Oregon vineyard maps, part 3.2: Ribbon Ridge

Date: Thu, Aug 14, 2008 Wine Tasting

Last time, I detailed a bit about the large Chehalem Mountains AVA. I also wrote about how the small Ribbon Ridge AVA is included on the Chehalem Mountains map. So let's look at Ribbon Ridge more closely.

Looking at the Chehalem Mountains AVA map, you might wonder why Ribbon Ridge is a separate AVA. The federal ruling that established Ribbon Ridge as its own AVA can tell you more about that than I can. In short, its sedimentary soils are geologically different from the more volcanic Chehalem Mountains. Also, dramatic topography separates Ribbon Ridge from the Yamhill-Carlton district to the west, though the soils are more similar between those two AVAs.

Ribbon Ridge is described as an "island" on the AVA ruling document, and looking closely on this map you can see that. From Ayers Creek to the north and Dopp Creek to the east, then down to the Chehalem Creek to the west and south, Ribbon Ridge really does stand out. The effect is to create a bit of a rain and wind shadow (if that's a term) that allows the region to be a bit warmer, drier and less foggy than some surrounding areas.

The paved entrance to the AVA from the south is Lewis Rogers Lane, not marked on the map but running north from North Valley Road between Dopp Road to the east and the gravel and dirt Ribbon Ridge Road to the west. The map shows Armstrong Vineyard on the right but doesn't show the newly planted Ackerman Vineyard just to the north.

Further up, the road bends left at Ayers Vineyard, then right at Brick House, one of the most recognized names in this area. Also in this area is the Ribbon Ridge Estate vineyard of Aramenta Cellars and their Looney Vineyard, leased to Archery Summit in the Dundee Hills.

A bit further on, Lewis Rogers Lane intersects with Ribbon Ridge Road, which climbs higher into the AVA. There's the new Trisaetum Vineyard on the left, then Redman and Styring before you reach Chehalem winery's well known Ridgecrest Vineyard.

The far west end of Ribbon Ridge isn't accessible up this way, but has some highly regarded sites. From North Valley Road, there's Patty Green's Estate vineyard, the old Autumn Wind property. Also you find The Beaux Freres Vineyard, Whistling Ridge Vineyard, The Upper Terrace of Beaux Freres, and something I didn't know about until seeing this map -- Bryce Vineyard, no doubt from the late, great Bryce Bagnall who's eponymous label carries on without him.

Next time, the Yamhill-Carlton district.

Oregon vineyard maps, part 3: Chehalem Mountains

Date: Mon, Aug 11, 2008 Wine Tasting

After the Dundee Hills and McMinnville AVAs, let’s turn our attentions to Chehalem Mountains. Find a copy of the Chehalem Mountains AVA map from the Oregon Wine Board and The Map Store here.

When you look over this large area, a few things become clear. First, there are two American Viticultural Areas detailed here, Chehalem Mountains and Ribbon Ridge. Second, Chehalem Mountains is a sprawling AVA with three or four subregions and varying soil types of volcanic and sedimentary orgin. Third, Ribbon Ridge is the distinct north/south flank tucked into the western edge of the Chehalem Mountains.

The Chehalem Mountains AVA begins in the south with Parrett Mountain, an old basalt pile with some of the rockiest vineyards in all of the northern Willamette Valley. Previously I wrote about the diversity of the Le Cadeau Vineyard. I’m also a fan of McKinlay wine, so check out the two pieces of McKinlay vineyard as well as the Ladd Hill Vineyard also bottled by that producer.

Other vineyards that catch my eye are J.K. Carriere, the very high quality label produced by Jim Prosser, and Carabella vineyard, a label I’ve never tried but one I notice more and more I notice in others’ bottlings, such as Dedaleus. Before seeing this map, I didn’t know that Lemelson, over in the Yamhill-Carlton district, has the Chestnut Hill Vineyard here.

Moving north, the next subregion is, for lack of a better term, the Oregon Highway 99W corridor. In here I’ll place Chehalem winery’s Corral Creek vineyard, Rex Hill, the newer Nicholas vineyard, and the vastly increased plantings of the Pamplin Family / Anne Amie on Bell Road that aren’t exactly shown completely on this map. From the Pamplin Family Winery and the more established Marylin Vineyard, newer plantings that seem to be labeled as Justin Grant and Louise (not to be confused with Cristom’s Louise vineyard) actually wrap all around from Marylin.

If you take the Bell Road short cut from 99W over to North Valley Road, in this area you’ll see my favorite unplanted site. It’s the top of the hill above Bell Road where the road wraps around, directly above where August Cellars Vyd is printed on the map. (You have to love those topo lines on these maps.) Currently it all looks like hay, but someday perhaps it will be vines. What an exposure.

