A quick reminder before we get into harvest insanity and I forget - SAVE THE DATE -

Saturday, November 3rd – the 2nd annual La Paulée de Carlton harvest celebration dinner and extravaganza here in the cellars of Scott Paul. More details coming this fall…

Our trip to Disney World and Georgia was a blast, despite the searing 103-degree heat and savage humidity encountered every day – makes one really appreciate how great we have it here in Oregon! Mid-August and we’re in the low 70s today, back up to 80 or so for the rest of the week. If this holds we’re in line for an excellent quality harvest – but of course things will change a few dozen times between now and then. Ask me again in about 5 or 6 weeks and I’ll let you know what kind of vintage we’re going to have (because the grapes shouldl all be in the winery by then!)

Speaking of harvest, all of our sites are looking very healthy at this point, with crop levels being adjusted as we speak. Fruit set was good and cluster size is on the high side this year, so we’ll be dropping to 1 cluster per shoot everywhere to get yields down to our target of 2 tons/acre max… Bottling begins tomorrow for the 2006s, and we’ll be all wrapped up by the end of Friday. Here’s an advance look at the 06s we’ll be bottling over the next three days:

Cuvée Martha Pirrie – Light on its feet with good depth of flavor, nice balance of red & black fruits. Robust flavors, nice texture. A blend of Shea, Stoller, Ribbon Ridge, Momtazi and Zena Heights vineyards…

La Paulée – More concentrated, better length, more layers of flavor. Succulent and sexy mid-palate, more refined, a very pretty wine. Shea, Stoller, Ribbon Ridge and Momtazi fruit…

Audrey – Again this year it’s 100% Maresh vineyard, from the beautiful old vines at the top of the Dundee Hills. Pure and elegant, it’s all ripe red fruits and subtle spices, with a fruit-basket nose and truly superb length. Alas there are only 5 barrels of it – which will make no more than 125 cases of this beauty…

First of all, I must say what an honor and treat it was to have Thierry & Estelle Violot, Aleth Girardin, and Romain Taupenot here for this past week. The IPNC festivities were spectacular as always (this is truly the best wine event in the U.S. every year, exceeded only perhaps by the Paulée in Burgundy…) It was such a pleasure to introduce them all to the wonders of Oregon (the Violots and Aleth had never been to the U.S. before) and the joyous celebration that is the IPNC.

We opened a number of stellar bottles over the course of events. The most memorable was an impeccably beautiful bottle of 2000 Musigny from Roumier, which was jaw-droppingly great. There was also a lovely ’90 Richebourg, a horizontal of ’93 Amoureuses from de Vogüé, Drouhin, Mugnier, and Amiot, (the Drouhin was corked, as were about 5 or 6 other highly-anticipated bottles over the weekend – when will everyone stop putting tree bark in their wine bottles?), and too many more to go into here. I will menton that Freddy Mugnier is truly amazing – even his 2003 Musigny had grace and elegance – something I’ve not found in any other 03s…

For those who say that New World wines don’t age well, by the way, I offer the evidence of the 1979 Eyrie Chardonnay that was shared with us by Jason Lett – it was absolutely alive, complex, vibrant and delicious – it really blew a lot of minds…

We’re just about to the half-way mark in the vineyards this season, and to this point everything looks very good. Cluster sizes are fairly large again this year, but berry size is relatively small. We’ll be dropping fruit over the next week-10 days to get the vines in proper balance for even ripening, and tailoring our yields to an average of 2 tons per acre. In the older vines at Maresh, little or nothing will need to be dropped, as these mature plants are now old enough to find their own balance. It is truly an amazing thing. In the vines as with people – wisdom comes with age…

This weekend is the annual Carlton walk in the Park event – with top flight artists and crafstmen, the best wine country restaurants, and all of the Carlton-area wineries participating for two days of fun, wine, food, art and music in beautiful Wenerberg Park – please come out and join us…

Tomorrow is my birthday (53 – whoa!), and we’ll be heading off Sunday night to take Pirrie to DIsney World, and then to Atlanta to see my older children before they head back to college for the fall. We’re really looking forward to the break, and will be back in touch when we return…

First of all, I am very happy to report that Pirrie’s re-entry to home life has been smooth and happy, and that she has really resumed her normal life (not that anything in this family is ever truly normal!)

