Culinary Fool

My last winery stop on Friday was at the Sokol Blosser Winery. 

I was interested in checking out this winery, as the only wine I had tasted was their Evolution, a white blend of nine grapes.

When I arrived I was the only one in the tasting room.  The two women behind the tasting bar were searching for a lost key but quickly greeted me and one set about pouring – as I am writing this I don’t know if they ever found the key or not! :-)

I really didn’t know much about this winery and actually find that I still don’t!  My conversation with the tasting room staff was really about the wines, the weather and other topics of local interest.  I know that the vineyards were planted in the 70s but I’m not sure what year they first released.  I think that they really came into their own when they released Evolution and this year will be their 9th release of that wine.  I liked this winery because it seemed friendly with no hint of pretentiousness.  In fact, while I was there another group came in.  The son was from Portland and his parents had flown in from Indiana, as they were having their purchases boxed for a plane ride.  They had brought along a picnic but with the rain coming and going at will, eating outside was not really feasible – too bad because they had a great deck!  So they found a little corner in the tasting room (with the staff blessing) and sat down for their little feast.  I think the dad was worried about me – he kept offering me food! :-)

Sokol Blosser wines are often found on various recommendation lists and score well in tastings.  I purchased five bottles of wine here but they gave me the 10% six-bottle discount and gave me a free logo glass, which you normally get with a glass of wine purchase.  And I didn’t even ask for anything! With that said, let’s get to the wines!

Sokol Blosser 2002 Pinot Gris:  I was pleasantly surprised with this wine.  I’m not sure why but I expected it to be too sweet but it was quite crisp with apple and citrus.  It left just a hint of flavor in the mouth. It actually reminded me of some of the Sauvignon Blanc out of British Columbia at first taste. I bit grassy. Again, this wine makes me look forward to the summer, sitting on the deck and sipping a chilled glass!

Sokol Blosser Evolution, 8th Edition:  This wine was originally called Evolution #9 but I imagine that name became confusing when they started adding the edition and so they dropped the #9.  It is a blend of nine white grapes: Riesling; Pinot Gris; Semillon; Muller-Thurgau; Gewürztraminer; Muscat; Pinot Blanc; Chardonnay; and Sylvaner.  It’s sort of the mutt of white wines!  The label asks, "Luck?, Intention?"  representing the question people often ask, "Was this just a lucky blend of leftovers or was this a planned blend?".  I’m not sure we will ever know the answer but I do believe this wine has gotten better over time. 

It does change a bit from year to year and I found this year’s release to be a bit drier than I had remembered.  I think one of the reasons this wine has been so popular is that it is very approachable and goes with a wide range of foods.  It is still just a little on the sweet side for my personal taste but I wouldn’t be disappointed if someone presented me with a bottle.  This wine would be great with spicy food and I certainly make my fair share of that!  I did not purchase a bottle for myself but brought one to my sister, as I thought she would enjoy it. 

I’m guessing that this next year’s release might be especially good.  They are making quite a production of the 9th release (9 grapes/9th release) and with the planned publicity I’m sure they will want this wine to really shine. 

Sokol Blosser 2003 Pinot Noir Rose:  I had just a quick sip of this wine as I found it to be too sweet.  I have been searching for good local Roses in the French style and can’t find as many as I think there should be! 

Sokol Blosser 2000 and 2001 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir:  I enjoyed both of these and don’t remember exactly why but I chose the 2000 to purchase.  I think that the 2001 was still just a bit rough around the edges. 

Sokol Blosser 2001 Old Vineyard Pinot Noir:  We had quite a discussion about "old vine" as I had just read recently that to call something old vine it didn’t need to be as old as I thought it should be. :-)  But that’s just me!  And I found it interesting that they call this old "vineyard" not old "vine".  Anyway, no matter what your opinion on the whole topic they are very upfront with what they mean.  The label says the exact number of years which is somewhere in the 35 year range – I can’t remember for sure so I won’t quote it.  The wine was good but I’m not sure it was $50 good. 

