Wine

Korkage Wine Bar Relocating to Three Square Grill Space

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:00:00 -0700

A new tenant is already getting ready to reopen in the space recently vacated by Hillsdale neighborhood establishment Three Square Grill—and the moving bill will be pretty low.

Korkage Wine Bar and Shop will move across the street from its curent location into the former Three Square Grill's space by July.

With the move, owners Tamairah Boleyn and Earl Johnson plan to unveil a full menu. The team revealed a new direction in a press release, spotlighting aims for "multi-course small bites and family-feast style dining for lunch" and "brunch and dinner featuring fresh, local ingredients".

The wine bar—which will continue to offer a large Northwest-centric bottle collection and live entertainment at the new location—has gained a loyal following in and out of the Hillsdale community. Now, Boleyn and Johnson hope to leverage that loyalty to help them grow. The team is launching a Kickstarter campaign in the coming days, aimed at raising funds to help complete the new space.

Korkage will shutter its current location on June 27. Boleyn and Johnson plan on a July 9 reopening with expanded hours at 6320 SW Capitol Highway.

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New Willamette Valley Tasting Rooms and Events

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:00:00 -0700

Image: Rachell Coe

Dundee lands landmark tasting room: Lauded Evening Land Vineyards may make award-winning wine in Oregon, California, and Burgundy, but they've made do without a tasting room—until now. Their first tasting room is coming to downtown Dundee, next to the Inn at Red Hills and Paulée Restaurant on Highway 99W, on Memorial Day Weekend. The kick-off party will take place on Saturday, May 25 through Monday, May 27 from 10 am to 5 pm. More information.

Ponzi Vineyard's modern tasting room reveals opening date: Oregon's noted multi-generation winery's third tasting room will open its doors in Sherwood on June 15, offering table-side wine tasting service, guided winery tours, two bocce ball courts. More information.

Apolloni's wine cave: Apolloni Vineyards—one of Forest Grove's leading producers of Pinot Noir and Italian style wines—celebrated the grand opening of its new Tuscan-inspired, open-to-the-public wine cave this month. The underground cave, one of only a few in Oregon, echoes the Apolloni family’s villa, vineyards, and cave in Italy south of Venice, and relies on 100% passive geothermal regulation to maintain optimal temperature and humidity. For more information and directions please visit apolloni.com.

Custom wine growlers at Bistro Marquee: Thanks to recent Oregon regulation changes, growlers can now be filled on-site at bottle shops and restaurants with wine and cider. Bistro Marquee, the new SW Market Street eatery (debuting Monday, May 20) from Thirst Bistro's Leslie Palmer, is one of the first eateries to brand and sell their own wine growlers. For more information, visit BistroMarquee.com.

5 best new release Oregon rosés: Sustainable wine guru Jeffrey Weissler shared his tasting notes for the best new summer sips from his NE Glisan wine shop Pairings Portland. Find the full list on Eat Beat.

Paulée's one year anniversary celebration “Flights and Bites”: Wine country hotspot Paulée will jumpstart summer with its 1 year anniversary celebration. In honor of the restaurant’s new neighbors (upcoming tasting rooms for Evening Lands, Le Cadeau, and Tertulia) executive chef Sean Temple will serve four special bites alongside four AVA-specific flights (including one NW beer flight) on Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19 and Saturday, May 25 through Monday, May 27 from 11 am until 9:30 pm at Paulée Restaurant (1410 N Highway 99W, Dundee).

Memorial Day Wine Tastings: Each year, over 150 wineries in Oregon's wine country open their doors for weekend-long celebrations to kick off summer with free tastings, tours, and activities. Head to the Willamette Valley Wineries website or the Visit Washington County website to plan your weekend wine escape.

Summer concert series at regional wineries: Tickets are going fast for the summer's hottest concerts, including open-air events at Maryhill Winery and McMenamins Edgefield. Find the full lineups right this way.

