Definitely less stressful browsing the offers yesterday. Got all (more than planned, of course) my purchases done yesterday, so i can sit back today and watch the chaos. I will say I would spend less w/o MC/GC but such is life!
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Only two things…the re-release of the 2017 Berserker Cuvee. The board has definitely figured out that 2017 wines are special.
And the MC offer…as Rodrigo said, it’s worth the $100 for the feeling of supporting, but paid back in full with the great MC offers (well beyond just Goodfellow).
It’s a good thing we are debuting the sparkling wines this BD, or else they probably would have sold out.
Thank you everyone!
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That is a glorious wine. Good fortune for me, I have most of an original case left.
After people get their hands on your Sparklers, things will never be the same around here.
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It would be completely inappropriate to share that information.
BTW - I wouldn’t leave your computer 
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Shhhh
File under ramblings of a madman…but this seemed to be the right place for this.
A few thoughts on sparkling varietals and the Willamette Valley vis a vis the 800 lb gorilla in the sparkling wine room:
When we began to make sparkling wines, we committed to a program focused on making only Blanc de Blancs. That lasted for three years, and then the 2021 West Field Pinot Noir from Temperance Hill (still wine) finished at just over 12%. I had similarly noted that the House and Experimental Block at Whistling Ridge were often giving us wines with abvs close to 12%, even though we were getting good hang time and in no rush to pick.
In 2022 I had decided to pick a section of the West Field for Blanc de Noirs, and then with the freeze in April we had less than 2 tons of fruit from the House/Experimental Blocks at Whistling Ridge. Without enough House Block Pinot Noir for a single fermenter, we shifted that into Blanc de Noirs as well, along with a block of Pommard from the Tsai vineyard (why dabble if you can go big, right?).
As fermentations finished and the wines settled clear in the cellar, it became obvious that the Blanc de Noirs from Temperance Hill conveyed the power and depth of the vineyard while also retaining the elegance that sparkling wines need to have. The Blanc de Noirs from Whistling Ridge showed the same density and weightless elegance that the best still Pinot Noirs do. And the Tsai Pommard, raised in older Acacia puncheons, showed a really wonderful direct freshness, a vibrant juiciness that caught me by surprise. As we’ve tasted a few other Willamette Valley Blanc de Noirs, and watched these wines in bottle over the past year, I can’t help but feel that they match up remarkably well with our French inspirations. I generally lean to preferring Champagnes with a higher percentage of Blanc de Blancs fruit in the composition, with a few exceptions. I like almost everything from Fred Savart and Egly-Ouriet. But in Oregon, I routinely find Blanc de Noirs wines that I enjoy as much as the Blanc de Blancs produced here. And in a few cases, like the 2018 Granville Blanc de Noirs, wines that are perhaps more beautiful (to me) than most Blanc de Noirs I have tried from France (YMMV, tasting is so subjective). As I see our Blanc de Noirs progressing, I find that I have as many “Wow!” moments with them as I do the Blanc de Blancs, and I feel we are achieving everything I had hoped for with the Blanc de Noirs (short of producing a wine as singular as Krug Clos Ambonnay…a guy can dream can’t he?). But like all things in sparkling wine production, it’s a long time from putting the plan together to finishing the wine. The first Blanc de Noirs from Temperance Hill will be the 2022 vintage, and the first MV will be once we have 2023 and 2022 going to bottle, and first release will probably be 2026 or 2027. I’m half tempted to name the cuvee after The National song “Slow Show”.
On Blanc de Blancs, I think it is pretty simple. If you can make great Chardonnay, then you can make great Chardonnay base wines and those will lead to finished wines that have every opportunity to be as good as many of our French counterparts (Sacre Bleu, kill the infidel!). Yes, I said it. Please don’t take Doyard’s Clos de l’Abbaye and do a side by side with Goodfellow. But please do consider opening a bottle of Goodfellow Blanc de Blancs with a line up of good grower producers, and maybe an English producer as well. The world of great sparkling wines is expanding, IMO, but I am happy to do my part in making sure that no good sparkling wine goes to waste!
