Four days ago….

This morning…

After an unprecedented run of days that hinted at spring, we are of course back to reality. Which around here means cool, rainy, grey, cool, rainy, & grey. But hey, that’s why we’re here – to Pinot Noir this is paradise. Not so much for the pruning crews, however. Many of our neighbors have already pruned (as you can see in the above photo) – but we’ll be making our cuts in March. There seems to be no conclusive evidence of when is best to prune, but we’ve always followed the old Burgundian saying – “Taille tôt, taille tard, rien ne vaut le taille de Mars” – which translates as “Prune early, prune late, nothing’s better than pruning in March”.  Works for me…

Be sure to check out writer Jim Gullo’s new website – OregonWine.com – the writing is excellent and I think we can expect great things ahead. Bravo Jim!

Also, i just ran across a really nice piece on traveling in Burgundy from the Bon Vivant blog, which you can read here. I’m in the middle of scheduling all my tasting appointments for my April trip, and looking forward to springtime on the Côte and a nice dinner or two at Ma Cuisine, Chez Guy, Caves Madeleine, la Ciboulette and other faves.

Speaking of good things to eat, I’m a long-time fan of Chocolate & Zucchini – the excellent blog by Parisian foodie Clotilde Dusouliers. A recent posting there has inspired me to bake a chocolate cake this weekend.  It’s a good thing I’m training for the half-marathon…

We just had the most amazing run of beautiful winter days here – Hi’s near 60, bright sunshine – it was a true gift. The views from our Azana vineyard were stunning on Sunday – here’s a shot Martha took of Pirrie in Block 3 -

And now a quick round-up of all sorts of events and activities coming up…

First off, I’ve just booked to do a Burgundy 101 class in Portland next month. We’ll be doing our two-hour “Intro to Burgundy” seminar at Cork Wine Shop on NW Lovejoy in Portland on Wednesday March 10th from 6-8pm – you can contact them directly to book your place. There are only ten seats available, so grab yours while you can…

Then on Saturday March 13th we will unveil “D122” with a special release event at the winery in Carlton. All the details to come, but for now suffice it to say that this is the first of our 2008s to be released and we are way excited. Then that night, it’s our Burgundy Graduate Class – for those who want to get deeper into the often confusing twists, turns, and exceptions to the rules that are in fact the rule in Burgundy. Email Kelly Karr to reserve your spots…

I’ve just finished booking all my travel for my next trip to Burgundy. I’ll be gone the last half of April, visiting all of our producers, spending a lot of time in the vineyards and the cellars, and bottling our first Burgundian wine under our own label – our 2008 Chambolle-Musigny. The plan is to release this wine in June – watch this space for all the info as we get closer…

Speaking of Burgundy, I’m frequently asked if we’ll ever be leading tours over there. I would love to, but my schedule never seems to allow the time. I am very happy, however, to be able to turn you on to two friends in Beaune who are putting on some amazing top-drawer tours this year. Journeys in Wine has two week-long trips/seminars scheduled – one in June and the other in October – email Kim Gagné or call 503-213-3164 for all the details…

I’ll be back from Burg-land in time for the big Oregon Pinot event at E&R Wines on SW MacAdam in Portland – I’ll be pouring there on Sunday afternoon April 25th from 1:30-4. Call 503-246-6101 for all the details. Should be a great day and I hope to see you there…

In the meantime, the Winter Olympics has been the big action around the house lately. Pirrie and I are really enjoying it, though I admit I could do without the endless cross-country, biathalon and luge coverage. Jasmine the cat does not seem terribly excited about any of it, actually…

And don’t forget to check out Martha’s Blog – quickly becoming a must-read for the culinary obsessed!

Isn’t my crew at home happy that I ran across a blog post about edible sidewalk weeds?!  During the Great Depression, there was a stigma attached to being an egg-seller.  What will the kids at school say if they find out we are weed-eaters?  Well, all I know is that this salad actually earned a High Five from the little one.  Really!  And, we didn’t actually forage from the sidewalk.  These beauties were in our raised beds (ok, well, a few were in the driveway).  I ran across the article quite by chance and in the nick of time.  I must say, weeding is an altogether different activity when it is an edible crop — less of a chore, more of an accomplishment, and easier than going to the grocery.