Take Five: Oregon's Best New Release Rosés

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:00:00 -0700

Welcome back to Take Five, a fresh Eat Beat feature that offers up five must-try culinary finds from food and drink experts around town. Next up, think pink...

Wine fanatic Jeffrey Weissler has spent the last five years chronicling the best of the world's sustainable wines and wineries on his website consciouswine.com, but his real passion lies in face-to-face celebration of the goods in the glass with good friends and good food. Inspired to make that passion a daily reality, Weissler took the leap from digital denizen to brick-and-mortar shop owner this year.

His irreverent, education-centric wine shop Pairings Portland will celebrate its grand opening this Saturday, May 11 across the street from the microrestaurant row The Ocean on NE Glisan from 11 am to 9:30 pm.

Here, Weissler shares his tasting notes for the five new-release Oregon rosés he'll be toasting (and teaching) with all summer long:

1. Lumos ‘Chiquita’ Rose 2012, $20

Hard to not drink the whole bottle! Wonderful strawberry, watermelon and cranberry flavors harmonize with an easy texture and style that keeps you coming back for more. Great combo of sophisticated, elegant, and irresistible.

2. Teutonic Wine Company ‘Laurel Vyd’ Rose 2012, $18

Pretty strawberry color. Strawberry and watermelon nose, yet on the palate flavors show a focused, drier, earthier style with flavors of cranberry and cherry popping their heads up. If the picnic basket has a mix of goods, this wine will be a rockstar!

3. JK Carriere ‘Glass’ Pinot Noir Rose 2012, $22

Fresh, lively nose invites you in with floral, strawberry, and citrus tones. Medium bodied with hints of spice, and a smooth textural quality with lots of "linger action". It's fresh, zingy, fruit driven, and dry all at once.

4. Brooks Pinot Noir Rose 2012, $20

Fresh cranberry and strawberry hints on the nose, with a touch of straw and hay—reminds of being out in a country field. Really dry overall with a juicy citrus rind finish, this would be great to pair with savory foods to help bring the fruit to the surface.

5. Quady North Rose 2012, $15

Easy drinking with a touch of earthy flavors that then burst into a mouthful of fruit. A little time in bottle and the flavors will flesh out (if it’s at all like Quady's past vintages). Great value!

Pairings Portland Wine Shop
455 NE 24th Ave
pairingsportland.com

Want more seasonal sips? Check out our shopping guide for backyard barbecue-friendly India Session Ales.

Next-Generation Oregon Winemakers

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:30:00 -0700

Image: Thomas Pitilli

When Oregon’s first winemakers broke ground in the Willamette Valley in the 1960s and ’70s, each passing year came with a struggle. Now, the vines are rooted securely and the wines are savored from Toronto to Tokyo. And as more and more winemakers have entrusted their progeny to carry on their lives’ work, the focus has multiplied: innovative marketing, sustainable certification, new tasting rooms and wineries—and raising yet another generation of winemakers.

So what drives the children of so many Oregon winemakers to follow in their parents’ boot prints? According to Alex and Alison Sokol Blosser, who inherited Sokol Blosser Winery from their mother, Susan, in 2008, the world of grapes casts a powerful spell. “Pinot noir is not an easy grape to grow,” Alex says. “It takes a lot of passion to do it year after year. When you grow up watching that kind of dedication to something so difficult, you either think your parents are insane or really cool. It gets in your blood and sucks you in.

