Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Provisions Tasting at Soter Vineyards, Willamette Valley

Written by Allison Levine on August 17, 2019

Lifestyle Food Wine

Today, a visit to a winery can offer so much more than a wine tasting. There are vineyard tours, reserve tastings, meeting the winemaker, food pairings and barrel tastings. Each of these experiences enhance the wine tasting experience, leaving a lasting memory. On my visit to Soter Vineyards in the Willamette Valley, my friend and I sat down for the Provisions Tasting, which offers a sampling of the current release wines paired with small plates crafted from the produce and meat grown on their biodynamic farm. From the moment we pulled up to Soter Vineyard until the moment we drove away, the Provisions Tasting at Soter Vineyards was extraordinary and that is why it is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Mineral Springs Ranch is a 240-acre oak savanna in the heart of the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Soter Vineyards is the 32 acre estate vineyard and the entire property is a biodynamic estate owned by Tony and Michelle Soter.

We drove up the long driveway to the top of Mineral Springs Ranch.

At the top of the hill is the Soter Vineyards Tasting Room. The rectangular wood barn looks rustic from the outside but is anything but rustic on the inside. Read More +

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Serendipity Ice Cream, McMinnville, Oregon

Written by Allison Levine on August 10, 2019

Lifestyle Food

I love ice cream and when I am traveling I always do a little research to see if there are any local ice cream places. As I traveled around the Willamette Valley in Oregon this week, I made my home base in the quaint town of McMinnville. Per usual, I started a google search to see what I might find. Not only did I find an ice cream shop serving local, Oregon made ice cream, but the mission of the business makes Serendipity Ice Cream in McMinnville, Oregon, the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Sitting on a corner along Third Street, the main street, in McMinnville, Seredipity Ice Cream looks like an old time ice cream parlor. Serving more than two dozen different flavors of Oregon-made ice cream, guests line up to order their ice cream. The ice cream is creamy and delicious but what makes this place so special are the people serving the ice cream.

Serendipity Ice Cream provides employment to adults with developmental disabilities. It was established in 2000 as an MV Advancements integrated work environment. MV (Mid-Valley) Advancements was founded more than 50 years ago by Margaret Reavis Larson to help adults with disabilities through innovative approaches in order to meet and exceed their own personal goals of growth and development so they can live a fulfilling life.

Ice cream always puts a smile on my face but knowing that eating ice cream is helping other people made me all the happier. I am so happy I found this wonderful ice cream shop in McMinnville, Oregon! Serendipity Ice Cream is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Serendipity Ice Cream
502 NE Third Street, McMinnville
503.474.9189

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Fiddlehead Cellars Fiddlestix Vineyard

Written by Allison Levine on August 3, 2019

Wine

Sunday, July 28th. There is nothing particularly unique about this date except that when you write it out numerically, it is 7/28. And, those are the same numbers as the mile marker 7.28 where Fiddlestix vineyard is located and where the flagship Fiddelhead Cellars 728 Pinot Noir is made. So, on 7/28, I headed up to the Santa Ynez Valley to celebrate “Drink 728 on 7/28”. After a day of tasting through all of the wines produced from the fruit from the vines at mile marker 7.28, the wines of Fiddlestix Vineyard is the Please the Palate pick of the week.

Mile marker 7.28 is located, logically, 7.28 miles down Santa Rosa Road in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA in the Santa Ynez Valley. A 133 acre property, owner and winemaker Kathy Joseph purchased the property in 1996. Today 96 acres are planted to Pinot Noir, as well as a small planting of Gruner Veltliner.

Fiddlestix Vineyard is ten miles from the Pacific Ocean, with the Santa Rosa Hills to the South and the Santa Rita Hills to the North. Due to the valley’s east-west orientation, the ocean breeze travels down the valley, as fog covers the valley in the morning and a cool breeze can be felt most days.

An ebullient and impassioned winemaker, Kathy meticulously nurtures the Fiddlestix Vineyard. The vineyard has 32 mini-blocks, six clones and three rootstocks. There are various exposures, soils and elevations. Throughout a season, Kathy thins shoots, pulls leaves and thins crop in order to achieve the ideal cluster. A number of winemakers in the area recognize the quality of the fruit from Fiddlestix Vineyard as they purchase fruit for their own wines.

For Fiddlehead Cellars, Kathy produces four Pinot Noirs from the Fiddlestix Vineyard. Fiddlehead Cellars Seven Twenty Eight is a blend of all six clones planted in the vineyard. Fiddlehead Cellars Lollapalooza, which means “the best of its kind”, is a selection of the best barrels, which are each tasted blind each vintage. Fiddlehead Cellars Burtie Baby, named for Kathy’s mother’s pet name for Kathy’s father, is a blend of seven selected barrels. Fiddlehead Cellars Doyle is a selected single barrel that stands out above all the rest. This is not a wine made every year but when it is made, there are only 273 bottles in total.

In addition to the Pinot Noir wines, Fiddlehead Cellars also releases a Rosé of Pinot Noir, a sparkling Blanc de Noir, a Gruner Veltliner and a Reserve Gruner Veltliner, made from one selected barrel from the Fiddlestix Vineyard.

You don’t have to wait until next July 28th to celebrate mile marker 7.28. Enjoy the Fiddlehead Cellar wines from Fiddlestix Vineyard any day and you will understand why they are the Please The Palate pick of the week.