Monthly Archives: July 2012

International Pinot Noir Celebration 2012

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Last Thursday, I embarked on a several days of immersion into the world of Pinot Noir — Oregon style.  The International Pinot Noir Celebration is a long-standing event that takes place in the small wine country town of McMinnville, Oregon at the end of every July.  On the campus on Linfield College, Pinot producers selected by the IPNC showcase their wares to wine writers, distributors and buyers, and die-hard Pinot enthusiasts.  My days in Oregon will provide material for many posts, but I thought I would provide a brief overview of my trip.

After landing in Portland, I had just enough time to drive to the Willamette Valley and arrive in time for a pre-IPNC dinner at Belle Pente Winery.  Not only did we enjoy superb food in a gorgeous hilltop setting, we were also treated to wines from our host, Bachelder, and Domaine Henri Gouges.  But that was just the warm up for what was to come!

Friday, at 9:15 a.m., a group of us piled into a bus to travel the backroads enjoying the bucolic scenery of the Yamhill region and ultimately arriving at Yamhill Valley Vineyards.  After some Pinot Gris in the vineyards, we sat down to a serious discussion with winemakers from Yamhill Valley Vineyards, Felton Road, Cristom and Tyee to discuss decision-making during the winemaking process.  With each winemaker’s description of their philosophies, we also enjoyed their wines.  Then there was lunch, paired with wines from each of the participating wineries.

No sooner did we arrive back to campus, and it was time to enjoy the first of two “al fresco” tastings featuring the wines of all the participating wineries.  Many of my favorites continued to impress including Hamacher, Brittan, Bethel Heights and Cristom.  Oregon did a great job with the 2009 vintage which is lovely to drink right now.  After sampling some 30-40 wines, it was time to sit down to dinner and to more wines!

Day two started at 9:30 with what I called the “Burgundy Breakfast” in a twitter post.  I do love a grand cru before lunch!  Lunch on day two was spent on campus and we enjoyed the company and wines of Hanzell from California as well as a number of other wines that made their way to our table.  While a nap might have seemed in order, we pressed on after lunch to a seminar on cool climate Pinot Noir where I was able to yet again enjoy the wines from Felton Road.  No rest for the weary — following our seminar we headed outside yet again to a white wine and cheese pairing where I enjoyed the Chardonnays from Greg LaFollette and had a “sekt” made by Chehalem.  After a brief break to enjoy a salted carmel ice cream cone and watch “sabering” and other dangerous methods of opening champagne bottles, we headed to “al fresco” tasting number two.  While the “grand finale” of the IPNC is typically the Salmon Bake, we enjoyed our grand finale on Sunday after a day of recuperation at the Allison Inn & Spa and dinner at Jory.

Needless to say, I slept well on the flight back today and I am eagerly working on lining up all of my new favorite Pinots for Slate’s wine list!

–Elizabeth

Updates from the Finger Lakes

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Slate Wine Bar + Bistro Event Coordinator Noelle Creamer and her family recently took a few days to vacation in the New York Finger Lakes.  Here are a few of her observations:
 
“While the grapes in the Finger Lakes are way ahead of schedule because of the hot summer, the tasting rooms seem a little slow. We drove the eastern shore of Seneca Lake from Lodi to Watkins Glen. There are about 20 wineries now along Rt 414. They run the gamut from very small like Bloomer Creek to very busy like Hazlitt. Silver Thread (www.silverthreadwine.com) is one of the newest. Owners Paul and Shannon Brock are focused on energy efficiency and sustainable farming in their vineyard. They hope to ‘create expressive, age-worthy wines in harmony with nature.’” [Note:  Shannon and Paul both have extensive wine experience in the Finger Lakes. Shannon was recently a wine educator with the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua where Noelle and I both did our WSET certifications.]
 
“Ravines Wine Cellars, located on Kueka Lake, has opened another tasting room at White Springs on Seneca Lake, near Geneva – a nice addition to the area that already includes Fox Run, Red Tail Ridge, and Anthony Road.”  [Hermann J. Wiemer is also in this area]
 
The wine tourism industry is growing quickly, but we hope that the growth has not outpaced the demand.  While it is more convenient to experience a broader range of the regions wines with the growth of tasting rooms on the major thoroughfares, visitors may also miss out on the experience of seeing the actual wineries and vineyards were the wines are made.  On the positive side, visitors to the area will now have easier access to some of the best wines the Finger Lakes has to offer without extensive driving.
 
Slate is considering planning a trip to the Finger Lakes for the Fall.  Let us know if that is something you would interested in!

The Color of Rosé

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It may seem silly to ask about the color of rosé.  It’s pink, right?  But I find within the spectrum of “pinks” there is great variation and the shade or hue of pink in the bottle is a reasonably reliable indicator of what you can expect from the wine in the bottle.

My favorite rosés are a salmon color. They balance subtle cherry and strawberry fruit with herbal flavors of the garrigue (a scrub with rosemary and thyme flavors) of southern France and hints of minerality. They are utterly dry and are about as far as you can get from a White Zinfandel. They are typically made from Mourvedre, Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache and/or Syrah.  This is the style that is classic for Provence.

Other rosés, such as some of those made from Tempranillo, can come in bright pink packages that speak to the juice of fresh strawberries and have similar aromas and flavors. Fresh and bright fruit flavors are the star. They are almost like mini red wines.

Unfortunately, it has less to do with the grape variety than it does with the winemaker’s style, the method used to make the wine, and the place the wine is from.  One way to simplify finding new rosés you’ll enjoy is to track the color of the ones you like best and see if there is a consistent trend. If so, this may be an easy way to spot new bottles that you are likely to enjoy.

There are always exceptions to any rule.  I just found a bright pink rosé of Zinfandel that I love!  So keep exploring too.

Law or Wine: Must I choose?

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Tales of the demise of my legal career are spreading and feel a touch premature!  Lawyer Gives Up Legal Career to Open Up Wine Bar

I don’t say that because I worry about whether Slate will be successful and I need my legal job as a fall-back, but instead because I have a very gratifying legal career.  I’m not sure that I am done, just that Slate needs my attention right now.  I’m going to keep paying my bar dues!  Just think future Slate customers:  your confidences to your bartender could be attorney-client confidential!  (subject to a lot of fine print, of course)

I also don’t feel that I really have to choose, because of the amazing experience I’ve had at ZwillGen PLLC.  Not only is it an amazing group of people, but the firm has given me the opportunity to continue the legal work I fell in love with at Yahoo! and to seriously pursue a career in wine.  [Not to mention that they have also been guinea pigs, cheerleaders, and wise counselors! And,incidentally, they are hiring (www.zwillgen.com)]  The law seems to be all-consuming for so many people who practice it.  It is no wonder so many lawyers have second careers.  I don’t think it has to be so black and white, on or off, law or not law… but it takes a special place and certain amount of discipline to juggle two careers at once.

From the wine certification programs, travel, personal educational efforts, tasting events, networking and researching to the part-time jobs in a wine shop and a winery tasting room, my preparation for Slate has been going on at varying level of intensity for ten plus years.  It’s been a solid year working to make Slate happen.  A wine bar may seem like a totally different thing from internet security and privacy, but I have approached this just like I do any legal project– it’s been researched, risks identified and mitigated, plans in place, contingency plans in place, etc. and now the plan is being executed (with the romance of wine and the chaos of the restaurant industry thrown in).

So Slate is where you have the best chance of tracking me down, but I’m not sure I could stop being a lawyer if I tried!  Just ask Mark and Noah @Slatewinebar!

Elizabeth