WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Happy Countdown-To-Labor-Day-Weekend Day! On this fine day you are the lucky recipient of the Carpe Vinum Extreme Newsletter of Extreme Wines of Extreme Importance and the Tasting Announcement of Extreme Extremeness! This week it’s the tasting of all tastings. It’s a tasting that I’ve been threatening to do for a few months: It’s Oregon Pinot Noirs Retailing Under $20! Or as I like to call it “The Oregon Pinot Noir Shootout”. I’ll come up with a better name eventually . . . and I’m always open to suggestions.

So! It’s Pinot Noir! What is a Pinot Noir? Wait . . . you don’t know what a Pinot Noir is? Have you been living under a rock? Oregon Pinot has only been the biggest thing since *gasp* Napa Valley! Everyone in the country has been trying to get their filthy mitts on our blessed, beloved and precious Pinots. In fact, the demand has gotten to the point that the pricing has gotten all out-of-control. Most of the Oregon Pinots out there are retailing between $30 and $60. And then there’s the expensive ones. Why?! Why?! Why?!

Well, for one, the Oregon winemakers have been able to coax this finicky grape into a lovely wine of finesse and complexity; qualities that have often eluded other American winemakers. When blind tastings have revealed Oregon Pinot as a rival to the exquisite Burgundy of France, the world took note. Even still, the production of Oregon Pinot is miniscule in size, in the grand scheme of things, but the demand is huge.

Then there was this independent movie called Sideways. It’s wasn’t about wine per se, but it was the theme of the thing running throughout . . . two guys cruising through wine country with brief stops for wine and plot complications. Still, the way Pinot Noir was revered in the movie elevated the film and the wine to cult status, and national Pinot wine sales went through the roof. (For your convenience, the main passage from that movie that turned so many people on to the Pinot has been thoroughly plagiarized from IMDB and posted at the bottom of the email.)

So where does that leave us? Well, now that the price of pinot has gone through the roof, and the wines are disappearing just about as fast as they are released, we find ourselves in a very lucky place: Oregon. Portland. If the Willamette Valley is the heart of wine country, Portland is the brain of wine country. (And inconsequentially, I guess that makes the mountain ranges the lungs of wine country, and Bend the spleen of wine country . . . or something like that.) So as the brain of wine country, we are the first to know what goes on. And when those few -those ever decreasing few Pinots that appear under $20 and sell out immediately- we’re there and snatching up these values. That’s what I’m here for.

So I compiled a list of all the Under-$20 Pinots I could find in-town. Considering the number of Pinots that are available in Oregon, there aren’t very many that retail under $20. I found about 50 of them. Once done sorting through all the ones of questionable quality, the ones that had already sold out, and removing the ones that were under $20 only by virtue of bottle size (half-bottles are cheating), I came up with my list. Oh, and speaking of cheating, the premium pours are actually Pinots under $30. They’re supposed to be “premium”, right?

So Friday, September 1st, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

The Exquisite Pinot Under $20!!!
O’Reilly’s 2005 Pinot Noir
Ransom 2004 Jigsaw Pinot Noir
Territorial 2004 Pinot Noir
La Bete 2004 Pinot Noir, Momtazi Vineyard
La Dolce Vita 2003 Pinot Noir

The Exquisite Pinot Under $30!!!
Lange Winery 2004 Reserve Pinot Noir
Cristom 2004 Pinot Noir, Mt. Jefferson

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Wines of Washington!

M

Plagiarized from Sideways:

MAYA Why are you so into Pinot? It’s like a thing with you.

Miles laughs at first, then smiles wistfully at the question.
He searches for the answer in his glass and begins slowly.

MILES
I don’t know. It’s a hard grape to grow. As you know. It’s thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It’s not a survivor like Cabernet that can grow anywhere and thrive even when neglected. Pinot needs constant care and attention and in fact can only grow in specific little tucked-away corners of the world. And only the most patient and nurturing growers can do it really, can tap into Pinot’s most fragile, delicate qualities. Only when someone has taken the time to truly understand its potential can Pinot be coaxed into its fullest expression. And when that happens, its flavors are the most haunting and brilliant and subtle and thrilling and ancient on the planet.

For the complete script, check here:
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Sideways.html