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Howard W. Hewitt

~ … The "W" stands for wine!

Howard W. Hewitt

Category Archives: Oregon

Stock up on Oregon Pinot?

06 Thursday Oct 2022

Posted by Howard in Oregon, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Oregon, smoke taint, Winderlea

If you love Oregon Pinot Noir, it may be time to stock up.

Howard with Oregon winery owner Bill Sweat.

Three years of forests fires and an untimely spring freeze is challenging winemakers to change their standard production. It’s also forcing decisions on wine distribution, tasting rooms, and club memberships

The Willamette Valley had smoke damage in 2018 and 2019 but the worst smoke taint was in 2020 when the fires burned in the valley and not just adjacent areas. Smoke penetrates the thin skins of Pinot at a much more significant rate than Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. While there is no danger to using the grapes, the taste can be mildly to profoundly affected.

The solutions vary to making wines requiring less skin contact to making no wine at all. There will be lots more Pinot Noir Rose’ from the 2020 vintage but less, and in some cases, a lot less Pinot Noir.

“Our sparkling, whites and rose were unaffected and we bottled the usual amounts,” said Winderlea owner Bill Sweat. “We made about 800 cases of Pinot Noir versus a more typical 4,500.”

Sweat explained much of his grape crop was picked the first day of the smoke while some of the fruit came from a windswept vineyard. “It will only affect our retail and wholesale businesses to the extent that 2020 will not have a lot of wine so we’ll move to 2021 more quickly. We’re pouring 2018 Pinots right now.”

Alloro’s Tom Fitzpatrick

At the higher elevation in the Chehalem Mountains, smoke taint was less of an issue, Alloro vineyards lowered its fruit set and clusters. “The forest fires did not impact our yield,” said General Manager and winemaker Tom Fitzpatrick.

Alloro mitigated any significant smoke impact by using 60 percent of its Pinot grapes in a trendy white Pinot Noir. Again, a pale pink wine which requires less skin contact during the winemaking process. But that move obviously reduced the cases of the highly rated Pinot Noir.

Fitzpatrick took the most unique view of the challenge. “With our focus on terroir-driven wines, we embraced the potential influence of the fires – a natural environmental element in 2020 that an honest terroir-driven wine should display. Our hope was to craft a wine that might present some influence from the fires but only only one small and pleasant element that adds complexity. We are very pleased with the results.”

Still, that results in less Pinot Noir for the up-and-coming Alloro Vineyards. Fitzpatrick had sold 50 cases of Pinot Noir to the Indianapolis wine shop I have worked at over the past two years. We’ll not be getting any new wine for the coming year.

Having had a least one extensive conversation with the Alloro winemaker at the vineyard a few years back revealed significant concerns about the reality of climate change. Fitzpatrick has planted the northern Italian red wine grape Nebbiolo for future vintage production. He’s gone so far as to pouring Italian Nebbiolo wines in the tasting room to introduce customers to the grape which makes the big, sought-after Barolo wines.

While optimistic about surviving the freeze, Fitzpatrick knows the freeze is going to reduce yields this growing season. “The year promises to deliver very high quality, though possibly at the expense of yield and the ultimate quantity of the wine produced.”

Long-time industry leader Lange Estate Vineyards’ winemaker Jesse Lange is simply trying to manage the problem. “Our whites were pretty unaffected” he said. “Certainly, smoke compounds and how they interact with any given wine is the most complex wine chemistry I’ve ever delved into.”

Lange called it an endeavor fascinating as much as it was intimidating. He transitioned to the frost challenge with similar winemaking intellectual perspective. The frost experience was different from vineyard to vineyard, he said.

The valley was hit in mid April this year with temperatures in the mid-20s. Grape vines bloom at that time and are very delicate, there is a second bloom with a decrease in yield with slightly less flavor but a crop can produce wine though at perhaps a lesser quality.

Determining the exact frost damage will continue throughout the growing season. “Our early estimates were in the 10-20 percent range but that doesn’t mean the crop will be reduced by that much,” Sweat explained. “Given that our vineyards naturallycrop 4-plus tons per acre and we thin them back to 2.5-2.75 tons peradcre, I don’t think this will have much affect on us. Impact seems varied widely across the valley though.”

