I’ve been excited for you to taste this wine since it was in barrel two years ago. It’s been in bottle for a year now, and it’s finally time to make its debut. I’m thrilled to unveil the 2010 “Les Gourmandises” Pinot Noir. We’ll be having two release tasting events – the first in Portland on Friday night September 14th, and then the next day in Carlton on the 15th – whichever one works best for you, please plan to join us. I truly don’t want you to miss out on this one.

“Gourmandises” is the French word for “delicacies”, meaning special treats, indulgences, to be savored and enjoyed. The word just popped into my head shortly after harvest in 2010, when tasting through the fermentations of the fruit from Nysa vineyard that would become this wine.

I had gotten to know Nysa’s owner, Michael Mega, back when I was the Managing Director of Domaine Drouhin, which directly abuts the Nysa vines in the Dundee Hills. I always thought it was a great site, and was psyched to finally have the opportunity to work with some Nysa fruit for the first time in 2010. (We’ve gone on to extend our agreement, and we’ll happily be working with the Nysa fruit for years to come. Yay!)

The resulting wine is a great expression of the Dundee Hills terroir – red-fruit focused, with bright fruits of cherry and raspberry and hints of wild strawberry, and the spice notes that are the signature of the red volcanic Jory soils. It’s everything I love about Oregon Pinot Noir, and I find it especially captivating on the nose. The 2010 vintage gave us some beautiful aromatics and a pure, precise acidity that makes the wine just “pop” in your mouth, and makes you want to keep coming back for another sip. Come and check this baby out – we only made four barrels of it – so it won’t be around long…

The biggest news of the day is that starting on September 7th, we will now be open every Friday night in Portland, for tasting and sales in our new event space in Northwest PDX! Our series of First Fridays have been a blast so now we’re expanding it to Every Friday – every week we’ll be pouring a different flight of assorted Burgs and Champagne and Pinots, and we’ll always have an expanded selection of wines from our portfolio in stock. So plan to kick of your weekends at Scott Paul PDX on Friday nights from 5-8, starting Sept. 7th. I promise a special “off the menu” pour for all blog readers who say the secret phrase – “Hey – whatcha got under the table?”

Wow. Whoa. It has been an amazing whirlwind of ridiculously good food and wine and friends these past couple of weeks (otherwise known as “it’s a rough job, but somebody has to do it”!)

It all kicked off with the 26th annual IPNC – the International Pinot Noir Celebration – hands-down the best wine event in the USA every year. This was my 12th IPNC in a row, and I can’t imagine ever missing it. Back in 2006 we started our tradition of hosting a pre-IPNC dinner at the winery, with some of our Burgundian producers in attendance as well as friends, customers, and Pinot lovers from all over the world.

This year three of Burgundy’s top winemakers were able to join us – Alexandrine Roy from Gevrey-Chambertin, Hugues Pavelot from Savigny-lès-Beaune, and Thiébault Huber from Volnay (Thiébault was here for our 1st dinner in ’06, and this was his 3rd IPNC visit so far.) Chef Daniel Mondok from Paulée restaurant in Dundee was our chef this year, with an array of dishes that were smokin’ good with the line-up of Burgs and Pinots we chose for dinner. Alexandrine sent over the last 12 bottles of the amazing 1985 Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur from her personal cellar, and it was clearly a highlight of the night.

Then IPNC kicked off on Friday morning in high gear, and dazzled all of our senses all weekend long. By the end of Sunday night, we were all spent. Happy, thrilled, and spent. But no, we still had more hedonistic adventures ahead.

On Monday I took the Burgundy boys around town, and lunched at Clyde Common with a great group of our top restaurant and retail clients in the city. The Monday night, one of my favorite chefs on the planet, Le Pigeon’s Gabe Rucker came over and cooked dinner in our house for a group of 12 (this was a winemaker dinner we had donated earlier this year to the Classic Wines Auction.) I flat-out love Gabe’s food, and it was a thrill of a lifetime to have him in our kitchen and whipping up some amazing plates with just a couple of sauté pans and a home-kitchen oven. In a word – absolutely outstanding!

Thiébault Huber rockin' the IPNC

One of Gabe Rucker's magical dishes at dinner...

No rest for the weary, as we quickly moved on to the two biggest tasting events we’ve ever attempted at Scott Paul. With my birthday as a flimsy excuse, we opened 10 top Grower Champagnes and served Bamboo Sushi, Little Big Burger truffle-salt Fries, and Pix macarons on Friday night in our Portland event space. The crowd was great, the vibe was buzzing, and we had a rocking good time, to say the least.

Some nice bubbles on ice...

Six vintages of Audrey...

... and a nice line-up of Burgs

Not to be outdone, on Saturday in Carlton we opend a six-vintage vertical of our Audrey Pinot, and five top Grand Cru & 1er Cru Burgs from the likes of Michel Lafarge, Comte Armand and Bonneau du Martray. We had our biggest crowd ever in Carlton, and I can’t think of any better way to celebrate turning 29 for the 2nd time (which makes me 58, btw…)

We would down from that with a lovely dinner at Paulée, and sips from a nice bottle or two, before heading back into Portland. Martha then surprised me with a fantastic chocolate cake, a fun stay-cation in the JFK Suite at Hotel Monaco downtown, and dinner at Laurelhurst Market, followed by a massage! Whew.

The amazing lamb-belly with spaetzle at Paulée

It is time to “take off the feed bag” as Martha says. I can’t wait to get back on the trail in the morning and get in a good 5-6 miles before heading out to Carlton. I was up at 3am Sunday morning to watch the women’s Olympic Marathon live – I am so proud of and inspired by PDX’s own Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher, who finished 10th & 11th in London on a brutally tough course in the pouring rain. I look forward to seeing them on the trails in Forest Park again soon. But first, another chunk of the killer chocolate gateau…

Kickoff Party Friday August 3^rd, 6-9pm  at Scott Paul PDX: a Blow-out Evening of Grower Champagne and Hedonistic Bites.

This will be the biggest Champagne tasting of the year yet, with a line-up of NINE top Grower Champagnes open from your favorite producers – including Bruno Gobillard, Camille Savès, Vincent Carré, Guy de Chassey, Godmé, and Serveaux.

We’ll pair them with some of Scott’s favorites – including truffle-salt fries from Little Big Burger, sushi from Bamboo Sushi, and macarons from Pix. 

$40 per person. 
RSVP required by Saturday July 28th to Kelly Karr, 503-319-5827
kellykarr@scottpaul.com

Official B-Day Celebration, Saturday August 4^th from Noon-5 in Carlton:  Masters of Burgundy and a Scott Paul Audrey Vertical
Seems like the right occasion to open some great bottles that are usually never open for tasting. Here’s the amazing Burgundy flight for the day: ’09 Buisson-Charles Meursault Bouches-Chères (95pts), ’09 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne (93Pts), ’09 Michel Lafarge Clos du Chateau des Ducs (94Pts), ’09 Comte Armand Volnay Fremiets (90-93Pts) and the ’09 Jean-Marc Millot Échezeaux (93Pts) – all scores courtesy Burghound.com.

$25 per person, refundable with 3-bottle purchase of featured wines.
RSVP required by Saturday July 28th to Kelly Karr, 503-319-5827
kellykarr@scottpaul.com

PLUS a 6-vintage vertical of Scott Paul Audrey Pinot Noir, 2005-2010! Wow. We’re also working on some special food goodies for this one too.

Save the dates – and get ready for one of the best weekends of the year!