DAY ONE (continued): The afternoon of day one at the 2007 International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville, Oregon offered attendees (those who weren’t busy napping off their sumptuous lunches) an opportunity to choose their own adventure, of sorts.

Some attendees explored the effects of vine age on Pinot noir, with matched wines from several wineries, made from fruit grown on vines of wildly different ages, some as young as three or four years old, some as old as thirty years.

For those interested in more of the technical aspects of wine, there was the Pinot Lab, an opportunity to explore the components of pinot noir from a winemaking perspective, and to experiment with ways that various elements of wine contribute to the final tasting experience. Some may be familiar with the concept of alcohol sweet spot tasting, which helps highlight the effects of alcohol percentage on the final wine. As part of the Pinot Lab, participants got to change the alcohol levels of a pinot noir in .25% increments starting at 13.75% all the way up to 15.5%.

In addition to alcohol, however, the lab also offered a very unique opportunity to experience the difference between grape tannins (from seeds and stems and skins) and wood tannins from barrels via tastes of tannin extract solutions, as well as by adding these to a base Pinot Noir wine fermented in steel.

The opportunity to do the same thing with acid and sugar were also available, each of us getting the opportunity to gradually change the acidity of our base wine, as well as the residual sugar level in tiny increments. For me the experience was not only an exercise in understanding how each of these components changed the experience of tasting these wines, but also to understand my own thresholds for perceiving each of these elements, which varied considerably from one to the other, as well as with other people. For instance, the first addition of .1gram per liter of residual sugar was completely imperceptible to me, except perhaps slightly in the texture of the wine, but I tasted no distinct addition of sweetness. Likewise my perception of acidity in the wine was less marked than my perception of how the acidity changed my perception of the alcohol and the tannin in the wine.

And then for those who were interested in a little lighthearted entertainment instead of education, there was Wine Jeopardy.

Complete with sound effects and buzzers, a full game of jeopardy was on offer, pitting winemakers Grant Taylor of Valli Vineyards in New Zealand, Cyril Audoin of Domaine Charles Audoin in Burgundy, and Arron Bell of Domaine Druohin.

Of course, the host was drinking a glass of rose and didn’t know most of the rules, the research team who came up with the questions was in the back heckling drunk the whole time, and the audience got to answer the questions that the contestants could not.

The categories for the day were Potent Potables, Famous Names, The Science of Wine, West Coast Wine, The Southern Hemisphere, and France. The questions ranged from the somewhat obscure to the silly, and between the charmingly stumbling host, the inopportune mistakes of the contestants, and the rowdy crowd, it was the best, the worst, and (we have been guaranteed) the last episode of wine jeopardy to be played at the IPNC.

Highlights from the game included:

Were it not for an instant double jeopardy, and all the winemakers getting 600 points when someone correctly answered that beer was indeed every winemakers favorite beverage during harvest, the audience might have actually won the game (if that were allowed — no one was really clear on the rules we were playing by). Instead Cyril Audoin took the game in Final Jeopardy by incorrectly guessing the total number of countries that have ever participated in the IPNC event (the real number is 14) but wagering none of his winnings on the answer.

For the insatiably curious the list of countries is: USA, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Israel, Italy, Spain, England, Germany, Australia, South Africa, and Switzerland.

The afternoon’s activities were followed by a walk around tasting of wines and a phenomenal grand dinner in the evening, both of which I will cover in subsequent posts.

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DAY ONE (continued): One of the best parts of any major multi-day wine event are the dinners. Whenever I attend such functions I privately feel like it’s the closest I’m ever going to get to being at he king’s table in Medieval times when wines from the royal storehouse flowed until the last iron-livered courtier slipped under the table in the wee hours of the morning and the cats descended on the scene for scraps.

