Oh, Oregon

Leslie and I just returned from a week in Oregon, one of the most beautiful spots on earth. I figured this would be a great time to start my blog, since everyone else seems to do it. I will try to stay on top of this, but I thought I would give you the basic philosophy of the blog right from the beginning.

This blog is about the things we are blessed to experience in life:

1. Great food.
2. Great wine.
3. Great spirits.
4. Great friends.

And now, Oregon.

As many of you probably know, Oregon's Willamette Valley is gaining a well-deserved reputation for producing top-quality pinot noirs. I am here to attest to the veracity of that statement, with just a few caveats.

But first, the raves.

If you have the chance, spend the money on Domaine Drouhin. This winery is the New World property of the Drouhin family in Burgundy. The Drouhin family decided to invest in Oregon after tasting some of the early pinots coming out of the state. And the result is nothing short of fantastic. The Domaine Drouhin 2002 Pinots are amazing examples of New World wines producing some Old World style. I mean by this that Drouhin has produced a less alcoholic, earthier wine that will stand up to some of the best Burgundies. We bought several bottles and are definitely going to add to our order. At about $50 a bottle (some of the named block bottlings are pricier), it is a bargain compared to equivalent French wines.

Wine Spectator recently rated Archery Summit's Arcus Estate 2003 (95 points, $75/btl) and Argyle's Nuthouse 2003 (93 points, $45/btl) as highly recomended buys. To be honest, we bought one bottle of the Archery Summit, but felt $75 was stretching it a bit. We also experienced a good dose of buyer's remorse after trying the Domaine Drouhin at $50. That and a $15 tasting fee for four wines seemed like a bit much. That said, the Arcus does have the tannins and fruit structure to cellar well for a number of years, so look out 2012, because we'll be popping the cork then. Argyle, on the other hand, impressed us more with its bruts/sparkling wines. Dry and lip-smacking, these wines are well worth seeking out. And at about $30 a bottle, you'd be hard-pressed to find a french champagne of similar quality.

We visited a number of other wineries, including Rex Hill (not really worth it), Duck Pond (very good, and John in the tasting room is wonderful), King Estate (the view was great, but the wine was iffy at best, and in the case of the chardonnay, simply attrocious), and Langhe (which produces some very nice Pinots at prices set for cellaring, not for quaffing). More on them later, especially when we get our wines shipped to us in late October. Unfortunately, the recent terrorism scare caught us in the middle of our trip and found us at the airport with seven bottles of wine we would have had to drink or shared with friends, if not for the serendipitous held of a friend (thank you, Sharon!).

As for the rest of the Pinots we tried, it was really difficult to judge, to be honest. Most wineries did not have much of the great 2002 vintage left, or even the 2003, so we were left tasting the 2003s or 2004s, which oftentimes had such strong tannins, I felt my tongue was being ripped out. That would be okay if there was enough fruit present to balance it out, but we did not often find that. Leslie (my wife) has a much better developed pallet than I, so I defer to her on these things, but I can't help but think that after 5+ years in the bottle, these "Tannin Kings" will be left with very little taste.

Before I move on to the food, a word about Pinot Gris. Pinot Gris is ubiquitous in Oregon, but I have to admit I don't get it. None of the Pinot Gris showed much flavor, had weak bouquets, and really seemed to me (sorry) to be the Budweiser's of the wine world. If ever there was a deck wine, Pinot Gris might well be it. If you want good American White Wines, try some Virginia Chardonnays, Rieslings or Gewurztraminers. I'm sure I will return to Virginia wines in the future, but I thought I would make a plug now.

Food: Oregon has some very good food establishments. In the Willamette Valley, the Joel Palmer House certainly lives up to its reputation. Our amuse bouche, a wild mushroom risotto quinelle, was to die for, and very light. Mushrooms feature on the menu, including some you may never have heard of, let alone tried, including a conche shell mushroom I had in my beef stroganoff. The desserts were to die for, including a very light bread pudding, and a very decadent peanut butter cake. And I can't forget to praise the Joel Palmer House for a very reasonably priced wine list. The list featured Oregon Pinot Noirs, of course, but at an average mark-up of about 100%, it seemed. If you know anything about restaurant wine lists, then you know that anything under 200% is a welcome surprise. We had a 2002 Evashem Wood (sadly the winery is open only by appointment) that went perfectly with our meal, and we thank the restaurant staff for the suggestion (at $42 for the bottle, it was well worth the money).

In Portland, our final night was spent enjoying locally-grown food cooked well at Wildwood. The restaurant itself is sleek and modern, welcoming all and sundry, whether in jeans or in suit and tie (not many of those in Portland!). The food is very good, and reasonably priced (at least by Washington DC standards). The stand-out of the evening was Leslie's pine-nut caramel tort (I thought the pine-nuts would have been better toasted). My lamb chops with greens and breaded, fried eggplant was marvelous, though possibly a little salty given the olive tapenade in the center. Finally, we were well served by our waiter, who suggested a 2002 Witness Tree Pinot that turned out to be the right choice. We wish him best of luck in New York, where he is moving soon.

We were also pleasantly surprised by Pazzo Ristorante in downtown Portland. My squid-ink tagliarinni was excellent, as well as the beet and cucumber salad. The waiter was friendly, helpful, yet unobtrusive. One thing I can't stand is an overbearing waiter, but our's was great. We skipped dessert and headed to Jimmy Mak's for some jazz. Joey DeFrancesco played a wicked jazz organ and made us glad we paid the $25 cover to get in (the excellent brownie for dessert helped a little, too).

That's it for now. I will write more soon, including a little about the places we stayed in Oregon, some comments on single malts, and a review of I Ricchi in Washington DC.