Main

July 30, 2008

IPNC 2008: Connections, Context, and Community

For me, the measure of a good wine experience is how often and to what degree you reflect on it afterward. Since returning from IPNC 2008, I have been thinking a lot about what I gained from attending this event. If I were to distill it down to just a few themes, then IPNC for me was all about connections, context, and community. Connecting to People and Places I heard it said many times during the weekend, that it is the wine that brings folks to IPNC, but it is the people that make it special. That was clearly validated...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 08:00 PM | | Comments (0)

July 27, 2008

IPNC: Day Two, Part Two

IPNC Northwest Salmon Bake Dinner The second half of Day Two at IPNC followed a similar sequence to Day One, with several seminars, special pourings, alfresco tastings, and dinner. Mid-afternoon, I dropped by a book signing featuring Tyler Colman, Ph.D., a.k.a. Dr. Vino, and several other authors. Tyler, whom I met earlier in the day, publishes a popular wine blog and has recently released a new book entitled, Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink. I am looking forward to reading Tyler's book, which combines two of my favorite topics. Along with the book...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 07:07 PM | | Comments (2)

July 26, 2008

IPNC: Day Two, Part One

IPNC Sustainability Without Sacrifice Seminar Today is the second and last full day at IPNC. It began with two wine seminars indoors and was followed by lunch outside on the lawn. In keeping with the theme of this year's IPNC, the two seminars focused on sustainability in the vineyard and winery. Both sessions were moderated by Andrea Robinson with a panel of special guests commenting on the various wine flights in front of us. The first session featured Jasper Morris, wine expert and writer, and Dominique Lafon, of the Burgundy estate, Domaine des Comtes Lafon. Dominique spoke about his...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 02:05 PM | | Comments (0)

July 25, 2008

IPNC: Day One, Part Two

IPNC Grand Dinner What an amazing evening the first night of IPNC has been... It started with the al fresco tasting event, featuring dozens of producers from around the world pouring recent and past releases of pinot noir. As much as these types of tasting events offer a useful cross-section of wines, I find it challenging to really enjoy wine in this setting without food. The cocktail wines always show well, while the food friendly wines struggle. Following the tasting reception, we all came together for "The Grand Dinner", with a variety of wines and vintages being poured throughout...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 10:38 PM | | Comments (0)

IPNC: Day One, Part One

IPNC Vineyard Tour and Winery Lunch What a terrific first day at IPNC. I got started at 8 am joining Craig Camp of the Wine Camp Blog for breakfast. Craig is clearly the man when it comes to blogging about the Oregon wine scene. It was a lot of fun meeting him, chatting about wine and the Web, as well as being introduced to some folks he knows. After breakfast, several hundred attendees gathered on Linfield's commencement green for the opening ceremonies. After a welcome from the president of Linfield College and comments from special guests, each of the...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 04:11 PM | | Comments (0)

July 24, 2008

Pre-IPNC Dinner at Lemelson Vineyards

On the eve of IPNC kicking off tomorrow, more than a dozen wineries in the McMinnville area are hosting dinners tonight. I had the good fortune of selecting the pre-IPNC dinner event at Lemelson Vineyards winery, which ended up being an incredible evening of amazing food, delicious wine, and best of all, good company. Before getting into too much detail, I want to share something fortuitous that happened earlier today on my journey from Seattle to the Willamette Valley. While driving south, I was listening to the radio when Garrison Keillor came on with The Writer's Almanac, his daily feature...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 09:57 PM | | Comments (3)

December 04, 2007

Review: Tina's Restaurant

Along highway 99W in the heart of Dundee, you'll find Tina's Restaurant, which is across the street from the Argyle Winery. Since 1991, Tina's has been serving lunch and dinner to locals and tourists alike. The restaurant is named after its founder, Tina Bergen, who along with her husband, David, moved from Portland to Yamhill County in 1988, well before the Dundee Hills area was recognized for its superb wine. I arrived for lunch on a day when I was planning to visit a few wineries in the area. Like The Dundee Bistro, its next door neighbor, Tina's is a...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 03:59 PM | | Comments (0)

December 01, 2007

Review: The Dundee Bistro

While recently visiting wineries in the Dundee area, I had the opportunity to dine at The Dundee Bistro, which is located off highway 99W across from the Argyle Winery. The bistro shares a retail space with a wine bar and a store featuring local food and crafts. This "culinary center" as it is called, was created by the Ponzi Family, who maintain over 100 acres of vineyards in northern Willamette Valley producing a variety of estate wines. On the evening I visited, the dinner crowd was just starting to build, therefore I opted for a seat at the chef's bar....

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 03:34 PM | | Comments (0)

November 27, 2007

Review: Penner-Ash Wine Cellars

I could not have ended my tour of Yamhill County wineries in a better way than the experience provided at Penner-Ash Wine Cellars. This is a special place in so many ways, from the facility's thoughtful architectural design, to the connected experiences offered tasting Penner-Ash wine. I had learned about Penner-Ash while listening to the 3 Wine Guys, who recommended their wine during a podcast that featured four 2005 Oregon pinot noirs. After hearing their show, I was eager to visit the Penner-Ash winery and try some of their wines myself. Little did I know how this online discovery...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 11:11 AM | | Comments (0)

November 19, 2007

The Fruits of Paul Gregutt's Labors

Fall is always a busy time for wineries, with harvest bringing in the new vintage and the previous years' bottlings being released. It seems Paul Gregutt, wine columnist for The Seattle Times, has been just as busy crafting some enjoyable and insightful pieces on the Pacific Northwest wine scene. Terroir Is Not A Small Dog! - an excerpt from Paul's new book, "Washington Wines & Wineries", which should be a good read considering the witty approach he takes with this piece about Washington state vineyards. Acquiring A Taste - a recent cover story for the Pacific Northwest magazine's annual wine...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 01:43 PM | | Comments (1)

