I’m just back from visiting my daughter Ally in Athens, GA, and seeing her graduate Cum Laude from UGA over the weekend – I am a very proud papa indeed. And a very busy one – with big action ahead. Here’s the rundown…

First, Burgundy superstar vigneron Benjamin Leroux flies in tomorrow for a whirlwind 24 hours in Portland. Come and meet Ben and tasted his rockin’ 2007s tomorrow, Thursday – from 5-7:30 at Cork on Lovejoy in NW PDX. The line-up will include his Bourgogne Blanc, Savigny-les-Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru, and Nuits-St. Georges 1er Cru. Tasting fee is $5

Then we’re heading directly over to the smashing new Urban Farmer restauraunt in the Nines hotel downtown for a great winemaker dinner at 7:45. It’s $65 (non-inclusive of gratuity), and you’ll be tasting a line-up of Ben’s 07s plus the 2007 Audrey & 2006 La Paulee from Scott Paul. Call 503-222-4900 for reservations – a few seats still remain.

Then on Saturday from 12-5 at the winery in Carlton, it’s our annual Grand Cru tasting event – this year featuring a special tasting of 2006 Clos Vougeot from three different producers – J-J Confuron, Jean-Marc Millot & Francois Lamarche. Tasting fee is $25 for this special flight (and our regular tasting flight for $5 will be offered for those not wishing to partake of the Grand Cru juice.)

Later that evening I’ll be teaching the Grand Cru Burgundy seminar at the winery, which is already sold-out. And hot on the heels of that we’ll be moving into our annual Memorial Day Weekend Open House on the 23rd, 24th & 25th – we look forward to seeing you at the tasting room for what is always a festive weekend.

Fellow soccer geeks – we still have some room for our Champions League Finals party on May 27th at The Agency in Portland from 11:30-2:30. Come watch Manchester United v Barcelona for the big match, chow on great sliders and sip some nice Pinot and brews, and join the debate on who’s the best player inthe world, Ronaldo or Messi? Call Kelly Karr at 503-852-7300 for reservations.

That’s enough for now, eh?

Just moments ago, 10-man Barcelona’s Andrés Iniesta blasted home a goal in injury-time to win the semi-finals and book their spot in the Champions League final against Manchester United in Rome on May 27th. It was one of the most dramatic, exciting, heart-wrenching finishes I’ve ever seen. OMG…

So, the stage is set – Barca v United – and you can join us in our private room at The Agency on W. Burnside in Portland – it’s $35 (which covers your sliders, beer & wine) – and reservations are REQUIRED. Call Kelly Karr at 503 852-7300 or email kellykarr@scottpaul.com.

My condolences to our co-host for the event, Storyteller Wine proprietor and massive Chelsea fan Michael Alberty. And here’s Iniesta, celebrating his winning goal…

It’s official – we’re doing a winemaker dinner on Weds. May 13th at Portland’s Urban Farmer restauraunt in the Nines Hotel downtown. Burg superstar Benjamin Leroux will be here pouring his new 07s, and I’ll be there with our current Audrey & La Paulee Pinots – all of which will be matched-up with a rockin’ great menu from chef Matt Christianson.

Dinner starts at 7:45, and a seat is yours for $65 plus gratuity. Call 503-222-4900 for reservations – seating is limited and this one should fill up quickly.

And as previously announced, earlier that day we’re doing a tasting of the new Benjamin Leroux wines at Cork wine shop on Lovejoy in NW Portland from 5-7:30 – please join us if you can!

Now I must go drown my sorrows, as Arsenal ungloriously crashed out of the Champions League semi-finals in London tonight. Kudos to a clearly superior Manchester United side for booking a return spot in the finals – we’ll know who their opponents will be at the conclusion of tomorrow’s Chelsea-Barcelona match tomorrow – and then we can plan for our Finals event May 27th at The Agency in Portland. If Chelsea get through, I’d love to see them take revenge on United for their Penalty-kicks loss last year – but I do think Barcelona-United would be a better match. We’ll know shortly…

In the meantime, here’s the dreaded Cristiano Ronaldo, celebrating one of his two goals against Arsenal tonight…

Each November, Scott is lucky enough to attend the world-famous Hospices de Beaune auction which benefits the charity hospital that the local wineries have supported with donations of vineyard land – in fact, the Hospital is today the largest vineyard owner in Burgundy.  At the 2007 auction, Scott nabbed a coveted barrel of Beaune Premier Cru Cuvée Maurice Drouhin.  Come taste the wine (only 12 cases available!) and hear tales of this storied event. 

We’ll also pour wines from arguably the hottest young talent in Burgundy, Benjamin Leroux, the most recent addition to our import portfolio. He’s the winemaker at Domaine Comte Armand in Pommard and has launched his own label starting with the 2007 vintage. He’s a former winner of Burgundy’s best young talent trophy, and widely reputed to be the best young producer in all of Burgundy. We’ll feature Leroux’s 2007 Volnay Premier Cru, Savigny-les-Beaune, and Bourgogne Blanc.

Thw wines will be released April 29th.

Yesterday Kelley Fox and I sat down for our first comprehensive tasting through all of the lots of our 2008s. In a word, divine.

As you will undoubtedly hear from any Oregon producer you run across, we were blessed with a miracle Indian-summer/fall here in the Willamette Valley, and it created what just may turn out to be the benchmark Oregon Pinot vintage. Had you asked any of us on September first, we all would have said we were headed for a potential disaster. The sun and warmth then miraculously arrived to save our bacon. It’s one of our latest harvests on records, and also one of the lowest in yields, but the quality is simply superior across the board. At this point, I would say that ’08 in Oregon has many similarities with ’05 in Burgundy, in that it was of very high quality, and virtually everybody across the board made excellent wine.

On to the tasting. I’ll run through my quick thoughts and impressions on each of the major lots -

Maresh Block 10 – Lively, lovely aromatics, some earth notes too, red and black fruits, great texture, good length, some spice notes, very classy juice…

Maresh Block 12 - More floral on the nose, more linear and less complex today, but maybe prettier…

Ribbon Ridge – Very appealing nose, great concentration, very pretty on the entry, long, good grip on the back end. The best RR since ’03, I think…

Momtazi A - smells like young Pommard – heady, earthy aromas. Fruit and a distinct minerality on the palate. Long, tasty, the most masculine wine in the cellar this year…

Montazi D – Brighter, more high-toned nose, richer fruit, balanced and very persistent. Very very nice indeed.

Momtazi J – A seductive, swirling nose, then nice fruit on a rather raw, open-knit texture. Young & very agressive right now…

We’ll make our final blending decisions in June, but it’s already pretty clear that the best of the Maresh will be the ’08 Audrey, and the La Paulée will be a blend of Ribbon Ridge, Maresh & Momtazi. A couple of micro-production single-block or single-lot bottlings are likely too – details later this summer…

In the meantime – we look forward to seeing you here in Carlton tomorrow for the first shot to taste the ’07  Burgs from Benjamin Leroux and our Hospices de Beaune barrel – yummy stuff. We’re open from 1-5 (Attention fellow Champagne Junkies – the Marc Chauvet 2002 and 1999 Special Club are back in stock – grab ‘em quick!) Here we are in the cellar with Clo Chauvet last summer…

Clo Chauvet, Scott & Pirrie