Oregon’s agricultural leaders have said crop loss from the freeze could wipe out up to 50 percent of the normal crop. The iconic Domaine Drouhin winery is making no Pinot Noir while most of not many are cutting back significantly.

If you love Oregon Pinot but it up now. If not try some red Burgundy to quench your Pinot palate.

Howard’s note: This is a magazine piece I wrote this summer for Madison Magazine based out of Anderson. They have an exclusive right to the content for a period after publication.

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Vineyards reflect climate change reality

09 Saturday Mar 2019

Posted by Howard in Oregon, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

@allorovineyards, Carl Giavanti, David Bellows, Lenne' Vineyards, Oregon wine, Steve Lutz, Tom Fitzpatrick, Vidon Vineyards., Wayne Bailey, Youngberg Hill Vineyards

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Steve Lutz in his Lenne tasting room last October

If you don’t believe in climate change, ask a farmer. Few farmers see the more immediate impact of warming temperatures than winemakers and vineyard managers across the country.

In normally cool-climate Oregon, the vineyards are warming. But just like the different terriors across the 150-mile long valley, the impact varies from vineyard to vineyard. But winemakers seem to agree something is happening.

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Fitzpatrick

“I don’t think it necessarily meaning warming for everyone at every time of the year,” said Alloro Vineyards winemaker Tom Fitzpatrick. “I think what we’re seeing is wide swings in the temperatures and weather during the ripening period, which is really an important period of time.

“So the last couple of years (2016-2017) were fairly warm and fairly early harvest in September. Then in 2018 things were a little bit more typical at harvest. We but had a really dry and really warm summer. We were lucky to get these really cool temperatures, 60s and 70s, through early September for harvesting.

The state’s legislature ordered a climate assessment that concluded with a 160-page document. The report says that even if emissions are reduced, average temperatures will rise 3 to 7 degrees by 2050. That number may or may not seem significant but the state’s leading crop, delicate and thin-skinned Pinot Noir grapes, does not do well in intense heat.

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Bailey

“I typically talk about global change instead of global warming,” said Youngberg Hill Winery and Inn owner and winemaker Wayne Bailey. “I think what we’re seeing is a lot more extremes. There is extreme rain in the Midwest, extremes in terms of cold and warm and extremes in terms of hurricanes. It’s all over.

“More specifically to growing, over the last 4-5 years we’ve had consistent warmer temperatures. But I’ve been in agriculture all my life and know weather patterns to in 20-year cycles. I’m here to say in 5-6 years we’re still going to have warmer and cool years. I’m going to suggest there is going to be more extremes instead of less extreme weather events because of global warming.”

Steve Lutz, owner/winemaker at Lenne Estate, agreed its all about the timing of the state’s hotter spells. “We’ve been a really fortunate,” he said. “This year we had a huge cooldown at the end of August and beginning of September.  We had 10 days of no sugar movement in the vineyard at all. My take is we have to be very careful how much fruit we drop (which allows remaining fruit to ripen better).”

Lutz’s point is cutting grapes aggressively, followed by a warmer fall harvest season, could substantially reduce a winery’s ability to reach normal production levels. More heat means more sugar in the grapes which results in wines with a higher alcohol content while the industry is largely moving to lower alcohol wines.

One logical step might be the increased planting of varietals other than Pinot Noir. Tempranillo, gamay, syrah, and even some cabernet has been planted in recent years.

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Bellows

“Don (Hagge) is way ahead of the curve as usual and we’re already making estate tempranillo in the Chehalem Mountains AVA,” said Vidon winemaker David Bellows. Hagge owns the boutigue Vidon winery. “Other people are only going to plan more similar grapes. Tempranillo is a good illustration of how to cope because I can’t think of a more hot plains varietal. It’s ripened here three years in a row and ripened just fine this year.”

All of the winemaker agreed there will be years of bigger wines – Pinot or different varieties. Bellows said the 2018 crop went through higher temperatures than the 2017. “So the 2018 had more sugar than we would want so we worked on more extraction, move body to balance off the alcohol. Those are the kind of things you have to do. We’re going to make a bigger darker wine than last year. We hope more extraction will balance the alcohol.”

