I drove over to Michael Alberty's Storyteller Wine Company early this afternoon and heard a great story about David Lett's memorial this past Sunday at the McMinnville Community Center. You can read more at the Storyteller web site, when Michael has a moment to post the latest email newsletter in the archive... What is he, busy selling wine and packing UPS shipments?...
For now, this. Event attendees included just about anyone who's anyone in Oregon wine. As it should be. Lett started it all. Michael quipped that if a bomb had gone off, that'd be the end of the Oregon wine industry as we know it... Happily things went off without a hitch, though there was a Neil Goldschmidt sighting...
So everyone filed into the auditorium and got a pour of 2005 Eyrie Vineyard Pinot Gris Reserve, a special bottling from vines in the original Eyrie vineyard planting. David's son Jason's request? That everyone yell "cheers" as loud as possible so his dad would hear them, in whatever vineyard he's tending these days... Apparently the rafters shook and I'm guessing the message got through...
But the best part it seems to me is that everyone in attendance got a cutting of a pinot noir vine from the original Eyrie south block. With instructions on how to plant it... Talk about a living tribute to a legend...
The Storyteller email with full details on the event went out today. I suggest you get on the list, even if you're on wine probation and can only read... Though it won't take too long before you break down and buy something. Perhaps the 2006 Eyrie Vineyard Pinot Meunier, which is the current offer and something I tried last Friday at the shop. Damn nice wine... A 2006 Oregon red with good natural acidity. That alone should make you buy... but it's really gorgeous stuff...
Meanwhile, I've been pleasantly surprised at the reception for my 2006 Vincent Pinot Noir from the Wahle Vineyard. We had the garage tasting last month, where I opened my home winemaking space for all to see, and offered free tastes of my 2006 wine from bottle and 2007 wine from barrel. Things went remarkably well...
Now the wine is getting out to friends and family, and beyond thanks to some kind souls who are connecting me to interested parties down south and even up in Alaska. One SoCal taster served the wine at Thanksgiving among some other stars of local wine and, in comments that were relayed to me, my wine was a favorite... Can't complain with that, though maybe they'd been drinking...
On the home front, I've been dutifully tasting wines. A stray bottle of 2005 Domaine de la Terre Rouge Tete a Tete, a Rhone blend from the Sierra Foothills of California, was a let down. Yes, this is inexpensive wine. But something's happened here... Years ago, this wine was translucent in color, fresh and peppery. Now it's dark, confected smelling and harshly extracted on the palate... I know better than to judge a producer on its cheapest label. Then again, this is produced in the cellar, not purchased wine. You might think it should show the positive attributes of the producer, even in a scaled-down way. This wine doesn't...
Better in that mold is the NV Broadbent Reserve Porto "Auction Reserve, Lot 1." The clumsy name aside, this is terrific basic Port, in the category that used to be called "vintage character" but is now "reserve"... That's geek code for wine bottled young like a vintage port, but intended for drinking young while its fresh and purple. As I think is true of all Broadbent Ports, this is produced by the respected house Niepoort, but it shows all the attributes of authentic vintage-style Porto at a low price. Berries, lightly sweetened chocolate, tobacco and spice, with moderate sweetness and good length... This is "cheap" wine from a good producer that's true to its roots...
2 comments:
Thanks for the nice comment about Broadbent Auction Reserve Port but let me explain the story behind the "clumsy name". Originally, I was going to call the wine Lot 1 because, at my father's very first wine auction back in 1966, the first item in the first wine auction was a lot of Port.
I told a friend in Portugal about the name that I had chosen and he then put out a wine of his own using the same name! So, though I have left Lot 1 on the label, we decided to call it something else.
"Auction Reserve" is the official names. This time, I didn't tell anyone and we trademarked it. I picked that name, again because of the association with my father, a sort of dedication to his life as a wine auctioneer, after he pioneered wine auctions. In the UK he started the wine auctions for Christie's, then in the US he was the first wine auctioneer for Heublein, Christie's and the Napa Valley Wine Auction.
I agree with you that keeping Lot 1 on the label is clumsy, though we've made it really small and we don't refer to it as Lot 1 at all. If I take it off, then I'm giving it to my friend who pilfered the idea. Maybe I should just put it on the back!
Anyway, I'm glad you liked the Port.
Thanks so much for the comment. Interesting to hear the story of the name. I'm not usually so linear, but I must admit I see "Lot 1" and think "when's Lot 2 coming out?" even though the back label tells the story of that first auction nicely.
All readers -- if you don't know about Broadbent Selections, Bartholomew's SF-based import company, taste and learn. From the Broadbent Portos and Madeiras to Ch. Musar from Lebanon and all sorts of other interesting things, you'll do well picking up wines with the Broadbent Selections label on the back.
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