Now to the west, along North Valley Road to the next subregion, the southern flank of the Chehalem Mountains proper. First, at Springbrook Road there’s a vineyard I’ve long observed without knowing whose it was. Until now. It’s the Ellis Vineyard of Adelsheim, I think half pinot noir and half I’m guessing chardonnay. Then the tiny Le Privé vineyard and the notably steep Medici vineyard. You can see it from Newberg; it runs high up a direct south slope. Beautiful, but probably tough farming.

Then along North Valley Road (watch your speed, even if it’s straight). There’s a bench at the base of the steeper mountain slope with well known sites such as Rex Hill’s Jacob-Hart, various Adelsheim sites, Vidon, and further along, Adelsheim’s home vineyard, Bergstrom’s de Lancellotti, and, naturally, the respected Chehalem Mountain Vineyard.

The rest of Chehalem Mountains is the more remote northern area, truly the most sprawling. From the east, there are sites made notable by Siduri wines in Santa Rosa, CA. Siduri’s made Oregon wine down south for more than a decade, these days mostly from Aubre Vert (misnamed “Arbre Vert” here), Hawks View, Shaw Mountain (not shown, but also off Edy Road), and more recently Beran Vineyard to the northwest.

The rest of that northern area of the AVA is sporadically planted, with some small Ponzi vineyards, Gypsy Dancer from the former owners of Archery Summit in the Dundee Hills, and a few others I honestly have never heard of. Beyond the AVA boundaries to the northeast, you’ll also notice a few sites from Cooper Mountain Vineyards, and the original Ponzi Estate Vineyard, just outside of Beaverton.

Next time, a closer look at Ribbon Ridge.

Oregon vineyard maps, part two: McMinnville

Date: Sat, Aug 9, 2008 Wine Tasting

A number of readers contacted me after my last post about the Dundee Hills vineyard map. Looks like I'm not the only map geek out there, which is good.

Hannelore Buckenmeyer of the Oregon Wine Board saw the post and filled me in on some details about the map project. Buckenmeyer wrote to tell me that the OWB "partnered with The Map Store to produce these AVA maps."

Buckenmeyer responded to the fact that some vineyards, including older, prominent plantings, are missing from the maps. She wrote, "The OWB conducted meetings and workshops, sent out email and direct mail, and worked with regional winery organizations to encourage participation. However, as you noted, some people either didn't hear about the project or decided not to participate."

Interesting. I'm inclined to contact at least a few of these vineyards and get them on board. Is there a cost to participate? Are there other concerns that kept a few owners from participating? Perhaps, but I can't help thinking that so many vineyards participated that those few who didn't are really the ones missing out.

Jordan Thomas, who wrote to say that she worked on the production of these maps, echoed something I heard from Buckenmeyer. Thomas wrote that these maps are "a work in progress," and that they'll be updated on an annual basis.

Perhaps best of all, Thomas provided a link to a Google Earth-based application where you can see The Map Store's "entire database of vineyard and winery information in 3D." Check it out here.

Special thanks to Buckenmeyer and the OWB for providing me some samples of the maps. They are gorgeous, very informative, and worth framing. I have no financial interest here, but if you like Oregon wine and like maps, buy these maps.

With that in mind, a few words about the McMinnville AVA map. This emerging district has fewer sites planted than any other local AVA, all to the southwest of the town that gives the district its name.

Vineyards in this district are exclusively on the largely volcanic soils of the foothills of the coast range. The hills run southwest to northeast, with lots of south, west and east exposures. The key issue here for viticulture are the winds from the Van Duzer corridor to the west, a low gap through the coast range that allows cool winds to blow. That and some moderate to high elevation make for a cool growing climate, more beneficial in warmer years. With their usually high acids, wines from this district never lack color. The pinot noir wines here often have beautiful aromas if not always the fleshiest of textures, which is ideal for those who like a bit more structure in their wines.

Despite its relatively small size, there are a few exceptional vineyards in the McMinnville district. Meredith Mitchell was planted in 1988 on own-rooted Pommard clone and is bottled by a number of high quality producers. Momtazi is a large (and growing) planting of the Maysara winery and is bottled by many other producers. Hyland vineyard, one of the oldest plantings in Oregon, was recently sold to the Northwest Wine Co. led by Laurent Montalieu. I'm not sure if these grapes will continue to go to old clients, but I hope so. Hyland particularly has some prized old riesling vines.

If you're want this and other maps, here's the link to Sonoma-based The Map Store's Oregon AVA Maps page. I'll write more about the other AVAs in the coming days.

