ynez Valley, Willamette Valley, etc.

Each region is then broken up into AVAs (American Viticulture Areas). How each AVA is determined is based on a common set of attributes and microclimates that contribute to the uniqueness of the wines produced. As wine regions have evolved in the United States, new AVAs have been created.

It is not just about buying a wine from Napa, but is it from Howell Mountain AVA, Diamond Mountain AVA, Spring Mountain AVA or another AVA? What about Sonoma? What about the Santa Ynez Valley?

And what about the Willamette Valley? Do you know what the AVAs are within the Willamette Valley? Can you tell the difference between one AVA and another?

15 October, 2019

Can We Age Our Rosés?

Each year, wineries release their rosés and we, the consumer, can't get enough. We drink our rosé wine year round now but typically we buy the wine and consume it rather quickly. But what if we find a rosé is our collection that is a year, or two or more, years old? What if we forgot about it. Can we drink it now? Can rosé age? This is something I have wondered as I have found a few rosés in my home that are not from the current vintage. Luckily this was a topic covered at TEXSOM this year and I wrote about it in the Napa Valley Register which you can read here.

Summer is coming to an end but drinking rosé has not stopped. I have found myself picking up a few more bottles of rosé from here and there as I travel around to wine regions. I come home and add the new bottles of rosé to my wine list and start to plan when to drink them. But what I realized is that I still have a few bottles of rosé in my collection from last year and the year before and likely the year before that. How did that happen? How do I have rosé wine that I did not drink already? What do I do now? If the wine is a year old, I am fine. But what about a rosé with two, three, four or more years of age on it. Is it still drinkable? Can we age our rosés?

01 October, 2019