BY LANCE SPARKS
Lance in Wonderland
Let’s talk about wine, not conniving,
fascist scoundrels
M
ore wine. Lotsa wine. Good wine.
Buysumwine.
Whew! Glad I got that off my
chest and off my desk. Mission accom-
plished, right? Actually, I just put down my
giant golden hookah, exhaled one huga-
cious puff of dried herbal matter (custom
blend of banana leaves, papaya, ylang-
ylang, lotus root), decided to get busy, bring
on a column fully devoted to wine, just
wine — nothing about racists, fascists, war-
mongering, thieving, conniving, lying, mur-
derous, pus-sucking scoundrels and their
mealy-mouthed apologists ....
Sorry, won’t happen again. Wine: beau-
tiful stuff, tasty as food, with food, essential
adjunct of good living. Helpful in ignoring
blood-letting, genocidal slaughter, suffering
of innocents, “holy” wars ....
Ooops. Focus: Genuine, heart-felt kudos
to local-guy Dieter Boehm whose High
Pass 2002 Pinot Noir, Walnut Ridge
Vineyard, won a gold medal, Best of
Classification, and Best of Show at this
year’s Oregon State Fair. Our neighbors in
the west foothills confirmed what many of
us knew so well, that the southern
Willamette Valley yields some of our state’s
best wines. Check your local wine shop for
this wine and others wearing the High Pass
colors.
Gold medals also went to local folks for
LaVelle Vineyards 2003 Riesling
Estate, a consistently lovely wine, and
Iris Hill 2002 Pinot Gris, really good
gris, super value. Note: If the 2002s are off
the shelves, grab the 2003s, likely as good,
if not better.
Local silver medals:
• Benton-Lane Winery 2001 Pinot
Noir Estate, delicious wine; Chateau
Lorane Non-Vintage Apricot Mead
(knockout flavors); 2001 Marechal
Foch, Organic; 2002 Pinot Gris,
Organic; 2002 Viognier (crab wine!);
2002 Baco Noir; High Pass 2002
Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc,
yummy dessert wine; King Estate 2001
Pinot Noir, Domaine (how this wine did
not win gold is a deep mystery); 2001
Pinot Noir; 2003 Late Harvest
Pinot Gris, Vin Glacé; LaVelle
Vineyards 2002 Pinot Gris; maybe
the judges had a limited number of golds to
dispense or this could have had one.
Our neighbors also won a bagful of
bronzes, too many to list (mission not quite
accomplished, OK?), but the basic lesson is
clear: We can drink home-country wines
this harvest and sacrifice nothing in quality,
gain gobs in value.
While we’re thinking about hometown
values, gotta mention Territorial Vineyards
and Wine Company. I admit to being bored
by most chardonnays, especially some of
the older California-style chards that tend to
taste rather like an oak footstool. And most
Oregon chards have been, until recently,
largely forgettable. But Territorial 2002
Chardonnay tickles my palate, pretty with
aromas and flavors of tropical fruits, some
citrus notes and vanilla tones from careful
use of oak, and, at $13, a bargain.
I suggest a taste treat for lovers of
chardonnay: Discover the grape’s own fla-
vors in a surprising costume. For a long
while, Australian chardonnays one-upped
the Californians, producing oak-bomb
chards that were gooey and saturated with
wood at half the Cal-price. They’re still
beating the Cal-wines to death on price-
points, but they have moved toward greater
sophistication in managing flavor.
Yalumba
2003
Unwooded
Chardonnay ($13) is rich in flavors of
melons, baked apples, honey and pineapple
with a crisp citrus acidity that matches with
a wide range of foods — just delish, the real
deal.
When I wrote the August rosé column, I
tried to conduct a fairly comprehensive
inductive survey, but inevitably I missed
some beauties. And you shouldn’t:
John Paul, of Cameron Winery in
Dundee, is one of my favorite people in
Oregon wine. He’s smart, witty, deeply
wine savvy and thoroughly iconoclastic. He
also makes some fine juice of the vine.
Cameroni delle Colline Rosse Vino
Pinko ($13) is a blast, from label to con-
tents. Gotta love the portrait of Ché
Guevara, one of the bravest and most decent
men who ever drew breath (and CIA assas-
sins’ bullets). The wine is deep pink, burst-
ing with aromas/flavors of fresh raspberries,
nicely balanced, revolutionary rosé.
Russ Raney, owner/winemaker of
Evesham Wood in Salem, is one of the most
revered wine mavens in this region, and
Evesham Wood 2003 Rosé of Pinot
Noir, Vin d’Une Nuit ($11) offers vital
lessons in effects of temperature on flavor.
We bought the wine way chilled (like most
folk think they’re supposed to serve white
wines, sparklers, and rosés), rolled right
home and popped the top — and wondered
if Russ had bumped his bean. Cold, the
wine was closed in aroma (of course) and
delivered these tart rhubarb notes. The wine
warmed. We tasted again. Cool, the wine
blossomed; flavors emerged of raspberries,
strawberries, roses, tingling hints of spice,
flat-out terrific, as comely and complex as a
light-bodied pinot noir, a modest homage to
a master of that grape. It’s a steal at this
price.
There we go, all wine all the time. No
more wimpy wine-whining letters from
pink racists, right? Hope you voted early
and often. I’m firing up the hookah.
ew
Lance Sparks has been writing about fine food and
wine since the rabbit went down the hole.
OCTOBER 7, 2004 39