Sokol Blosser Meditrina:  Evolution has been so popular that its fans began asking for a red blend, too.  From this request came Meditrina, a blend of Pinot Noir, Syrah and Zinfandel.  Meditrina is the Roman Goddess of Wine and Health, or at least that’s what they say!   I think it’s the perfect name for this wine.  The first impression is of an explosion of berries in the mouth!  Lush, lush berries.  They describe the flavor as Marionberry – perfect!  Marionberries were actually developed in Oregon at Oregon State University (OSU) in 1956.  There are various viewpoints of what actually went into the final version but I like the OSU story (bottom of the page).   They are a cross between two types of loganberry and loganberries are a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry.  They are called Marionberries because OSU is in Marion County.  This is a very fruity wine but not cloying with the Zinfandel bringing some tannin to the mix. 

Dagoba Chocolate Bars:  Not long ago I heard about Dagoba Chocolates and they were on my list of places to visit in Portland.  Well, imagine my delight when I noticed a case of chocolate bars on the Sokol Blosser wine tasting bar!  And even more delightful two of the bars were made specifically for Sokol Blosser!  One was the Meditrina, dark chocolate, dried raspberries and rosehips.  We enjoyed some of this chocolate with the bottle of Meditrina we opened at my sister’s house.  Yum! 

Another I picked up is The Noir Bar, made to complement the Pinot Noirs. It is just dark chocolate.  And then I couldn’t miss trying: the Mon Cheri – dark chocolate, sun-dried cherries and cranberries and vanilla; and the Lavender – dark chocolate, blueberries and lavender! 

Next stop:  The Dundee Bistro

Argyle came to the scene quite a bit later than Erath but once they started producing they definitely have made their mark on the Oregon wine scene! 

Argyle was the first producer in the area to make a sparkling wine (at least that I am aware of).  And their sparkling wines, as well as their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay have consistently scored highly over the years. 

They are conveniently located right on the highway in the center of "downtown" Dundee.  This has made their tasting room very popular, although this was my first visit.  When I’ve tried to visit in the past the tasting room was not open. 

On Friday they were offering two flights to taste.  The Red, White and Bubbly (four or five wines from all the varieties) was a $5 charge and the other (all sparkling) a $4 charge.  However, there was some construction going on (they are expanding the tasting room) at the time so they were offering all tastes on a complimentary basis as a "thank you" for dealing with the noise.

Again I tried to limit my tasting mostly to the Pinots, although in this case it would include a sparkling Rose!  I’ve enjoyed the Argyle Brut for several years.  I think of it as a crispier, lighter bodied sparkling wine.  Clean and light – not necessarily in flavor but in how it feels in the mouth.  I like that it never overpowers the food, just complements it in an effervescent manner. 

Argyle 1999 Rose (Sparkling):  I really liked this wine!  It’s much more complex than the Bruts I’ve had in the past. It has a solid feel to it, lots of strawberry up front with a little spiciness to it.  I’ll need to drink it to more completely describe it but I think it’s going to work in a number of situations and it’s very pretty.  This may be the wine I use for the next WBW, for the "pink" theme, which Sam has chosen. 

Argyle 2003 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir:  I honestly don’t remember anything specific about this wine.  It was okay, I know that, but not good enough to justify the $20 price, in my opinion. 

Argyle 2002 Nuthouse Pinot Noir:  This is a really lovely wine!  I first tried Nuthouse about five years ago and have had the pleasure of drinking several of the vintages since.  It’s an earthy wine that makes you want to chew it.  There’s quite a lot of tannin and the wine sits in your mouth long after you finish it.  I chose not to buy it this time but only because it’s available in the Seattle market but the next wine is not, so I purchased it instead. 

Argyle 2002 Clubhouse Pinot Noir:  This wine is first available only to the Argyle Club members.  If not all of it is purchased then it is made available to the public at the tasting room.  This wine was not as big or dominant as the Nuthouse but it seemed to be keeping some secrets!  I think that in two or three years it will reveal it’s true complexity.  At least that’s what I hoped when I bought a bottle!

Next stop:  Sokol Blossor Winery

Erath is the very first winery I ever visited in this area.  I was first here in either the very late 70s or early 80s.  (I can hear you now…"I wasn’t even born then!".  Yeah, yeah, let’s just move on…) At that time there were probably a dozen or so wineries in the area – maybe there were more but they were still working incognito. 

