Knudsen, Erath & Argyle

Knudsen and Argyle are both Oregon pinots on our store shelves currently and Erath has been an old standby here for a long time.  Let's tie them all together.  All three are located in the Dundee Hills wine appellation within the larger Willamette Valley.  The very first commercial winery in Dundee Hills was Knudsen, established in 1975.  Very shortly thereafter Knudsen partnered with Erath to create the Knudsen-Erath wine company which produced great pinots until 1987.  Then Knudsen reverted to grower status and became a primary grape supplier to Erath.  Argyle is the most awarded winery in Oregon and when Knudsen re-created their family-named wine label in 2014, they did it using Argyle's winemaker.

Dundee Hills is home to forty-four wineries currently with half of them being household names to Oregon pinot lovers.  The three listed in our title are certainly among the best.  Located south of Portland in the northwestern part of the Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills is indeed a very special wine venue.  It lies at a higher elevation than most of the valley; has a maritime climate, courtesy of the Pacific Ocean; and it has Jory soil, three different clays with organic matter on top.  The appellation contains seven thousand acres with thirteen hundred currently in vines.

Oregon has the strictest wine laws in the country.  If a wine is labeled as a varietal, the wine in the bottle must be at least 90% of that varietal.  If a wine appellation is shown on a label, the contents must be 95% from that place.  If a label says "Oregon" it must be 100% Oregon wine.  This contrasts with California where only 75% has to be what the label says it is and 25% of the contents don't even have to be California wine.

Now here's what we learned about Oregon wines while researching the subject: The Willamette Valley appellation name is a legally protected product IN EUROPE!  It has PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status due to both the uniqueness of the terroir and traditional winemaking and the stringency of Oregon's laws.  The only other American wine venue to be so protected is Napa Valley.  With this kind of protection in place, fraud and misrepresentation from parties unrelated to those places should not happen in Europe.

Goat Cheese & Wine

When the butteriness of a cheese gets cut by the acidity of a sip of red wine, it's like a new door of appreciation is opened for what the two bring together.  Of course, that kind of magic depends on the pairing.  Each wine and cheese combination is different and some work better than others.  In general though, the satisfaction derived from the experience relies on the acidity of the wine being neutralized by the butteriness of the cheese.  Every other characteristic in the exchange seems to take a back seat to that action.

With goat cheeses the equation changes a little and things get a bit more complicated.  Goat cheeses, themselves, are acidic and the latent butteriness and characteristics like minerality or fruitiness/herbaceousness may be subdued.  It's the acidity that needs to be reckoned with in this kind of wine pairing. 

Unlike the dominant richness of cow cheese, the acidity of goat requires a high acid wine to go head to head with it.  In the Loire Valley of France where a goat cheese/wine culture thrives, the reigning regional red and white wines of choice are Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.  The Cabernet is a lighter style, herbaceous, tartly acidic version.  The Sauvignon Blanc is the familiar mineral-driven, citrussy style.  In both cases the acidity is the paramount quality needed to face up to the acidic cheese.

Just because every wine-cheese combination is different, that doesn't mean there isn't a familiarity with the experience that we all know.  Once our mouths get coated with cheese, every ensuing bite/sip reinforces an increasingly comfortable experience.  It's kind of like enjoying really stinky cheese.  Once you get it past your nose, it's smooth sailing.  You just let your taste buds do the rest.

So what are the wines to pair with goat cheese?  For acidity you definitely want to go European and as is so often the case, it's Italy that seems to get it right.  Virtually any Italian red or white would work with goat cheese.  With whites it's wide open.  Virtually any Euro dry white wine has the acidity to stand up to the wang of good goat cheese.

What prompts this post?  Well, it's the new cheeses in the store, of course.  They include a goat brie and a couple soft goat logs.  AND our incredible European wine selection!  So stop in!

Phoenicians

When writing about Rioja last time we learned the ancient Phoenicians had a hand in planting the vineyards there.  Phoenician international trade activity extended from 1550bc to 300bc so whatever planting was done there probably bears no resemblance to what Rioja was to become.  What struck us as significant though was that, along with the twelve hundred year trading activity, they ventured so far inland as Rioja.

The Phoenicians hailed from what is now known as Lebanon and during the heyday of their activity they ruled the Mediterranean trading roost.  That they planted Spanish vineyards isn't new to us but what we have now learned fleshes out what we thought we knew before.

The Caucasus region of western Asia; what is now known as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia along with parts of Turkey and Iran; is where the vitis vinifera wine grapes got their start.  Evidence of wild grapes and winemaking are known to exist in the region as far back as 6,000bc with steady production beginning around 4,000bc.  

