Just like the previous entry of this two-day trip, I have several comments about wineries and will have more later. I’ve separated what I have here with bold sub headlines. My trip to the Northwest has come to an end and I fly home Friday morning.

Jesse Lange and Lange Winery
A round-about connection between Lange Winery and Wabash College led to a morning with Jesse Lange of Lange Winery. The Lange Winery has one of the premier spots in the Dundee Hills overlooking the Willamette Valley with a terrific view of the Cascade Mountains.

Lange Winery was the subject of Brian Doyle’s book “The Grail” … essentially it was a year-in-the-life sort of thing that is a great read for any wine nut. It did well across the country.

Jesse gave me a tour of the facility while talking about the family’s approach to wine, the wine industry, and reflected on the book.

Their wines are some of the best Pinot Noir you’ll ever want to taste. But that’s not just my opinion, Lange has gained wide praise. They are not at the top of the price scale by any means, but are clearly one of the state’s leading producers.

Don and Wendy Lange, Jesse’s parents, started the winery in 1987 just after pioneers like Erath, Adelsheim, and others.

The really impressive thing is how they put so much detailed effort into their wines. They work in very small batches to produce their wines. That is not the case at many wineries. But its also the advantage of buying your better wines at these smaller boutique wineries. They also pay particular attention to the ‘terroir” or the land where the grapes are grown.

It really was just great to walk the grounds, then taste the wines with the man who’s growing those grapes and making those wines.

I’m going to write an entire piece on Lange in the next week or so. And, I’ll be writing a piece about Lange, The Grail, and how it relates to Wabash College sometime over the weekend. I’ll link that here when it’s live.

Now here is some really good news. Lange Wines are distributed in Indiana. I have the name of their distributor and am trying to find out where you can buy the wines in retail outlets. I did find it at Sahara Mart in Bloomington. I’ll post something here when I get that information.

Now the bad news. Because of Indiana’s insane shipping laws, Lange can not direct ship because they have a distributor here.

I have to note here how gracious and willing to answer questions Jesse was this morning. He was generous with his time and knowledge.

As noted, I’m going to have more on Lange. After two visits to the Valley, I think I can say its my favorite Pinot Noir.

Carlton, Oregon – It’s About the Wineries
Many of the Willamette Valley’s little towns are all about the wineries but perhaps none so much as Carlton with its population of about 1,500.

There are tasting rooms up and down all the streets, or so it seems. It’s the home of Ken Wright wines – one of the Valleys pioneers. And this is for people of my age, it’s also the home of Scott Paul wines – Scott Paul Wright! That name probably doesn’t mean anything to anyone outside wine country. But, if I said “Shadow Stevens” would that ring a bell?

The famous disc jockey and Hollywood Squares celebrity is now a winery owner in Carlton. Unfortunately, they are only open on weekends and I was unable to taste their wines.

I did stop into The Tasting Room which pours Jay McDonald wines. Can you figure the logo out?

Think: “Old McDonalds Farm.”

They also pour other wines there which is a great way to visit wine country in any of the major regions.

Lemelson Vineyards
Lemelson Vineyards is a unique place in more ways than one. They have a beautiful and unique facility just northeast of Carlton. They have this incredible facility and tasting room but it is not open to the public. You have to have an appointment to taste the wines. I was hooked up Wednesday with a chance to visit by the tasting room manager at Four Graces.

The winery is owned and run by Eric Lemelson who was an environmental attorney. The winery markets itself as on the area’s top tier wineries. They have a one of a kind “sorter” that can move up and down between rows of stainless steel vats that is just fascinating to see.

Eric Lemelson is the son of the late Jerome Lemelson, “one of the 20th century’s most successful and prolific independent inventors. If you have a second click the link and read about him. He held patents on some of the most common items you see and use every day. As a matter of fact, only one man in U.S. history held more patents than Lemelson – a guy by the name of Thomas Edison.

But the wines are beautiful and their dedication to the environment and sustainable farming is top notch. They have a long stretch of solar panels next to the facility that provide up to 40 percent of the building’s electrical needs.

It’s a gravity flow winery, one of just a few in the state. That means just what it sounds like – the grapes, the juice follow gravity’s course in making its way through the production cycle. It’s old world style winemaking.