The "tasting rooms" were often in sheds or an area in the winery where they’d put a few boards across a couple of barrels for a makeshift table.  These rooms were normally staffed by the owner or winemaker themselves, tasting hours were limited to a few hours each weekend, and sometimes there was only one wine to taste.  There were no commercial tasting rooms back then, no nice little road signs telling you where to turn (like there are now) and if you wanted to taste the wine you’d make the trip out the windy, often gravel, roads to the source – normally placed strategically on the top of a hill overlooking acres of vineyards. On a good day you could hit three wineries – between the limited hours and the distance between the wineries it was nearly impossible to do any more.   

Dick Erath was one of the original winemakers in the area. I met Dick that first time at the winery and, as an extreme wine novice, was pleased that he spent so much time with my husband and me (former husband to be exact) educating us about his wine (I believe all Pinot Noir at that time), the area and why he thought it would be a great wine region.  I learned a lot from him and his enthusiasm was contagious.  Long before Sideways, I became a Pinot Noir geek, although I hope not as pathetic as Miles (Paul Giammiti)!

I visited this winery several times in the 80s and I know I was there in 1988, but don’t believe I’ve been back since then. I moved to Washington in 1981 and for many years have focused on visiting Washington wineries, although I’m still actively drinking and trying Oregon wines.  For years trips to Oregon were filled with family obligations (either mine or my former husband’s) and we just got away from visiting the wineries. 

Erath was actually called Knudsen-Erath at the time I first visited.  It changed several years ago but I’d never heard the story why that happened until this weekend.  Apparently some law was passed in Oregon about how winery ownership could be structured.  The Knudsen-Erath partnership didn’t qualify and had to be split up.  Knundsen took the vineyards, Erath the winery but bought the Knudsen grapes.  Then there was some sort of disagreement or maybe just a change in agreement and Knudsen started selling his grapes elsewhere.  I swear that at the time this happened I could tell!  Although at the time I didn’t know why the wine tasted different and assumed it was my poor recognition or maybe a change in their blend.  The Knudsen grapes are now sold to Argyle winery, another winery I stopped at later this day.  

Oregon Pinot Noir has never been cheap but over the years I have seen a disturbing trend of climbing prices.  I mean significantly increasing prices.  I think that it’s too bad as it puts so many of them out of the price range for many consumers – me included!  And the value isn’t always there.  It’s one of those things where the wineries try to recoup their costs to produce the wine, whether or not the quality of the wine commands the price they are asking. 

What I’ve seen at Erath over the years is that the wine that used to be their basic bottling has now moved to a reserve bottling and they’ve added several single vineyard releases at premium prices  What is now the basic bottling is still decent, just not what it used to be.  Having said that, they are still one of the best valued wines in this market. 

Besides Pinot Noir they have also added Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc to their line.  And they’ve also added a Dry Riesling and a Cabernet Sauvignon.  The Cabernet is being discontinued after this release due to the fact that the growing season in the Willamette Valley just isn’t long enough, except in exceptionally good years. 

Since I had several wineries to visit and many more miles to drive, I tried to keep my tasting focused on the Pinots.  Tasting notes will be more detailed when I actually drink these wines.  During most of my tastings I was either the only one or one of very few in the room and so instead of taking detailed notes I focused on conversations with the tasting room staff. 

They charge $5 to taste the base line of wines with an additional charge for the premiums.  Although on this day the woman told me she’d let me try them all for the $5.  However, she didn’t charge me at all when she rang up my wine purchases.  The tasting room also sells quite a lot of wine merchandise – it’s now about ten times as large as that first tasting room I visited!

Erath 2003 Pinot Blanc:  Very crisp and clean!  Refreshing.  Looking forward to drinking this on a hot summer’s day or perhaps with shellfish or maybe eating shellfish on a hot summer day!  

Erath 2003 Pinot Gris:  This wine has great body!  It fills your mouth with citrus and a bit of floral but is still crisp.  Good aftertaste.  Another wine I’ll look forward to having with shellfish. 

Erath 2003 Oregon Pinot Noir:  A little on the light side but still a very pleasant wine and a good value for the price.  Some fruit.  I think it may develop a bit more character in a couple years. 

Erath 2002 Leland and Prince Hill Pinot Noirs:  These were both yummy, chewy Pinot Noirs!  I liked both of these single vineyard releases but opted to purchase the 30th Anniversary release instead. 

Erath 2000 Pinot Noir Reserve 30th Anniversary:  Elegant, smooth, deep plum, makes me very happy!  They say to hold it but I’m not sure I can wait!

Next stop:  Argyle Winery