Week 3 Virtual Tasting Series - Oregon Chardonnay - Dec 9-16th for Dakin Humane Society

Dakin Humane Society https://www.dakinhumane.org/ is a personal favorite charity, as it’s where we found our fur friends/office assistants/wellness officers, Deus & Houdini.

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Dakin Humane Society is a 501 (c) (3) community-supported animal welfare organization that provides shelter, medical care, spay/neuter services, and behavioral rehabilitation for more than 20,000 animals and people each year. Since its inception in 1969, Dakin has become one of the most recognized nonprofit organizations in the Pioneer Valley and a national leader in animal welfare.
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We do not receive any government funding nor are we funded or operated by any national humane organization. We rely solely on contributions from individuals who care about animals to bring our services to the community. We also depend on the dedication of nearly 600 volunteers who work alongside our staff to help us care for animals, deliver our programs, and govern our organization.

In support of Dakin I am going to donate $5 for each note on Oregon Chardonnays tasted from December 9th to the 16th, 2021. Since the company I work for will match, that means each note will net $10 for Dakin. We did incredibly well with Oregon wine for last year’s Dakin drive, but it was mostly Pinot. Chardonnay seems like it could handle some extra exposure, and the wines are just fantastic. I have bottles lined up from several wineries, including some WB favorites.

If anyone would like to match or make their own donation to Dakin, the link is here: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/DonationPage.aspx?eventid=308389&langpref=en-CA&Referrer=direct%2fnone

Donations to your local animal welfare programs are also encouraged. Our furry friends need our help.

Will you up the ante if I take a picture with the winemaker while drinking their wine? Heading to Willamette Valley tomorrow, will be there through 12/12.

Maybe. I suspect that you will have so many notes that it will make for an already generous donation!

Looks like I’ll “have” to go down to the valley this weekend😀

I’m going to Goodfellow on Thursday afternoon for a chardonnay vs riesling throwdown. You should message him. He hasn’t given me a time yet.

Unfortunately I have plans for a friend coming into town on Thursday and Friday. But, I’ll be in on Saturday!

What Brian said.

I’ll post a time. We should be able to get enough Oregon Chardonnays open to get David’s week off to a great start!

Great selection for the wine this coming week, David - even on a very informed site like WB, I think that many folks are still unaware of the great Chardonnays being made in the Willamette Valley. I was just downstairs in the cellar standing up bottles from Walter Scott, Marcus, Jim Anderson & Kelley Fox in preparation for your fund raiser (and made a donation to my local SPCA last week to thank them for our Zoey).

Sounds great Bob. I have bottles from Goodfellow, Vincent and Division Wine Co ready to go.

Wow talk about coincidences, just had Division “Un” on the weekend,and odd bottle in a mixed case from one of my pushers (aka Agents). Was very good indeed with beautiful balance and brightness. Need to pursue. Oregon another of my blind spots on whites. Can’t tell from mixed case pricing but may be excellent QPR.

Division is one of my pet wineries. They don’t get enough play.

Thanks for the encouragement, will pursue.

Sorry, but I’m out. I have no Oregon chardonnay and I have sworn off buying wine until I rotate out the excess inventory. I’ll have a whole week to dry out.

Getting started a little early with 2018 Martin Woods Chardonnay Yamhill Valley Vineyard at Hi-Fi Wine Bar.

Lots of reduction on the nose, not really able to get much beyond the rotten egg smell. On the palate there is bruised yellow apple, lemon curd, almond meal, and baking spice. Round on the palate, with a decent acidity but lacking brightness and tension. A little disappointing TBH.

What is it about Oregon Chardonnay and reduction? I get overwhelmed by it sometimes.

This was very prominent, even for me.

Hmm. I opened a bottle of this last night with dinner, and my experience couldn’t have been more different. It had maybe half an hour in the glass before I really got to it. I did note some reduction, but not enough to bother me. Then again, I’m relatively tolerant. But “lacking brightness and tension” is about the last way I would describe this wine, that’s just not how my bottle showed. Like, even remotely. I have no explanation.

Looking at the color of that wine in the glass, it’s much darker than my bottle was.

Eager to read your recap on the trip Brian!

Heck, I’m tempted to catch the first flight out of CLT tomorrow.

I’ll be glad to post some Oregon Chardonnay tasting notes over the next week.