So will there be years where Oregon Pinot is closer to the mouth feel of Pinots from California? “There will be years,” Bailey agreed that is possible. “In 2012 and 2014 the wines were bigger, more robust, more red fruit. But consistently I think not for the foreseeable future. We’re not growing on the valley floor where it’s hottest.”

Fitzpatrick  takes a similar view. “To me a great Pinot is a balance between a warm year and much cooler year, concentration density and roundness, very cool delivers aromatic complexity and more expression. To me a great vintage is one where weather conditions are such you get both of those.”

All four winemakers agreed they’ve spent a career watching the weather. With temperatures rising, watching the thermometer is fine but more adjustments in  winemaking will be necessary as well.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This feature store first appeared in Madison Magazine – a niche publication of the Anderson Herald Bulletin. Contact these wineries through the links embedded to buy their wines.

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Another reason to love Oregon wines

20 Wednesday Feb 2019

Posted by Howard in Oregon, Uncategorized

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Tags

Copper Cane, King Estate Winery, Oregon Solidarity, Oregon wine, Willamette Valley Vineyards

EDITOR’S NOTE: Well crap. This country, and particularly Indiana’s, wine laws strike again. After writing this post I went to order my three pack to learn they’re not shipping to Indiana. I’ll update if that changes or if other options become available.

 

Sometimes I feel like the Willamette Valley Wine Association should put me on the payroll. I love Oregon wine, Oregon wine country, and most of all the people of Oregon.

Wine folks have probably heard about the recent Solidarity Wines being produced from Rogue Valley vineyards. The back story is 2,000 tons of Rogue Valley grapes were to be sold to Copper Cane of Napa Valley. Copper Cane dropped out of the contract late in the season citing ‘smoke taint’ from the west’s forest fires.

The video above tells the story beautifully.

OregonSolidarity3-PackThe great part is a group of Oregon winemakers in the Willamette Valley bought up some of the grapes and made a Chardonnay, Rose’ and Pinot Noir which will be released over th$e summer. Proceeds from those wines will benefit Rogue Valley vineyards. A website is up telling the Solidarity Wines story and giving consumers a chance to buy a three pack of Chardonnay, Rose’ and Pinot Noir. I’ve ordered one.

The effort is being led by Willamette Valley Vineyards Winery and King Estate Winery.

I’ve tasted smoke-tainted wines. I tasted Pinot Noir in 2011 during a wine press trip to Mendocino County just north of Sonoma. There was a hint of burnt wood but the wine wasn’t off-putting. Oregon grape growers and winemakers are claiming there is no taint at all in the Rogue Valley grapes.

Great story and one that’s going to be interesting to follow. The wines are being released starting Mar. 1 with the Rose’ with the 3-pack shipping August 1. I’ll be sure to post when mine have arrived.

Check out the video above and consider ordering some Oregon wine for a good neighborly cause.

 

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Small wineries just can’t charge big price

16 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by Howard in Oregon

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#VidonVineyard, #YoungbergHill, @allorovineyards, Alloro Vineyards, Carl Giavanti, Dave Bellows, Don Hagge, Tom Bailey, Tom Fitzpatrick, Vidon Vineyards., Youngberg Hill Vineyards

Smaller Oregon wine producers feel some pressures to keep their wines moderately priced. While some of the better known Willamette Valley wineries are pushing the ceiling of $100 a bottle and beyond, the smaller producers don’t want to gouge their base customers.

Domaine Serene with its bevy of awards and media accolades has several bottles over $100. A top bottling at wineries such as Beaux Freres, Bergstrom, and many others have a bottle or several selling at $100 or more.

The smaller producers struggle with distribution because they simply don’t make enough wine to sell in multiple states. They like staying in the $35-$60 or $70 range so wines are affordable for club members and through their tasting rooms.

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Bailey

“The competition really hasn’t been price competition,” said Wayne Bailey, owner at Youngberg Hill Winery. “It’s been beneficial (to be moderate in price) in that it’s made a whole lot more Willamette Valley Pinot available for people to try.

