And the insanity continues. So far, so good. I am well and truly pleased with the quality of the harvest so far. All of the fruit to this point has been clean and healthy and delicious, and we’ll have natural alcohols in the range of 12.5-13% – making it another vintage that will play into our hands very nicely. The cooler years like this make it easy for us, when all is said and done. It’s the hot years when we’re battling over-ripeness that I find a lot more challenging.

On the sorting line - life as we know it for the next few days...

Our bacon has been saved by a few weeks of sunny, dry, windy weather here at the end. It has also been saved by our vineyard manager Stirling Fox, whose diligence in the vines all year long has really made a difference. It seems that we are quite fortunate to be bringing in an abundance of healthy and happy grapes this year, as that does not seem to be the case across the board in 2011. There are reports of rampant rot and seriously under-ripe fruit coming in from assorted vineyards here and there. It looks to be overall a potentially very good vintage, but it’s clear it wont be universally excellent. I am thankful to be among the luckier ones.

With Kelley Fox after a long day on the line...

All that said, it wouldn’t be a Scott Paul harvest without some sort of weird disaster. At our new estate vineyard – Azana, in the Chehalem Mountains – the birds decided to have themselves a feast of unprecedented proportions. Over the space of 24 hours they basically attacked and consumed our entire crop  – we brought in to the winery a meager 1.3 tons from the 6 producing acres there. My rough calculations show that this fruit cost us about $35,000 per ton, making it potentially the most expensive fruit ever harvested in the Willamette Valley! As we do every year in the wine business, time to re-write the business plan again…

The winery full of Pinot - one of my favorite sights...

At least the quality of those 1.3 tons was excellent. As was the 6.33 tons we brought in from our blocks of Nysa Vyd. in the Dundee Hills yesterday. The winery is now full of fermenters full of grapes, awaiting fermentation to take off in a few days. In the meantime, I’m off to grab as much rest and sleep as I can get – we’ve got 20+ tons coming in from our blocks of Maresh tomorrow and Monday, and we’ll likely be processing around the clock until we’re done. More as it happens…

Our October Tasting Series, highlighting our Champagne and Burgundy import company Scott Paul Selections, continues today. Join us in our tasting room in Carlton Oct 8, 15, 22 and 29th, 12-5 pm, and taste and learn…appellation by appellation.  Today, we’re exploring the the southern half of the Côte d’Or – the Côte de Beaune. Pommard. Volnay. Beaune. Auxey-Duresses. Savigny-lès-Beaune. Magical villages that each produce sublime but very different expressions of beautiful Burgundy. We’ll have a flight of excellent examples of the stunning and delicious 2009s from some of the region’s true masters, including Michel Lafarge, Benjamin Leroux, Domaine Pavelot, Thiery Violot-Guillemard and Comte Armand.

UPDATE – here’s the tasting flight for Saturday:

1. 2009 Auxey-Duresses Blanc – Benjamin Leroux

2. 2009 Savigny-lès-Beaune – Benjamin Leroux

3. 2009 Savigny-lès-Beaune les Dominodes 1er Cru – Domaine Pavelot

4. 2009 Volnay Vendanges Selectionnées – Michel Lafarge

5. 2009 Beaune Clos des Mouches 1er Cru – Thierry Violot-Guillemard

Everything is in stock and available online now, if you can’t join us in Carlton (or just want to make sure you get your favorite bottlings before they sell out!)

This special tasting flight is$15,  refundable with any 3 bottle purchase of the featured Burgundies. See you here!

This is what we did last year with leftover Halloween candy.  Basic chocolate chip cookie dough, with chopped up candy subbing for the morsels.  De-lish!

Now, the trick…

The golden contents of this little jar guarantees good eating for the family all week.  It’s a cooking catalyst.  And it takes one minute to make it.

Just chop one head of peeled garlic in a mini-chop, cover it with extra virgin olive oil and seal it in a jar with a tight fitting lid.  Maybe a purist will say that garlic needs to be chopped fresh that minute or it’s no good, but since I started doing this, I’ve made some very popular garlic bread on very short notice.  Before that, I never made garlic bread.  In one week, it helps me whip up Shrimp and Andouille with Grits, Pesto Garlic bread, Bon Ton Salad Dressing, Pasta Salad with Lemon & Garlic White Beans & Tuna for the kid’s school lunch, Wicked Good Seared Greens with capers and chopped Castelvetrano green olives, and a Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Garlic & Rosemary.  (Oh, and make enough of the Pesto Garlic Bread to cut up leftovers, and crisp up in a skillet for croutons that are heavenly on a bowl of tomato soup).

