First of all, a quick harvest update. It seems clear that we will pick next week – most likely starting on Tuesday, but we’ll watch and wait for the optimal timing. A few showers are passing through, to be followed by a string of nice sunny days in the hi 60s – we’ll sample tomorrow and see how flavors are developing…

We just announced our annual La Paulée dinner for November 7th, and seats are filling up quickly. If you’d like to join us for Oregon’s best night of bacchanalia – email Kelly Karr – kellykarr@scottpaul.com or call her directly at 503-319-5827…

Revelers at La Paulée 2008

I’m looking forward to seeing you here at the winery on Saturday for our “Farewell to Cuvée Martha Pirrie” party – we’ll be tasting the 2000 – the first vintage of the CMP, and the 2007 – the end of the line – and of course more Burgs and goodies – come on by and grab the ’07 before she’s gone…

Speaking of the 2007 wines (they’re no good – it must be true because Wine Spectator said so…) – we’ll be releasing the 2007 La Paulée in November. We gave it an extra 6 months in bottle, and it is really showing well – silky, elegant, nice richness on the mid-palate and some spice notes emerging. Watch your email for all the release information to come. I am truly excited to unveil this wine (and to start showing the 2008 Audrey – your first shot to taste will be on November 7th. Details soon…)

And one more thing – the next load of incoming 2007 Burgundies should arrive next week – including the rare gems from J-J Confuron and the first of the ’07s from Taupenot-Merme. Oh yeah…

We’re excited to launch our new series of Video Podcasts (those old audio-only podcasts are just so passé!)

We’re kicking it off with a walking tour of our new Azana Vineyard – enjoy!

Next up will be a walk through our blocks of Maresh Vineyard in the Dundee Hills, and I’m sure we’ll shoot some good stuff during crush as well. And I’ll finally produce Part 3 of the Burgundy 101 podcast – but this time it will be in video!

Martha encouraged me to play around with our Flip Mino-HD video camera the other day, and we shot some footage up at our new estate vineyard – Azana Vineyard – in the Chehalem Mountains. Then I discovered the amazingly cool stuff you can do with iMovie on the Mac. And so, voilà! Our first attempt at a video blog. I apologize in advance for the shaky camera work – but thought it was worth looking at, at any rate…

I was then inspired to shoot some footage at Maresh – I’ll get to work on editing and post-production on that and try to get it launched in the next couple of days…

The ripening continues...

Still waiting. Still watching. The sun is shining brightly, we’ve got a couple of gorgeous days ahead – warm days, cool nights. If ripening grapes could order room service, this is what they’d order. Just gimme another week or so of this and we’re good to go. Of course it looks like the weather might turn in about 3 more days. Waiting. Watching. Nothing is ready to pick yet, so wait is all we can do…

And we can go check in on the baby vines at our new Azana Vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains AVA – here’s the view from up there earlier today…

2nd-leaf plants at Azana - Organic & Biodynamic

Speaking of waiting, it’ll only be two more years before we get any fruit from this site. And by the time we know if it’s any good, I’ll be retired or dead (or both!) Other than that, everything happens quickly in this business…

If we have to wait for the grapes, at least we can eat and drink well – looking forward to dinner at Jory tonight. Cheers!

I admit that I’m coo-coo for quinoa.  Here’s my lunch.  What’s not to love?

Did you know that it’s not a grain?  Nope.  Actually related to the spinach and beet family.  For those not familiar, is it used like a grain, has a soft texture and nutty taste, and is packed with nutrition and health benefits. But that’s not why we eat it.  We eat it because it is delicious.  Here, I’ve tossed cooked quinoa with diced red pepper, chopped green onion and parsley, a handful of chickpeas, and a handful of beans from inside the pods of the green beans in my garden that got too big (btw, I didn’t even think of that until Yvonne in Carlton suggested it — now I’m not so bummed when the beans escape my notice and get too mature to eat whole — because these inner beans are delicious simmered in lightly salted water.  Also notice how pretty — lavender colored).  I really think most kids will eat quinoa.  Mine loves it.  She had this salad in her lunchbox yesterday.  Alternately, I’ve topped quinoa with ground turkey seasoned with taco seasoning and added chopped green onion, corn, avocado, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, black beans etc, little sour cream, etc.  That is an all-plates-licked-clean dinner.

Then, there’s the energy quinoa seems to give me!  I’m so pumped up right now after my lunch.  I should change the side of the Beetle to say, powered by quinoa!

