Thirty Oregon Wines in Thirty Days, DAY 30! Quady North GSM

February 2, 2015 / thewinesnob / Leave a comment

Its finally day 30! Even though I’m a day late posting this and its actually February right now, I am pretty proud that I finished what I set out to do. In the past, I would always resolve to post at least once a week. Then life would get away from me, I’d get distracted, sometimes a little slack.. and not do it. So I’m really glad that I forced myself to write a lot this past month. My wallet needs a little rest, though. I ain’t gonna lie.

But I already have a great many items on my blogging agenda for February! Among them, a trip to Lumos, Patton Valley’s Rosé release on the 14th AND the 2015 Bubbles Fest at Anne Amie on the 14th, too! Thats gonna be a good day, right there. This is the most I’ve looked forward to Valentines Day in at least a decade. Woot!

90 points Wine Spectator, right here.

This wine, the Quady North GSM, 2011 Rogue Valley, caught my eye a couple times at Roth’s, and then Valley Wine Merchants posted about it on Facebook a few weeks ago. Its been in the back of my mind for a while, so I decided to make it the last wine of the Thirty Oregon Wines project, because two out of its three grapes haven’t been written about yet! Grenache and Mourvedre. I geeked out a little over the fact that this is an Oregon GSM. My Oregon GSM cherry has officially been popped.

These guys are pretty hot- this wine got 90 Points from Wine Spectator, and there’s a host of accolades to go around for several of their other wines too. If I blind tasted this, I definitely would guess California Grenache. The nose is herby and savory, a little wily and a little meaty. The Mourvedre “funk” brings in a touch of smoke, pepper and almost mesquite BBQ. Red fruit is also prominent, plenty of red cherry and raspberry. Touches of sage and leather. The finish is what grabs me with this wine. As silky as it could be, with a touch of creamy vanilla makes for an uplifting conclusion.

This wine seems to be a winner at our dinner table. Its been open for maybe an hour, and is becoming more outgoing as the time passes. That finish, though. Its hanging on strong! I dig it. This is a cool find. I’d be really interested to try more wines from Quady, including their Rosé (squee! it’s almost Rosé time!) It has also continued the piquing of my interest in whats going on in Southern Oregon.

ANYWAY, I want to thank everyone who’s followed along on this lil’ project! I’ve gotten a lot of really nice comments and feedback from readers, which feels great! Its helped me really hone in and focus on Oregon wine, which seems like a crucial element to why I decided to uproot and move out here. Plus, its been fun and I’ve learned a lot. Hope you have, too!

This wine was purchased at Valley Wine Merchants in Newberg for $26.

Thirty Oregon Wines in Thirty Days, day 25: Vermentino in Oregon?!

January 26, 2015January 26, 2015 / thewinesnob / Leave a comment

Wrapping up the last week of my Oregon grapes project, I’m kind of scrambling to try to include as many as possible! So this is a duplicate winery, but I really dug the Zinfandel I wrote about from Troon, so I returned once again. And selfishly, I can walk to this place and its a pretty chill little tasting room. So meet the Troon “Foundation ’72” Vermentino, 2013 Oregon, Applegate Valley! It was the first Vermentino in Oregon:

Vermentino is kind of a super star in California right now; winemakers are experimenting with different styles with great success (Matthiasson, Rhyme). These grapes come from Southern Oregon, so its not a far stretch that they can live happily in the slightly warmer Rogue Valley. These grapes were grafted in 2006 onto vines that were first planted in 1972.

This is a lean style of Vermentino, and very quaffable. Vermentino is native to Southern Italy and is a pretty accommodating grape- it likes a warm climate and ocean breezes, but in this case its maintained a sense of self despite being in Oregon. It is also a grape that can be treated in many different manners and still be delicious- the Troon is fermented in stainless steel, but it can be made in a slightly richer style as well.

Vermentino can offer a wide range of fun aromas and tastes- from apple and fresh flowers to ripe citrus, melon and tropical fruit. It almost always has a nice degree of minerality and acid that keeps it from feeling weighty. Mr. Troon here is tart and almost spritzy, with lemon zest, grapefruit, a little bit of a flinty edge and a mouthwatering dry finish. It pulls off a fresh, mediterranean feel. This wine got 87 points from Wine Enthusiast- I consider that pretty respectable for a modest-priced wine. Sometimes if you don’t see the “9” in front of a score its easy to disregard it. Just remember, there’s a lotta numbers less than 87. Like 60 or 73. Which are not so great. Has a wine ever scored, like 40 points? Someone answer this for me. I’m curious.