“We’re such a small piece of the pie. Pinot is only 5% of what is sold in the US. The valley produces one-hundredth of one percent of all Pinot grown in the country.”

Bailey has an entry-level Pinot for $35.

Price discussions have to include increases and on some occasions decreases for some producers. “We talk about price in both directions,” said David Bellows, winemaker at Vidon Vineyards. “Don is resistant to raising prices. We’ve had people come in and say ‘your wine should be more expensive.’ We have a hard time selling what we make.”

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Bellows

Don Hagge’s Vidon has sold wine at wholesale prices to internet sites which provide instant income and cash flow. Vidon’s signature 3-Clones wine, his lowest priced bottle, sells for $45 at the winery.

Bailey points out that there is lots of market research showing people east of the Rocky Mountains want  Willamette Valley Pinot but they can’t find it. The exception, he notes, is big producers. He adds that the small producers can open up a much bigger world to Pinot fans but they may have to search for smaller-production labels or come visit.

The backbone of these winery’s income is direct sales out of their tasting rooms and wine club memberships. “Some of our pricing reflects that,” said General Manager and Winemaker Tom Fitzpatrick, Alloro Vineyards.

IMG_1850

Fitzpatrick

“We want to be accessible. We don’t want to be where no one could buy them. Even our estate Pinot Noir ($40 SRP), which is the lowest price point of the three we make on the property, is not a lower tier wine. We focus our winemaking on producing the very best wine we can make.

But Fitzpatrick states the obvious that the sales have to support the winery. The estate Pinot was bumped from $35 in 2017 for the first time since the winery opened its doors.

Tasting these wines: A side note, I tasted all of these wineries wines twice in 2018. I received samples early in the year I shared with wine drinking friends solicited their opinions. I visited these producers in October. The wines easily hold up to or surpass the bigger Oregon names you may know. Reach out to the wineries, I’ve linked each site, to see if they can ship directly to you.

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View one of Youngberg Hill Inn’s assets

02 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Oregon, Uncategorized

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Carl Giavanti, Wayne Bailey, Willamette Valley, Youngberg Hill Inn, Youngberg Hill Vineyards

It never fails that after I’ve been home a couple of months from  an exciting trip I find unused assets! This morning while looking through some material from my early Oct. trip to Oregon’s Willamette Valley I found this little video.

I was in Oregon for two days with Carl Giavanti, marketing consultant to a number of small Oregon wineries. I spent two nights at the wonderful Youngberg Hill Inn. And it is wonderful. Big spacious rooms with fireplaces welcome guests and breakfast is tremendous.

But perhaps the most impressive part about visiting Youngberg is the fantastic view from the front wrap-around porch. You feel like you can touch any corner of the valley.

 

 

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A great wine experience has depth

10 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Oregon, Uncategorized

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Carl Giavanti, Denison Cellars, JL Kiff, Joel Kiff, Lenne Estate Winery, Steve Lutz, Tim Wilson, Wayne Bailey, Youngberg Hill Vineyards

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Lenne owner and winemaker Steve Lutz

McMINNVILLE, OR – Any great wine experience has variety and depth. That means you visit big producers, small producers, and look for something different. I try to do that on every trip and it has just worked out that way on this trip to Oregon’s Willamette Valley to visit some small producers.

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The great Oregon Pinot Noir grape harvest is mostly complete.

I started the day at Lenne Estate, a small production winery with a a tasting room that resembles perhaps a French farm house. I ended my second-day tasting experience at Youngberg Hill where I stayed last night and will again tonight. Wayne Bailey is a leader in the Willamette Valley industry and makes Pinot Noir to age and to pair with food.

 

In between, wine marketing expert Carl Giavanti and I wandered through the fields and hills of the valley near McMinnville to the JL Kiff Winery situated beside a sloped vineyard and pole barn winery and tasting room. .

One of the things I like about the Willamette Valley,  and there are many, is you can go into winery after winery before you find a bad – or less than desirable Pinot. Our start at Lenne was a great way to kick off the day. Steve Lutz, owner and winemaker, took the time to talk about his sloped and really tough vineyard location. Difficult soils are tough on the vineyard manager but great for wine. The harder the vines have to dig to find water the better the fruit regardless of the varietal.