This is a Hairy Bittercress, and since it’s not the least bit hairy, and just peppery, exactly like watercress, I prefer to call it weedcress.  Cresses are absolutely loaded with antioxidants and minerals.  They are detoxifying power-foods.  By weight, watercress has more calcium than milk, more vitamin C than an orange and more absorbable iron than spinach.

Last night, we ate our weeds dressed with a simple vinaigrette (extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic, honey vinaigrette), tossed with half an apple, grated, and ripe avocado.  I added a side board of locally-made Olympic Provisions finocchiona, and a cheese, selected for us by Steve Jones of Steve’s Cheese on his last day at Square Deal Wines (he’s moving across the river into his own space, Cheese Bar.  Portland’s cheese guru has never steered us wrong.  We wish him loads of success).

A few weeks ago, with the first crop of cress, I dressed the greens with a vinaigrette and topped them with ripe avocado, and sliced grapefruit.  I made the same salad a few nights later and topped each plate with seared diver scallops.

Next up, weedcress pesto with goat cheese, spread on crostini?  Maybe roasted salmon with cress cous cous?

Again – a quick reminder to join us at the annual Flavors of Carlton event tomorrow night at Ken Wright Cellars (just up the street from us here in beautiful downtown Carlton) – we’re pouring, along with Soter, Belle Pente, Tyrus Evan, Solena, Elk Cove, Torri Mor, Biggio-Hamina and a bunch more. Food is from Farm to Fork, Cuvée, Painted Lady, Tina’s, Nick’s and at least five more, the auction packages are full of great stuff, and it’s only $50 (tix avail. at the door) – and all proceeds go to fund after-school and early-education programs right here in Carlton. Festivities start at 5pm…

Had a stunningly good meal at Farm to Fork in Dundee last night. They’ve got a new tasting bar where the deli case used to be, and chef Paul Bachand blew us away with an array of small plates that simply rocked. Highlights were the basil-fed escargot and trumpet mushrooms over stone-ground polenta, the dungeness crab and black truffle raviolo, and a sublime goat-cheese tart. Paul keeps raising the bar – I may have to go again tonight!

James Beard semi-finalist Gabe Rucker of Le Pigeon

Speaking of great food, huge kudos to some of our favorite Portpand chefs and restos who were just announced as semi-finalists for the James Beard Awards. Gabe Rucker at Le Pigeon, Naomi Pommeroy at Beast, John Gorham at Toro Bravo, Andy Ricker at Pok Pok  and Ping, Matthew Lightner at Castagna, Jenn Louis at Lincoln, Cathy Whims at Nostrana, and Oswaldo Bibiano at Autentica – what a wealth of culinary talent right here! And this crew is is just the tip of the iceberg – there are exciting new eateries and great young chefs popping up around here seemingly every week – we are truly blessed. (Thank god I’m training for a half-marathon – otherwise I think I could easily gain about 20 pounds a week!)

We are excited to once again be a part of the annual Flavors of Carlton event coming up this Saturday. It’s a fundraiser for local charities right here in our little community, raising $$$ for several vital programs whose budgets were wiped out by the latest round of governmental cost slashing at the state and federal level.

Tickets are only $50, which is a massive deal in this era of $250+ charity dinner price tabs. A bunch of great wineries are pouring new releases, several top local restaurants are offering up delicious bites, and there’s a live auction offering all sorts of packages – including coast and wine country getaways, and our package of a private guided tasting for 8 at the winery, including a mixed 6-pack of some of our best Pinots and Burgundies. Tickets are available online through the link above – we hope to see you in Carlton Saturday night. (The event is hosted by our friends and neighbors at Ken Wright Cellars.)

I was blown away by the response to our special Lucien Le Moine tasting on Saturday – what a turnout! Thanks for joining us. Those wines are generally never open for tasting anywhere – in fact it was a treat for us to check out all of those amazing Grand Crus side by side. I thought the Charmes Chambertin and the Clos de la Roche were showing the best on the day, both with really lovely silky fruit and amazing length. The Chambolle-Musigny les Charmes was the best of the 1er Crus we opened – it was just plain delicious, creamy, and endlessly elegant – everything I love about Chambolle. We were so slammed with guests that we ran out of wines to pour and sell by about 3:30 – I apologize to everyone who came later only to find the wines all gone. We poured and sold every bottle that wasn’t nailed down – or so we thought. Turns out there are three bottles of the ’07 Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru still available – if you’re interested email Kelly Karr and we will honor the special pricing from Saturday (the Charmes is $168.25, down from $225.)