November 16, 2007

Review: Cana's Feast Winery

Every now and then, you stumble upon a winery in transition. Ownership has changed hands or a winemaker has been replaced. As a result, the winery name might have been switched and/or a new wine brand has been introduced. During my visit to Cana's Feast, I found it difficult keeping up with all the changes happening in this Carlton-based winery. In fact, the whole experience seemed very disorienting to me, leaving me confused and confounded as to who these folks were trying to be. See if you can keep up. Cana's Feast was formerly known as Cuneo. The wine...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 09:24 AM | | Comments (4)

November 14, 2007

Review: Scott Paul Winery

It's hard not to miss the Scott Paul Wines facility, regardless of which route you take into Carlton. The winery and tasting room are housed in two circa-1915 granary buildings on Pine Street, one block south of Main. The photo above is the winery, which is located across the street from the tasting room. The smaller building housing the tasting room and offices has tremendous character inside and out, incorporating a variety of elements from the old granary, which offers a delightful setting to enjoy Scott Paul Wines. One of the first things you notice upon entering the tasting...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 12:55 PM | | Comments (0)

November 13, 2007

Review: Soléna Cellars

The next stop on my recent Oregon wine country tour was Soléna Cellars. I had enjoyed a bottle of Soléna 2005 Grande Cuvee Pinot Noir a couple of months back, therefore was eager to learn more about this outfit and try some of their other wines. Soléna Cellars maintains a spacious tasting room a block south of Main Street in downtown Carlton. On the day I visited, wine was being poured by Lisa, who did a great job sharing stories and answering questions. Right off the bat, I was impressed with the fact that Soléna Cellars provided complimentary tastes...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 01:15 PM | | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007

Review: Anne Amie Vineyards

Anne Amie Vineyards, located in Carlton, Oregon, is the first winery I have visited as a result of being introduced via a wine blog. The blogosphere served not only as a means of discovery, but more importantly a way to connect me to the people and places that are behind Anne Amie. Before ever tasting their wine, I learned about this winery by first reading Craig Camp's blog, The Wine Camp, and then following this fall's harvest on the Anne Amie blog. During the last two months, Craig and other folks at Anne Amie have posted stories and photos...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 12:40 PM | | Comments (0)

November 09, 2007

A Day in Oregon Wine Country

Yesterday, I had the chance to spend an entire afternoon in the Willamette Valley visiting wineries in Yamhill County. It was a great day, meeting friendly staff, visiting some picturesque places, and discovering some really good wine. I will be writing detailed accounts of my experiences in the coming week, but wanted to provide a quick rundown of the places visited. After a delicious lunch at Tina's in Dundee, I began my tour at Anne Amie Vineyards, then visited Soléna Cellars and Scott Paul Wines in downtown Carlton, moving on to Cana's Feast Winery, and finally ending my day...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 08:19 AM | | Comments (0)

October 18, 2007

Review: Lange Estate Winery and Vineyards

While on a business trip to Portland earlier this week, I decided to break away in the afternoon and visit a few wineries in the Dundee/Carlton area. I had planned to stop by several wineries, but due to traffic, stoplights, and slower speed limits in the Willamette Valley, found the common 5:00 pm closing hour quickly approaching. My primary target had been Carlton, where the Anne Amie winery is located, but upon arriving Dundee at 4:30 pm, I realized that time would allow for just one visit. Fortunately, a signpost appeared pointing the way to the Lange Estate Winery and...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 12:47 PM | | Comments (2)

October 10, 2007

How Every Winery Should Blog About Crush

As you may recall from a previous post on Craig Camp, I am a big fan of The Wine Camp Blog. Besides being one of the few, if only, bloggers in Oregon, Craig also happens to be president of Anne Amie Vineyards. Since joining Anne Amie in 2004, he has been working to transform this estate winery into a leading producer of Oregon pinot noir. Along the way, it's clear Craig is going to change the way wineries connect to their customers online. Over the past month or so, I have been following Craig's posts on crush at Anne Amie...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 06:06 PM | | Comments (4)

September 19, 2007

Experiencing the crush of harvest season

The cooler temps and shortening days here in the Pacific Northwest signal the harvest season is upon us and with it comes crush. While reading the updates on this year's harvest, I am reminded of Brian Doyle's excellent book, "The Grail: A Year Ambling & Shambling Through an Oregon Vinyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World". If you have ever been curious about what it's like to work in a vineyard and/or winery during crush, then this is the book to read. In this wonderful account, Doyle shares the year he spent...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 09:21 AM | | Comments (0)

July 30, 2007

International Pinot Noir Celebration

The International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) was held this past weekend in McMinnville, Oregon. The IPNC is marketed as "three days of seminars, tastings, tours and one-of-a-kind meals with sixty international Pinot noir winemakers, all within the beautiful backdrop of Oregon wine country." Although I wasn't able to attend this year's event, it was almost like being there after reading Alder's daily posts on Vinography.com. Alder has clearly set the benchmark for covering a wine event. His focus on the people encountered and stories shared makes for some great reading and wonderful insights. Alder's reporting style makes you feel like...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 09:59 AM | | Comments (0)

May 03, 2007

Winery Reviews and Ratings

Whenever I visit a winery, the one thing I look for more than anything else is a connection to the wine beyond the bottle. What makes this connection happen? Stories. Stories about the people and places behind the wine I am sampling. The more unique and understandable the stories being shared, the better the winery experience for me. This connection is what ultimately determines whether or not I would recommend a winery to family, friends or you. It also influences what I buy. In fact, I would much rather visit a winery that serves mediocre wines but offers a deep...

Continue reading »


Posted by Thad at 04:49 PM | | Comments (0)