Steve has added a Chardonnay to his lineup, as many Oregon wineries are doing, and his was beautiful. Very Chablis-like or Burgundian, the Chardonnays of the valley may some day rival the reputation of the Pinot Noir.

Lenne makes classic Oregon Pinot in a lighter style with a real sense of place in the glass, a Burgundy-like sensation of terroir and soils, along with a bit of spice on the finish of some of the wines.

IMG_1886 (1)

Joel Kiff

The journey to JL Kiff was up onto a hillside in a more remote area. Joel Kiff and Tim Wilson are the proprietors. Wilson also has his own label, Denison Cellars.

 

The unique, steeply-sloped vineyard gives the duo wines which are quite different from block to block within the vineyard. Joel makes 1,000 cases under the JL Kiff label with Wilson doing a similar amount of cases under his Denison label. The wines are medium to modestly priced. It’s these little gems that make exploring wine country so fun and exciting if you’ll just seek them out.

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Tim Wilson

We barrel tasted and tasted some wines not harvested until Nov. 1 last year because of the unique vineyard site. The wines were lighter in taste and a little more elegant. Joel’s wife helps run the small tasting corner in the pole barn structure. The Kiff’s two adult sons are also part of the operation.

 

While perhaps its a romanticized view of winemaking, the fact is in Oregon these scenarios still exist where the family business is wine and all of the family is still involved.

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Bailey on the final day of harvest.

Wayne Bailey is a real Willamette Valley veteran. He also owns the beautiful Youngberg Hill Inn atop a hill with a beautiful vineyard view. His wines are made for food and with plenty of structure, acid and elegance to age well for perfect enjoyment 4-5 years after the vintage year they were produced.

 

Wayne poured for me and a personal friend of his a full tasting of his Pinot Noir wines and a couple of different verticals – primarily Pinot from different parts of his vineyard from ’13, ’14, and 2015. We also tasted his elegant Chardonnay.

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Bailey after pouring nearly 10 wines.

Bailey’s winery and Inn sets just 25 miles from the Pacific coast. His vineyard enjoys slightly cooler temperatures, particularly near the top of the property which makes for slightly less alcohol and silky Chardonnay and Pinot.

I’ve tried just to do posts showing my daily activity while interviewing these winemakers about warmer growing seasons and price pressures on their wines. Those stories will be published here in the future.

Meanwhile, tomorrow my schedule is less structured. I’m going to see some old friends and go where the day takes me. I certainly plan to post again tomorrow evening about my day.

I’m returning home Thursday. No matter how often I come to Oregon wine country, I never tire of the quality and diversity of operations, the people, and the wine.

 

 

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A quick taste of Downtown Portland

08 Monday Oct 2018

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Oregon, Uncategorized

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Bistro Agnes, Blue Star donuts, Portland dining, Willamette Valley Wine Country

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An ‘adult’ chocolate-covered donut.

PORTLAND, OR. – Oregon is a feast for the senses, your cultural point of view, and the palate. Sometimes the Rose City is all three sensory sensations at once.

I spent Sunday night in downtown Portland before heading out to Willamette Valley wine country a little later this morning.

Sunday night dinner was with an old Wabash friend, David Newhart, at a somewhat traditional French bistro. This morning I’m up early and visiting the city’s six-location Blue Star Donuts. Portland is known for Voodoo donuts and they’re pretty

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Donut maven carmelizing sugar on a cake donut. The smell is worth walking in for!

darn good. So I decided to try this upstart ‘donuts for adults’ shop downtown.

Just look at pic above. No ordinary chocolate donut – the chocolate was a deeply rich ganache with chopped almonds. Crazy adult flavors like pumpkin spice pana cotta, passion fruit cake and tons of others. Or  how about lemon  poppy seed  buttermilk. (which might be my second donut!)

The donuts are delicious. They use all natural and organic ingredients. And as you might expect, they come at an adult, gourmet price of $3-4 each – that’s right – each! Locals will tell you to try this new kid on the block. I’m convinced.

On the flip side, I really was anticipating dinner last night at Bistro Agnes. The spot was opened by two heralded James Beard award-winning chefs. I can’t say i was disappointed by I was not wowed by this strategically located downtown home of traditional French dishes.