Enjoy your tricks & treats!

And we’re off! Harvest 2011 has begun, under beautifully sunny skies and crisp fall days in the mid-60s. Indian summer is here and the vines are loving it! Yesss, there is a God…

We started off by bringing in 10 tons of nice juicy fruit from Ribbon Ridge Vineyard on Sunday, which is often the first site we pick. Flavors were rich and succulent, and we’ve got lovely acid levels and good pH too. The fruit is now soaking at ambient temperature in open-top stainless steel fermenters, where we will leave it alone and let fermentation start naturally in another 3-4 days or so.

The first grapes of 2011 at Ribbon Ridge

All of our other sites seem to be ripening up nicely and will soon be ready to go. We’re excited to be picking the first crop at Azana – our new estate vineyard on Chehalem Mountain – tomorrow. We have all of our blocks at Maresh scheduled in for Sunday and Monday, and at the moment are still trying to figure out when will be the best time to take the Nysa fruit. However it shakes out, we should have all the fruit in the barn in the next week. That will make it another very compact harvest, with the entire vintage coming in over the space of 7-9 days (10-14 is more typical, or at least it used to be. There is no “normal” anymore…)

Kelley, Anna & Bella - Queens of the Crush 2011

I need to take a moment here and be very thankful. Thankful for the clear and dry days and cool and dry nights we’ve been blessed with over the last two weeks, and for the days ahead that look to bring us excellent conditions. This has been the most bizarre growing season we’ve ever encountered, but at the end of the day it could very well be a home-run for us.

On the sorting line with Pirrie

We’ve been spoiled with a string of pretty easy vintages here since 1998. For all the hand-wringing and nail-biting that’s been going on around the valley this fall (and the premature nay-saying that always seems to hit the media whenever we’re harvesting in anything less than 80-degree sunshine) – I’ve got a feeling that 2011 just may go down as a truly great vintage for lovers of pure, authentic, elegant Pinot Noir. I for one am very excited.

Our harvest celebration dinner – “La Paulée de Carlton” will actually be happening right in the middle of crush this year – Saturday Nov. 5th to be exact. There are still some seats available, so book now and plan to join us for the best Bacchanalian Blowout of the year! Now back to the vines…

Our October Tasting Series, highlighting our Champagne and Burgundy import company Scott Paul Selections, continues today. Join us in our tasting room in Carlton Oct 8, 15, 22 and 29th, 12-5 pm, and taste and learn…appellation by appellation.  Today, we explore Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits, home to the finest Pinot Noir vineyards on planet earth. From the famous villages of Vosne-Romanée, Chambolle-Musigny, Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St. Denis and Nuits-St. Georges come some of the world’s most sought-after wines, and we’ve got a bunch of ‘em from the exciting 2009 vintage for you to taste and buy.

Burgundy's Chateau de Vougeot

Join us in Carlton to check out the new 2009′s from J-J Confuron, Jean-Marc Millot, Taupenot-Merme and Anne & Hervé Sigaut. If you can’t make it here in person, check them out online. There’s a bit of a feeding frenzy going on for the ’09 Burgs, and our allocations are tiny on many of the wines – so don’t snooze!

UPDATE – Here’s the flight for Saturday:

1. ’09 Bourgogne Rouge - Taupenot-Merme

2. ’09 Côte de Nuits Villages, Aux Faulques – Jean-Marc Millot

3. ’09 Chambolle-Musigny – J-J Confuron

4. ’09 Chambolle-Musigny – Anne & Hervé Sigaut

5. ’09 Gevrey-Chambertin - Taupenot-Merme

$15 for the Côte de Nuits Flight, refundable with any three bottle purchase of featured Burgundies.

So, the sun is shining again and everything is rosy. The 10-day forecast is promising, and flavors are developing nicely in the vineyards. As Martha is quick to remind me, however, it was just days ago that the gloomy skies and depressing drizzle had me feeling like we’d never see the sun again, and that all was lost. Welcome to the rollercoaster called Vintage 2011 in the Willamette Valley.