Thanks again for all of your cards and gifts – we all feel very loved… I’m getting excited about this year’s IPNC adventures, with three of our Burgundian producers arriving just two weeks from today. We look forward to seeing you here at our annual pre-IPNC dinner, as well as throughout the weekend…

Kelley Fox and I have zeroed in on the blends for the 2006 wines, and I think you’ll be happy with the results. We’ll be bottling in late August, and the wines are supple, fleshy, ripe and delicious. Please remind me of that after we’ve bottled them – because Pinot really hates the bottling process, and the wines can get very puzzling right afterwards. Fortunately they rebound fairly quickly. The 2006 Audrey will be another stunner. It is once again entirely from our Maresh Vineyard fruit, and has great concentration and loveliness all at the same time. Ah bliss…

A quick update just to let you know that Pirrie’s surgery went very well, and she’s resting comfortably at the hospital. With luck we’ll be home this weekend! The bandages from last Friday’s operation come off tomorrow, and if all goes well we will get the go-ahead to bring her home shortly.

Also, thanks to everyone who came out for our anniversary party last weekend – I understand a good time was had by all. I’m looking forward to opening up some of the 2005 Burgs soon myself – I haven’t tasted most of these since pre-bottling. As great as the 2005 vintage is, don’t let that suck you into thinking the higher-end wines will be drinking well early on. All great Burgundy takes time – so try to keep your hands off of the Premier Crus and Grand Crus until they’ve grown up! Now is a good time to enjoy the Bourgogne and some of the Village level bottlings from ’05…

We cannot thank you enough for your outpouring of love and support during this very difficult time. Pirrie is healing well, and we’re getting ready to head back to the hospital for her skin graft surgery on Friday. We’ll be in the hospital for about a week – so please keep sending your healing vibration our way…

There is exciting news on the Burgundy front – two of our producers were featured in the new July issue of Food & Wine magazine, in their report on the best values from Burgundy. Philippe Chavy’s 2005 Bourgogne Chardonnay and Jean-Marc Millot’s 2005 Côte de Nuits Villages were both highlighted, with the Millot wine pictured and selected as one of the top two values in all of red Burgundy!

The first shipment of the 2005s has just arrived, and several will be open this weekend for you to taste at our 1st anniversary party, celebrating the opening of our tasting room one year ago. Martha & I will not be able to be in attendance, I’m sad to say – but we’ll be with you in spirit – so please plan to be here on Saturday the 16th, 11-4…

I’m watching my daughter Pirrie sleep peacefully as I write this. These last 10 days have been the most difficult of my life. On Tuesday May 29th Pirrie was severely burned in a freak accident here in our home. She accidentally leaned to close to a candle, her shirt caught on fire, and she suffered 3rd degree burns over much of her stomach and back. Martha and I were just steps away, and were able to put the flames out in seconds. The ambulance was here within 2 minutes and she was in the ER at Oregon’s finest burn unit – Legacy Emanuel Hospital – less than 10 minutes after the accident.

We spent three nights in the hospital, and have been home now for 6 nights. She is doing remarkably well and has not been in much pain. She is healing well. We go back to the hospital for skin graft surgery on June 15th, and we’ll be in the hospital for 7 days after the procedure. Then she’ll recover and recuperate at home, and after some time she will be fully healed and essentially as good as new.

That said, I cannot begin to put into words how horrifying it was to see our child in flames. I sincerely hope that no parent should ever have to experience that. Our world has been turned upside down, but we know that in the long run everything will be OK. The outpouring of support from our friends, family, and associates has been overwhelming, and we cannot thank you enough. Pirrie is a child who has touched so very many people with her electrifying smile and her amazing awareness and contagious joie de vivre. Martha and I thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your thoughts and prayers and offers of support. Please help send us all special strength over these next few weeks as we go through the surgery and recovery phase. She is getting the very best of care, and with all of our love, patience, and support she will thrive and soon be dazzling us all once again…

Don’t forget to make plans to join us this weekend for our Memorial Day Weekend Open House – 10-4 Saturday & Sunday (and Monday we’ll have regular tasting room hours from 11-4.)Come out early in the day and beat the traffic and the crowds! Your $5 tasting fee gets you a sample of three Burgundies and the 2005 La Paulée Pinot. As it looks right now, the first shipment of the 2005 Burgundies will not have arrived in time for the weekend festivities, but you can place pre-arrival orders for any of the incoming wines – order forms are available online or pick yours up at the tasting room. If you bought futures of the 05 Audrey or La Paulée – this weekend would be agreat time to pick ‘em up…