The food at these dinners is, as expected, pretty lavish, and in this respect IPNC does not disappoint. In fact, quite the opposite — it boggles the mind with the number of top chefs who converge to craft course after course of some of the best large event food I have ever had. As one of my table mates so aptly pointed out at last night’s dinner: Friday and Saturday this week were precisely the wrong days to go to any nice restaurant in Portland or Seattle. There are more than a dozen big name chefs and their top kitchen staff here cooking for us this weekend, which means they most certainly aren’t in their own kitchens. Scary thought.

Along with the chefs, however, have come scores of the Pacific Northwest’s top sommeliers and maitre d’s (all on a volunteer basis) to serve the never-ending flow of wines that accompany these meals.

And what a flow of wines.

I’ve been to a number of big wine events like this, and I’ve never seen such a high quality stream of wines handed out to anyone who had the stamina to flag down a sommelier one more time.

Here are my favorites from last night:

TASTING NOTES:

2005 Domaine Taupenot-Merme Blanc, Saint-Romain, Burgundy, France
Palest green-gold in the glass, this wine has a stunning, unique nose of petrol, pine sap, paraffin, and cold cream aromas. In the mouth it is beautifully, nay, perfectly balanced, with great acidity underlying expressive mineral qualities that barely contain a bright core of citrus zest and cold cream that linger to a fantastic finish. Stunning and very unique. 9.5.

2004 Le Domaine Marc Roy “Le Champs Perdrix” Blanc, Marsannay, Burgundy, France
Light gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of sun-dried hay with mineral undertones. In the mouth it is is bouncy with bright lemon zest and citrus juice flavors wrapped around a core of bright stony flavor that lasts in to an excellent finish that ends up tasting a bit like unripe peach or nectarine after a few moments. Excellent. 9/9.5.

2005 Patz & Hall Hyde Vineyard Pinot Noir, Carneros, California
Medium garnet in color, this wine has a nose of deep cranberry and pomegranate aromas. These aromas translate direct to lush full flavors of the same fruit, dark and pure in the glass, with nice acid balance and a lush silky texture that hides barely perceptible tannins that ever-so-gently grip the palate through a nice finish. 9. $50 Where to Buy?.

1993 St. Innocent “O’Connor Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Medium blood red in the glass, with only slight hints of coffee color at the rim, this wine has a stunning nose of bacon fat, roast fig, caramel, and raspberry coulis. In the mouth it offers beautiful, bright raspberry fruit with hints of fig flavor that swirl, change and mix with floral aromas that seem to linger for minutes in the mouth. Fabulous and still going strong. 9.5.

2003 Domaine Drouhin-Larose Gevrey-Chambertin, Burgundy, France
Medium to dark garnet in color, this wine has a complex nose of violets and other floral aromas tinged with ??. In the mouth it offers lovely cranberry fruit with fantastic purity surrounded by wisps of herbs and light tannins that anchor the flavors to a delicate, but firm structure and moderate finish. 9.

2001 Domaine Lignier-Michelot Morey-Saint-Denis Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy, France
Light blood red in the glass, fading towards clear on the edge, this wine has a nose that is a very pretty balance between smoked meats and floral aromas that is arresting and mouthwatering. In the mouth it slides with the perfect poise of a ballerina across the palate seeming materializing out of nowhere gorgeous flavors of redcurrant, violets studded into a satiny matrix that is positively sexy. This wine is so surprisingly ready to drink now, I’m a little concerned for it’s further ageability, but a great acid balance seems to indicate the possibility. 9.5. $40 Where to Buy?.

2002 Domaine Drouhin-Larose “Clos de Vougeot” Grand Cru, Burgundy, France
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of floral and forest floor aromas. Still Tightly wound at this point in its evolution, the experience on the palate is centered around a core of red fruit that manifests variously as cranberry, pomegranate, and redcurrant as it swirls in the mouth. Elements of sandalwood, spice and lightly grippy tannins emerge as it heads towards a nice finish. I’d love to revisit this wine in 5 to 10 years. 9/9.5.