Penner Ash – A Well-Respected Winery

Last summer when I visited the Valley I had several winery people tell me Penner Ash was one of the spots not to miss. I didn’t make it last time so I got there for my last wine stop of the trip.

They have one of the most beautiful tasting facilities I saw in Oregon. And they have an incredible location with a view rivaling that at the Lange Winery.

Their Pinot Noir was light in style but beautifully structured. They also poured for me a Dry Rose of Pinot Noir that was absolutely stunning! The most stunning thing was the fact the Rose sold for just $10.

Oregon Pinot Noir Wine Prices
A quick note about these wines, buying them, finding them, and the cost. I’ve tried to make sure I included a link to every winery in each entry. I’ll keep reviewing this over the next couple of days. I thought it was more interesting here to share the wine country experience than alot of nuance about a lot of great wines.

Usually you can find on most websites whether they ship to Indiana direct or distribute. The price point is a particular sticking point for some people, but when you understand these are hand-crafted wines it just makes more sense. Most of the wineries I’ve written about the last two days have a Pinot Noir in the $25-$35 range, $35-$50; $50-$75 range.

That is a generalization, indeed, but one you’ll find to be mostly true. More to come on these wineries from both day’s blogs here and at least a column or two for the newspapers.

Many of these smaller, great-great wineries do not ship to Indiana because of our legislature’s refusal to pass open border laws and get their hand out of lobbyist’s pockets. So if you take any advice from my two days blogging form Oregon, it’s try Oregon Pinot Noir!

It’s late and I fly out tomorrow. Pick up a Pinot Noir for your weekend.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

New Winery with a Hoosier Connection
This is going to be a rather long entry I may update over next few days. But there wil be several sub entries throughout.

My day in the Valley started with a visit to Chris Baker at one of the state’s largest wine production facilities in Dundee. Dundee sits along Highway 99 a collection of old buildings that used to be a hazelnut production plant.

The operation makes the wine for a number of Oregon wineries. They don’t talk alot about what specific wineries, leaving the mystique in place that the folks behind the label make every bottle. But they have several labels, own vineyards and may become one of the biggest in the business outside of California.

Aron Hess is the chief winemaker who has his own winery (more on that below) with Baker as assistant winemaker.

Baker and brother Craig have just started their own label – Ancient Cellars. I met Craig in Bloomington on Saturday at a taping of a video blog for Hoosierwinecellar.com

Craig lives in Indianapolis and is working the marketing end of the new venture while Chris makes the wines. He gave me a tour of the facility which was really fascinating. I’ve toured wineries but nothing like this place that last year made about 140,000 gallons of wine. Obviously, everything is on a different scale.

And each time you visit any real wine making operation you come away with a new appreciation for the amount of labor, love, and chemistry needed to make good wine.

Chris hopes to grow the Ancient Cellar label. Right now the Pinot Gris is in release and available in Indiana. The Pinot Noir has only been in the bottle a few weeks and will follow. Chris has Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in oak barrells aging now for future release. He hopes the label can grow from a a couple hundred cases to a few thousand necessitating a tasting room and Willamette Valley commerical presence.

I am going to write more on Craig in the future.

Daedalus Cellars, Dundee, Oregon
I went from the wine production facility almost across the street to Aron Hess’s tasting room for Daedalus Cellars. He has had a hand in many Willamette Valley wines through his young career including Rex Hill.

He has one real niche wine that stood out for me during the tasting. He is making a Gruner Veltliner which is usually associated most with Austria. It is a lighter minerally wine with a bit of a white pepper finish. I’ve not drank much through the years but thought his was really outstanding. And, I learned there are only two vineyards growing the grape in all of Oregon. He had a range of nice Pinot Noir. I was impressed that he had a $20 offering that was not being tasted today but available for purchase. His $32 Willamette Valley Pinot was a great wine at the price point and I grabbed one at that price.

Daedalus can ship wines to Indiana.