Other varietals…if you’re still reading this, I appreciate it. If you continue reading it, please don’t think that I have lost my mind and discount everything I have already posted. I am really excited about what I have seen in making sparkling wines from the Pinot Gris at Whistling Ridge (Sparkling Pinot Gris? Sacre Bleu, kill the infidel!). Yes, I said it. But before you write me off, perhaps consider whether or not you like wines from Whistling Ridge, then check the CT notes on the 2021 Whistling Ridge Pinot Gris, and finally we can consider that while none of us care about scores that the most recent published scores for Whistling Ridge Pinot Gris were 92 and 94 (Vinous and Dunnuck) and that if you do like Whistling Ridge wines, then you should absolutely try the sparkling Pinot Gris when it releases. It’s electric and saline with oyster shells and a wonderful drive and minerality. I love it, and will happily drink whatever doesn’t sell. And yes, that should make it clear that in my opinion, it’s a stand-alone grape varietal at Whistling Ridge, as serious in it’s own way as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Pinot Meunier, there’s not that much planted in the Willamette Valley and…I don’t really like Pinot Meunier (Sacre Bleu, kill the infidel!). Egly-Ouriet’s Les Vins des Vrigny excepted, and Rick Allen recently brought a bottle to dinner that was an excellent wine. But I will keep my mouth shut on PM, and leave the commentary there to @Kenny McMahon and @Grant Coulter, and focus on things I might actually know about. It seems like there’s an uptick in the use of Pinot Blanc in Champagne, and it’s a nice option in the Willamette Valley as well. Picked correctly, it can stay stony in expression, and while a bit more neutral than Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, it really seems to be an excellent component in blending. I also feel like a serious sparkling program would have a place for Gamay Noir, but none of our sites have any planted and old vine Gamay is not an easy thing to find these days. Melon de Bourgogne also falls into this category, it’s a varietal that thrives in the Willamette Valley and retains it’s acidity remarkably well.
If you’ve waded through all of this, thank you! I hope that the sparkling wines we are releasing and the ones coming down the pipe will validate the thoughts here.
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It’s go time!
I’ve had some aged Todd Hamina Melon and it’s fantastic, would be very interested to see some included in a sparkling program.
I will take a rambling of yours about sparkling wine any day.
Not only do you provide great insight and commentary, but I think the whole process is fascinating; experimenting and starting a sparkling program basically from scratch.
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Love the rambling as well! and totally agree on PM (Sacre Bleu, kill the infidel!)
@Marcus_Goodfellow When my wife and I tasted with you in December, we tasted (and loved!) a few of your in-process sparklers under crown cap.
According to my notes, two that we tasted were a Whistling Ridge Blanc de Blancs, and a Temperance Hill Blanc de Noir.
But your BD15 “Crystal Ball” auction item talks about a Temperance Hill BdB, and a Whistling Ridge BdN.
Are my notes wrong? Or are the “Crystal Ball” wines just different wines than what we tasted?
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Your notes were likely correct (or just as likely to be correct). There are a few things still in the works… we are running out of crown cap colors to differentiate.
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The Crystal Ball wines are different than the ones we opened when you tasted.
In true Goodfellow fashion we jumped into the deep end with the sparkling. We’ve produced:
Whistling Ridge Blanc de Blancs
Whistling Ridge Blanc de Noirs
Whistling Ridge Blanc de Gris
Temperance Hill Blanc de Blancs
Temperance Hill, West Field Blanc de Noirs
Durant Blanc de Blanc
Durant Blanc de Noirs (but beginning in 2023)
Willamette Valley Extra Brut, which is a combination of Whistling Ridge, Tsai, and Temperance Hill BdB base wines, as well as Whistling Ridge and Tsai Blanc de Noirs.
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I think that I might have most of two cases remaining of the 2017 BD Cuvée…
Day 2 of the 2013 WR Pinot was definitely an uptick. More aromatic compared to muted and offering more through middle and back. Just my tastes, but I would guess this wine isn’t close to maturity. If opening, I would suggest 5-10 hours in advance and tasting throughout the day. I don’t normally decant Pinots. Day 1 could have been a root day. Who knows? I did make the same meal both nights. Ahi Tuna salad…
James
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Heart emogi, laughing hysterically emoji, heart emoji, laughing hysterically emoji,…which one do I pick??? We need a twin emoji button…
Oh, wait…
Oh Lord. We’re going to have to have an intervention for you two, aren’t we? 
Seriously though, that Temperance Hill BdN (if that’s actually what it was) was amazing.
As someone who has tasted quite a few of Marcus’s cuvees, they are pretty much all really fucking good.
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it might be a little too late for that…