1999 Serafin Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy, France
A pure medium garnet in color, this wine has a nose that is a dead ringer for ripe rosehips and hibiscus. In the mouth it is fantastically silky, enough to make you think very dirty thoughts almost immediately. This great texture is draped around a core of lush redcurrant and raspberry fruit that is supported by a lovely mineral aspect that manages to be both utterly simple and dynamically complex at the same time while lasting forever in the mouth. Yowza. 9.5.

I got to try probably twice this many wines over the course of our three hour dinner under the stars. I should note that most of what was being poured, at least at our table, was Burgundy, which accounts for the lack of Oregon wines in my list. It was quite a night.

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DAY ONE:
Hello from sunny McMinnville, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley where I am spending the weekend attending the annual International Pinot Noir Conference. I’ll be spending three days practically submerged in Pinot Noir along with several hundred other attendees and more than sixty featured Pinot winemakers from all over the world. This event is regularly billed as one of the best Pinot events in the country, so I’m very happy to have been able to steal the time to attend. One of the things I’m most anticipating about this conference is a chance to taste through a good selection of Burgundies, along with the wines from a number of Oregon Pinot producers that I have not yet tried.

MORNING
In an effort to create a more intimate event, while still allowing a lot of people to attend, we were broken into two groups this morning after a nice breakfast on the spreading green lawns of Linfield College. One group stayed on campus for seminars of various kinds, while the rest of us decamped into groups small enough to cram into touring buses. Each group then headed off to various wineries throughout the Willamette Valley.

My group headed out to Maysara Vineyards, where we got the opportunity to taste through some Oregon and French wines supposedly in the context of discussing the meaning, relevance, and value of AVAs (American Viticultural Areas — also known more commonly as appellations).

I’m not sure exactly how we were supposed to have a meaningful conversation about AVAs with a wine from the Dundee Hills, a wine from McMinnville, a wine from Alexander Valley in California, and a Nuits St. George Burgundy in front of us. About the only “conclusion” I could draw was that AVAs actually exist, a revelation that will no doubt astound many readers.

The winemakers of these wines, as well as our tour guide and moderator Eric Lemelson seemed equally unsure as to the point of the discussion, so mostly we ended up talking about the winemaking, with a brief detour into the definition of terroir.

Luckily the wines were decent, and the view out the windows of the tasting room onto Maysara’s steeply sloped Biodynamic vineyards was lovely, as was the lunch we ate on the crushpad of the winery after we finished our tasting.

Here are the notes on the wines that we tasted as part of our morning’s session.

2003 Domaine Lecheneaut Morey St. Denis, Burgundy
Light garnet in the glass this wine has a nose of spruce-like forest floor, raisins, mulling spices and wet sawdust. In the mouth if offers lovely tart cherry and plum flavors with a smooth round texture, nice acidity, and a pleasant finish. 500 cases made from 20 year old vines. 8.5/9.

2005 Lemelson “Stermer Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a meaty nost with additional aromas of raspberry and soy sauce. In the mouth it is somewhat subdued, with pleasant flavors of wet earth through which emerge flavors of cranberry and cherry. The acid balance is excellent and the wine has good length in the mouth, though the flavors don’t quite resolve into anything very interesting by the finish. 8/8.5

2005 Maysara “Delara” Estate Pinot Noir, McMinnville, Willamette Valley, OR
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of floral and plummy aromas, a hint of green wood, and a very strong aroma of raw hazelnuts. A bit out of balance at first, but improving with air, the wine offers primary flavors of cranberry and spice held together with a reasonably tangible tannic structure that leans heavily on the back palate and feels somewhat empty on the front palate. Despite this bit of awkwardness, the flavor and the complexity of the wine are good. Biodynamic. 8.5

2005 Goldeneye “Migration” Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley
Light garnet in the glass this wine smells of dried meat, soy paste, dried leaves and a hint of orange zest, which might sound a little odd, but seems to work. In the mouth it offers spicy fruit flavors and a bit of alcoholic heat amidst a smooth, balanced body that incorporates notes of incense as it heads down the throat. 8/8.5

