I am off to Oregon to do some tasting and exploring next week. I have had the opportunity to taste a couple of wines from the area. A couple of wines do not define a region, but they certainly have me hooked into what I’m about to explore.
2014 La Crema Willamette Valley Oregon Pinot Noir – ****+ – From your first sniff of the glass you can smell that there is some heat in the glass. The flavours are Cherry pie filling with a subtle earthy undertone. The flavours of this wine are restrained and balanced with perfect acidity. The very ripe fruit flavours in this wine give your mouth a taste of warm growing conditions, but in spite of the very ripe fruit flavours they don’t get a chance to invade your palate and overpower your palate. This wine is an easy buy for me and will make a great match to Turkey… But since we are more than a few months away from Thanksgiving Turkey Burgers will have to do.
2014 Cloudline Pinot Gris – Vintages 159988 – $24.95 – **** – Pinot Gris is a wine about subtlety. Do not open this bottle and expect to be kicked in the face with big flavours like you would in a Chardonnay or even a Riesling. The nose offers golden delicious apple and melon layered over a nice minerality. There is a slight floral quality to this wine that makes an appearance on the finish. Good Pinot Gris is all about texture, and this wine has a nice medium-heavy oily texture on the mid palate. Something about the texture adds a honeyed feeling to the apple and melon flavours already present in the wine. This wine does finish bone dry, but the oily texture to this wine makes for a longer finish. This is what I would consider to be a “serious” patio sipper and something to be savoured in the hot weather and not gulped.