Here are five more Willamette Valley wineries where grape-loving offspring caught the fever:

Jesse Lange
Lange Estate Winery

Jesse joined dad Don’s winemaking team in 2006, and the father-son duo continues to produce some of the state’s best pinot noir. Jesse has strengthened the estate’s commitment to sustainability. Try: 2010 Three Hills Cuvee Pinot Noir ($40)

Adam Godlee Cambell
Elk Cove

Adam took over from his parents in 1999, and he’s now working on doubling the family’s Yamhill vineyards. He’s planting new varietals, exploring low-intervention winemaking practices like gravity flow, and continues to produce award-winning pinot gris and pinot noir. Try: 2012 Pinot Gris ($19)

Luisa and Maria Ponzi
Ponzi Vineyards

Luisa was one of the first next-generation winemakers in Oregon—she’s been melding her passion for classic Burgundian practices with the family’s established New World style since 1993. With the help of her sister Maria, director of sales and marketing, Luisa will launch a new tasting room overlooking their vineyards this summer. Try: 2011 Tavola Pinot Noir ($25)

Ben, Mimi, Jon & Jessie Casteel
Bethel Heights Vineyard

Launched as a mash-up of in-laws, brothers, sisters, and cousins, Bethel Heights has been a family affair since 1977. The next-gen team is made up of four cousins. In 2002, they launched a blended “Best Of” reserve pinot noir in addition to the winery’s signature single-vineyard selections. Try: 2010 Casteel Reserve Pinot Noir ($60)

Morgan Broadley
Broadley Vineyards

Proving that it’s not just the big guns that attract family talent, the relatively small Broadley Vineyards is now co-owned by the son of founders Craig and Claudia Broadley. Morgan has continued the family’s legacy of complex, whole-cluster pinots that capture the essence of the South-ern Willamette Valley, while experimenting with other varietals like grenache and syrah. Try: 2011 Claudia’s Choice Pinot Noir ($50)

Introducing: Cyril's at Clay Pigeon Winery

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:30:00 -0700

Image: Dylan Harkavy

One of the newest members of Portland’s exploding collection of “urban wineries” is Cyril’s at Clay Pigeon Winery, a culinary incubator and cheese heaven on the corner of SE Oak Street and Sandy Boulevard. With a short wine list, a room full of fermenting barrels in the back, a case of curated cheeses normally hard to find in Portland, and a simple lineup of flavorful comfort snacks, Cyril’s is casually stretching the form of a wine bar.

Take a seat at the white marble bar supported by repurposed wine-barrel staves, and rest easy in the smart and friendly hands of wine nerd Michael Claypool. Claypool offers 15 glasses, including local favorites like Jan-Marc and Fausse Piste, and a handful of even smaller producers, all for about $10 a glass. Advanced drinkers can fill ceramic growlers from Portland Growler Company with either draft beer or pinot noir. At the adjacent display case, cheese monger Sasha Davies rolls out a black slate of cheeses from a tiny selection of hard-to-find specimens ranging from Ardrahan (a buttery, honey-hued cow’s milk variety) to Ossau Vielle (a nutty sheep’s milk cheese aged in the Pyrenees). Davies takes it one step further with a “community-supported cheese club,” in which members can pitch in via Kickstarter for Cyril’s to import a wheel of rare cheese, and then retrieve their wedge at a monthly pick-party.

Cyril’s
815 SE Oak St
503-206-8117

Small plates are arranged in the open kitchen under Cyril’s chef de cuisine, Laura Birshan, with help from Davies. Between the two of them, a seasonal, vegetable-driven list of wine-friendly bites rounds out a battery of local charcuterie. Crispy brussels sprouts come bubbling in a ramekin of cream and funky Stilton cheese with a few slabs of bread for dipping, while something called “The Beast,” a heavy wedge of leek and squash bread pudding, is smothered in pungent gruyère.

Cyril’s is many things: a wine bar, a gourmet retail space, and a comfort-driven bistro. But above all, it’s a place to leave behind your wine insecurities and inspire a thirst for new flavors.

McMinnville's "Wine Alley"

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 08:00:00 -0700

From the perch of their beloved wine bar, R. Stuart & Co, Rob and Maria Stuart have watched McMinn-ville blossom from a small-town hamlet to a vibrant wine country destination. Here, Maria Stuart shares five reasons to extend your vino tour down to McMinnville.

