Mt Tabor Fine Wines

Had to much Pinot Noir lately? What with all of the festivities surrounding the Memorial Day holiday here in Oregon with every Oregon winery and their Mother in law open for tasting I thought it would be a good idea to refresh our palates with some good ol honest French wine. And that’s exactly what we’ve got here. We’re featuring three Rhones from the North which are 100% Syrah and three from the South, blends of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and various other grape varieties. As usual, it will be fun, informative and, I am sure………….entertaining!

The Lineup

2010 Domaine Clavel, Cotes Du Rhone “Regulus”/ S. Rhone $11

2009 Pascal Marthouret, Syrah Vin de Pays Collines Rhodaniennes/ N. Rhone $14

2007 Berthet Rayne, Cairanne V.V./ S. Rhone $18

2009 Domaine Du Colombier, Crozes Hermitage/ N. Rhone $27

2004 Domaine Moulin Tacussel, Chateauneuf-Du-Pape/ S. Rhone $37

Premium Pour ($5)

2009 Pierre Gonan, Saint-Joseph/ N. Rhone $52

Here we are for the second week in a row talking about a tasting featuring all wines from the fabulous 2010 vintage. As I think back I can’t remember another vintage in the last 20 years where every important wine region in the world enjoyed such an across the board great vintage……especially for whites! The last one was 1990. You’d be hard pressed to find anything but awesome from 1990 and the same can be said for 2010. As far as drinking lip smacking, darn delicious, bursting with flavor white wines, Northern Italy and Austria are among my two personal favorites and this lineup is hard to beat. People often ask me what I drink most, white or red? I must say, it’s white. It hasn’t always been that way but over the years my eating habits have changed and I don’t eat the heavy foods that I used to. Less meat, more fish and salads. I’m sorry but a big red just doesn’t match well with a salad or a piece of fish. Also, the older I get the better I feel in the morning after consuming the night before when it’s been substantial and white.

Anyway, we’ve got some fantastic tasting here. The wines are VERY fairly priced for the quality and I strongly encourage you to come and taste. These are wines that I drink all the time and I find them exciting wines that leave you bummed when the bottle’s empty. You may have noticed that I’m pouring two wines from the Abbazia Di Novacella. Why? First, because they’re an amazing winery and I can pretty much guarantee you’ve never had a Muller Thurgau like this one. Most from the NW are sweet and insipid. This one is dry and……….I can’t describe it. You’ll have to taste it to believe it. And the Sylvaner “Praepositus” is from the oldest vines and the concentration and length are superb. I had to show you all the heights that Muller Thurgau can achieve and once I tasted the old vine Sylvaner I was hooked! I could go on and on but every wine is killer, the Gruner, the Soave, WOW the Pinot Blanc from Austria and you won’t believe what the Chardonnay, grown in the terroir of the Valle D’Aosta in the mountains of NW Italy, can achieve. It reminds me of a flinty, mineral premier Cru Chablis! What a great tasting. I am one very excited boy.

The Lineup

2010 Gini, Soave Classico/ Veneto, Italy $17

2010 Schloss Gobelsburg, Gruner Veltliner “Gobelsburger”/ Kamptal, Austria $18

2010 Peter Schandl, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc)/ Rust Im Burgenland, Austria
$20

2010 Abbazia Di Novacella, Muller Thurgau (Dry)/ Alto Adige-Valle Isarco, Italy
$22

2010 Abbazia Di Novacella, Sylvaner “Praepositus”/ Alto Adige-Valle Isarco. Italy
$28

Premium Pour ($4)

2010 Les Cretes, Chardonnay “Frissonniere”/ Valle D’Aosta, Italy $37

Sandy

You may have noticed the (!/?) after the word perfect above. Let me explain. As for the way the wines turned out, I would say the majority from the best wineries are very close to perfect Pinots. The alcohol levels are mostly between the 12-13 percent alcohol range, the balance and length of the wines is simply awesome. The potential longevity is second to none and among the best ever. The finest should age into sublime perfection. As for the ? As the last weeks edged towards harvest the winemakers were pulling their hair out (those that have hair to pull). The grapes were not nearly ripe and the forecast wasn’t encouraging. To top that off the grape set had been poor and there wasn’t much to ripen anyway. The harvest was over a month late and the nasty weather of late October was ready to move in and then to top it all off late migrating birds that are usually flying south while the grapes have already been turned into wine had an unexpected late fall taste treat that reduced the crop even further. But…………….the good news, the weather held, the grapes slowly ripened under really late but ideal conditions and the grapes were harvested at ideal ripeness levels, what little grapes that were left. You’ll often hear the words “hang time” in the grape growing business and 2010 had some of the longest ever. This means that the longer the grapes can hang on the vine while maintaining good balance of sugar to acid the better the flavor development and the more good stuff they pull up from the soil. 2010 has it all. BUT, you had to be a patient grower and a smart winemaker and these are the people that we deal with. It’s not 08 where an idiot could make good wine. But the best 2010’s, in my opinion, will be among the best Oregon Pinots ever made. So stick with me and I’ll be your guide or as I’ve been often known to say, “your swill filter.” The worst news of all is that there just isn’t much wine. Buy a bottle today to try it to see if you like it and come back in a week to buy more and it will be gone. So those are the ups and downs of vintage 2010.

