Dave McIntyre's WineLine

Oregon Pinot Noir - Sustainably Good

Oregon pinot noir offers an ideal opportunity to explore the effects of terroir, as the state’s main wine region, the Willamette (rhymes with ‘dammit’) Valley features two main soil types, each with its own expression in the wine.

I explore these expressions in my column this week in The Washington Post, written after my enjoyable sojourn in McMinnville at the International Pinot Noir Celebration.

The Oregon wine industry leads the way in the United States in sustainable, organic and biodynamic viticulture. There is a state certification for sustainable viticulture and a regional group called “LIVE” - that's Low Input Viticulture and Enology – that stresses environmentally friendly practices in the vineyard and in the winery. Its members include familiar names such as Adelsheim, Bethel Heights, Chehalem, and Rex Hill, among many others. LIVE works with the “Salmon Safe” certification that monitors wineries for practices that protect fisheries, and the IOBC, the International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control of Noxious Animals and Plants. (Whew – that's a mouthful!)

This environmental consciousness is to be applauded, for it stands to reason that healthier land will produce healthier grapes and better wine. No one can prove that yet, and any honest winemaker will admit that bad wine can be made from great grapes, and no great wine can be made from bad grapes. So maybe land wins out over the winemaker’s hand, after all.

Price, of course, is always a factor. Oregon has positioned itself in the $35 - $55 range for fine wines, and is beginning to feel the pinch of the recession, as luxury wines from other regions such as Napa Valley experience steep price cuts. Oregon pinot noir has not yet responded to this pressure, though Ted Casteel of Bethel Heights said his winery will be increasing production of its regular cuvee and de-emphasizing its top wines with the 2009 harvest.

Even without the economic climate making its presence felt (yet) on the price of Oregon pinot noir, there are several that provide good value at $25 or less. Here are a few worth seeking out, in alphabetical order:

A to Z Pinot Noir 2007, Oregon, $20

Anne Amie Cuvee A Pinot Noir 2007, Willamette Valley, $25

Benton Lane Pinot Noir 2007, Willamette Valley, $25

Firesteed Pinot Noir 2007, Oregon, $18

Oregon Pinot at a Good Price

Oregon wineries are beginnng to feel the pinch of the recession. "Oregon has placed its sweet price point at about $35 to $45 a bottle," according to Sam Tannahill, co-owner of Rex Hill Vineyard and co-creator of the popular A to Z line of affordable, high-quality Oregon wines. "When consumers see a $100 California cabernet selling for $50, they're less likely to pay $45 for an Oregon pinot - so there will be some downward price pressure," he said.

Oregon is not known for "bargain" wines. Yet there are a few pinot noir wines that count as good values for $25 or less, even in the tricky 2007 vintage, when harvest rains forced growers to be patient and choose carefully when to pick their grapes. 2007 is a marked contrast to 2006, when a warm, dry growing season allowed growers to pick grapes whenever they wanted and to push the envelope of ripeness and alcohol content.

As a result, the 2007 vintage is somewhat inconsistent, with stronger wines coming from growers who waited out the rains, and the smaller subappellations of the Willamette Valley. And they tend to be pricey. There are some affordable exceptions that provide excellent value though:

A to Z 2007 Oregon Pinot Noir at about $20 a bottle shows nice balance and an appealing earthy note under black cherry fruit.

Anne Amie Cuvée A 2007 ($25) is terrific, with bright cherry fruit, tempered by enough ripeness to prevent the wine from being cloying, and without so much sweetness as to make it heavy.

Benton Lane Willamette Valley 2007 $26 - There's an earthy, mushroomy note here that makes this sustainably-farmed wine worth seeking out.

So bottoms up! Here's to affordable Oregon pinot noir. Look for my discussion of Oregon terroir and recommendations of seven pinots noir that illustrate such terroir next Wednesday in The Washington Post. 

IPNC: Land or Hand?

Terroir predetermines the greatness of a wine. Or does it? Terroir is a romantic concept that appeals to wine lovers when the edges of the world get just a little blurry – right around that second glass of wine. We love the idea that a special parcel of soil produces wonderful wine, wine that could be made nowhere else, because the soil, the slope, the sun exposure and the microclimate would not be the same at any other place or time.

And in the next breath we extol our favorite winemakers. Be it Helen Turley, Heidi Peterson, Richard Sanford, Michel Rolland or a host of others, we slavishly applaud winemakers for their talent in crafting blockbuster vino.

So is it the land? Or is it the hand? What makes a superlative wine?

Right about now, you're probably saying, “Well, duh, both!” And of course you're right. This was driven home last week at a fascinating tasting conducted at the International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville, Oregon, in the heart of the Willamette-rhymes-with-dammit Valley. The IPNC, a weekend bacchanal in its 23^rd year, focused this year on “Oregon dirt.” The main seminar tasting featured five Willamette Valley winemakers who have been conducting an intriguing exploration of “land or hand” since the 2006 harvest.

The winemakers are Lynn Penner-Ash of Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, Ken Wright of Ken Wright Cellars, Ted Casteel of Bethel Heights, Laurent Montalieu of Solena Cellars, and Steve Doerner of Cristom Vineyards. They each contributed grapes to the others from one of their vineyards, with each winemaker given free wine on making the resulting wine. The project is “five by five,” or 25 wines each vintage.

For logistics' sake, the IPNC tasting included wines from only two of the vineyards from the unusually hot 2006 vintage – so we had 10 wines to taste in two flights of five each. Ken Wright explained his theory that the geology – the land – would give essential characteristics to the wine grown there. The “parent material,” the underlying rock rather than the top soil of a vineyard, is the deciding factor, he explained.

