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Howard W. Hewitt

~ … The "W" stands for wine!

Howard W. Hewitt

Tag Archives: Winderlea Winery

Oregon Day 3: Meeting a Pinot Pioneer

31 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Oregon, Uncategorized

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Adelsheim, David Adelsheim, Donna Morris, McMinnville, Republic of Jam, Saffron Fields, Thistle Restaurant, Trisaetum Winery, Winderlea Winery, wine travel

WILLAMETTE VALLEY, OR. – Saturday was a day of Pinot, great luck, and fabulous food.

Four wine dudes traveling for the first time together in Oregon’s Willamette Valley rocked it with great wine, friendship, and a bit of good luck. We’re here for three days of wine tasting and other adventures.

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Amy and Lynette – the Jam ladies.

When you go to wine country it’s all about great tasting experiences, learning about the vineyards, and getting acquainted with the wonderful people of wine country. But a great trip should include more. You should explore the area’s restaurants, sites, and the unique businesses.

 

We started our Saturday with one of my favorites – The Republic of Jam. Lynnette Shaw’s brainchild is now six years old and thriving as tourism continues to boom in the valley. Yes, they sell jam. They also sell cocktail enhancements, flavored ketchups and mustard.

Marionberry, Pacific berry, strawberry basil, and so many other combinations really test your taste buds. Republic of Jam is in Carlton nestled in the middle of the main street of the small village. The jams are a wonderful experience for the taste buds. Lynette and Amy have a unique business that has become a must-stop when visiting. I bought six! The have a small jar for $7.50 and larger one for $10. It’s a real taste of Oregon produce with a twist.

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Winderlea co-owner Donna with Dude Patrick T.

We made our first winery stop at Winderlea in the Dundee Hills. Co-owner Donna Morris was hosting a wine club pick-up reception and she invited us to join in the fun. Great food bites and a tasting of their new 2014 vintage wines was a treat.

 

Winderlea is truly boutique at about 6,000 cases. Veteran winemaker Robert Brittan uses the well-sourced fruit to make beautiful Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines. The Chardonnay is soft, round and has real depth. Tasting through the new releases was a great experience of really well-made wines. Brittan was winemaker for Napa’s Stags Leap before moving north.  Winderlea wines run from $38 to $85. And since we’ve been talking about costs and tasting fees, it’s nice to note the Winderlea makes an annual and  substantial contribution to a local charity providing health care to vineyard workers.

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David Adelsheim shared a few moments with us.

This weekend is my fifth trip to the valley and another of the guys has been here four times. Two of the guys are making their initial visit. With about 500 wineries now, it’s hard to get everywhere. But through my five visits I had missed two important wineries. We visited Bergstrom Friday and Saturday we had a great visit to Adelsheim.

 

Adelsheim is one of the valley’s pioneers. The tasting room offered several different tastings at the $25 level. Adelsheim, like most here, waive the fee if you buy wine.

We had a very “Oregon experience” during our stop. Our friendly tasting room associate Sandy was telling us all about the wines we were tasting and someone came up behind us to introduce himself. Yes, it was David Adelsheim. He talked about changes in the valley and the future of his winery for a good 15 minutes. It was an awesome experience. He then called Sam Schmitt, head of marketing, over to give us a full vineyard and winery tour. Adelsheim’s Pinot runs roughly $60 to just over $100 a bottle. They have a couple of different whites including a $25 Pinot Blanc that I thought was terrific.

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Schmitt talking vineyard with our group.

Next was a quick visit, by our standards, to Trisaetum Winery. A couple of the guys are big Reisling fans and Trisaetum is widely praised for their efforts with the German varietal. I tasted the Pinots and a couple Reislings. The guys assured me Trisaetum lived up to its billing. I drank a lot of Reisling when I started getting interested in wine but not much of a fan as my palate has evolved. I could tell they were well made wines and priced at an affordable $20-$30 range.

 

Saffron Fields was our final stop of the day. I’m a club member so a big fan. Their wines are made by Tony Rynders, who rose to fame making wines for Domaine Serene. It’s a beautiful setting and great Pinot. There price points range $40-$60. Saffron has a nice Chardonnay, one of the best Rose of Pinot I’ve had in the valley, and their reds.

Now, a note to newbies. I’d never recommend more than three wineries a day for someone making their first or second wine country visit. Frankly, I’m most comfortable with just three. You get palate fatigue and even if you take small sips or spit, you are absorbing alcohol. But our group knows when to say when and is anxious to visit several of the iconic wineries and the quirky ones.

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Rabbitt, Pork, with rockfish in middle.