Twelve Wine
John and Linda Lenyo’s tasting bar offers Carlton-grown estate pinot noirs and crisp white blends. A sweet bonus: the winery shares space with McMinnville-based chocolatier Honest Chocolates. 581 NE Third St

The Eyrie Vineyards
David Lett will long be remembered as “Papa Pinot” in these parts. Now run by David’s son Jason, Eyrie’s vineyards are in Dundee, but the winery and tasting room are in McMinnville. 935 NE 10th Ave

Remy Wines Bar
McMinnville native Remy Drabkin has turned her corner of town into Little Italy: while she makes a little pinot noir under the Three Wives label, her specialty is big, bold Italian varietals like barbera. 905 E 10th Ave

Heater/Allen Beer
“Recovering banker” Rick Allen’s small-batch, all-malt lagers offer a refreshing break from wine tasting—which is why they can also be found on tap at R. Stuart. 907 E 10th Ave

Westrey Wine
David Autrey and Amy Wesselman make pinot noirs from their estate vineyard in Carlton when Wesselman’s not working on the International Pinot Noir Celebration, the McMinnville summer festival she directs. 1065 NE Alpine Ave

Pick Up a Passport to PDX Urban Wine

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:00:00 -0800

Modeled after the popular Distillery Row passport that introduced scores of Portland booze hounds to the craft spirits from our own backyard, the new PDX Urban Wineries Passport is an all-in-one insider's guide to the best of Portland's citified sipping.

Each $20 passport is part tour guide with winery profiles and tasting notes, part golden ticket to freebies (like bottle discounts and complimentary tastings) at these participating wineries:

Alchemy Wine Productions
SE Wine Collective
7 Bridges Winery
ENSO Winery
Hip Chicks do Wine
and Jan-Marc Wine Cellars

The discounts don't stop there—over two dozen wine-centric stops have partnered with the passport to offer freebies at Portland wine shops, wine bars, restaurants like Wildwood and Cheese Bar, and wine country tours for those days when inner-city tastings can't hold a candle to the smell of the vines. Tech-savvy sippers will also have access to exclusive digital content for more vino know-how on the go.

Pick up a passport at any one of the above urban wineries, or head to the passport's website to order online. Happy drinking!

For more on Portland’s food and drink scene, sign up for our weekly Eat Beat newsletter, subscribe to our RSS Feed, follow us on Twitter @PoMoFood, and visit our Portland Restaurants page.

5 Questions with Classic Wines Auction's Heather Martin

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:00:00 -0800

Image: Andie Petkus Photography

Classic Wines Auction's Executive Director Heather Martin.

Next year, Oregon's Classic Wines Auction will celebrate its 30th anniversary of charitable giving and vino collaboration. Even before that milestone, this Friday's dinner aims to shatter attendance and fundraising records at the largest annual fundraiser in Oregon.

To get the scoop on this week's 29th annual dinner and future plans for the big 3-0, I sat down with CWA's executive director Heather Martin:

1. How has CWA changed over the past 29 years?

The Classic Wines Auction became an independent non-profit (branching off from the founding organization Metropolitan Family Service) in 2004 and now benefits 5 charity partners instead of just one. The fundraising success has changed—the event went from raising $9,000 in 1982 to a record high of $3 million in 2008. The number of attendees has grown from less than 100 to more than 900, and the events have expanded in size and scope, especially the winemaker dinners: we expanded from 10-12 dinners on one night to almost 45 dinners over 3 weeks.

2. What was served at the early CWA dinners?

Some of the first events didn’t serve dinner; they provided a “tasting menu” to accompany various tasting wines. In 1987, the tasting menu featured sliced fresh fruit, domestic and imported cheeses, assorted patés, wheels of Brie en Croute, sliced French bread, and deviled eggs. We've come a long way!

