wine
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
BY LANCE SPARKS
Silver Linings
THANK YOU EUGENE FOR 8 GREAT YEARS
voted BEST SUSHI by EW readers 2009-2011
FREE TEMPURA
Good wine buys ease in the New Year
M
ole and his beamish
bride Molly held
their annual New
Year’s bash, this one called
The Tea Potty Speshul. As
always, Molly chefed a
lavish spread that sated
the horde, but Mole,
usually costumed in over-
sized Depends, white silk
sash and black top hat,
instead was clad in street
togs, sunk in full mope, on
the verge of tears. For fi rst-
time readers, Mole (aka Round
Mound of Merlot) is my sidekick and the
world’s sweetest guy, a fount of goodwill
with bottomless faith in his fellow beings
(unless they make bad wine).
So Mole in a mope bodes not well. I
tried consoling: “Hey, pal, why the droopy
jowls? It’s a new year, a new decade.
Oregon 2008 pinot noir is hotter’n last
year’s derivatives. Hoopla, buddy!”
“Sleut’,” — he calls me Sleuth, an
honor — “I been to da Tea Potty, ’n’ dose
guys gots crazy ideas ’n’ lotsa dough from
greedheads, ’n’ dey’re gonna make nasty
politics dis year. Like, da poor billionaires,
I nevah hoid woise oxy-morons!”
I couldn’t disagree, and silver linings
have been scarce lately, so I tried to re-
focus him on wine, which he loves, which
is also odd ’cause he doesn’t drink much,
just sips ’n’ savors. “Chum,” I said, draping
an arm across his yard-wide shoulders,
“it’s always been like this, ’cept when it’s
been worse. Our job is to help people ease
the pain by showing the way to good-value
vinos that’ll brighten their tables, right?
Heck, we even found a decent merlot
wearin’ a fair sticker, ’member?”
His head came up, his eyes narrowed.
Not a good idea to jab at merlot with Mole;
mention the movie Sideways and he gets
edgy. “Yeaaah,” he drew it out, checking
me for irony, “dat’s true. Really
good juice, good price.”
James, bartender at
Marché, tipped us to this
Washington op: The
House of Independent
Producers,
run
by
Christophe
Hedges,
wine iconoclast with
deep
eno-breeding,
breaks all marketing
rules and utterly disdains
the 100-point rating scale
used by wine press. Starts
by growing sustainably, making
really good wines — chardonnay and
merlot, both often pooh-poohed these
days, outta fashion — then slaps on an
elaborate label, dripping with gewgaws
like ersatz coats of arms, Latin phrases,
French names, cryptic numbers, gold
fi ligree, yadda-yadda. Shuns advertising,
tickets the whole package for value. Fun
stuff.
Watch for La Bourgeoisie, red
letters, white background, then, fi rst,
Dionysus Vineyard (gold script)
Chardonnay 2009, Columbia Valley
($12!); unscrew the cap, pour, taste the
full, rich character of real chardonnay
fruit, no oak-table-leg fl avors, ripe, round,
food-ready, delish. Or: La Bourgeoisie
2008 Merlot ($12), Columbia Valley,
forward fruits (black cherry, cassis, whiff
of chocolate) but not at all fl abby and
spineless, distinctly steak-friendly.
Local excellence, back from the brink:
Iris Vineyards 2008 Pinot Gris
($15) has the crisp, tangy pear/apple/citrus
fl avors that make Dungeness crab just
zing. Give a hand for the Cottage Grovers.
These are the wines that lifted Mole
from the funk and made “da Tea Potty
Speshul” the New Year’s best party. Wish
you were there. Oh, and go Ducks. Quack
’em up, champs.
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EUGENE WEEKLY JANUARY 6, 2011 25