Attn Tlong: Oregon Pinot Noir Recommendations

[leemajors]

i snagged a bottle of the Ponzi Tavola after seeing it in a show a couple months ago - i enjoyed it, very smooth. any other recommendations from that area?

[MannyIsGod]

Jess can probably give you some recommendations when she see's this thread. I usually try everything she tries (especially reds) but I never remember the names of the vinyards.

[tlongII]

Sokol Blosser
Patton Valley
Dusky Goose
Ponzi
Eyrie
Bergstrom

and many more...


Pinot Noir is what we do. There are many wineries here that make terrific pinot noir.

[leemajors]

thanks. just got back from napa valley a few weeks ago, spent most of our time in sonoma though, it's cheaper there.

[Shelly]

I'm drinking a glass of 2005 Sipino.

Very good!

[u2sarajevo]

i snagged a bottle of the Ponzi Tavola after seeing it in a show a couple months ago - i enjoyed it, very smooth. any other recommendations from that area?Oh dude... Ponzi is my all time favorite winery. My wife is from Portland so we go visit her mother occasionally and when we do go we take a drive out to the southwest of Beaverton and go to the vineyards. And I always spend too much money.

I live in the Dallas area and have not found a local storefront that stocks any Ponzi's (last time I was at the winery I got the list of their distributors.... none of them delivered any of the Ponzi wines to the DFW metroplex - although that doesn't mean there isn't a store but I was out of options of finding one outside of calling and crossing off the list method). But if there is a place in San Antonio that does please let me know where (that's a much cheaper trip).

The Pinot Noir Reserve is the next best thing to sex.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

BERKELEY, Calif.(AP) Ernest Gallo, the marketing genius who parlayed $5,900 and a wine recipe from the Modesto Public Library into the world's largest winemaking empire, died Tuesday at his home in Modesto. He was 97.

"He passed away peacefully this afternoon surrounded by his family," said Susan Hensley, vice president of public relations for E.& J. Gallo Winery.

Gallo, who would have been 98 on March 18, was born near Modesto, a then-sleepy San Joaquin Valley town about 80 miles east of San Francisco.

He and his late brother and business partner grew up working in the vineyard owned by their immigrant father who came to America from Italy's famed winemaking region of Piedmont.

[leemajors]

Oh dude... Ponzi is my all time favorite winery. My wife is from Portland so we go visit her mother occasionally and when we do go we take a drive out to the southwest of Beaverton and go to the vineyards. And I always spend too much money.

I live in the Dallas area and have not found a local storefront that stocks any Ponzi's (last time I was at the winery I got the list of their distributors.... none of them delivered any of the Ponzi wines to the DFW metroplex - although that doesn't mean there isn't a store but I was out of options of finding one outside of calling and crossing off the list method). But if there is a place in San Antonio that does please let me know where (that's a much cheaper trip).

The Pinot Noir Reserve is the next best thing to sex.

i live in austin, and they have 2 ponzi wines at grapevine market - one is a pinot for sure, not sure if it is the reserve or not. i'll have to double check on exactly which ones they are, but the one i had was pretty good. i'll stop by on my home tomorrow after work.

[SequSpur]

that's a gaylord drink.

[leemajors]

Oh dude... Ponzi is my all time favorite winery. My wife is from Portland so we go visit her mother occasionally and when we do go we take a drive out to the southwest of Beaverton and go to the vineyards. And I always spend too much money.

I live in the Dallas area and have not found a local storefront that stocks any Ponzi's (last time I was at the winery I got the list of their distributors.... none of them delivered any of the Ponzi wines to the DFW metroplex - although that doesn't mean there isn't a store but I was out of options of finding one outside of calling and crossing off the list method). But if there is a place in San Antonio that does please let me know where (that's a much cheaper trip).

The Pinot Noir Reserve is the next best thing to sex.

checked grapevine, they only have the ponzi tavola left - the reserve sold out a while ago, but the new vintages should be coming soon. the prices they had for those weren't off what ponzi offers on their site by much, but they are all sold out of the reserve as well :lol

[IX_Equilibrium]

La Crema

[tlongII]

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1173326104139570.xml&coll=7

Oregon winemakers face smaller harvest, growing demand


Thursday, March 08, 2007
DANA TIMS
March is traditionally a brand-building month for winemakers. With fall's harvest in the fermenting tanks and the vineyards at rest, vintners are freed up to host winemakers' dinners in far-flung cities, twist the arms of restaurant sommeliers and make the case to supermarkets that their bottles deserve precious shelf space.

This March is different. For the first time in the roughly 35-year history of the state's wine industry, a significant number of vintners are struggling to meet demand from their existing customer base of restaurants, stores and direct-sale buyers.

Skimpy back-to-back harvests in 2004 and 2005, coupled with surging demand for Oregon's signature grape, pinot noir, have even forced some wineries to shutter their tasting rooms in a bid to stockpile what little wine they have left.