I am in an exceptionally good mood, celebrating AC Milan’s victory in the Champion’s League final today. They have now avenged their stunning loss in the 2005 final. I just love watching Kaká play the game – it was his beautiful pass that led to Milan’s 2nd and ultimately winning goal. With no Euro Championship this year, the season is now over. (Except for the neck and neck finish in Spain in La Liga, of course.) Then it’s down the the MLS – it’ll be interesting to see what transpires with Beckham’s arrival in L.A. this summer…

Back in the saddle after two weeks on the road, which was a successful trip except for the seemingly inevitable travel hassles (got stranded in Chicago on the way back from NY, and had to spend a night there waiting for the next plane to Portland the following morning.) It seems we need to build an extra day into the itinerary as a matter of course these days. I used to get fuming mad and all bent out of shape over this stuff. I’m better at just rolling with it these days for the most part, but I still have my moments!

At any rate, it was great to see so many wonderful Scott Paul supporters in the restaurant and retail world in both NY & Chicago – it’s nice to see first hand that our distributors are doing a good job of finding good homes for the wines. In New York I am still fairly well remembered from my Shadow Stevens days on the radio, so I often run into folks who are now in the wine business and grew up listening to us on NY’s Z-100 back in the 80s. I had hair back then – not to mention I’m 20+ years older and more than a few pounds heavier – I don’t even vaguely resemble the old publicity photos!

Back here in Carlton the “Horse Radish”, a very nice cheese & charcuterie shop & wine bar just opened this past weekend right on Main St. “downtown” – check it out on your next visit to our burgeoning litte village. Raptor Ridge winery is moving into town this fall, and I understand that Willamette Valley Vineyards has bought the vacant property next to us and will be building a production facility and tasting room there. There are also rumors of a new pizza restaurant/brew pub on the way, and we keep hearing about a bakery (yum!) coming in as well. It’s an exciting time to be in Carlton, to be sure…

Kelley Fox is doing an amazing job handling the conversion to Biodynamics at our parcel of Maresh vineyard in the Dundee Hills. It’s very exciting to be actually putting into practice all of the things we’ve been reading about for years. Two truckloads of organic cow manure arrived last week, and Kelley has added the proper biodynamic preparations and straw, and layered everything carefully, and our new biodynamic compost heap is now officially underway. It truly gives new meaning to the phrase “steaming pile of shit”!

The red clover is in bloom all around, and it’s a particularly beautiful time to be in the vineyards. Keep your fingers crossed for a decent flowering again this year – we should be about 4 weeks away…

First of all, huge thanks to everyone who came out and joined us for the Audrey & La Paulée release party on the 28th. We had a great time, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. It was great success all the way around – in fact only three or four 6-packs of the Audrey remain available. If you still need to grab some. don’t hesitate or it will be truly gone…

I’m in my hometown of Chicago as I write this, visiting top restaurants and retailers that have been supporting our wines. It’s a beautiful spring day, and I’me very excited that my beloved Cubbies are in town this weekend. I have a day off on Saturday, and plan to take the “L” up to Wrigley field to catch the afternoon game. I don’t think I’ve been since 1983!

I am absolutely overwhelmed at the demand for the incoming 2005 Burgundies. I have truly never seen anything like this. Many items from our first pre-arrival offering of just one week ago are already sold-out! If there’s anything you’re hoping to get a hold of in particular – please let us know asap and we’ll do our best to get you what you’re after. There will be at least one or two more pre-arrival offerings to come later on, featuring our producers who were not included in the first wave. It is really exciting to see that every producer in our portfolio has received scores in the 90s from Allen Meadows (from whom a score of 88 is considered excellent – he’s a tough cookie when ot comes to handing out the numbers!)

Speaking of the press, thanks to Co-Publishers Cameron Nagle and Cole Danehower for their glowing “Three Cluster” review of the 2005 La Paulée in the new issue of Northwest Palate – it’s the highest rating they give, and the only wine to receive this rating this time around. We are very honored. Big thanks also to Katherine Cole for her excellent article about our Burgundy program in the Oregonian – we’ve had a bunch of nice feedback…

And yes, I am crushed that my beloved Chelsea crashed out of the Champions League semi-finals, losing to Liverpool on penalty-kicks. (I was on a plane to Chicago when it happened – I’m actually glad I didn’t get to see it!)The FA Cup final against the dreaded Manchester United now looms very large. On the other hand, I’m thrilled that AC Milan thumped ManU and knocked them out of the Champions League, and I’m rooting for Kaka and company to trounce Liverpool in the final in Athens on the 23rd…