Flavors of Carlton & other delights
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…
