Cheers to the North Willamette Wine Trail!
April 13th, 2009 by Julia Adam
- Biodynamic farming sculpture at Cooper Mountain Vineyards
I’ve been looking forward to the North Willamette Vintners’ North Willamette Wine Trail Weekend ever since it was announced. To make it even better, I talked my mom into coming out for a visit (from Pennsylvania) so she could enjoy the event along with me, my friend/co-worker Cherie and Cherie’s parents who are visiting from Texas.
First stop
Our band of merry wine-drinkers started off the day on Saturday at Cooper Mountain Vineyards, where winemaker Gilles De Domingo taught us how they apply the principles of biodynamic winemaking, and marketing director Barbara Gross taught us the difference between Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio! I always thought they were simply the names in French and Italian respectively, but it turns out that Pinot Grigio is more a summer sipper (or a table wine) while Pinot Gris is more full-bodied and made to be paired with foods. I feel so educated now! We also sampled their specialty Apicio balsamic vinegar on its own, and drizzled over strawberry shortcake for a sweet application and over mozzarella, tomato and basil for a savory snack. Delicious!
Next up
Our next stop was Oak Knoll Winery, where Beran Vineyards was also pouring for the weekend. We heard all about different bottle closures, from traditional cork to synthetics to screw-off caps and the pros and cons of each – very interesting! We also sampled a wide array of wines from Beran’s luscious Pinot Noirs to Oak Knoll’s special edition of Blak Berree, a blackberry wine. Lovely! To top it off, they had lots of yummy snacks and some great live music.
Moving on
The third stop on our journey was Apolloni Vineyards where owner and winemaker Alfredo Apolloni taught us all about Super Tuscan wine blends. We sampled Apolloni’s new Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot just out of the barrel, then Alfredo mixed up two different blends for us to try, one of which might become the next bottling of their beautiful Soleggio blend. These beautiful wines combined with our first truly sunny and beautiful day this year put us all in a fantastic mood.
Finale
We concluded our full day of tasting at Montinore Estate where we sampled a lovely white blend, a new bottling of rosé and a wine club-exclusive Pinot Noir. Since the Wine Trail was wrapping up for the day, we wandered over to the main tasting room and enjoyed a few more tastings. The deck was the perfect place to enjoy the late afternoon sun and balmy breeze. This was a truly fantastic day!
Sunday
My mom and I couldn’t pass up a quick stop at Ponzi Vineyards on Sunday, since we had our wine trail glasses on hand and a couple of hours on a sunny afternoon. We had a great time chatting with David, the wine club manager, while we sipped a brand-new 2008 Pinot Gris, a lovely ’07 Pinot Blanc and their wonderful ’07 Tavola and noshed on local blue and goat cheeses. This was the perfect way to wrap up a wonderful weekend of wine and sunshine! Be sure you plan to attend next year!
Tags: Apolloni Vineyards, Beran Vineyards, Cooper Mountain Vineyards, Montinore Estate, North Willamette Valley, Oak Knoll, Ponzi Vineyards
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