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Petrale Sole Meuniere

I had the French onion soup, just call me a cliche’, and it was very nice. The soup had a rich flavored beef broth which could have used a few more onions, croutons, and even a couple small bites of beef. The gruyere topping was the hit of the dish. Delicious. David had the smoked salmon carpaccio, Radish, cucumber, and dill was an excellent cold appetizer.

My dinner went south with my main course. I love fish and have always found French-prepared white fish to be delightful.  I ordered the Petrale Sole Meuniere featuring sauteed green beans, potato puree, brown butter, and capers.

The fish was nicely seared and cooked perfectly but the brown butter (and it was swimming in butter) along with the capers made the dish salty and difficult bites at times. The green beans were flavorless. With $13 on the soup, $27 for the fish, and $14 for a very nice glass of Sancere, it wasn’t terribly expensive. I was just hoping for more on the delivery.

With that said, it’s refreshing to see chefs concentrate on the classics – and by no means was it a bad meal. I’d love to go back and give Bistro Agnes a second try.

 

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Join Howard Oct. 9-13 in Oregon

09 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Oregon, Wine Education/News/Updates

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Tags

Oregon wine, Willamette Valley, wine travel, Wine Trips

Spend three days tasting the wines of the Willamette Valley, plus one day visiting the beautiful Columbia River Gorge with lunch in Hood River.

Inn_Event Center

Youngsberg Hill Inn, McMinnville

Our trip starts with your arrival Tuesday, Oct. 9, with a hotel booked in your name in Portland. We’ll visit wineries, the Columbia River Gorge, and wrap up Saturday night back in Portland.

Included: Portland Hotel Tuesday and Saturday, luxury B&B in the valley, ground transportation, tasting fees, and all meals Wednesday morning through Saturday lunch.

Alloro

Taste with the winemakers

Transportation to/from Portland is not included.

HH’s Oregon Trip or write Howard at hewitthoward@gmail.com for a brochure.

The deadline is just days away. Join us for an incredible wine trip in the Willamette Valley.

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Tips for smaller wineries to compete

24 Thursday May 2018

Posted by Howard in Newspaper Column 2018, Oregon

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Carl Giavanti, Willamette Valley, wine marketing

For the past two Grape Sense columns, the focus has been on a handful of small production Oregon wineries. This column wraps up the in-depth look at how they face marketing challenges against the big operations moving into the Willamette Valley. There are also some brief comments about their wine and how to buy their products.

grape-sense-logoCarl Giavanti is a winery publicist working in the valley with these ‘little guys’ assisting them in carving out a niche.

“I think the real story in Willamette Valley (and other small regions nationally) is that 85 percent of the wineries produce less than 5,000 cases,” Giavanti has written. “It’s micro production by any measure. They have only survived because of so called “Premiumization” and the recent fascination with the region. What will happen when the next economic downturn occurs, and as the distribution consolidation continues, or as vineyard and winery acquisitions accelerate (which is happening at a rapid pace right now)? Are there business parallels between what is happening in Willamette Valley and any other burgeoning American industry? Is large always destined to win? Is there a “Manifest Destiny” for these small craft producers?”

Carl_Headshot2Giavanti is a guy good at answering his own questions. There is no questioning its tough for these winemakers to clear their shelves at the end of each season. But smart marketing positioning and taking advantage of earned media seem to be the most direct route for the smaller winery’s success.

“It’s no secret there are generally lots of wineries in most wine regions,” Giavanti points out. “There are over 9,000 wineries in the U.S, and due to consolidation by the largest distributors, I estimate only 700 distribution companies, and they focus on large family or corporate winery groups, high profit margins and primarily order taking. The small production winery simply cannot compete.”

Boiling down Giavanti’s recommendations can be oversimplified to having a good story to tell and knowing your product niche. He tells the winery owners to: 1) build your own unique brand, have a strong authentic winery voice that clearly states how you are different, unique and what you promise to consumers 2) do media outreach, either direct or with a media relations consultant. Get your name, your stories and your wines out there! And 3) sell your wine direct to consumer. You’ll have the highest margins (even after marketing costs), enjoy the greatest loyalty and have the most fun!”