Grape for Charity
You meet the most intersting people in wine country! A gentleman was tasting at the wine bar when I entered Daedalus. We started chatting about the wines and why he was visiting. He is a member of the Oregon Mozart Players and was buying wine for the 18th Annual Dinner and Benefit Auction for the organization. He was in the process of buying one wine from every Oregon winery and said he would reach 175 bottles of wine some time this day.

I wonder how you get that job? You can go to the organization’s web page and bid on items for the April 10 auction which includes items like a trip to Paris, and many other wonderful products, trips, and services … and oh, wine!

The Four Graces Winery
The delightful woman at the Daedalus tasting room gave me a complimentary tasting pass for Four Graces Winery. So I drove just a mile down the road and tasted some fabulous wine.

I had not heard of the winery before today but have to say their moderate to expensive bottlings hold up against any I have tasted.

Steve and Paula Black are the owners and the winery’s unique name comes from the couple’s four daughters – Alexis, Vanessa, Christiana, and Jillian. Brother Nicholas is the “Keeper of the Four Graces” according to the winery’s marketing materials.

The tasting room was the most lively of the three I visited. People from Georgia, North Carolina, Califonia, and other states were in and out the short time I was there talking wine with other visitors.

The sales manager Jason Senior, an Aussie native, kept the pours coming and the information about the wines and family flowing. They make the obligatory Pinot Gris, doesn’t everyone, but also a really beautiful Pinot Blanc that I loved.

There Pinot Noirs were all goregous wines in the $30-$75 price range. I bought a bottle of their Doe Ridge Estate Pinot that’s one of the best I’ve ever tasted.

Four Graces does not currently ship to Indiana, but Jason said they expected to add the state when they sort through the laws. (You hear that a lot!)

Winderlea Winery
This stop was a repeat from last year with the husband and wife team of Donna Morris and Bill Seat. Winderlea is just in its second-year release with beautiful Pinot Noir offerings.

I spent a good amount of time with the couple last summer during my visit and although their tasting room is not yet open they set up a pour for me during this visit.

I was just blown away by their 2007 Chardonnay. They made just 345 cases of the wine that retails for $30. It does not have the big oak characteristics of a California Chard yet more body than most of the Chardonnays you’ll taste here which are aged laregly in stainless steel.

This is their first Chardonnay offering and has already landed in one of Boston’s top French restaurant’s wine list. It is an interesting interpretation of the old standby grape.

They poured their three Pinot Noirs for me and I was particularly taken by their 2007 ANA Pinot. It was a nicely structured wine that was light on the palate with a big Pinot flavor. It was beautiful on the nose. The wine comes from some of the great French clones planted in the Dundee Hills. It’s a marevlous wine at the $45 price point, if compared to some wines in the $60-$80 wines you taste up and down the country roads of the Valley.

I spent a good deal of time with the couple today and will do an entire newspaper column on them in the near future. Unfortunately, their wines are not yet available in Indiana. But they’d definitely like to widen their distribution and grow the winery to near 5,000 cases. They have done 400, 1,600, and 1,300 with three vintages. So lots of opportunity to grow.

Their wines are premium Pinot Noir which dominates a large portion of the Oregon wine production in these hills.

I keep nagging. Maybe we can find enough Hoosiers to make the licensing process profitable.

Dundee Manor
I really enjoy staying in bed and breakfast accommodations whenever possible. I learned about Dundee Manor on the internet and since have had nearly every wine person I’ve talked to praise the efforts of Brad and David and assured me I’d be well taken care of at the Manor. They were right. This 100-year old home is stunningly beautiful with incredible and tasteful antiques and decor.

The “Two Gentlemen on the Hill,” as described in some of the advertising also built a beautiful kitchen, manicured lawn and gardens, and top notch client service. No, I got no break because I’m gushing. I’ve stayed in a few of these places and the Manor is tops.

Tina’s Restaurant
If you come to the Willamette Valley someone is going to recommend you have dinner at Tina’s Restaurant right on Hwy 99 in Dundee. And it’s more likely several people will tell you if you’re having just one meal or one night here, it’s got to be at Tina’s. Listen to those people carefully.

I didn’t get there last year because I was under the weather. I did tonight and it was one of the best meals I’ve had in some time. Allow me to go all “foodie” for a moment and share what I enjoyed.