"We've already warned our investors about the problem of inventory shortages," said Jim Bernau, founder and president of Willamette Valley Vineyards in Turner, one of the state's largest-producing wineries. "It's a significant problem for the entire industry."

Across the northern Willamette Valley, at least, wine producers of all sizes are feeling the pinch.

"We've experienced shortages in the past, but nothing as severe as this," said Bill Hatcher, founder of A to Z Wineworks in Dundee, also one of the state's larger producers. "If this continues, we're certainly going to see weaker brands fall out of the market."

At Adelsheim Vineyard in Newberg, founder David Adelsheim has run out of wine several times in the past two decades, each time after a well-reviewed vintage sparked big demand. But the stakes this time feel higher, he said, because of the positive brand recognition that the Oregon industry has worked for years to establish.

"It's an upside-down world for us right now," he said. "We're telling our customers what they can buy and when they can buy it. That's obviously not the brand image we want to project."

Smaller operations say they are getting hit hard, too.

At WillaKenzie Estate Winery in Yamhill, inventory shortages forced the winery to close its tasting room last fall for the first time. It remained shut during the popular Thanksgiving wine-country weekend -- by far the biggest direct-sales weekend of the year -- and opened on a limited basis only last month.

We try to plan for all sorts of eventualities," co-owner Ronni Lacroute said. "But this is something we never thought could happen."

Winemakers are quick to admit that, as far as problems go, this one has its upsides. Thirsty consumers clamoring for their wares, after all, are better than a glut brought on by anemic demand.

So far, the shortage hasn't been too problematic for most wine drinkers in Oregon. Prices, both for raw grapes and finished wines, have risen only slightly in the past year. Although some wineries are expected to increase their prices in coming months, the jump isn't expected to be to anywhere near the levels now being sought by many producers in France and California.

But people thinking they'll be able to easily snag an Oregon pinot noir that just received a glowing review in the wine press is probably mistaken.

"Newer vintages in particular are almost impossible to come by," said Jenn Doherty, who works at Oregon Wines on Broadway in Portland. "Many are sold out even before we can get our hands on them."

Five years ago, just the opposite problem plagued the industry: a glut of wine, brought on by extensive new vineyard plantings in the late 1990s. But that was before the movie "Sideways" -- for which pinot noir almost deserved an acting credit -- hit theaters across the country and ignited a demand for Oregon wines that continues unabated.

The surge in demand appears to be fueled by equal parts in-state and out-of-state consumers.

"Anytime we're able to get even three cases of Oregon pinot noir, it sells out almost instantly," said Gregory Dal Piaz, director of customer relations at Astor Wines & Spirits in New York City. "We could sell 30 cases just that fast if we could ever get our hands on that much."

Quick fixes, for the most part, aren't an option for most wineries, although larger operations have more avenues open to them than small producers.

Anyone wanting to increase supply by simply planting more vines needs to locate suitable acreage, buy and get plants into the ground, and sit back and wait four to five years for grapes to mature for harvest. They then have to tack another year or more onto that to allow the wine to mature in barrels and bottles.

Willamette Valley Vineyards aggressively addressed its shortage recently by signing a deal with 60-acre Elton Vineyards in the Eola Hills. The long-term lease guarantees the winery all of the vineyard's fruit starting in 2008, leaving existing Elton customers such as Ken Wright Cellars, Fiddlehead Cellars and Bethel Heights Vineyard out in the cold.

"Having that sort of access to grapes will be a tremendous advantage for us," said Bernau, of Willamette Valley Vineyards. "At the same time, it will definitely have an adverse impact for those who were previously supplied from there."

In a similar winners vs. losers situation, an East Coast restaurant group recently used its financial clout to sign a 15-year lease for the grapes from another 60-acre vineyard also in the Eola Hills, northwest of Salem, which had long been relied upon by smaller Oregon producers.

"You have two choices if you want to remain viable," said Dick Shea, a longtime Oregon vineyard and winery owner. "You can get someone else's existing vines or get some land yourself and do it the real slow way."

A glimmer of good news comes with word that the 2006 harvest resulted in 20 percent to 30 percent higher yields than either of the prior two years. But with recent reports showing that supermarkets across the country are selling 20 percent more Oregon wine than a year ago, even an injection of new supply may not be enough to restore balance to the equation.

"It may put a small dent in the problem," Joe Dobbes, owner of Wine by Joe in Dundee, said of the most recent harvest. "But there's no way we're going to be floating in a sea of wine based on the 2006 vintage."

[leemajors]

blame it on sideways! ramped up the demand for pinot and killed merlot sales. amazing a movie could have that effect on the wine industry. i've had a to z, it was good.

[Notorious H.O.P.]

"We've experienced shortages in the past, but nothing as severe as this," said Bill Hatcher, founder of A to Z Wineworks in Dundee, also one of the state's larger producers. "If this continues, we're certainly going to see weaker brands fall out of the market."

Does A to Z still make Rock and Hammer Pinot Noir, the wine they partnered with Popovich to make? If they still do, I wonder if Rock and Hammer will get squeezed out so they can save grapes for their standard A to Z offerings.