3. Tell me a bit about the culinary donations for this year's dinner.

Large food donations from local, sustainable partners not only further the promotion of local products but provide a huge cost savings — ultimately increasing the final amount that will be donated to charity. This year we will be featuring Oregon Dungeness Crab donated by the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission and Lostine Cattle Company’s Short Ribs donated by Figgins Family Wine Estates. The Figgins Family created Leonetti Cellar and the newly launched FIGGINS label, and developed Lostine Cattle Company by applying their sustainable estate-growing practices to raise natural grass-fed beef.

4. How is CWA working to engage the next generation of local philanthropists?

This year, we created a tasting event called “Urban Classic” held at the SE Wine Collective. For $50 per person, guests enjoyed wines from the four member wineries of the Collective, plus nibbles from Wafu, Ava Gene’s, Woodsman Tavern, Nuestra Cocina and Salt & Straw. That event is a different format and price point than our winemaker dinners ($150 per person) or the Auction ($750 per person), to introduce new wine lovers into the CWA family.

5. What are your goals for CWA in the NEXT 30 years?

Like many nonprofit organizations, we are faced with questions about growth, sustainability, rising costs, changing revenues, and increased needs in the community. For Classic Wines Auction, however, I hope in the next 30 years we can continue to expand our fundraising model and increase growth without impacting our current efficiencies and partnerships. And in 30 years, I hope I can come back and enjoy the event… as a guest!

Proceeds from the Classic Wines Auction's food and wine gatherings benefit Metropolitan Family Service, New Avenues for Youth, Friends of the Children Portland and YWCA Clark County, and a new beneficiary for 2013, Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel. For more information, head over to the Classic Wines Auction website.

Natural Wines at Sauvage

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:33:00 -0800

Image: Allison Jones

As a new vintage of urban wineries crops up in Portland, Sauvage at Fausse Piste has captured the zeitgeist with a distinctive flair. The candlelit, barrel-lined Central Eastside space showcases the devil-may-care approach of urban vintners, serving sophisticated small plates while shining a spotlight on the winery’s Rhône-inspired cuvées. Most employees work the dinner line as well as the barrel room.

When he founded the Fausse Piste label in 2008 at age 24, Jesse Skiles was one of Oregon’s youngest winemakers. Complex wines from France’s Rhône Valley provided inspiration, but he fell hard for natural winemaking—without added sugars, yeast, or adjustments for acidity. “At first you think you’re going to ruin everything by not controlling the wine,” remembers Skiles. “Then it turns out so much more beautiful than it had ever been before.”

Despite the growing number of restaurants nationwide that stock Skiles’s wines, Fausse Piste bottles won’t carry a Robert Parker score any time soon. A favorable ranking from the Wine Advocate’s influential writer can make a wine overnight, but Parker favors big, oaky, high-alcohol flavors. “They lose the whole point of what we do,” says Skiles. “Our wines aren’t meant to age. They’re not flashy—but they’re thoughtful and personal.” In that spirit, Skiles shares the stories behind the Fausse Piste wines available this month at Sauvage.

2010 La Pyramide Syrah

“A multivineyard blend of cofermented syrah and viognier, this is a true Rhône-style wine I’ve wanted to do since we started. With all neutral oak barrels aged an extra year prior to bottling, only the fruit comes through, nothing else. It takes a few months in bottle to come together, but when it does, it has a polished forgiveness to it.”

2011 The Mineral Selection Viognier

“This wine requires special protection from the elements, or it can develop a sunburnt bitterness, but that safeguard can sacrifice complexity. We’ve increased the amount of skin contact to replace some of that structure, and use concrete, acacia, and stainless steel fermenters to preserve the fruit’s lemon rind character.”

2011 L’Ortolan Roussanne

“Our roussanne comes from less than an acre on the high-elevation Outlook Vineyard in the Yakima Valley. Because we only have a tiny, handpicked amount to work with every year, we decided to experiment with natural winemaking in a traditional cask. The result, this wine, was a turning point for us.”