Great wine is meant for great food. Tina’s has its own Pinot Noir label but its made from grapes sourced from many of the same vineyards as the area’s other great Pinots.

I started with grilled scallops wrapped in a smoky bacon. A beautiful and fresh salad of greens with a light vinagrette, parmeson cheese and Oregon’s hazelnuts. For my entre I had a beautiful roasted duck breast served with carmelized onion rosoto and braised greens. The duck was moist, tender and just perfectly cooked with a tad of pink/red in the middle. The skin was crispy.

Paired with the Pinot it was a delightful meal. Not cheap at $51, but I can say I have paid the same or more for less quality.

I start my Thursday with a visit to Lange Winery and a chance to sit down and talk to Jesse Lange. Then I’m off to Carlton a little farther to the west for s handful of winery visits that promise to be special. That will be Day 2!

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

DUNDEE, Oregon – I’m in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and specifically today and tonight in the Dundee HIlls. I’m going to be writing about today’s visits and tasting experiences briefly later this evening.

I’m off in a short bit to the iconic Tina’s Restaurant in Dundee for dinner.

I’m staying at the incredibly beutiful Dundee Manor tonight before a less incredible stay Thursday night at a non-descript airport motel.

Tomorrow I have a couple of stops here in the Hills and then it’s off to Carlton for a couple of fabulous and unique wineries.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

As has been noted a couple times on this blog, I’m in the Great Northwest this week. I arrived in Portland today and drove up to Seattle. I’m excited about my work reasons to be here, but also about visiting the Willamette Valley Wednesday and Thursday and tasting so many great Pinot Noirs.

But business comes first and is the purpose of the trip. But that doesn’t mean it’s not without wine. Washington State wine has consistently gained accolades over the last decade and the wineries are making a wide range of varietals.

Tonight I dined at Tom Douglas’ Palace Kitchen in downtown Seattle – a place worthy of any Iron Chef. I had half a chicken that was roasted on their Applewood grill. It was served with Yukon mashed potatoes, lacinito kale, and garnished with rubarb and hazelnuts. Crazy huh? It was incredibly delicious.

There was no Pinot available by the glass, which was my first choice, so I thought I’d be adventurous. I ordered Di Stefano 2007 Semillon with dinner. The wine had a big floral characteristic on the nose with an almost buttery texture. It’s actually a blend with more than 80% Semillon and the rest Sauvignon Blanc. The Sauv Blanc gives the wine some acidity on the finish.

I liked the wine alone but it was not a good pairing with the chicken. It comes from the Columbia Valley in Washington and would be a great summer wine and definitely something new for most to try.

Before going to dinner I stopped by a small deli to pick up a couple of things and grabbed an $11.95 bottle of Columbia Winery’s Syrah. What caught my eye was the shelf note that Washington’s first Syrah was made by this winery.

The wine has a nice dark berry tastes and smooth through mid palate. I thought there was some vanilla to the taste. It has pretty strong tannins for an inexpensive wine.

I would recommend trying Columbia Winery Syrah. This was a better value in my book than the white. This was well structured and a pretty good representation of what Syrah should taste like for the price.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

There are more wine blogs in the blogosphere than you shake a decanter at. Ok, not a great line but it’s early morning!

Yesterday I spent a delightful hour or so with Allen Olson, one of the real deans of Indiana wine writing and a wealth of wine knowledge. Olson writes and manages HoosierWineCellar.com

The wine blog, and videos, serve a handful of south central Indiana newspaper readers and an entire wine community. He also does video updates that are informative and fun.

By now you’ve guessed that I was a guest for a taping Friday. We did two segments. In the first segment Olson asked me about my wine interests, writing and such. The second segment was a lot of fun with a wine buyer and winery owner.

We had Craig Baker from a new winery in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, in the studio. Baker and his brother have started a brand new winery – Ancient Cellars – in Dundee, Oregon. We sampled the Pinot Gris (Gilt) and a Pinot Noir (One Toe Duck). The Gris is on sale in Indiana and even offered at St. Elmo’s Steak House in Indy. It was a really nice, and smooth Gris that didn’t have the minerality or acidity of most.

The oak fermentation gives the wine a nose not too different than a Chardonnay.