November 2011 update:  some other tips on quinoa…some recipes call for rinsing it because of a bitter taste?  The package that I buy at Trader Joe’s must be pre-rinsed because it doesn’t need it at all.  We still love the quinoa “taco bowl” dinner from above.  It is always a hit and everyone gets to make their plate just like they want it.  Also, try quinoa with sautéed shrimp and garbanzos, or with seared greens and slow roasted salmon.  Or with grilled squash and eggplant and a spoonful of King Harvest sesame toasted hummus.  Swoon!

The always thoughtful Patrick Essa of Domaine Buisson-Charles in Meursault sent his harvest wrap-up last night – I have translated it for you here…

We harvested practically without any rain – only two hours of light drizzle over the course of the entire harvest. There are objective reasons to be optimistic – the harvest was ripe, clean, and healthy. We are happy that we waited as long as we did, as the grape maturities really improved after Sept. 7th. We started picking the whites on the 14th, and it is clear that we remained true to our ideal of “full maturity, without over-maturity.” Nothing was less than 13.1% potential alcohol, and nothing over 13.6%, pHs averaged 3.30, and total acidity around 6.4, with very little malic. But that’s not everything – we must see how the wines behave in barrel during fermentation – hopefully not too turbulent – we will see. Today we picked the last fruit of the harvest, and have chilled down all of the whites after having let them settle for 24-48 hours. In short, nothing is finished – but I am extremely hopeful. I am writing this from a what I hope to be a most “neutral” perspective, but it’s true that from my core I am thinking of the 1979 whites and the 1990 reds – i am indeed thinking we have something great. We shall see…”

Closer to home, some of our neighbors have started picking here in Oregon – mostly younger vines at lower elevations so far. We’re still thinking we’re about 2-3 weeks away yet. We’ll do another round of samples tomorrow morning to get a read on sugar development. Some flavors are just beginning to show…

And here’s Patrick Essa in his cellar in Meursault, with some American winemaker-importer…

A view down over the village of Pommard

Make sure to come by and taste if you have the chance – we’re open from 12-5 tomorrow (Saturday 9-19) for a killer line-up of wines from the Burgundian village of Pommard. We promised two village wines and four 1er Crus, and I’m sorry we’ve had to change that – we’re upping it to five 1er Crus along with the two village offerings – here’s the final line-up:

2006 Pommard Vignots – Aleth Girardin

2006 Pommard – Huber-Verdereau

2006 Pommard Pezerolles 1er Cru – Thierry Violot-Guillemard

2006 Pommard Clos Derrière St. Jean 1er Cru – Thierry Violot-Guillemard

2006 Pommard Epenots 1er Cru – Aleth Girardin

2006 Pommard Rugiens-Bas Epenots 1er Cru – Aleth Girardin

2006 Pommard Bertins 1er Cru – Huber-Verdereau

Wow – these wines do not suck! It’s a $20 tasting for the flight (which also includes our regular flight of Scott Paul Pinots and other goodies.) I Look forward to seeing you here in Carlton tomorrow!

In Burgundy, harvest has been in full swing for over a week now, and all of our growers – from Chablis down the the Mâconnais – have nothing but good things to say. There were some intermittent light showers there today, and it is forecast to continue, but it seems that most are nearly done picking, or will be finished over the weekend.

Romain, Virginie, Denise & Jean Taupenot - in their back yard overlooking Clos des Lambrays

Romain Taupenot at Domaine Taupenot-Merme filed this report this morning:

“The health and sanitary condition of the fruit has been absolutely optimal – there was virtually no sorting to do. The potential alcohol is ranging from 12.5% in the Bourgognes to 13% in the Grand Crus – we will not be doing any chaptalisation this year. Taking into account the high level of millerandage this year (clusters with many tiny berries alongside the larger, normal sized berries), and the fact that we ended up with about 80% whole, un-crushed berries in the fermenters, I would expect these potential alcohol levels to increase somewhat. On the other hand the acidities are generally lower this year, the result of the heat-wave we had in late August.”

