Brief Notes - Memorial Day Weekend in the Willamette Valley

WINE TALK
1

Wines that caught my attention:

Barbara Thomas '08 riesling and pinot gris
Belle Pente '06 Belle Pente Vineyard and Estate Reserve pinot noirs, '07 muscat
Westrey '07 Justice and '06 Reserve pinot noirs
Shy Chenin '07 chenin blanc
Le Cadeau '07 Cote Est and Diversite pinot noirs
Dukes Family pinot noirs, despite their 70% NFO

2

Great to see the Shy Chenin on your list. Was it a crazy one out there this year Bob?

3

I absolutely LOVE the nose on the Belle Pente Muscat, it’s worth every penny.

As for the Le Cadeau, I just can’t get into them. Something puts me off and I can’t put my finger on it. I guess I just think they’re not that well crafted.

It was great seeing you by the way and I wish we had some more time.

Cheers,

4

I imagine it was, but I didn’t stop anywhere (save 12th and Maple) that would draw much of a crowd.

5

I think it depends on the particular wine since they’re all made by different people. I struggled with the Rocheaux despite Harry Peterson-Nedry’s usual deft touch. Instead of rocks, it tasted of dirt - and not in a good way.

I do too, but you had that crowd of hotties show up right in the middle of our brief conversation. Usually that many arrive in a bus, but they all came in a couple of mini-vans with California plates. Normally I would have waited them out but I had someone waiting for me in the car.

6

Thanks for the mention, Bob. We’re thrilled with our 08s. Great vintage.

It was great to see you and I notice you also made it over to 12M. I heard traffic on 99W was horrendous later in the day, even according to wine weekend standards. Hope you made it through there before the worst of it.

I wonder what happened to Sir Phillip?

7

I have my little secret for Dundee, which is go over Worden Hill Road from 240. Sunday I visited Le Cadeau at the bag place on 9th, then turned right on 99W to get to 12M (I only get on 99W in Dundee if I’m going away from the traffic light). From there it was a stop at Martha’s, a swing by Westrey and an out of the way jaunt to the Wheatland Ferry for the trip home. I like the thing and Karen had never seen the Nine-Car-Wonder.

Major Franks was a greeter at Scott Paul. I got to talk to him for about 20 seconds after visiting you and before the “busload” of hotties showed up, whereupon I got out of Dodge.

8

We didn’t get the hotties, would have been wasted on me anyway. [shrug.gif]

And we only got one busload, thankfully. 10 of them swept into our tent and grabbed food and got back on the bus. Fine, I wouldn’t have served them anyway, as they’d gone over the line by a good amount. We did have a group of three that stayed and bought though, which was nice. They must have been spitting or pacing themselves or both, because they were fine. I wonder how they felt travelling along with besotted yutzes?

I love the Wheatland Ferry on a slow, don’t have to be anywhere else sort of day.