The Pinot had a nice structure but had only been in the bottle for a couple of weeks. It had the type structure that just might be a fine wine with a little more aging.

It’s also exciting to know that the brothers are donating a small portion of the profits to two charit. Gris sales will benefit White River environmental concerns. The brothers hope that the Pinot Noir sales will help to start a wildlife rescue fund.

One other bright note is the Gris sells for just under $20. The Pinot Noir, which is not yet available but soon will be, sells for just under $30. The Pinot price point is a great value for Oregon wine.

Also at the table with us was Brad Wallace, fine wine specialist for Sahara Mart in Bloomington. Wallace is a wine sales veteran at a young age. I dropped by the Sahara Mart at 2nd and Walnut in downtown Bloomington and was really impressed by the wine selection and even more impressed by some of their prices!

I may try to see Craig’s brother at the winery Wednesday or Thursday of this next week when I’m out there visiting. For those who follow the blog, I’m headed to Portland and Seattle Sunday on business but plan two days in the Valley. I’ll be blogging.

I’m real excited to have an appointment Thursday morning with Jesse Lange of Lange Winery. I also will be visiting with the great folks at one of the newer wineries Winderlea about their 2007 wines.

I’ll be sure to post when the videos go up.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

A couple of blog posts back, I wrote about visiting Oregon’s wine country in just over a week. Tonight I opened a bottle of Lange Winery Pinot Noir and it brought back memories of last summer.

I visited the Willamette (rhymes with dammit) Valley which has become home of some of the best Pinot in the world. As noted in that posting, these wines are outside the range of the normal under $20-25 wines I generally write about. But I think it’s important to talk about the next level once in awhile as well.

I brought back three bottles of Pinot from Lange mostly because of a fun book I read by Brian Doyle. Doyle spent a year following the wine making process and learning all about it. “The Grail: A year ambling & shambling through an Oregon vineyard in pursuit of the best pinot noir wine in the whole wild world.” A long title, but a great book.

Doyle wrote several pieces for the soon-to-be-released Winter Issue of Wabash Magazine. He has a simple and direct writing style that is as approachable as Lange’s wines.

He spent his year at Lange Winery. I visited Lange last July and intend on going back next week. Tonight I wanted to open one of my Oregon Pinots to judge how they had improved with nearly a year of storage. The Lange 2006 Reserve was still young but a beautiful wine.

The most impressive thing about this wine is how wonderfully balanced it is with a clarity, nice fruit, and beautiful finish. Now I did give it some time to breathe before pouring and did a lot of swishing around in the glass to open up this really nice Pinot Noir.

The wine was a modest 13.5 percent alcohol that is aged 10 months in French Oak.

The Lange family made 2500 cases of this particular wine and the handcrafted nature shows through in every sip. It’s just a great wine that’s approachable for most people at $32.

Oregon’s Pinot is not cheap. And frankly, the $32 Lange wine I enjoyed this evening is about as low as you’ll find. They do make another at the $24 price point that was out of stock when I visited the winery.

I scratch my head over last summer’s visit and the incredible wines at every stop. I’m really anxious to return. I didn’t taste one bad Pinot in about nine winery visits.

I’ll be blogging April 8 and 9 about my visits. So as I usually recommend, if you don’t find Lange wines at your wine shop I suggest you look for Willamette Valley wines if you’re shopping for great Pinot. I would strongly suggest you try any from the Dundee Hills region. It’s really great, great wine!

Another beautiful thing about this finicky grape is that the wine goes well with most any food.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com

In these tough times, I’m picking up more and more wine around $10 and under and trying them specifically because I write this blog and the newspaper column. It’s been a real adventure.

Frankly, the wines haven’t been great but they have been better than I expected. It’s a Saturday night and I just wanted to open a bottle and grabbed a 2005 LaYunta Tinto I had purchased at Cork & Cracker in Indianapolis.

This wine is a blend from Argentina’s Mendoza Valley – home of the world’s best Malbec. This wine is 28 percent Cabernet, 28 percent Malbec, and 28 percent Bonarda with a 7 percent hint of Torrontes.