In Oregon, that means either marine sedimentary soil deposited after the great Missoula glacier hissy fit hundreds of thousands of years ago (my notes are a bit indistinct at this point) or volcanic soils that thrust upward a few eons later when the Cascade Mountains (think Mount Saint Helens, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, etc.) were formed. The two soil types form a patchwork throughout the Willamette Valley, sometimes even within the same vineyard, though at different points on a slope.

Two things stood out about the 10 wines presented at the IPNC. It became quite apparent as we tasted that the wines were arranged by winemaker – the first wine in each of the two flights was made by the same hand, and so on. So the hand of the winemaker seemed to be the dominant factor – Wright's were the darkest, most primordial, with a lot going on in the glass and not quite settled into a groove just yet. Penner-Ash's were also dark and almost brooding, while Doerner's were more tannic (a factor of whole-cluster pressing, it was explained), Bethel Heights were spicy and the Solena wines more delicate.

Yet there was also a continuity among the flights, showing the influence of the vineyards. The first flight, wines from a marine-sediment vineyard, featured black fruit flavors, such as blackberry, and some brown-sugar sweetness. They were also quite heavy, which was perhaps a factor of the unusual vintage. The second flight of wines, while still not shy, were brighter in their flavors – more on the red fruit side that reflected their origin in volcanic soils.

So yes, the answer to the “land or hand” question is both. But as a “terroirist,” I have to admit that the hand often makes the most noticeable difference – for better or worse, the winemaker's decision of when to pick, how long to soak the grapes on the skins or leave the wine in barrel, make the most easily apparent differences in a wine. Perhaps that's why we celebrate winemakers. And perhaps it's best to leave it up to them to decipher the nuances of the land.

Pinot Reigns Supreme at IPNC

Everything you may have ever heard about the International Pinot Noir Celebration is true. Over the past 23 Julys, pinotpheliacs have congregated in McMinnville, Oregon, to spend a weekend pickling themselves in their favorite wine. This year's IPNC, held July 24-26, was a little less crowded than recent years, according to some regular attendees I spoke with. But the economy did not dampen the enthusiasm of about 800 wine lovers who ponied up $1000 each for the chance to mingle with winemakers and sample the cuisine of some of the best chefs in the Pacific Northwest.

This year's featured wineries included 46 from North America (including one Canadian) and 14 from Europe (two Austrian wineries, one from Alsace and one from Champagne, the rest from Burgundy – the lack of German participation was surprising). Australia and New Zealand sent four. British wine writer Jancis Robinson served as master of ceremonies. On Friday and Saturday, about half the attendees enjoyed seminar tastings designed to show the terroirs of Oregon and Chambolle-Musigny, while the rest boarded buses to vineyards throughout the Willamette Valley for tours and luncheons. And then of course there were more tastings, a petanque tournament, tastings, and dinners, including the annual salmon bake.

A threatened heat wave held off, though late-afternoon temperatures did climb into the 90s. Locals wilted in the heat, but District denizens reveled in the low humidity.

Bill Sanders of Washington, D.C., was attending his third consecutive IPNC. Sanders, a “workforce development consultant” who also blogs about wine and olive oil, said he values the connections and friendships he has forged with winemakers.

“I love to travel to the wine regions of the world, especially France,” he said, “and when I come here I meet the vignerons, then I go to Burgundy and there's an open door. I've made great friendships with the French winemakers here, and that makes travel to their region much more rewarding. It can be hard to get into Burgundy.”

As for the wines at the event, Sanders likened the exploration of pinot noir year after year to peeling the layers of an onion. (That reference may not endear him to many winemakers, actually.) Every year, you learn something new. “The pinot here is across the board, from syrupy monsters to laser-like fruit,” he said. Sanders has already registered for next year's conference.

Bob and Susan Crenshaw own two natural food stores in Goldsboro, N.C., and were here in McMinnville attending their 18^th consecutive IPNC. “Every meal you make new friends and meet up with old friends,” Bob Crenshaw said, pointing out three winemakers by name among the crowd milling around after the Saturday night salmon bake.

The tables on the lawn at Linfield College in McMinnville were littered with the detritus of a bacchanal – empty bottles from the featured wineries and from the personal collections of the attendees. Part of the fun at an event like this is walking around, glass in hand, looking for someone you recognize and seeing what they're drinking.

Photos: Bertrand Ambroise, of Domaine Ambroise in Burgundy, demonstrates petanque technique, left; a traditional Native American salmon bake capped off the festivities, above.

A Delightful (and Cheap!) Italian Pinot

With the world economy flushing itself down the toilet, wine lovers are indulging ourselves in our second favorite pursuit - finding wines that taste more expensive than they cost. (As opposed to our most favorite sport - scoring the rare artisanal wine no one else has ever heard of, no matter the cost.)

In looking for inexpensive wines that provide some measure of excitement, I didn't expect to find many pinot noir. And I certainly did not expect to find an Italian pinot noir. Most Italian pinot nero are quite pricey, and not always worth the expense. But the Monte Degli Angeli Pinot Noir 2006, from Monferratto in northwestern Italy, is a surprise. It begins with a slightly pruney, raisiny nose, then yields to a bright, cherry-plum palate that ends with stony, mineral tannins and a long finish. It's deceptively good - better with each taste. And at $9, a steal.

(Imported by Monsieur Touton, NY NY.)