Oregon vineyard maps, part one: Dundee Hills

Date: Wed, Aug 6, 2008 Wine Tasting

I'm crazy for maps. I get it from my dad, who showed me at an early age how to read road maps on family car trips.

My passion (perhaps fetish) comes in handy with my interest in wine. Many wine lovers enjoy looking at maps of their favorite regions. The bible of this pursuit has long been Johnson's - and now Robinson's - World Atlas of Wine. If you like wine and maps and you don't have this book, get it.

However, as great as that book is, beyond Burgundy and a few other selected areas, you simply don't get much in the way of vineyard definition in the maps. Rather, you get regional distinction of where one general town or even sub-region of an appellation lies in relation to another. Chianti Ruffina is here, Chianti Colli-Sensi is there, and hey, I can see some specific and usually accurate locations of some of my favorite producers. That's cool, but not enough.

Things are particularly difficult when you try to see maps of the AVAs and individual vineyards of, say, Oregon, up close and personal as it were.

Well those days are over. After much searching, I've found online maps of Oregon vineyards by AVA that are among the best I've ever seen.

Fans of Oregon wine have long known about the vineyard map of Yamhill County, which is pretty cool if out of date. Same too with the old Eola Hills map I've linked to on this site for a while. There's a new one that's better, but still limited.

Then there are the maps at The Map Store. I haven't even searched through the whole site. I imagine there are terrific things from other locales. I'm simply too focused on Oregon, so far.

Case in point, the Dundee Hills. The AVA, or appellation, where it all started for Oregon pinot noir. Check out the free Dundee Hills map (you'll need adobe acrobat to view it). It's not a big map, but you can zoom in for terrific detail.

There's the elusive Thomas vineyard in the northwest corner of the boundary. And the Anderson Family vineyard in the northeast. Or the Oracle vineyard that I believe is fully owned by Westry.

No map is perfect, and there are glaring errors or omissions that do make purchasing larger copies of these maps a bit questionable. Where's Abbey Ridge? It should be just south of Oracle. Not there. Where's Maresh? Between Knudsen and Arcus. But again, not on this map.

It's strange, I admit. These maps are so good, yet have a few glaring, GLARING, errors. Nevertheless, with the topo lines and the otherwise fantastic detail, these maps are terrific resources for Oregon wine geeks.

In the near future, I'll post on the other AVAs covered by the Map Store. Even with the flaws, the maps are worthwhile. Let me know if you find any issues that I haven't seen or mentioned here.

Terrific Spanish Bubbly

Date: Tue, Aug 5, 2008 Wine Tasting

Just a quick note to say that the NV Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Heredad is indeed terrific Cava, or Spanish sparkling wine.

You may recognize the name Segura Viudas from their ubiquitous budget brut that I wrote about a few months ago. At least I think I wrote about it. Where's that post? Anyway, that wine is usually $8 or less and is a nice buy in cheap bubbly. It's a definite step up to its parent company's Frexinet bottlings.

The Brut Reserva Heredad is the fanciest bottling, and it comes in a peculiar bottle.


Yes, that's pewter around the bottom and stuck on the middle. Not exactly eco-friendly disposable packaging. How am I supposed to recycle this?

According to marketing literature I see online, the pewter keeps the wine chilled. I don't think so, and judging by the "hand blown" bottle claim (then why's there a seam in the glass?), I wouldn't exactly trust what I read from the producer.

But it's in the glass that counts, right? And this wine delivers. It has a pale greenish gold color, with a fragrant aroma of green apples, biscuits and mushrooms. The flavors are at once rich and lean, with nice length and lots of detail amid the somewhat loud flavor profile. Can I wine be obvious and subtle at once?

The grapes here are macabeo and parellada, which normally give a very fruit-driven wine. Here, better source material and perhaps some bottle age really do lend a more Champagne-like sense to the wine. Very nice stuff, and a good value around $20 if you can get around the pewter.

1999 Balgera Valtellina Superior Sassella

Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2008 Wine Tasting

I wrote recently about my trip to the iconoclastic wine shop in Santa Monica, CA, called Wine Expo. The shop specializes in unusual (at least in the U.S.) wines from around the world, with a specialization in all things Italian.

Looking for Otrepo Pavese? This is your shop. So, too, with Valtellina and its red wines from nebbiolo from a remote area in Lombardy.

Valtellina has its fans, and I've had some interesting examples from Conti Sertoli Selis, a producer I recognized at Wine Expo that I see a lot here in Portland. But I must admit that I've never had anything from this region that really excited me.

So it was with unusual interest that I observed one of the many dust ups over at the discussion group at erobertparker.com, this one featuring Valtellina.