Thanks to Ben Dyer and his team at Simpatica and Laurelhurst Market – we had a great winemaker dinner for the Morrison Child Services Cooking for Kids series on Thursday night. Ben was inspired by the Saints Superbowl win and Mardi Gras season – so they cooked up some great cajun and creole classics, including a rockin’ good andouille and chicken gumbo…

In the meantime – next month marks the arrival of D122 in Oregon. Details to come…

Could there be anything that says LOVE more than Grand Cru Burgundy and Bubbles?!  Grab your Valentine or just be good to yourself and join us!  This will be our first-ever tasting of the wines from one of Burgundy’s superstars!  Lucien LeMoine makes just a barrel or two of up to 50 of the top Grand and Premier Cru Burgundies.  We’ll have six killer bottles open for a very rare opportunity to taste this line up AND all Lucien LeMoine wines are 25% off this day only.

Our regular flight will feature grower Champagne and our ever-popular Crémant de Bourgogne along with  our newly released 2007 Scott Paul La Paulée Pinot Noir.

$25 covers both flights, or you can choose the regular flight only for $10.  Tasting fee waived with purchase of any 6 bottles.

Noon-5pm at our tasting room in Carlton. Check out what other Willamette Valley wineries are doing for Valentine’s weekend!

February 11, 2010.  We’re teamed up with the rock-star butchers/chefs of Laurelhurst Market (& Simpatica) for what is sure to be a meat-nirvana dinner, benefiting Morrison Child & Family Services!  This popular dinner series is unique for its very interactive and informative format.  The chefs offer demonstrations and the winemakers share insight and answer questions about the wines & the pairings.  See our notes about our recent meal at Laurelhurst Market if you’re not familiar with it, then make plans to be there with Scott!  Details here.

As often is the case, things somehow balanced themselves out. My sadness and depression after the Arsenal loss on Sunday morning was more than erased when the Saints crushed the Colts in the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon. Martha & I literally had tears in our eyes as we celebrated (with a bottle of Marc Chauvet ’99 Special Club Champagne, of course!) It was so much more than a football game. This one was a victory for the city of New Orleans and its culture and battle-scarred residents – who have risen phoenix-like from the ashes to their biggest day of glory. I can only imagine the intense buzz of joy and celebration that is running through the town, as they now roll into Mardi Gras festivities, with the Super Bowl trophy in hand and a great new mayor to boot. Who Dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints!

One by one we are revealing the line-up for our amazing Lucien Le Moine ’07 tasting this Saturday from 12-5 in Carlton. Yesterday we announced the Puligny-Montrachet les Folatières 1er Cru, today we’re adding the Chambolle-Musigny les Charmes 1er Cru to the flight. Watch this space and our Facebook & Twitter pages for the next three additions. These wines are made in miniscule quantities – only 1 or 2 barrels each in most cases, and they are among the highest-scoring and most sought-after Burgundies on the planet.
As Martha pointed out – they are rarer than diamonds, and a lot less expensive! So bring your Valentine on Saturday for an extremely rare shot to taste these beauties. And they’ll be 25% off on Saturday as well…

We’ll also have some killer grower Champagne on hand, including that ’99 Special Club bottling from Marc Chauvet, a really special bottle for your celebrations, and a great deal at $55. (Most Special Club Champagne starts at $75 and up.) If you love clean, crisp, citrus-y and brioche-y bubbles – this is the real deal. Only four 6-packs remain in the U.S….

I’m really looking forward to our winemaker dinner Thursday night with the Simpatica-Laurelhurst Market crew. If you’ve got your seats booked – we’ll see you there (it is SOLD-OUT – thanks for supporting Morrison Child & Family Services!)

Please send your good vibes for the Arsenal-Liverpool game tomorrow night, while I wish a Happy Birthday today to my lovely and loving wife Martha, who has tolerated my insanity for almost 17 years now, and keeps on getting better in spite of it all!

Martha in Meursault

Join professional Burgundy Geek/Winemaker/Importer Scott Wright at Portland’s Storyteller Wines in John’s Landing for a night of Burgs and assorted goodies – 6-8pm on Friday February 5th! Wear your Arsenal gear!!!