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JUNE 19, 2003
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®
ON CAMPUS NEXT TO SACRED HEART HOSPITAL
T a s ty T h ai Ki t ch en
T r a d i ti on al
S p ec ia l s
by Owner and
Chef Pismai
LUNCH SPECIALS
$2.95 - $7.50
•Vegetarian
Menu
•Dine In or
Take Out
11 am - 9:30 pm Mon - Fri
4 pm - 9:30 pm Sat
12 pm - 9:30 pm Sun
80 E. 29th & Willamette
302-6444
Fridays from 4 to 6pm
June 6 : Lindeman’s - Aussie reds & whites.
June 13 : Cabernet - Value priced selections.
June 20 : Viognier - Exotic, aromatic whites.
June 27 : Chianti - Recent arrivals.
TASTINGS
FREE
WINE
44 JUNE 5, 2003
Saturdays from 4 to 6pm
June 7 : Freja - Graceful Oregon pinot noir.
June 14 : Territorial Cellars - Pinot noir and
pinot gris from a new hometown winery.
June 21 : Northern Italy - 1997 vintage wines
from Piedmont.
June 28 : Adelsheim - Oregon pinot pioneer.
Also: Saturday “Superpours” - A chance to sample ( for a small fee)
a selected high-end wine from our shelves.
Want to learn about wine?
Our next Intro to Fine Wine
class is July 17, 24, 31 & Aug.
7. Call Steve for registration
& details.
OPEN DAILY UNTIL 7PM
2470 ALDER ST.
687-WINE
ORWINES.COM
You picked a wine time to squeeze me, Lucille.
1 FREE 12 OZ. SODA
1211 ALDER
686-9598
Grape Expectations
SUNDANCE
W I N E C E L L A R S
S
leuth, snoop, private eye/dick,
gumshoe, quidnunc, ferret — by
whatever name, the job of
investigating criminal behavior —
of whatever sort — requires a
strong heart and an iron stom-
ach. Detectives’ work brings
them constantly into contact
with the worst of human corrup-
tion, malfeasance and simple
muck. Spend enough time in that
muck and after a while it becomes harder to
remember that most people are good, decent,
worth working for; cops everywhere run the
risk of forgetting that they’re not the only
good guys.
Admittedly, sleuthing in the wine busi-
ness is (usually) not nearly as nasty as nosing
into, say, Enron, Halliburton, Wall Street or
Republican politics, but the Dark Side works
here, too, resulting in price gouging, adulter-
ated wines, phony labeling, careless overuse
of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, all
pursuit of unearned gains. Still, the wine biz
is mostly composed of farmers and small
businesspeople who risk their assets, their
labors and their hopes to bring to market a
product that adds immeasurably to con-
sumers’ quality of life.
And as my old pal Mole says, “Mosta
dese folks woik like galley slaves ‘n’ salt
miners, takin’ care o’ dere vines like dey was
dere own kids, fussin’, worryin’ ’bout
weather ‘n’ bugs ‘n’ markets harder to pr’dict
than slot machines — ’n’ when dey bring in
da grapes, dey try lak crazy t’ make a drink
dat’s bee-ootiful. Mosta dem, ‘specially in
Ory-gone, ony dream ’bout someday makin’
a profit. If dat ain’t love, what is? Gotta be
love, ‘cuz it sure ain’t money.”
And the game is rough for all the players
along the line from growers to consumers —
importers, wholesalers, retailers, restaura-
teurs — with more losers than big winners.
Lots of wine folk grimace at the old gag:
“Wanna make a small fortune in wine? Start
with a large one.”
So why do it? Because there’s something
so unnameably beautiful in the experience of
a fine wine, especially in the encounter with
good food in the company of good friends
and family. Pull a cork on a good bottle, pour,
delight in elusive colors in the play of light,
sniff a complex garden of aromas, sip and
savor flavors that fill the mouth and linger on
the tongue and change with every bite of food
and every passing minute of time. That’s the
magic, the driving force of wine, a resound-
ing world of good only rarely tainted by any
crime.
That’s why, when I sleuth and write these
columns, I almost always seek and find the
good, the tasty, the sublime. Recent cases:
F
ind ElvenGlade Vineyards
2001 Pinot Gris ($10): This vin-
tage marks the first release from a
small producer near Gaston in Yamhill
County, owned by Bill Kelley. The wine was
crafted by the gifted David O’Reilly, who
also makes his own superb line under the
Sineann label; his rendition of ElvenGlade’s
grapes is creamy, rich with flavors and aro-
mas of melons and ripe pears, but balanced in
acidity for good food, just delicious,
mouth-filling and soul-satisfying.
David O’Reilly also produces
one of Oregon’s best, and best-
value, pinot noirs: O’Reilly’s
2001 Pinot Noir ($13) has
the fruit, flavor, balance and
price to make it delish to serve
with a wide range of spring-harvest
foods.
The world might be
ready to come back to
South Africa’s wines.
Still lurking on some retailers’ shelves,
you should be able to uncover the last bottles
of Springhill 1999 Reserve Pinot Noir
($18); grab it, for depth, complexity, rich fla-
vors and aromas. Open the bottle and pour a
little into a glass, let both sit for about two
hours before serving. Be happy.
Hatcher Wineworks (McMinnville) is a
small producer with talents for buying superb
grapes and blending for distinctive style, a
traditional practice in Burgundy: Hatcher’s A
to Z 2001 Pinot Noir ($19) is fine wine
and super value.
This week at Sundance Wine Cellars,
about 40 people gathered to taste wines from
an unusual source — South Africa. (White)
South Africans have been growing grapes
and making wine for 350 years — but until
the end of racial oppression and forced segre-
gation under the policy of Apartheid in the
early ’90s, most wine folk just weren’t inter-
ested in their products. But since the demise
of that brutish, criminal practice, South
Africa has come back to the world, and the
world might be ready to come back to South
Africa’s wines. At least that’s the bet placed
by young Matthew Parrott, a South African
transplanted to Eugene, who, with encour-
agement from friends here and there, has
launched Paragon Wines, importing from the
Cape region (for now) and hoping to reach
consumers in Eugene, the Northwest, and be-
yond.
Mr. Parrott poured a selection of wines
from several producers and in several vari-
etals — sauvignon blanc, rosé, cabernet
sauvignon and pinotage (a South African hy-
brid of pinot noir and cinsault, quite interest-
ing). The wines were good value, most priced
in the $8-15 range, of good quality. The
lineup’s star was Reyneke (RAIN-eky)
2001 Reserve ($20), a blend of shiraz
(syrah), merlot and cab, rich in dark fruit
sniffies and tasties, generous even behind
firm tannins (should age gracefully), from a
producer dedicated to biodynamic growing
(think organic to the third power). The wines
won’t arrive for about five weeks, but they’re
worth the wait — and the money.
Suss out these good wines, from good
folks, and take your own special bite — or sip
— out of crime.
ew