Love is in the air…
With Martha’s birthday coming up in a couple of weeks, and Valentine’s Day a few days after, the first half of February is always a season of amour around our house. Daughter Pirrie has informed that I will indeed be her valentine again this year. It’s nice to know that I haven’t yet been replaced – that will come all too soon, I’m sure…
Love means many things to me. Near the top of the list of those many things would be Champagne and Pinot Noir – not just because I love those things, but because I associate those things so much with romance. You don’t have to ply me with Champagne to seduce me, as somebody famous once said, but it sure can’t hurt!
So this year for V-Day at the winery we’ll be pouring the delicious Marc Chauvet Brut Selection (one of the great deals on grower Champagne on the planet), and what we’re calling “Something Old and Something New” - our current releases, alongside the 2003 vintage of both our Cuvée Martha Pirrie and La Paulée Pinot Noirs. I opend up a bottle of the ’03 La Paulée over the weekend – I hadn’t checked in on it in quite some time.
What I found was pleasing indeed. 2003 in Oregon was a hot year, with ultra-ripe grapes and big, rich fruit the norm for the vintage – even in the hands of usually more restrained producers. Some wines from that vintage can be simply over-the-top ripe and jammy, verging on syrah-like characters. At 5 1/2 years of age, I found the ’03 La Paulée to be more balanced than I expected. There was plenty of big fruit to be sure, but in the context of the vintage it wasn’t that terribly monstrous. Come check it out at our tasting room on V-Day and see what you think. If you like the bigger end of the spectrum in terms of fruit, while still retaining some semblance of acidity and overall balance, this one’s for you. (I haven’t tasted an ’03 Cuvée Martha Pirrie recently – I’ll grab one this week and post my notes here.)
Valentine’s Day marks the official kick-off of Oregon’s 150th birthday celebration, with events happening all over wine country and everywhere else in the state. Click here for all the info.
In the meantime, on a totally unrelated note – here’s a shot of J-J Confuron’s “Les Vignottes” vineyard in Premeaux – a mind-blowingly delicious Côte de Nuits Villages that is consumed with great regularity chez nous…
