Pacific Northwest Wine of the Week Newsletter
This week: Torii Mor Pinot Noir. New issue of Wine Press Northwest. Willamette Valley comes to Seattle. Idaho winery reduces waste with refillable bottle. Win tickets to Taste Washington. Upcoming wine events. Platinum winner. Wine funnies. What we're reading. Davis Creek Cellars.
March 16, 2010Vol. 11, No. 11Wine Press Northwest's Wine of the Week is an independent opinion based on double- and single-blind tastings.
Pacific Northwest Wine Of The Week
Torii Mor Winery 2007 Olalla Vineyard Pinot NoirAppellation: Umpqua ValleyBob Reid’s five-acre vineyard in the town of Winston, Ore., got its start in 1975, and this blend of Pommard and Dijon 115 clones ranks among Jacques Tardy’s finest productions. The attraction for you begins with exceptional color in the glass. Then, the nose is filled with Rainier cherries, cranberry, rhubarb, cinnamon, nutmeg and forest floor. Incredible smoothness awaits with delicious cherries and cranberries, capped by a cup of Costa Rica coffee. Rated "Outstanding" by Wine Press Northwest magazine.Price: $60.Cases produced: 249.Food matches: This suave Pinot Noir will pair well top sirloin, pork chops, veal, duck or a mushroom-based dish.Torii Mor Winery, 18365 N.E. Fairview Drive, Dundee, OR 97115, 503-538-2279, www.toriimorwinery.comRecent wines of the week
-- Gilbert Cellars 2008 Estate Gewurztraminer, Columbia Valley-- Karma Vineyards 2007 Zen Red Wine, Columbia ValleyBest Buys
-- Columbia Crest 2007 Grand Estates Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, $11-- Buried Cane 2007 Chardonnay, Washington, $14More about Torii Mor
Torii Mor is in the Dundee Hills above the town of Dundee, Ore. It launched in 1993 and gained early fame thanks to a string of superb Pinot Noirs made by Patricia Green (who went on to launch her eponymous label on Ribbon Ridge). For a short period, Joe Dobbes crafted the wines before native Burgundian and longtime Oregon winemaker Jaques Tardy arrived in 2004.Owner Donald Olson came up with the name by taking the Japanese word for an ornate garden entrance (Torii) and adding the Scandinavian word for "earth" (Mor).New issue of Wine Press Northwest
The Spring issue of Wine Press Northwest went to the post office late last week and should be heading to subscribers' homes (if it has not already arrived). Here are some of the highlights:-- Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year: We honor a producer as our NW Winery of the Year, as well as four producers as Regional Wineries of the Year and four as Regional Wineries to Watch.-- Merlot: We blind taste more than 150 examples of Merlot from the Pacific Northwest.-- Snipes Mountain: One of Washington's newest appellations is explored in depth.-- Match Maker: For the past 12 years, we have run a feature called Match Makers, in which we sent a bottle of wine to two different chefs to see what they came up with. We've retooled the feature a bit: Now, we select a chef whose focus is on using fresh, seasonal, regional ingredients and select two local wines for the match. This also gives us a chance to highlight small farmers who are an integral part of the Northwest wine industry.Not a subscriber? Take care of that right here.Prefer to test drive the magazine first? Check out our e-edition for no cost to get a flavor of the magazine, so to speak.Willamette Valley comes to Seattle
The Willamette Valley Wineries Association held an event last Thursday in Seattle, and by all reports it was a superb, sold-out event.Our own Teri Citterman was there and captured it on her camera. Check out the photo gallery.Idaho winery's bottle refill program takes off
Pend d'Oreille Winery in Sandpoint, Idaho, is doing its part to reduce landfill waste in North Idaho by offering a refillable bottle for its popular Bistro Rouge red blend.A year ago, co-owner Julie Meyer launched the program, offering the Bistro Rouge in a 1.5 liter bottle for $25, with refills costing $16. She estimates the program has reduced waste by 3.5 tons.Want tickets to Taste Washington?
Congrats to David Whitworth of Issaquah, Wash., winner of two tickets to Taste Washington via a trivia question on Facebook.This week, we'll give away at least two more tickets via our Facebook fan page.The annual Taste Washington is March 27-28 in Seattle. The March 28 Grand Tasting will include more than 200 wineries and 75 restaurants. It will be at the Qwest Field Event Center.Upcoming wine events
Each week, we highlight an upcoming wine event in the Pacific Northwest.Looking to dig deeper into one of Washington's most important grape varieties? Washington State University's Thomas Henick-Kling offers a seminar this Thursday on the terroir of Riesling and will demonstrate how different regions and growing conditions will affect the taste of the noble grape. The seminar is at the Richland campus in the heart of Washington wine country. Cost is $35.To see more events (or submit yours at no cost), go to our calendar. We currently have 94 events on our calendar.Platinum winners
The Winter issue of Wine Press Northwest unveils the results of our 10th annual Platinum Judging, in which we invite wineries to send us their gold medal wines from the year for a "best of the best in the Great Northwest" competition. Each week, I will highlight one of our Platinum winners.In just its third vintage, William Church Winery of Woodinville, Wash., earned a prestigious Double Platinum for its 2008 Viognier. William Church tapped into highly regarded Conner Lee Vineyard, which is near the Columbia Basin town of Othello, Wash. This was no fluke, as the winery also earned a Platinum for its 2007 Malbec.What we're reading
Here are links to stories and blog posts we think you'll find interesting. In most cases, the stories are related to Northwest wine, though on occasion we will include stories on cuisine or specialty foods.Here are this week's stories:Glass 'corks' gaining fans.A good explainer on how toasted barrels affect wines.NW growers thought deer were big problems? S. African vineyard loses crop to hungry baboons.See what else we're reading.Where in NW Wine Country
Frankly, I expected you to struggle with last week's mystery photo, seeing as the place has been open for less than a year.Yet 60% of you correctly identified the Allison Inn in Newberg, Ore. Meanwhile, 18% guessed it was Skamania Lodge in the Columbia Gorge, while 16% wondered if it was the beautiful Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna, B.C., and just 6% thought it was Salish Lodge atop Snoqualmie Falls, east of Seattle.This week's image was taken by Jackie Johnston of Wine Country Creations. She takes most of the photos for Wine Press Northwest and also designs our feature page layouts.Click to vote