The Phoenicians are credited with commercializing the earliest wine industry.  Those wine images in pyramids and elsewhere in Egypt depended on one of their land trade routes from the Caucasus.  Their greatest impact however, would have been what they did over the Mediterranean Sea.  

Greece, North Africa, Sicily, the Iberian Peninsula and the ancient eastern Mediterranean region of Levant are all known to be stopping points for Phoenician wine traders.  Vines were delivered to the regions that were to become Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Spain, France and Portugal.  Where the rivers were navigable, they ventured inland; hence, a stop in Rioja became possible.

The Phoenicians, themselves, became skilled viticulturalists and winemakers.  They also traded in winemaking equipment and amphorae, "Canaanite jars", for transporting wine even further inland from stopping points like Rioja.  France would have been the beneficial next stop heading up into Europe. 

Rioja

Campillo El Sueno Rioja Blanco is not standard-issue Spanish white wine.  Our vendor called it a "gem", which it should be, considering its twenty dollar suggested retail; and since we now have it in the store (with a much better price), we thought this post might work to promote it.  The only problem is there is little information available about the stuff.  So rather than floundering in futility, we thought we would expand our probe to provide an overview of Rioja as a whole.

Rioja is acclaimed as the Bordeaux of Spain...with reservations.  While the wines may be Bordeaux-ish in style, the red Tempranillo grape is a far cry from Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon and the white Macabeo/Viura is a far cry from Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc.  Moreover, things have gotten competitive over there with other Spanish wine regions making claims to the Best-of-Spain mantle.  

Rioja is a 210 square mile wine district in northern Spain lying at the foothills of the Cantabrian Mountains and bisected by the east-west Ebro River.  Three subregions make up the Rioja wine country: Rioja Alta is the greatest of the three and lies in the western half; Rioja Oriental is the least of the three in quality and lies in the eastern half.  On the map these two roughly resemble side by side horizontal rectangles with the smaller Rioja Alavesa, another superior wine region, pancaked on top.  

Most Rioja wines are blends using juice from Rioja Oriental to supplement what is produced from the two better entities.  Our Campillo El Sueno is located in Rioja Alavesa but its 75% Viura/25% Chardonnay grape composition betrays a Rioja Oriental origin. 

Both Alta and Alavesa are higher altitude and continental climate wine regions.  Winemaking is the major difference between the two. Alta maintains its historic old world winemaking style while Alavesa has been modernized in style using the technological improvements of our times.  

Rioja Oriental, also modernized, has a more Mediterranean climate meaning the grapes have accentuated color and alcohol but lack aroma and acidity.  The higher elevation regions with the Atlantic Ocean influence have the acidity, fuller body and brighter fruit that makes them better vineyards.  Rioja Oriental just nicely supplements them.

Only five percent of Rioja Alavesa vineyards are Macabeo grapes so that's why we think the Campillo El Sueno gets its fruit from the Oriental subregion.  Being barrel fermented the wine is oaky from start to finish with bright, juicy lemony fruit and moderate wood spice.

Pedroncelli

Back in 1976 when we were first getting started in this business we don't specifically remember if Pedroncelli was on our store shelves, but we can't ever remember not having Pedroncelli around.  It's such a nice go-to for everyday needs it seems to belong in any store set.  Currently we have five types in the store.

We're writing about them now for a couple reasons.  Pedroncelli's claim to fame has always been Zinfandel and their current Bushnell Vineyard Zin has been such a treat we feel guilty for dissing that grape variety in the past.  Zinfandel is a prolific variety that was pumped up by the California wine industry to be more than it actually is; but for a blue collar wine grape, it's really pretty good...if that makes sense.  

Secondly, if you can read the fine print on the decorative banner at the top of the front label, it says, "Family Owned Since 1927."  That's ninety-five years.  If I had a family business for ninety-five years, I believe I would make that print a little larger.  Just for the record, the wine business isn't known for longevity.  The more we thought about that ninety-five year accomplishment, the more we felt we needed to know more.

Here's what we found:

In 1927 Giovanni Pedroncelli purchased 25 hillside acres in northern Dry Creek Valley and planted them in Zinfandel grapes.  That was right in the middle of the Prohibition Era so he must have been optimistic of a repeal and, sure enough, in 1933 he went from being a grape grower and seller to being a winemaker.  Ten years later he purchased what would become the Bushnell Vineyard and in the 1950s he added the next Pedroncelli generation to the business operations.

pedroncelli.com is where to go if you want to flesh out the whole Pedroncelli story.  Suffice it to say, the family continually innovated and adapted to the times and the market and grew their business opportunely.  Just as the industry went from jugs to 750mls, generics to varietals and then to single vineyard (like Bushnell) and reserve wines; Pedroncelli was with them every step of the way.  Back in the 1950's Pedroncelli was one of the first to put "Sonoma Valley" and "Dry Creek" on their labels.  Whatever mistakes they may have made through the years, must have been minor because today they possess 105 acres in Dry Creek Valley and have fifty year long relationships with growers in the area. 