That’s pretty good advice for any small business.

The Wines

One of the remarkable things about the Willamette Valley is the overall quality of the wine and the five producers included in this story are no exception. Those making Chardonnay are learning quickly and producing Burgundian style – soft and rich – white wines. Ghost Hill makes a fabulous white Pinot Noir at an incredible low price.

Pinot Noir is the calling card for Alloro Vineyard, Lenne’ Estate, Ghost Hill, Vidon Vineyard and Youngberg Hill. The wines are slightly different in style which is one of the most interesting things about Oregon Pinot for real wine enthusiasts. All have varying levels of critical acclaim. Space does not allow for individual reviews but ordering six bottles of wine from any of the wineries will be well worth your Pinot investment. The wines average around $40-$50 a bottle. With price creep really taking hold in Oregon, these wines are a value buy. Contact the wineries directly through their easy-to-find website to place an order. And yes, they can ship to Indiana. For more specific recommendations, contact me at hewitthoward@gmail.com

And anytime you visit a wine region, remember the little guys!

For More

Go to the Grape Sense website at howardhewitt.net and look for a post with the headline “More from Boutique Oregon Wineries.” There are tips on aging Pinot, and background and philosophy on winemaking.

 

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More from boutique Oregon winemakers

14 Monday May 2018

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Oregon, Uncategorized

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Tags

Alloro Vineyards, Don Hagge, Ghost Hill Cellars, Lenne Estate, Mike Bayliss, Oregon wine, Pinot Noir, Steve Lutz, Tom Fitzpatrick, Vidon Vineyards., Wayne Bailey, Willamette Valley, WordPress, Youngberg Hill

Good journalism and writing always demands more sourcing than you can use in a single story. I’ve always tried to conduct as wide-ranging interviews as much as possible with the forum or time constraints of the opportunity.

I did email interviews with the boutique Oregon winemakers I’ve written about in recent weeks. But I also have a great deal of material that didn’t make it into any of the columns.

So here is one long – very long – blog post with some of the highlights from each interview. I thought these were valid and interesting points that didn’t necessarily fit into the stories I wrote. I’m going to present it as concisely as possible in a Q&A format. I included everyone’s answer about aging their Pinot Noir, admittedly a personal interest.

Ghost Hill Cellars

Interviewee Mike Bayliss, owner

The only winery of this group that makes a white Pinot Noir. Why do they make this wine and how has the market reacted?

ghosthillcouple

Drenda and Mike Bayliss

“We wanted to expand the wines we sell in the tasting room. At the time, all that we had planted was Pinot Noir grapes. The Pinot Blanc was suggested to us by a friend who is a French winemaker, who said that half of the French Champagne is made with Pinot Noir Blanc from the youngest planting of Pinot Noir grapes. Our winemaker suggested instead of aging it in oak to use stainless steel to give it a bright crispness to the finish. It’s been very well received in our tasting room and has been well acknowledged by many reviews.”

What is the ageability of Oregon Pinot Noir?

“It depends on the vintage but as an average 8-10 years – plus. Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is always drinkable upon release and especially with local foods.”

What is background of winery?

“The Bayliss Family has been stewards in this corner of the Willamette Valley since 1906. We’re on 240 acres of beautiful rolling hills made up of sedimentary Willakenzie soils … very rewarding for Pinot Noir grapes. We started planting our vineyard in 1999, after we quit farming 200 head of cattle and putting up 250 tons of hay, farming oaks, wheat, and grass hays.”

Alloro Vineyards

Interviewee: Tom Fitzpatrick, winemaker and general manager

Speak about the growing broad appeal of Oregon Chardonnay:

Alloro Winery, Chehalem Mountain AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Alloro Vineyards

“I think the appeal of Oregon Chard is the classic ‘cool climate’ profile our wines have. We have just the right climate for this style of Chardonnay, which allow the wines to retain all the subtle and wonderfully complex aromas and flavors, rendered on the almost perfect, complementary frame. These are wines that truly express the terroir and offer up a spectrum of flavors associated with the sites they come from.