2010 Riverrock Vineyard Syrah

“These grapes come from two acres on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla. It’s an old, cobblestone riverbed that always freezes in the early winter. The vineyards are borderline dead, you have to start over every year, and the yields are terrible. But it’s worth it: the wines have a smoky gaminess that doesn’t come from oak—it comes from the struggle.”

Valentine's Wine Country Events

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:35:00 -0800

Image: Kevin Bell

With so many superb wineries in the region opening their doors on Valentine’s weekend, it would be a crime against romance to not revel in the comestible possibilities. Add to that the gorgeous landscaping of these vineyards on wintery display—think roaring fires to keep out the foggy chill drifting over a vine-laden countryside—and you’ve got a number of idyllic settings to choose from for a memorable wine country interlude.

Pinot 365 Winter Wine Tasting
Feb 1, 5–8pm, $15 per person, Olympic Mills Building

Get a jump on the Valentine’s rush and sample from 13 local wineries pouring at this event. Find your favorite, and plan your wine country trip accordingly.

Domaine Drouhin Valentine’s Celebration
Feb 9, 11am–3pm, $30 per person, Dundee, OR

Foodies and oenophiles rejoice: Domaine Drouhin will proffer a variety of its delicious wines, paired with tasty bites from Olympic Provisions Charcuterie, Briar Rose Creamery, and Red Fox Bakery. Nibble and sip while swaying along to live music on a scenic terrace. Wine tasting and food are included in the price, as is as a souvenir Riedel glass.

Styring Vineyards Perfect Pair Celebration
Feb 9, 11am, $5 per person, Newberg, OR

Grab your sweetie or perhaps a group of friends and sample some of Styring’s best wines paired with intriguing food accompaniments. Follow your heart and wine-loving soul and bring a bottle or two home to keep the memories flowing.

Chef Wendy Bennett & Domaine Trouvere Valentine Dinner
Feb 14, $55 per person, Dundee, OR

Wendy Bennett runs the Wine Country Cooking Studio in Dundee, has worked for celebrity chef Todd English, and was a vice president at Le Cordon Bleu here in Portland. She’s created a lush and lovely menu this Valentine’s Day, with each course paired with a suitable wine from Domaine Trouvere.

Valentine's Dinners at Eola Hills
Feb 14 & 16, $99 per couple, Rickreall, OR

Eola Hills sets the table for an evening of enchantment by showing off the best of its wines, both as accompaniments throughout the meal—and in the dishes themselves. Prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes and French Brie soup are all on the menu, along with glasses of their reserve wine.

Toast to Passion, Maryhill Winery
Feb 16–17, Goldendale, WA

Maryhill Winery, just across the Columbia River, presents a weekend of fine wines, live music, photography exhibitions, and cheese tastings from Cada Dia Cheese in Central Oregon.

Valentine’s Wine Loop
Feb 16–17, 11am–5pm, prices vary per winery, $10-25

Cooper Mountain Vineyard in Beaverton, Alloro Vineyard in Sherwood, Adriri Winery in Cornelius, and Raptor Ridge in Newberg are each featuring specialty wines for Valentine’s Day, along with treats from Woodblock Chocolate, Ancient Heritage Dairy, Smitten Truffles, and more. Visit all the wineries on the loop and get a chance to wine a “Wine Lover’s Basket” valued at more than $200.

Days of Wine and Roses Valentine’s Passport Event
Feb 14–17, 11am-4pm

Four McMinnville-area wineries bring you an extended weekend of Valentine indulgence. Stop in at Coelho Winery, J. Wrigley Vineyards, Yamhill Valley Vineyards, and Youngberg Hill Vineyards during the four-day event to taste delicious wines, as well as a tempting array of sweet treats. Each stop gets you a stamp on your Valentine wine passport and three roses—show your completed passport at your final stop and receive a vase to display your collected bouquet.