Newsletter Archives

Wine/Winemaking

Aging: aren't we all... (Winter '01) I do not rightfully know if ageability is important to me because great wines age a long time or if I pronounce a wine great because it will age a long time.

Alsace Heritage. (Fall '99) From an historical perspective, it was of great interest a couple years back when Harry discovered imbedded in a family legend his genetic connection to wine.

Bless You, Trappist Abbey. (Fall '00) When we have to go to the warehouse to find a case of wine for you, many people are surprised to learn we head to a sprawling Trappist Monastery hidden in the woods on the backside of the Dundee Hills.

Chardonnay: A New Oregon Variety. (Spring '06) Oregon has a tendency to take on challenges, pull for the underdog, and abuse itself for the sake of principle. The Oregon wine industry has a case in point with, of all things unlikely, Chardonnay.

Chardonnay Reviews. (Spring '06)

Finding Common Ground. (Summer '00) Reserve Release and Art Show.

First Stoller Vineyards Pinot Noir. (Spring '99) Like a child prodigy, this new wine is precocious. Bill and Cathy Stoller are the parents of one of the finest winegrowing sites around.

Gamay Noir. (Spring '00) We have made Cerise™ (our name for a predominant Gamay noir blend with Pinot noir) since 1992, and it is a special wine for some of our longtime customers.

How About a Riesling Renaissance? Riesling is the quintessential cool climate varietal ... beautiful grown in the right locales, but dreadfully blah in inappropriate, warmer regions.

Mike Eyres, Winemaker (Spring '07) It is with pleasure that I announce that Mike Eyres has moved from the assistant winemaker role to assuming full operational winemaker duties at Chehalem.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. (Fall '03) A Fiction, With Apologies to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Pinot Blanc for the First Time. (Spring '01) OK, so maybe we are overusing the "We're having a baby!" thing. But, it's true... this is the first time we've made a commercial Pinot blanc.

Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive (VT), 1999. (Summer '01) The long awaited release of a late harvest Pinot gris is at hand.

Realities of Wine Quality and Pricing. (Summer '01) An email conversation whose volleys reflect the realities of making and selling special products in our market.

Ridgecrest Vineyards Pinot Noir, 1999. (Summer '01) It is true that the excellence being seen right now in Oregon wines is largely because of maturity ... of the industry, ... the winemakers and, ... of the vines. It is nowhere more apparent than in the 1999 Ridgecrest Vineyards Pinot noir to be released in August.

RION Reserve Pinot noir: 1998 release reveals power and elegance. (Fall '00) Elegance is the important facet of pinot noir that sets it apart from ordinary red wine varietals, and that cannot be sacrificed for any reason. However, strength, structure and complexity are hallmarks of the best pinot noirs and provide an ageability and three-dimensional nature that is desirable.

Stoller Spin-Off : growing, but remaining small and controlled. (Spring '01) Stoller Vineyards will begin making on-site a very limited amount of Pinot noir and Chardonnay from the 100+ acres of fruit currently planted. Beginning with the 2001 vintage a small amount of Pinot noir fruit will be selected for a premium label wine.

Striking a Balance. (Fall '02) Bigger is not always better, especially in wine. Balance may be. ... Great wines should have an excellent and appropriate fruit component, bright acidity, appropriate and finely structured tannin (reds), palate weight and texture, great breadth and palate length, and complexity of flavors and spices that continue to unfold.

Transparent Winemaking: Three Wineries' Terroir Experiment. (Winter '01) ... terroir influences can be difficult to discern in this day and age, because winemaking style is often as strong, or stronger, than terroir. Pinot noir is one of the best mirrors of terroir nuance, being a delicate, elegant and complex wine.

Understanding Terroir from the ground up. (Spring '99) It's what gives wine its essence, its sense of place, its fingerprint.

Vintages and the Weather That Creates Them. (Spring '04) Vintage notes back to 1984.

Wine in Barrels: thick as a barrique. Not only a container, barrels are a condiment. They add to wine as well as hold it, plus establish an environment for aging that is hard to duplicate.

Winemaking as Art. Balance: the key to a life well-lived, and the key to successful winemaking. Some thoughts on the happy coexistence of art and technology.