Last week, my wife and I went to Tilth Restaurant for dinner, where we enjoyed a fantastic food and wine experience.

Tilth is unique not only for its focus on local, organic foods, but also for being one of only two restaurants in the country to receive the Oregon Tilth organic certification. The restaurant was started by chef Maria Hines, who had established quite a strong reputation at Earth and Ocean restaurant.

Tilth is located on 45th in Wallingford in a converted house that was once home to an Asian restaurant. The new paint outside and redesign inside provide a much warmer, inviting environment. There is also the option to dine al fresco out front on the patio.

Having reserved a table, we were immediately seated close to the kitchen, which was busy with Maria and her staff preparing various dishes. We were well served by Jonathan, our waiter, who was not only knowledgeable about each dish, but also very familiar with the wine list. It is always a pleasure to be served by someone who has tasted the food and wine, especially after my recent experience at Smash Wine Bar just down the street.

Since we were eating local, I wanted to match the various dishes we planned to order with a food friendly Oregon pinot noir. Based on Jonathan's recommendation, we selected the Carabella 2005 Chehalem Mountains Pinot Noir, which ended up being a wine you just could not stop drinking, it was that good.

Why so good?

The bottle's label states that Carabella Vineyards makes their pinot noir blend from three clones: Pommard, Wadenswil and Dijon. Many pinot producers rely solely on the widely planted Dijon clones, which tend to offer a much narrower flavor profile. However, those that blend with other types of pinot noir clones usually craft some of the more enjoyable and captivating wines. In fact, a few folks have written about the need for more diversity in New World pinot noirs, especially those from Oregon. Having tasted some of these blends, I whole heartedly agree.

Hand it to Carabella for crafting a truly delightful wine, albeit with one fault: too much alcohol. At 14.2% the wine wasn't hot on the palate, but it did pack a punch to the head. Granted, the wine was hard to keep in the glass. Even still, I would much rather drink something that is not going to get me feeling buzzed by the end of the meal and even worse, give me a headache the next day.

As to Tilth's menu, we really liked the option of ordering half plates versus full servings. This allowed us to sample more dishes than we normally would under a standard full plate deal. Of the six dishes we shared, all were wonderfully presented and amazingly delicious. We started with the heirloom melon salad (a beautiful dish), then moved on to the albacore tuna (amazing sauce) and duck burgers (great chips), sampled the beef carpaccio (a bit chewy), plunged into the house made papparadelle (delicious pea vines/pods), and finished with the blueberry tart (a perfect dessert).

Great food, wine, service and atmosphere combined for a wonderful night out. It was a truly delightful meal and we will definitely return to this new favorite in our neighborhood. I encourage you to give it a try.