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Cannon Beach
It’s June A fine month The rain abates, the grass in my
la«n does not need to be mowed every other day, the belov ed
Red Sox mount their annual charge toward the top as the
David Cone-less Yankees and the heartless Orioles slide back
to the pack and all sorts of new wines are released Despite the
new releases the best thing about June is that the very
confusing and depressing political primary season is over and
the nasty and disturbing political election season really won t
get under way until July or (hope against hope) August
The wines that are out there that are begging to be tried are
the 1995 releases of Pinot gris. More and more Oregon
wineries are putting out Pinot gris, the vines are getting a
little bit older (this is predominantly a very young vine wine
in Oregon w ith most pliuiting occurring alter 1990) and an area
specific style is starting to be adopted. Pinot gns is a super
summer wine because it goes great w ith outdoorsy sorts ol
foods. Well made Pinot gns will be light and fruity enough to
pair well with salads, sandwiches and gnlled vegetables while
still having the moxie and weight to complement grilled fish
(salmon and halibut especially).
Another pleasing characteristic of Oregon Pinot gns is that
it rarely sells lor more than $14. So it you are looking lor a
drinkable summer style wine that won’t break your bank
account, cheek out some Pinot gris. To make the buying
easier for you I have resorted to cheap thrills, i es, I have
succumbed to a ranking system based upon the 100 point
scale. While it generally is reflective ot scales used by much
more renowned sources such as The Wine Spectator, Robert
Parker, etc., tlus scale is in no way as fonnal The wines were
tasted over a penod of a few day s and often times w ith many
different people who had various levels ol input into this
column So here goes.
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Eacli Week
88 Cooper M ountain. Expansive apple and pear fruits
leading into a mid-palate containing some clover and nutty
nuances. Very clean and crisp floral bouquet makes the wine
enticing. Decent riclmess and combination of flavors.
Excellent varietal characteristics. Nice viscosity and mouth
feel. $12.
87 Oak Knoll Winery. Very clean and cnsp nose
punctuated by flowery apple blossoms Nice flavors ol pears,
pine nuts and apples with a touch of earth on the finish. A
little tingly right now in the mouth but that could settle out
leaving nice viscosity and a rich mouth feel $11.50.
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Laurel’s
87 Torii M or Winery. Biggest fruits of all the Pinot
gris w hile still maintaining balance and varietal character.
Sliced apple and pear flavors with a touch of earthiness and a
hint of citrus. A decent backbone of acid doesn’t interfere with
the flavors but certainly lends itself to making tlus more of a
food wine. $13.50.
86 Adelsheim Vineyards. Tremendous viscosity and
mouth feel Easily the smoothest and richest ot the Pinot gris
tasted A little touch of wet hay in the nose and in the mid
palate are slight distractions to the full bodied pear, melon and
apple flavors Grassiness could blow oil in 3-6 months as
fruit opens up. $13
Cannon
Beach
Wine Shop
263 N. Hemlock
(303) 436-1666
xvhv sh o u ld w e su b sid ize in te lle c tu a l cu rio sity ?
W y
R onald W ilson Reagan
flaming carrot catering
86 Autumn Wind Vineyards. Exceptionally crisp
fruits, probably a little bit tight right now. Clean sliced green
apple flavors ;uid some nice spice are the dominant features of
this wine. May seem a little lean to some but given 3-6 more
months in the bottle it will open significantly. $12.
85 Elk Cove Vineyards. Very smooth and viscous in
the mouth. A touch lean on the fruit but may open in time.
A little hay flavor to it. Lower acid makes for a round, soft
wine that is very appealing for drinking on its own or with
slightly creamier foods than normally served with Pinot gris.
$12.
82 Westrey Vineyards. Leesy (the stuff in the bottom of
the barrels that settles out as the wine ages) and banana scented
nose Big fruits centered around bananas, pears and peaches.
May be a touch overripe as the fruit flavors border on being
flabby . Not great weight in the mouth Not an exciting
version of Pinot gris but a departure from usual sty le $ 11 25
80 Bridgeview Vineyards. Big, fat apricotty and peachy
nose. Very tart flavors of pineapples, peaches and melons
Higher acid than most Pinot gris. A touch of residual sugar
and some grassy flavors makes one think there is excessive
young vine fruit or overcropped fruit in the wine Also a
“fiery " quality not unlike drinking orange juice when you have
a cut in your mouth occurs perhaps from the acid or from a
large CO2 added prior to bottling Blue bottle and blue cork
make for interesting packaging $ 11 .50.
79 W illakenzie Vineyards. Crisp nose of apples and
pears Light and lean wine with too much residual sugar to
give it good varietal character Wine seems to be heading in
the right direction but perhaps the fermentation could not be
fimshed or they cut it off to avoid an excessive alcohol
content. $13.
75 Erath Vineyards. Excessively sweet hard candy
scented nose Moderated pear flavors are nice in the front of
the wine although 2/3 of the way into the flavor a bitter
quality arises and finishes the wine off abruptly. Could be the
wine was pressed a little too hard and some phenolics are
coming through. $13.
73 Bethel Heights Winery. Simple and light wine with
some odd flavors to it. A touch of bubble gum-like sweetness
offsets some lean pear and apple flavors. Not a whole lot
going on in tlus wine First time production by top notch
Oregon winery $12
70 Sokol Blosser Winery, first Pinot gris they have
made Monstrous nose of decaying mangos Definitely
residual sugar in the wine Light and weightless except for a
2
U T T iM U T tD G i
3U N E
Wk
pat tippett
1706 NE 32nd.
Portland. Oregon 97212
(503) 288-3090
touch of efferv escence that may be due to bottling with some
CO2. A very odd Pinot gris. Perhaps if you like White
Riesling you would enjoy this wine If so, you might enjoy
the phonetic spelling they included on the back label $13.50.
While I did not find anything that blew me away 1 did find
the majority of the Pinot gris out there to be at least good
(80+ points) and a handful of very good (85+ points) 1 and
the people with whom I test-drank were not enamored by the
wines that strayed off into a sweeter area although people who
are traditionally Riesling or Muller Thurgau drinkers might
find these to be nice bridge wines between sweet and dry In
general these wines are still quite y oung and while drinkable
now' will certainly be better off given any bottle aging that
you can give them This being said, though, remember that
with a few exceptions most Oregon wineries produce fewer
than 250 cases of Pinot gris in any given vintage, so if you
find one that you like, latch on to a few bottles because it will
be gone in a hurry
Recommended Wines For the Month: With the ‘95
Pinot gris coming out there are also more and more top end
1994 Pinot noirs hitting the shelves these days. This
bally hooed vintage is something that I have intentionally tried
to play down because the expectations for every Pinot noir
from this vintage arc so outrageously high 1 maintain that
while this may be an exceptional vintage you still must buy
carefully to get good deals Now the top wineries are starting
to release their single vineyard, vintage select and reserve
bottlings. These are wines to jump on and jump on hard
Most are not ready for immediate consumption due to the
concentration and intensity present in the wine Wines to look
for and buy are:
Any Panther Creek vineyard designate Bednarik, Shea,
Freedom Hill -- big, muscular wines with outrageous
concentration and structure, most not ready for qiutc some
time Fiddlehead Cellars -- deep and bold, loaded with
dark, sweet fruits and a lot of spice and a few months away
from drinkability St. Innocent Mt. Jefferson Cuvee
one of the more accessible wines out there right now
C rlstom Tem perance Hill Vineyard - whopping Iruit
complemented by chocolate and coffee style flavors, a little
more oak than I prefer but still well integrated and better in
two years
Philip Thompson
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