Wine Making : Finding Common Ground : Reserve release and art show, August 26 & 27, 2000

Newsletter Archives > Wine/Winemaking

Finding Common Ground:
Reserve Release and Art Show
August 26 & 27, 2000, Noon to 6 p.m.

Note: This is a private event for Chehalem mailing list customers only, for early purchase of limited reserve wines. Please call the winery if you'd like an invitation to this event. (503) 538-4700.

Fine arts thrive with different roots, on common soil. Once a year, art and wine circles intersect at Chehalem for a celebration of our combined arts. This year, recognizing our shared source of inspiration, we focus on an outstanding, diverse group of hand picked local artists, all from rural Willamette Valley. Works of art are on display at the winery, along with the release of our 1998 Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs and other Reserve wines, some the best we have ever produced, from one of Oregon's greatest but stingiest vintages. Both art and wine are collectibles this year, the wine being from a vintage yielding half normal quantities, in the best quality vintage since 1994.

Participating artists include: Photographer, Doreen L. Wynja; painters, Humberto Gonzalez, Zoie Clark, Bonnie Taylor-Talbot, and Bronco; wood and metal artist, George David Armstrong; sculptor Kathy Knowles; and fusion glass artist, Carmen Reynolds.

Classical strings and food round out the full cultural experience. Several artists plan to demonstrate their art during the two days.

Wines to be released include:

1998 Corral Creek Vineyards Pinot Noir: first commercial release; only 400 cases produced.
1998 Stoller Vineyards Pinot Noir: second vintage after popular 1997; only 400 cases produced.
1998 Ridgecrest Vineyards Pinot Noir: likely the best Ridgecrest Pinot Noir ever made.
1998 Ian's Reserve Chardonnay: Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate, December 1999 on the 1997 Ian's Reserve Chardonnay: "It is certainly one of the finest Chardonnays that has been crafted in Oregon. BTI ranked it 5th best in a review of nearly 300 American Chardonnays. This follow-on vintage is its peer at least."
1999 Corral Creek Reserve Dry Riesling: barely100 cases produced, comment on our prior best 1996 Riesling from Michael Franz, Washington Post, March1, 2000, "Riesling can produce wonderful wines in Oregon's cool climate, which permits the grapes to ripen slowly. This dry rendition is impressively concentrated and authoritatively flavored, but retains the noble purity and elegance of all fine Rieslings.