I had to do a little research on Torrontes, the most widely planted white wine grape in Argentina. I haven’t had a pure varietal bottle but want to try it. I suspect the winemaker puts the grape in this wine much like some winemakers use Vignonier. The little bit of white adds some nose to those big Argentinian red grapes.

This was a bit of a dry and spicy wine. There wasn’t much tannin to deal with making it a nice little wine for the price point. I am not sure I could honestly call this a well-balanced wine. The Tinto (Spanish for red blend) is almost always a great value. I would recommend you try this as something different if you come across it.

You should definitely try Tintos from Spain and Mendoza if you’re looking for big flavor at a value price!

I think it would be really good with pizza and perhaps pasta.
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Just a heads up to regular readers who enjoy or love Pinot Noir.

I’ve been very lucky with my work travel. As a member of the Wabash College Public Affairs staff I travel some to visit with alumni and write and tell their career stories.

Last summer I went to Portland and Seattle areas to do just that. Our alumni magazine publishes those stories the week of March 30. In celebration, I’ll be headed to the Northwest to host a couple of alumni receptions.

The personal part of the trip is that I’ll be taking two days on my own time, and nickel, April 8-9 to visit the fabulous Willamette Valley – home of some of the very best Pinot Noir in the world.

I had two days there last summer and was just blown away by the quality of the Pinot at virtually every stop. Now, this is not wine at the price point I normally write about. It’s higher end Pinot for the most part. But some of the most beautiful Pinot Noir is being crafted in the Valley.

I’m looking forward to going back to a few of the wineries I hit the first time and a few new ones. I’ll be blogging those two days about the Valley and the great Pinot. It will probably be the topic of a future newspaper column as well!

In the photos: Top right is the view down into the valley atop one of the many hills. This was home of Bella Vida Winery. And at bottom left, is a the vinyard and a bottle of wine from Winderlea – a new operation with a very storied vineyard. One of the really cool things in the Valley as opposed to Napa or Sonoma is the owners or winemaker is often pouring the wine in the tasting room!

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There’s nothing wrong with a “nice little wine.” That’s what I like to call them.

Tonight I opened a bottle of 2006 Protocolo Tinto Vino de La Tierra de Castilla – there’s a mouthful. Unfortunately, it’s not really a mouthful of wine but it is a tasty little wine that you can probably find for under $10.

This Spanish wine is made of the country’s most noted grape, Tempranillo. The winery owns a lot of acreage and produces a lot of wine. This value wine has a relatively smooth earthiness to it that would go nice with mild pasta, pork, or a beef stew perhaps.

The biggest thing I learned about this wine is that it really improves if you open the bottle 30-45 minutes before drinking.

It’s good wine, nothing special but again – far better than a grocery store choice. You might not find the label, though it is widely distributed. My advice here is don’t be afraid of inexpensive Spanish wines. Tempranillo is a great value wine. Give it a try!

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I wrote not long ago about the difficulty in finding good Cabernet under $20. I might have to re-think that as I’ve discovered a third wine that I think is worth your money.

Santa Emma 2006 Maipo Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a dynamite Cabernet from Chile at an extraordinarily reasonable $10.95. I have seen it a bit cheaper and a bit higher on the internet. I picked this one up at the recommendation of Reggie McConnell, wine steward/host at Baeslers Market in Terre Haute.

This wine is a really dark purple with some spicy characteristics and just the right amount of tannin on the finish to hold up to steak. I fired up the grill and put a nice burn on a filet. The steak had a slight crust that I love on grilled beef and the wine held its own against the steak and the smoke cherry rub.

This wine feels very balanced. You get the fruit and the tannins and they balance each other nicely.

This is a great Cab at the price point. It is widely distributed. I’d suggest you give Santa Emma a try if you see it.

A post script: I’m a few steps beyond a novice but not near the expert of so many others. I’ve learned the past few months from feedback here and my newspaper column that many people want to take the step to drinking better wines. I encourage you to look at the comment posted to my blog entry about the Brunello I had to pour down the sink. There is a great explanation of what happens when a wine goes bad. I have had it explained to me several times and just haven’t put enough effort into understanding the various ways wines will go south on you. Thanks to Tony for a full explanation.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com