I can see this wine being a really fun glass pour in a restaurant. I always like surprising glass pours. Apparently Troon will be doing a few different bottlings/styles of Vermentino for the 2014 vintage, which I believe will be released in February. I’ll be looking forward to trying them fo’ sho! So, will Vermentino blow up in Oregon and become a “thing”? Not really sure I can confidently answer that, but I sure don’t mind this one.

I tasted this wine at the Troon Vineyards Tasting Room in Carlton. The bottle is available for purchase for $18.

Cheers!

Thirty Oregon Wines in Thirty Days: Day 4- we goin’ South!

January 4, 2015 / thewinesnob / 3 Comments

Well, not toooo far south, we’re still in Oregon. But today we’re going to the Applegate Valley! This wine is my first trip there. I intend to go back. Both physically and in wine form. Why? 1.) the actual place is only about 4 hours from here, and 2.) the Troon Vineyard Carlton Tasting Room is literally up the street. I went by there on a whim this past Friday and was really glad I did.

So here she is, the Troon Vineyard Estate Zinfandel, 2012 Applegate Valley…

Zin? Oregon? Wha?

So, given that this part of Oregon is not really all that far from California, I suppose it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise to me that there’s Zin down there. But this little secret hasn’t made it to the East Coast yet, because I had no idea.

The Applegate Valley, as it turns out, is contained entirely within the Rogue Valley AVA. In the same way that the Ribbon Ridge Ava is contained within Chehalem Mountains AVA. Maybe that didn’t require an explanation, but there you have it. It is much hotter there than in the Willamette Valley, the tasting room manager, Meg, was telling me. Last summer, when Willamette was averaging around 90 degrees for a duration, it was 100+ in the Applegate Valley. Which makes it even more sensible that Zin would like to grow there, as Zin loves heat. There is also less rainfall, and I’m pretty sure Zin likes it dry, too.

Allow me to preface these tasting notes by saying that I had somewhat low expectations of this wine. First, because Zin isn’t typically a grape I gravitate towards. And second, because I still don’t have a ton of experience with this part of Oregon. The Umpqua and Rogue Valley wines that reached me in South Carolina never stuck out as favorites. I recall one Gewürztrainer from Brandborg and the Umpqua Valley that I loved, but that’s about it.

So, given my expectations being set low, maybe it was destined that I be impressed with this wine. But lemee tellya- I really like this wine. I actually had to apologize to the tasting room manager, because I felt like my utter surprise could potentially have been construed as having previously thought their wines were crap (again, not true, as that day was my maiden voyage with Troon wines).

So why don’t I love Zin, usually? I dunno. It’s just not my jam. I don’t love high alcohol-fruit bombs, I generally have more of an affinity for white wine in general, there’s so many California Zins that are unbearably average and some that are downright terrible, if we’re being honest. So then along comes this wine and really makes me wonder. Which I love! I love being made to think. So thank you, Troon Zin. And before you get defensive, California, I KNOW there are good ones out there and I DO like them. Heck, every 2012 Turley Zin I had last year blew me away. Just sayin’- I don’t flock to them.

I can walk here! Be jealous. Plus the Carlton Bakery is across the street. Nom.

EGADS, I’m getting wordy again. Lets get to it: this wine has no shortage of ripeness. Raspberry jam, blackberry pie, some leaner rhubarb-y accents, macerated cherries and dried cranberry. It lingers with a nice warmth and pleasant cinnamon, vanilla, clove, a touch of mocha, and a brambly undertone. At 14.4% alcohol, its not flabby in the least.

Its worth noting that this wine just got 88 points from Wine Enthusiast. Props to the tasting room for not flaunting that- I like to reach my own conclusions. I like an 88 point rating, personally. Its solid evidence that a wine is good, but unlike a 90+ rating, you don’t have to see it plastered all over press materials for the next year.

If I was gonna build someone a case of truly unique wine from Oregon, this would be one of ’em.

This concludes Day 4! This wine was purchased at the Troon Carlton Tasting Room in Carlton for $29.