We wrapped up Saturday with another great dinner. We dined at Thistle in McMinnville. We had planned on having the chef’s tasting menu but the manager just convinced us to have ‘everything.” So that’s exactly what we did. Thistle is a chef-driven, farm-to-fork, hipsters and upscale eatery at affordable prices.

 

The food was wonderful. We enjoyed a chicken liver and a pork pate’ as well as some squash soup and a couple of salads. We shared on dish of about everything. Entrees were pork, rock fish, and rabbit. The chef weaved interesting flavors and ingredients. It was a very enjoyable meal.The dinner came to about $50 apiece. We brought our own wine and the restaurant waived the $20 corkage fee.

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Host Holiday Party for Charity

18 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by Howard in Newspaper Column 2014, Oregon

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Holiday Party, iSalud, Oregon wine, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Winderlea Winery

There is never a better time for a nice bottle of wine than around Christmas and New Year’s. Why not try something different and make your holiday party festive for your friends and helpful to a community cause?

Every community across our nation has a good a good cause or organization thatGrape Sense Logo can use your support. Recently a group of friends held a wine tasting, encouraged a set donation, and then made contributions to two different good causes. The group supported a local health clinic and a health care initiative in Oregon providing coverage for migrant vineyard workers.

Here is how it worked. The three leaders decided to pour Oregon wines since part of the proceeds would go to an Oregon-based charity. The wine lineup included two Pinot Gris wines under $20 and four Pinot Noirs. The Pinot Noir wines ranged from $22 to $55 a bottle.

Now the group has some real wine geeks and they provided the wine knowledge during each pour. We had a great lineup of small bites including flat breads, pâté and the usual assortment of cheese and crackers.

Talking about iSalud and Winderlea wine

Talking about iSalud and Winderlea wine

We used social media friends’ lists and personal connections to invite people to the wine tasting/philanthropy event. We had a spokesman for the local health clinic in our group. He gave a five-minute presentation on what the local clinic was all about and then it was back to the wine.

Essentially, it was a wine event for a good cause.

The organizers bore the cost of the wine and food, though we may look at a way of writing that into the cost in future events. What you can suggest as a donation is different in every community but our group gave $50 per person – all of which went to the two charities. We ended up with a nice-sized group for the evening and raised more than $700 to split between two charities.

You don’t need some “real wine geeks” to host a party either. Just generate some conversation about the wine. What did it smell like? What flavors do you taste? What do you like or dislike about the wine? What food would pair with the wine? Take a few moments and do an internet search on each wine you’re going to pour and you’ll find plenty of talking points.

And pick any wines you like at any price point but be sure to try something new and something different.

Our group is already planning ahead for February. The next event is shaping up to be big red winter wines and supporting local summer youth sports.

In seven years of wine writing the one thing I’ve learned over and over is people do want to know about wine and actually talk about wine. There is no better way to do it than in a festive social setting.

Great wine always leads to great conversation. When the combination can benefit a good cause, everyone comes out a winner.

Cheers!

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Oregon Foods Holds Own Against Pinot

15 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Howard in Food & Travel, Oregon

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Abby McManigle, Lange Estate Winery, Nick's Italian Cafe, Recipe - A Neighborhood Kitchen, Red HIlls Market, Winderlea Winery

Aged ribeye at Nick's Italian Cafe

Aged ribeye at Nick’s Italian Cafe

WILLAMETTE VALLEY – From our bed & breakfast’s wonderful muffins, scones and entries to a fabulous farm-to-fork dinner at Newberg’s Recipe our Oregon wine trip proved to be just as much about food as wine.

While not really reviewing each meal, I want to share how we ate during a week focused on wine where dining nearly stole the show. I have lots of photos to be added in next couple days.

Our first stop was at Lange Estate Winery and it was a perfect way for the group to get to know each other, enjoy a wonderful time in the Lange winery with a winemaker, and enjoy the artisan foods of Dundee’s Red Hills Market.

Our lunch spread featured cheeses, sausage, olives, hazelnuts, wonderful sandwiches on artisan bread and huge cookies. The lemon/lavender cookies had everyone talking.

But that was just getting started. That evening we dined at Nick’s Italian Café in McMinnville, perhaps the oldest spot known for fine food. I expected good but Nick’s was simply incredible. The chef prepared a three course meal with appetizer and dessert just for our group. They also provided an Oregon and Italian wine with each course.