The Red Mountain AVA

We make no secret about our fondness for Washington State wines.  That's been the case since the late '80s when Washington seemed to come of age over night as a fine wine venue.  Columbia Valley was hailed as Washington's Napa Valley and everything coming out of there seemed to validate the claim.  

At the time we didn't know anything about Washington except that the wine country was on the other side of the mountains from the great coastal urban centers.  The wine country was, in fact, very desert-like compared to the coast but more importantly, it was at the same latitude as Bordeaux and Burgundy, the two finest wine appellations in the world.  That latitude meant a longer growing season with two more hours of sun daily than what California could get.  The diurnal effect of warm days and cool nights meant a balance of acidity and sugars in grapes resulting in rich ripe wine flavors.  Columbia Valley's nutrient poor sandy loam and volcanic soils were also ideal for wine grapes, forcing tap roots deeper for sustenance, taking up mineral trace elements in the process. 

What we didn't know at the time was just how large the Columbia Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) is.   The Columbia Valley AVA encompasses eleven million acres including a border overlap into Oregon.  Fifty thousand acres are currently in vines and 99% of Washington's wine production calls Columbia Valley home.  Basically Columbia Valley is Washington State in wine terms.

The AVA was created in 1984 at the insistence of Chateau Saint Michelle Winery just as they were discovering the potential quality of their product.  By the time we discovered the greatness of Washington in the late 80s one carveout had already happened.  That was the Yakima Valley AVA.  Since then eight others have been legislated including Red Mountain which was carved out of Yakima in 2001.  

The Red Mountain AVA is the smallest fine wine district in the state.  It encompasses 4,000 acres with 2,000 currently in vines.  It is Cabernet Sauvignon-focused with fifteen wineries currently making award winning wines there.  Hedges Family Estate and Kiona Vineyards are a couple Red Mountain properties that we tasted decades ago and still remember today.  Their hedonistic Cabs are powerful and complex and yet, elegant.  

Our current favorite Washington State winery is Matthews in Walla Walla.  We think their wines are as good as anything coming out of Washington.  At their website matthewswinery.com they are proudly announcing their new Red Mountain wines.  And we can hardly wait.

Barbera

We've been having a lot of fun the last couple years selling all kinds of Italian Barberas here at the store.  Usually our sales have been everyday-priced lighter reds that are frankly perfect for most of our dinner table needs.  Wines like these show cherry, blueberry and raspberry fruit flavors and when put in oak, vanilla and additional complexity.  So why buy inferior bargain Pinot Noir when you could have something as fine, flavorful and food-friendly as Italian Barbera?

While the cheap stuff is nice, should you want to spend twenty or thirty dollars on your dinner red, Barbera offers a sophisticated alternative to Nebbiolo, the great wine of Italy.   While young Nebbiolo can be closed and hard as nails, Barbera shows a soft body with ample accessible fruit.  Again, perfect for most of our dinnertime needs.

Barbera d'Asti is the best known and best quality Barbera in the marketplace.  Asti is located just south and east of the center of the esteemed Piedmont wine appellation in northwest Italy.  The Nizza DOCG appellation lies entirely within the Asti borders and is home to the very finest Barberas.  Nizza boasts century old vines offering intense cherry and blackberry fruit.  Some examples from this region may be as hard and closed as young Nebbiolo so if you choose one of these, have your decanter handy.

Ampelographers are the scientists who study grapevines.  They have determined the Barbera grape had its origins in the nearby Monferrato region.  The earliest written Barbera documentation is from around 1250 but using DNA science, the ampelographers peg its origins back to the seventh century.  It is believed to have a common ancestor with the Cotes du Rhone grape, Mourvedre.

Piedmont is the finest wine appellation in Italy and the Nebbiolo-based Barolos and Barbarescos can command prices beyond most of our pocketbooks.  That is where Barbera comes into play.  It is a vigorous and prolific vine that does well wherever planted.  Nebbiolo is difficult and requires the best vineyard locations.  Barbera is planted everywhere else.  While Nebbiolo sales pay the bills, for those working in the Piemontese wine trade, it's Barbera that is the popular favorite.  

And by the way, if you enjoy the fresh fruity zing that Italian reds show so well, you're probably tasting an incognito Barbera component in the blend. 

How popular is Barbera?  Of the historic Italian wine grapes it ranks third in plantings behind Sangiovese and Montepulciano.  In Piedmont half of all vineyard plantings are Barbera.  In its entirety Italy has fifty thousand acres in Barbera.