We’ve poured a few 2010’s in tastings before but now we’re getting to some really serious stuff. This is a tasting to come to if you want to check out some really killer 2010’s at different level’s and price points. They are all indicative of the style of the 2010 vintage. And that’s the thing. 2010 has a particular style. I call it Pinot Noir in its purest, prettiest form. The way that Pinot should be. I just love this vintage and I’m buyin heavy! One thing to remember. This style of Pinot is notorious for putting on weight after bottling. Most of these have only been in bottle for a few months. When I first got a sample of the Arterberry Maresh “Maresh Vineyard” I poured a glass one night and it was delicious. I put the cork back in (no gas), opened it 3 days later and man had it blossomed. It had become a totally different thing. I can’t remember any wine changing so much over the course of a few days. So as you taste these you will notice them starting out shy and unfolding as time goes by. I would give most of these 6 months to a year before opening but the big boys will age for decades in a cool cellar!

So get excited, put on your Pinot tasting/ dancing shoes and get on down here. It gonna be a hoot!

The Lineup

2010 Cameron, Willamette Valley $19

2010 Crowley, Willamette Valley $23

2010 J. Christopher, Willamette Valley $26

2010 Ayres Vineyards, Perspective $29
Ribbon Ridge
2010 Arterberry Maresh, Winderlea Vineyard $55
Dundee Hills
Premium Pour ($6)

2010 Arterberry Maresh, Maresh Vineyard $58
Dundee Hills

Ta Ta,
ST

I really stepped out and went crazy with this one. After over a decade of hosting “Italy’s less traveled wine roads” tastings I figured it was time to expand and change. I was watching Dr Phil and one of his guests said change is a good thing and I always follow what these people say so here we are…..”The less traveled wine roads of Italy AND France.” I must say that with the freedom of having two countries less traveled wine roads to motor down, while I spent a bit more in fuel, the benefits reaped in wine rewards were enormous! There is an amazing amount to be learned in a tasting like this and when you join us tomorrow I’ll be happy to share with you all the areas and unusual grape varieties of the wines being poured. If you want to be wine knowledgeable it’s important to be familiar with grapes like Poulsard and Mondeuse from regions like Arbois and Bugey. But the bottom line is this is just a darn delicious tasting of red wines from grapes and places that you’ve probably never thought of or been to.

The Lineup

09 Girasoli, Ca’ Andrea Di Sant’ Andrea/ Umbria, Italy $12

10 Dom. Des Schistes, Cotes Du Roussillon “Les Bruyeres”/ Roussillon, France $13

10 Fattoria Cabanon, Augurio/ Provincia Di Pavia, Italy $16

10 Famille Piellot, Mondeuse/ Bugey, France $19

10 Andre et Mireille Tissot, Poulsard “Vieilles Vignes”/ Arbois-Jura, France $25

Premium Pour ($4)

05 D’Antiche Terre, Taurasi Riserva “Il Vicario”/ Campania, Italy

At our White Burgundy tasting a couple of weeks ago I heard a number of people say they thought it was the best tasting ever. I think over the 16 years of Friday tastings here we’ve done some very special ones so that’s high praise indeed. With that in mind I approached this weeks lineup and I’m very proud of my performance. And I’ll tell ya, with the price of Burgundy these days it’s not easy any more to put an interesting tasting together for a reasonable tasting fee! The prices for the incredibly hyped 2009 vintage (in many cases warranted) sent prices soaring but I was able to deliver to you a tasting of 5 out of the 6 wines from this heralded vintage for a decent price. The only non 2009, the Jadot 2007 Lavaux Saint Jacques from Gevery Chambertin, a great Premier Cru vineyard, I got for a great deal. Normally this great wine from Jadot is $100 a bottle but you can have it for $60 while it lasts. We’re set for a great tasting tomorrow night and I hope you all can join us

The Lineup

2009 Domaine D’Ardhuy, Bourgogne $16

2009 Domaine Camus Bruchon, Bourgogne $27

2009 Jean-Marc Millot, Cote De Nuits Villages “Clos des Faulques” $39

2009 Domaine Simon Bize, Savigny Les Beaune “Bourgeots” $49

2007 Louis Jadot, Gevery Chambertin “Lavaut Saint Jacques” Premier Cru $60

Premium Pour ($6)

2009 Domaine Marc Roy, Gevrey Chambertin “Clos Prieur” Premier Cru $73

Sandy