A beautiful morning at Ribbon Ridge Vineyard

I have remained optimistic throughout, because that’s my nature, but I do admit to times of woeful despair and anguish. When all is said and done, we’ll make the best out of what we’ve got, and what we’ve got could still be quite excellent if there’s a shred of truth to the 10-day forecast. I just got back from sampling at Azana and Ribbon Ridge. The warm wind is blowing out of the north, which is usually a good sign, as it brings warmer temperatures and allows all the fruit and vegetation to get nice and dry. It might also dehydrate the grapes a bit, increasing concentration of flavor and the perception of ripeness. So, we shall see…

Our all female harvest crew is in place, and Kelley, Bella and Anna have the winery ready to rock when needed. (Jean-Charles from Beaune was a last-minute cancellation, due to a random skateboard accident in Burgundy! We miss him and wish him a speedy recovery.) I’m hoping we really need it on October 30 & 31 – both “fruit” days on the Biodynamic calendar, ideal days to harvest if the fruit is ready. Now back onto the carousel…

Our October Tasting Series, highlighting our Champagne and Burgundy import company Scott Paul Selections, continues today. Join us in our tasting room in Carlton Oct 8, 15, 22 and 29th, 12-5 pm, and taste and learn…appellation by appellation.  Today, we focus on the wines of Volnay, from the top producers in the village. This flight will feature superb examples of Volnay from superstars Michel Lafarge and Comte Armand.  The Volnay Flight is $20, refundable with any three bottle purchase of featured Volnays.

UPDATE - Here is the stunning Volnay tasting line-up for Saturday Oct. 15th:

1. 2009 Bourgogne Rouge – Michel Lafarge

2. 2009 Volnay Vendanges Selectionnées – Michel Lafarge

3. 2008 Volnay Fremiets 1er - Comte Armand

4. 2009 Volnay Fremiets 1er - Comte Armand

5. 2009 Volnay Mitans 1er - Michel Lafarge

Note – The 2009 Lafarge and Comte Armand wines are now on sale online.

The picturesque village of Volnay is home to about 350 people, virtually all of whom make their living from making wine. Famous for over a thousand years, Volnay has earned its reputation as the jewel of the Côte de Beaune. It produces the most elegant and refined wines of the Côte, which are prized by wine lovers and collectors the world over.

We look forward to seeing you here for this special event. Cheers!

It never ceases to amaze me how much the quality of a vintage gets discussed – before one grape has even been picked! I kindly ask you to ignore everything you read (except this missive, of course) about the upcoming 2011 harvest in the Willamette Valley. Until the grapes are in, the fermentations are done, and the wines have been in barrel for a year or more – anything that’s said about the quality and character of the vintage is simply premature.

What nature brings us in the way of weather over the next few weeks will surely determine the final cards we are dealt. At this point we have the potential for anything from a great year to a disaster, and only time will tell. We’ve done what we can in the vineyards. The next step that is not controlled by nature is deciding when to pick, which is always the single most important decision in all of winemaking. In a year that is running late like this (and may well turn out to be our latest ever), the picking decisions become more crucial than ever. Pick too early and you may miss the best flavors and balance the vintage has to give. Wait too long and you could lose the crop entirely, at worst, or be working with material of significantly lesser quality than if you’d picked the day before. Not for the faint of heart, this winemaking thing…

It is interesting now to see many wine writers and critics back-pedaling on the 2007 Oregon Pinots, which they had declared a “bad vintage” just as the first wines were being released. As many have discovered, it was actually a vintage that produced a lot of superb wines, though it was not indeed as uniformly excellent as 2008. Many recent vintages in Burgundy have also fooled a lot of folks. The 2008s changed dramatically in barrel, to become excellent examples of classic, elegant, terroir-driven Burgundy. Right after harvest they were written off as an unsuccessful vintage, due to the challenging growing season and poor weather at harvest.