Wine Expo's main guy, Roberto Giovanni Rogness, champions the wines of Valtellina on the board, to the chagrin of some who think he's a shill. Well one day, if it wasn't old Robert Parker himself who threw down the gauntlet to Roberto. Send some wines and I'll taste through them, he said, and see what I think.

Roberto selected some things and promptly sent them off. Needless to say, Parker wasn't impressed. You can read his amusing notes and the ensuing discussion here.

Of course, we know that no one is going to like all wines. Clearly Valtellina isn't to everyone's taste, yet the region has long had a reputation for good wine. However, Parker's raison d'etre has long been to call such reputations to the carpet, that wines live on reputations rather than intrinsic quality, and that he can taste the difference and let the world know what's what.

I'm conflicted by this. In the wine world, it seems you either agree with Parker and all that matters is in the glass. Or you disagree and believe he fails to see the beauty in wines that aren't bursting with gobs of fresh fruit and oak flavors, that other flavors may be difficult on their own yet shine in wine's true calling, as a companion to dinner.

Me, I see it a little bit both ways, and rather than explain all that, I thought I'd try one of the producers Roberto sent Parker (admittedly a cheaper, simpler bottling more fitting my pocketbook) to see how things go.

So I brought the 1999 Balgera Valtellina Superiore Sassera to meat night with some friends last night, finishing up the rest at home tonight. Balgera is reputedly a classic, old school Valtellina producer. Wine Expo has lots of Balgera bottlings to choose from if you're interested.

This wine, from the vineyards of Sassera, showed a translucent but rich ruby color that suggests some longer aging in larger wood vats. The aroma was reticent, with an oxidized notes that with time showed more dried flowers, dried cherries, nuts and old wood spice. At times it seemed tired, then at other times bursting with a complex, gorgeously integrated perfume that defies description. Then a bit flat and oxidized again.

In the mouth, the wine was more consistent lean with a slight sour character that required food to resolve. The texture though was pretty, with soft, light tannin and good length, with that high thread count feeling that instantly tells me there's something special in here.

This wasn't heat damaged wine, despite how it sounds. Rather, long aged and perhaps too long. In winemaker speak, you'd call this aldehydic or sherried in a pleasing but undeniable way. It may be the new world guy in me, or the puppet strings of Robert Parker, but I can't help wondering what this wine tasted like after a year or two in cask, and whether a bit less time wouldn't have helped find a more pleasing balance of elements.

Overall, I enjoyed this wine, but honestly I wouldn't seek it out again. Though I might look for other Balgera wines. I'm intrigued, and I know as with some of the best music, it might take time to let this wine sink in. Parker would likely call that an apology for bad wine. I think it's something more, even if I know I'd have to be pretty careful about whom I open something like this for. This kind of wine demands close attention, and even then it might not deliver.

Looking for Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

Date: Wed, Jul 30, 2008 Wine Tasting

I suppose I need to use the force for good.

Who out there knows where I can get my hands on a half ton of top quality Willamette Valley Pinot Noir for my home winemaking?

Two things are essential:

1. I'm looking for a grapes from a vineyard that's mostly if not all in commercial production.
2. I need a grower who will "deal" with a home winemaker, for now.

If I have the choice, I'm looking for older vines and all Pommard or a majority of Pommard clone. But I'll entertain anything serious. No u-pick or homebrew-only vineyards, please. I need a grower who crops low and understands that I'm serious. I'm not rich or crazy, but I'm willing to pay for quality. I know there's no other way.

Do I sound crazy? Well in 2006 I got fruit from the Wahle vineyard, mostly 30 year old Pommard. I got shut out in 2007 and am on the "list" for grapes there this year. I just can't wait around to get shut out again, much as I'd love to be a buyer here. This grower sells commercially but doesn't mind (sometimes) working with home winemakers like me.

In 2007 I lucked into some 20 year old Pommard from a prized vineyard that I can't name. Unfortunately, that source isn't available to me this year, but that's life. I'll take what I can get.

I'm looking to make Pinot Noir at home for one more year (2008), then jump into limited commercial production in 2009. I'm not looking to mess around, so I want to make wine from top quality grapes. Ideally I'll make a connection that leads to more quantity next year and beyond. I have samples of wine I've made, if someone wants to make sure I know what I'm doing.

I didn't envision using this blog to fish for grapes. But it's almost August and, hell, the internet's a powerful thing. If anybody out there has grapes, or a connection or idea of who I might talk to, let me know here or at vincentfritzsche(at)yahoo(dot)com. I'd really appreciate it.

Now back to your regular consumption.