Our first full day in Portland. My wife and I are walkers and we try to walk “agenda free” through neighborhoods of cities that are new to us to help us get an overall impression or “vibe”. Portland seems to be a city of neighborhoods and so is ripe for this approach. At the suggestion of the doorman at our hotel we spent the morning and early afternoon in the Pearl and Nob Hill and then, with somewhat of an agenda, the rest of the day and evening in Southeast around Division St. We had a great day and very much enjoyed the feeling of the city, the friendliness of Portlandians (is that a word?) , and the coverage and smooth running of the transportation system (so unlike Boston!). Some highlights. In the Pearl: Moroccan “nus-nus” at the Ovation Café and a chat with the owner; the friendly guy at Rite-Aid who helped me find Zicam (feeling the beginnings of a cold which will sabotage our, or at least my, wine tasting tour in the Willamette set up for later this week);cool intimate coffee shops with “connected” patrons; the parks; In Nob Hill: a nice chat with Andy at Vinopolis on the way; friendly encounters with several dogs and their owners; a flight of ice cream at Salt and Straw. In Southeast: nice mixture of residences and small businesses on Division St. (not a fan of the construction of multistory buildings though); exceptional tour and tasting with Tom and Kate at Division Winemaking;
chance meeting with Luca whose family’s 2013 Paitin di Pasquero-Elia Barbaresco Sorì Paitin is on the wine list of Tom and Kate’s Oui Restaurant; Dinner at Jacqueline where we just made the happy hour oyster deal ($1 per) and enjoyed a Clos des Briords Muscadet with the oysters and the rest of our dinner.
All in all a pretty, pretty, pretty good day!
Go to “Tasty and Alder” for breakfast!..
Or Canard.
Did you by chance taste the Division Chenin Blanc (cant make out the labels in the pic)? Would be curious your thoughts if you did. Thanks!
Rich, After tasting some just-delivered gamay rose juice pressed offsite and some Chenin demi-sec yet-to-be-bottled, the first wine bottle opened (on the left in the photo) was the just-bottled 2017 Chenin Inonde. My only other experience with Division wine was the 2017 L’isle Verte Chenin which I really enjoyed for its vivacity, ample fruit and ever so slight pleasant oak aftertaste. As I understand it, the L’isle Vert is made primarily from the first pass picking, while the Inonde uses grapes from the same vineyard that are more mature from the second pass including( in 2017 at least) some botrytis affected grapes. The Inonde is nevertheless a dry wine to me with more concentrated and complex flavors evident. Meant to be a more serious Chenin with aging potential. (As I was tasting I flashed to Savennieres which I have only tasted a couple of times more than 10 years ago). Tom and Luca (a guest from a Barbaresco wine making family) had some discussion about the “jury being out” for a final verdict with such a recent bottling and a pop and pour tasting. Above my wineberserker pay-grade for me to superimpose my own thoughts. My favorites from this tasting were the 2016 Beton, which you can pour me a glass of anyday, and the two Pinot Noirs especially the 2015 “Trois” that we finished with. The “Trois” (on the right in the photo) was definitely the WOTT for me and my wife. Cheers. -Jim
Nice Jim - sounds like an awesome tasting!
The reason I ask is that I tried a 2014 Willard Farms chenin and it had a very strange/apparent ‘spritzy’ thing going on. I feel like maybe the bottle was flawed as all the other reviews I’ve seen here on Divison Wine offerings have been solid, so was wondering if you got any of that on the bottles you tried (which it sounds like you did not). Thanks again for the notes!