The one and only thing to be learned from all of this? The one great lesson to be learned from wine – Patience. In our rush-to-judgement, 15-second sound-bite, instant-gratification world, it is the grapevine and a humble bottle of wine that teaches us the virtues of patience. For that, I am very thankful. Hang in there, baby…

I finished the Portland Marathon about 48 hours ago, which my thighs, calves and hips are reminding me of quite clearly every time I attempt to stand up, sit down, or move. Other than that it feels great. I have learned a new term this morning – DOMS -  Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It hurts so much more than after the 22-mile training run three weeks ago. There’s something about those extra 4.2 miles that really put the hurt on. Nonetheless, it was totally worth it. All of the early morning runs, all of the miles, and even the pain and soreness now.

If you had told me two years ago that I would ever run a marathon, I would have thought you were quite insane. I was inspired to start running by being woefully out of shape, and by the announcement that the Oregon Wine Country Half-Marathon would have its finish line right next to our tasting room here in Carlton. I quickly proclaimed to the world that I was going to run it, and registered. I truly had little idea what I was signing up for. I literally struggled to run for two minutes at a stretch in the beginning. Thanks to an app on iTunes called “Couch to 10K”, I worked my way up to comfortable six-mile runs, and then on my own up through 13.1 and finally 26.2.

Your intrepid vintner, minutes after finishing the Portland Marathon, and discovering the '08 La Paulée on the cover of the new issue of Food & Wine

It was a voyage of self-discovery, to be sure. You find out a lot about yourself on those lonely, rainy, 6am runs. A lot about motivation, commitment, and stamina. Most surprisingly, I learned that I really love to run, much to my amazement. Which is really helpful, because I still love to eat Foie Gras and drink Pinot and Champagne on a regular basis (though certainly moderated since pre-running sloth days.)

I also learned that a marathon is more than twice as hard as a half-marathon. Throughout the race I never had any moments of doubt about finishing, but somewhere around mile 21 I knew I was going to be in for a fair amount of pain when all was said and done. “It only hurts when you stop” is another truth I’ve discovered. Maybe that explains why I’ve been looking into doing an ultra-marathon (anything longer than 26.2 miles) next year, thinking that if it’s going to hurt this much anyway, I may as well go a little farther and postpone the pain a little longer…

I’m only two days removed from the race and already planning the next one – I’m the type of person that needs that next big goal in front of him. Although I think it might be kind of like childbirth (not that I have any first-hand experience with that), in that you need enough time between them – enough time so you conveniently forget what you went through the last time. So, at least six months until the next one, I promise.

I would like to thank everyone that made this incredible journey possible. The crew at Fit Right NW has hooked me up with the right shoes and gear throughout my training, and they are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful – a tremendous resource. Dr. Steve Hanson and the team at Back In Motion sports injuries clinic really helped me through an early hip problem and hamstring tear and helped me learn to train and run injury-free – my sincere gratitude. Huge thanks to you, the Scott Paul customers and fans, for your enthusiastic interest and support. Most of all, gigantic thanks and deep appreciation for the patience, love, understanding and support of my family, without whom I never would have made it through. Martha, Pirrie, Kevin, Ally & Lindsay – I love you dearly.

Yes, there is nothing about wine in this post. It is cold and drizzly and the grapes are not ripe yet, so there’s not much to say. Our latest harvest ever will start sometime in the next 2-3 weeks. Just remember – it’s a marathon, not a sprint…

Today we kick off our October Tasting Series which highlights our Champagne and Burgundy import company Scott Paul Selections.  Join us in our tasting room in Carlton Oct 8, 15, 22 and 29th, 12-5 pm, and taste and learn…appellation by appellation.  For October 8, in addition to our regular tasting flight of Burgundies and Pinots, we’ve put together a special Champagne flight featuring Grower Champagnes from three producers new to our portfolio: Vincent Carré, Guy de Chassey and Jacques Picard.   The newest selection of wines for the fall Champagne club will be ready for Champagne Club members to pick up as well. The Champagne Flight is $20, refundable with any 3 bottle Champagne purchase. (Free for Champagne Club members for this event.)

UPDATE – here’s the flight line-up for the October 8th tasting:

1. Jacques Picard – NV Brut

2. Vincent Carré – NV Brut 1er Cru

3. Guy de Chassey – NV Brut Grand Cru

4. Marc Chauvet – NV Brut Sélection

5. Camille Savès – NV Brut Carte Blanche

For more information on our grower Champagne and Burgundy Imports visit the producer section of our website.

Cheers!