“Our style is a wine with a classic cool climate profile with all the wonderful elements that come with barrel fermentation and extended lees contact. This focus and approach delivers a wine with moderate alcohol, bright acidity, a mineral core, fresh pear fruit, and flor aromas. It’s complemented by the barrel fermentation and less contact that bring more fullness and roundness to the palate along with notes of biscuit and baking spices.”

Alloro

Tom Fitzpatric

Your vineyard is in the northern-most part of the valley. Why is it unique?

“Alloro is a single vineyard site on Laurel Ridge in the Chehalem Mountains AVA. This is a very unique site with a very distinctive personality. My primary focus is to assure the wines capture the distinct personality of this site as they’re expressed in each vintage. I do this by capturing what I call “purity of flavor.” I want the flavors of these wines to be the direct, unencumbered flavor derived from this fruit. There is a very long list of things we do but in a nutshell we undertake activities that mitigate compromise to the integrity of the fruit and undertake activities that mitigate unwanted outside influence on the wines’ flavor. Once in barrel my wines are moved only one time prior to bottling. All movements are either via gravity or with the use of inert gas, all under the protection of inert gas to protect from oxygen exposure. They are bottled after about 11-12 months to capture and retain the richness and purity of fruit and then bottle aged for about one year before the release.”

What is your Pinot’s ageability?

“Our wines see very little oxygen and are handled to retain fruit purity. I believe this dramatically increases their ageability. In general, my wines typically take 2-3 years to blossom and then drink wonderfully for a subsequent 8-plus years.”

Lenne Estate

Interviewee: Steve Lutz, owner

You have a unique vineyard site, explain whys it’s different.

“We farm the vineyard primarily organically but I am not certified organic nor wish to be. I like the flexibility of being able to use other tools if we get into a year with high disease pressure. The way it is going with the weather and early vintages we haven’t had to turn to a commercial fungicide since 2011. We generally just use organic compounds and micronutrients in the vineyard. Our farming is dictated by the year in terms of how we manage the canopy and that is a changing landscape with these warmer evintages.

Lutz

Steve Lutz

“In the winery we are straight forward unless we get into an unusual vintage. We generally destem and don’t use any whole clusters though I am thinking about playing with it a little this year but it would be totally dictated by the vintage and how developed the stems are. But generally we destem, cold soak and inoculate with yeast. We press before fermentation ends then don’t expose the wine to much oxygen after that unless we have a reduction issue. We sterile filter all our wines and the wines spend 10-11 months in French Oak about 35 percent of which is new.”

When is the best time to drink your Pinot Noir?

“I think the best time to drink most of our vintages is at 10 years out from the vintage. Some vintages take longer and some it is hard to predict their peak. We only started producing in 2004 and so far none of them have oxidized. I think the 2006 wines are at their peak or just past it now for instance. That was a warmer vintage.”

Youngberg Hill

Interviewee: Wayne Bailey, owner and winemaker

Inn_Event Center

Youngberg Inn and event center

Let’s start with your Chardonnay:

“My background in Chardonnay began in Burgundy.  I tried for several years to purchase fruit but never found the quality. So we grafted over half of our Aspen Block of Pinot Gris in 2014 and 2015 is our first vintage. My style is that of Burgundy, fermented in barrels (once used) to have the influence of oak but not be oaky. I want to emulate Montrachet.”

How do you describe your approach to Pinot Noir?

“Pinot is the most transparent of any varietal, so my job is to be as light handed in the winery as possible to let that sense of place and vintage shine. That is why making wines from the fruit on our hill is so much fun.  We have three distinct soils on our hill, elevations from 500 to 800 feet, and different slopes and orientations. As a result, we make distinctly different wines from each of those distinct ‘terroirs.’ ”

What is the ageability of your Pinot Noir?

“We believe they can age for 20-years plus.”

Vidon
Interviewee: Don Hagge, owner

Don_Tractor

Don Hagge

I have interviewed Don Hagge on several occasions over the years.  I did not ask him a lot in my email interviews like I did the other winemakers. But here are a couple of blog posts and stories featuring the colorful Hagge, wine maker, farmer, student of Burgundy, and NASA engineer.

My visit with Don.

First time meeting Don Hagge

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