We started antipasta plate of meat and cheeses then we all went crazy for savory custard of green garlic with pickled spring onions and seared shitakes. It was one of two dishes of the week! I’ll get to the other. The wines were an Archery Summit Pinot Gris and Italian Vermentino.Manigle

Our Second course was a delightful pasta/sausage dish in olive oil and parnmesan sauce. Next came the most tender in-house aged ribeye you can ever imagine. We finished with a cheese plate.

Lunch at Winderlea Winery the next day held its own prepared by former Tina’s chef Abby McManigle. While consuming the vineyard views we nibbled on a crostini with a goat cheese mousse, cherries, cracked almond and mint. The lunch’s second dish was the other most-talked about one of the week.

Our second course was seared prawns in a Tomatillo with a fresh corn basil relish. It rocked with sips of Winderlea’s Chardonnay – one of the region’s best for my palate. We enjoyed coffee-chile crusted beef, purple potatoes and baby greens. The finish was a vanilla crumb cake, fresh strawberries and buttermilk citrus sauce. It was pretty rockin with Winderlea’s vineyard-designate Pinot Noir.

The grand meal wrapping up the week was at the heralded Recipe – A Neighborhood Kitchen – restaurant in Newberg. After onion tart and escargot appetizers, the group feasted on duck and an array of yummy desserts.

Every bite was a highlight at Recipe but the big hit might have been a drink. We had a bottle of 2000 Eyrie Vineyard Pion Noir that just might have been the best glass of Pinot in my seven years of wine writing.

So the trip might have been billed as a Pinot Noir trip – and it certainly was -but future trips will also emphasize the incredible cuisine of the Northwest. Check back frequently for dates on the 2015 Drink & Eat Oregon experience!

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Oregon, Provence Wines Big Hit

08 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by Howard in Oregon

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David Adelsheim, Jean-Jacquies Breban, Jesse Lange, Lynn Penner-Ash, Pinot in the Windy City, Provence, Willamette Valley Wineries, Winderlea Winery

CHCIAGO, Il. – As trade events go, Thursday was a smash hit. The Willamette Valley wineries created a standing room only response during their first trip to Chicago.

Organizers said 500 trade (wine importers, wholesalers, retailers, and wine press) members registered and crowded into City Winery on the city’s near downtown west side.

Even more impressive was the 500 registered for the public tasting event Thursday night at $65 per person.

Penner-Ash

Penner-Ash

I was able to interview some old Oregon friends and several I’ve always wanted to meet. I chatted with Lynn Penner-Ash, David Adelsheim, and John Bergstrom among others.

Oregon Pinot Noir has established a standard that almost never disappoints. The wines were amazing. I talked with many of those folks and others about the emergency – or continued emergency – of Oregon Chardonnay.

After catching up with old friends Jesse Lange, Bill and Donna of Winderlea, and David Milliman of Drouhin, I dashed across town to the Provence tasting.

Breban

Breban

The most amazing thing about the wonderful Provence wines is the price point. Fabulous Rose’ can cost as little as $12-$18. I had the chance to interview Jean-Jacquies Breban, President of the Provence Wine Council about Rose’ booming popularlity in the US and what that means to producers back in France.

I have notes on some labels to explore and specific great wines I tasted I’ll get up in next few days. I remain on the road for my real job for a couple more days.

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Curt Is here for a shift or two on weekends. He and I will be here Saturday for Sipps. This weeks lineup includes a new very affordable Prosecco, a great value white burgundy, and a wonderful Grand cru red burgundy. Join this Saturday pouring starts at 11 AM and we go until four or five. Bring a friend and tell a friend!
Have you met Karen? She works mid week mornings at the shop and is reminding everyone to join us for Saturday Sipps this weekend. We will be pouring the popular Auntsfield Sauv Blanc, another new Rose, and a Pinot noir from the Loire Valley! It all begins at 11 AM through the afternoon
Very mixed thoughts about an unplanned visit to Nonna’s Italian Italian in Plainfield just off I 70 from last night. Unexpectedly stuck in town for a couple of hours thought I would try it out it’s an odd set up where you have to order at the register. Calamari was great my salad was great the lasagna was good except for some odd white sauce top of the marinara which was delicious the white sauce was congealed and tasted bitter… The home-baked roll was delicious… The glass of Gabbiano Chianti was OK well I paid 1150 for a glass that sells for eight bucks … total bill $36 for those items which I thought was a little high mostly the wine cost. Service seem confused and disjointed but they were all very pleasant I’d probably give it a second chance not sure
Join Curt and I Saturday at the Wine Shop for Saturday Sipps. We will be pouring an unusual and delicious Austrian Rose, Italian Vermentino, and Sicilian red! Of course, all three 20 percent off Saturday only!

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