2004 Goldeneye Estate Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley
A light to medium garnet color, this wine has an intriguing nose of curry spices, raspberry, and something very subtle that that resembled artichoke at times and tarragon at others. In the mouth it is gorgeously textured with lovely cranberry and raspberry flavors with a hint of umami buoyed up by excellent acid. Overtones of spice and floral notes evolve on the finish, which is substantial. Probably the best wine I have had from this winery. 9

2004 Domaine Lecheneaut “Les Damodes” Nuits St. George, Burgundy
Light ruby in the glass, this wine smells like crushed hazelnuts and fresh river mud. Anyone who enjoys a good dose of dirt in your glass will love this wine. In the mouth it is beautifully silky, with fabulous acid balance and a core of redcurrant fruit and floral notes that are at the moment subsumed into a bog of wet earth flavors. Presumably over time the floral and fruit aromas will emerge in the bouquet, but for now this wine tastes like dirt, but in far from a bad way. Terroir is not wine that tastes like dirt, but it’s hard to avoid thinking that you have a pretty good sense of what the place Nuits St. George tastes like after drinking this. 9

2005 Maysara “Mitra” Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR
Light ruby in the glass, this wine has aromas that immediately made me think of Crayola crayons, along with the faintest bits of high-toned floral and candied fruit aromas. In the mouth it is soft and plush, with the texture that I really enjoy from Pinot Noir. Excellent acids float flavors of tart plums and a distinct taste of stems (the wine is 25% whole cluster fermented) and the grip of light tannins continue through a finish that incorporates coffee aromas. Biodynamic. 8.5

2005 Lemelson “Meyer Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR
Light garnet in color this wine has floral aromas mixed with plum and cough syrup. In the mouth it offers pleasant flavors of cranberry and a nice earthy undertone, but is somewhat disjointed and does not resolve to a strong finish, leaving one with a mouthful of above-average flavors that don’t reach beyond into anything greater. 8

2005 Maysara “Jamsheed” Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of plummy fruit with some other more mineral aromas in the background. On the tongue it possesses bold bright fruit that leans towards the dark end of cranberry with excellent acidity and a very pretty balance. Some what simple in nature, it is nonetheless a very pleasing wine. 8.5/9

2004 Maysara “Estate Cuvee” Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a stemmy nose that combines green wood aromas with plum and herbal notes. In the mouth it has a nice weight on the tongue and dense flavors of cranberry, plum, and muddy river water, all of which are livened up by great acidity that keeps the wine singing through a nice finish. 8.5/9

2006 Maysara “Roseena” Rose of Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR
Pale orange-pink in color, this wine had a nose of old socks and strawberry jam that made me initially reluctant to drink it. Surprisingly on the tongue it was very pleasant, with good acidity and a mineral aspect underlying basic, crisp flavors of strawberry and raspberry. Contains some portion of Pinot Blanc. 8.5

2004 Maysara “Delara” Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a rich savory nose of miso soup and other savory aromas. On the tongue it surprises with deep resonant cranberry and plum fruit, as well as a dark Vegemite-like flavor that surfaces briefly in the mid-palate and then fades seamlessly into the fruit which lingers through a substantial finish, supported by very fine tannins. 9

ABOUT MAYSARA
Moe and Flora Momtazi purchased an old wheat farm in 1997 with the hopes of building their vision of a sustainable winery. After spending several years reclaiming the land in a completely organic fashion, they had their first harvest in 2001, and starting in 2005 their winery is a Demeter certified Biodynamic property. With beautiful plunging hillside vineyards, the winery produces several Pinot Noirs, a Pinot Gris, a rose of Pinot Noir, and an off-dry Riesling, many of which are named for ancient Persian gods and goddesses. The winemaking is done by the gregarious Todd Hamina, and I believe production levels are around 3000 or so cases.

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