Fog over Maresh this morning

Meanwhile, closer to home – we had an unexpected rain yesterday, increasing the already strong botrytis pressure that is knocking on the door just about everywhere throughout the valley. Some folks have already started picking – mostly younger vines at lower elevations so far. I walked through our blocks this morning in the Dundee Hills, and was encouraged to see very little signs of trouble, but concerned that we appear to still be at least 2, maybe 3 weeks away from ripeness & readiness (and you know I’m only looking for about 13% alcohol…) More sun and mid-80s is expected tomorrow and for the coming week – which will help with ripening but can also help feed the rot issue…

Clusters ripening nicely in Block 10 at Maresh

I though you might be interested in seeing this. As you may know, Pinot Noir is quite genetically un-stable, and is prone to mutate in the field. A “Dijon 115 Clone” that you plant this year will likely become something entirely different in a few years time. Sometimes, they can even mutate into something other than Pinot Noir (though within the Pinot family.) Here’s a vine in the middle of Maresh that has become Pinot Blanc, best as I can tell…

The Black & the White

From tasting the grapes this morning, I would say that were no further along than maybe 18-19 brix. Unless the weather takes a dramatic turn, we’ve still got quite a way to go. In the meantime, the spiders have been very busy, working their own brand of magic in the vines…

More as it happens – stay tuned! (And don’t forget to join us Saturday at our tasting room in Carlton for the mega Pommard tasting from 12-5!)

Myth #1 – Good Burgundy is too expensive and over-priced.

While having a great burger at The Allison’s Jory restaurant Sunday night, I ordered a bottle of the 2006 J-J Confuron Côte de Nuits Villages les Vignottes for $48 (a very fair mark-up – this wine retails for about $38). It was surrounded on the excellent wine list by pages and pages of Oregon and California Pinots at more than double the price – many of which probably don’t deliver more than twice the pleasure, IMHO. (I’m not bagging on New World Pinot, believe me – I make it and sell it, with the intention that we deliver excellent bang for the buck in every bottle.)

Bottom line – yes, there are lots of Burgs that only billionaires, kings, and oligarchs can afford. For the rest of us, there are plenty of great values from Burgundy, if you know where to look. (And of course we’re more than happy to be your guide.)

Clos Vougeot - home to lots of mediocre Grand Cru wine

Myth #2 – Avoid the “Bad Vintages”

Many of the all-time greatest Pinot-based wines I’ve ever enjoyed have been from so-called “off” vintages. A number of Burgundy’s most revered producers – notably DRC, de Vogüé, and Mugnier among them – have often produced their finest wines in vintages that were not at all well regarded, or were in fact dismissed out of hand. In the opinion of many, these producers often routinely excel in the more difficult vintages. Closer to home, winemaker Kelley Fox and I have always thought that our 2007 Audrey and La Paulée bottlings were probably two of the best wines we’ve ever made. (Audrey sold-out as futures, so evidently somebody found something to like. The ‘07 La Paulée has not been released yet – watch for it this fall…)

Why are a number of journalists writing off en masse the 2007 Pinot Noirs in Oregon? Harvey Steiman and Matt Kramer, who both write for Wine Spectator, have each panned the vintage recently, and there have been plenty of others. On the other hand, a number of other journalists have been singing the praises of the vintage, as if in a backlash to the negative articles. I’d have to say I disagree with this group as well.

Leading Burgundy expert Allen Meadows has stated that a “vintage chart” or any kind of vintage rating for Burgundy is completely without value. I’m of the mind that this goes for New World Pinot as well. This, I have come to believe, is because Pinot Noir, not only more terroir-transparent than any other grape, is also the most producer-transparent red wine varietal – and I think when we’re talking Pinot, producer trumps “vintage” more often than not. Perhaps it’s the cool, on-the-fringe climates the grape likes, maybe it’s just the nature of the grape itself, the passionate nuts who make the wines, or a combination thereof – but I think you just can’t generalize when it comes to Pinot.

One of the wine world’s most common sayings is that “the good producers make good wine every year.” This is especially true with Pinot, it seems. Meadows has also stated that the “weather” during a given vintage is absolutely not an indication of the quality of the resulting wines. There is “weather” every vintage – but it is the sum-total of the entire growing season, plus the lingering effects of the previous year (this year’s buds are actually formed internally during the preceding year), and what the vigneron does with it that ultimately determine the outcome. Just as a great terroir does not automatically a great wine make (just look at the large lake of mediocre-at-best Grand Cru Burgundy made every year – “good” or “bad” vintages regardless) – favourable or adverse weather conditions at harvest do not dictate the quality of the final product either. There is simply so much more to it than that.

I guess the bottom line is that I wish the writers would stick to simply reviewing the wines. Fanning the flames for a “good” vintage or pissing on a “bad” one does no one a service, least of all the producers who succeeded in the “bad” ones. Will the reviewers find more wines to like and recommend in some vintages over others? Absolutely – that’s the beauty of the mysterious combination of nature and alchemy that we work with every day of our winegrowing lives. Many of our neighbours did some of their best work in 2007, and at the end of the day it’s a shame to see that excellent work cast aside like so much stale bread. Taste for yourself and decide. As always, your mileage may vary…