Grape Harvest 2011

Tuesdays with jenni

Vol. 3 Issue 5

October 18, 2011

              See above for a helicopter tour of the Dundee Hills.  And, you will see the abundance of vineyards and agriculture.  The risks of growing wine in this cooler climate of the Willamette Valley is about to pay off for many wineries and winemakers.  It’s Harvest time here in the wine country.  Every wine maker and vineyard grower is waiting with excited anticipation for the perfect moment to pick.  There is literally a “Right moment” when the grape has reached its fullest potential and not gone over the edge, to make the perfect wine.

"This year is certainly a nail-biter," said Stirling Fox, who oversees management of 30 different Willamette Valley vineyards. "But that's what makes growing wine grapes in Oregon exciting."  "Often the most challenging weather conditions produce some of the finest wines." 
"The way everything has come together is a very rare occurrence," said Willamette Valley Vineyards' Jim Bernau, who has excitedly farmed grapes at his property near Salem since 1983. "I don't expect we will see another one of these falls for many years to come." 

When I say we are really on the verge of a terrific year, I'm not blowing smoke," he said. "I seriously believe this is a year Oregon can deliver the kind of wines that are absolutely unique in the world."  Doug Tunnel from Brick House Vineyards

            I am really excited to see the result of this year’s harvest.  Of course it won’t be for a few years before we can taste the fruits of their labor, pardon the pun. 

It’s hard to imagine but, on November 1^st, we will have been here for 6 months. In that time, and even though I have only had sips of some wine and glasses of others, I have definitely developed a preference for the better Pinots.   Whenever I am in McMinnville, there is always someone setting out a little table and allowing people to taste.   The other day I was in a little Organic deli/store where a guy was handing out taste of some wine.   I tasted it and actually it was very smooth and fragrant.  I asked him, “So, do you work at the winery?” Hey says, “No, I’m the owner, I make the wine.”  So, I giggled and said, “Oh! So you are the guy.”  He laughed and we shared a moment talking about what he does and his wine.  In that moment, I thought to myself, “I’m so glad I moved here, this is so amazing.”

October 13^th was the last day at the Farmer’s Market in McMinnville for this season.   While I was home resting a hurt ankle which I did most of the day, I had to head over get a few things. Thankfully, I got a parking place right across the street and didn’t have to walk far.  I bought some fresh mushrooms, purple peppers, sweet peppers, greens, homemade soup that I can freeze for the colder months, onions and some Marion berry Brandy preserves.  I love buying something new and learning to make something from it.  The result of my little excursion was a new delicious recipe that David, my husband, said "This is “F****** Delicious.” Yes, he actually said that. You have to understand that my husband has rarely said anything about my cooking.  So, wow, for him to say that, I must be improving.  Until I perfect this recipe however, I won’t be sharing.  Thankfully, mushrooms are growing abundantly and McMinnville has an all year market on Saturday. 

I have been decorating my home for a few years now with earth tones.  I often wondered what season of life I am in.  As Picasso had his blue period, his rose period and defined his personal life in his paintings, I have decided that as art imitates life I must be in my earth period.  I am getting in tune with how the earth is ever changing and the ebb and flow of the growing seasons.  There is something exciting and alive about all the things that grow here.  I didn’t realize how stagnant I had been in my life prior to moving here.  Actually, I think I did, which was why I longed to live somewhere like this.  All the things I longed for and wanted to be a part of are here.  And, so my earth phase begins. 

I can only imagine what changes will happen by this time next year, as I am a diligent student of all things agricultural.  I learn something new every day.  I am ever mindful of each part of my life and how keeping balance or working to attain balance is important.  I have discovered how “I” am like the “Pinot Grape.”   (It’s a hard grape to grow, it's not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it's neglected, it’s temperamental, needs constant care and attention.  And, in fact it can only grow in these really specific, little, tucked away corners of the world. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot's {jenni’s} potential can then coax it into its {her}fullest expression).

It has been the difficult times in my life, the challenging seasons that have made me into this amazing, “Vintage Wine Girl.”  And, just like a bottle of wine, I get better with age. 

God’s Blessings to you all during this wonderful season of harvest!

Have a wonderful week!

Jenni

The 45th Parallel

tuesday with jenni

October 11, 2011

Vol. 3 Issue 4

Greetings Friends and Neighbors,

                   There is something special about the 42^nd   to 45th parallel.  If you are not sure what that means, it means those places on earth that occupy the 42^nd    to the 45th parallel of the earth.   If you are not sure which places I’m talking about let me name a few-  Shall we  start with Dundee, Oregon, The Burgundy region of France, Niagara falls, Cape Cod.   In Argentina, the Mendoza region at the southern 42^nd-45thparallel--- a major wine producing area of Argentina.

          One of the oldest regions of wine making history belongs to the Burgundy region of France.  Anybody who is anybody in wine making, has visited and studied under the mentors of this region.   As I write this today, (actually early this time) on Monday October 10^th, I have found that the pioneer wine maker in this area dating back to the 60’s is David Lett.  David Lett came here to the Willamette Valley with a Volkswagan, a bunch of vines and a dream to create a Pinot region like that of Burgundy France. David Lett passed away on October 9, 2008.  His son Jason took over the vineyard and the company of Eyrie Vineyards located in McMinnville, Oregon, in 2005.  His dad left an incredible legacy in this valley. 

          There is something mystical about wine.  No bottle is the same if opened at a different part of the year or a different moon cycle, some say. Just hear what BBC news people and Jamie Goode have to say.   http://youtu.be/oawMSApimhE   The taste can vary depending on the weather or the amount of  time a bottle spend in a cellar.  It’s almost like watching a baseball game over and over knowing the outcome.  Who wants to do that?  That is why wine is mystical and mysterious.  It’s never the same twice. David Lett knew this and knew that the Pinot grape had this kind of power. 

David Lett’s vision and hope is that this area would be the greatest  Pinot Region of America.   Thirty two years later David’s vision is still alive.

I loved this short essay Jason Lett wrote about this 2011 harvest. 

Even though it’s been cold and rainy here all during March (and April so far), the signs of Spring 2011 are everywhere! The land and the vines are waking up, and the whole amazing vineyard cycle begins again, culminating in the achievement of another vintage. But, as Jason wrote in these notes from a past Harvest time:

“The beginning is always hard to separate from the end. We started picking today, and it is the end of the vintage for every vine we harvest. The fruit has burgeoned over months, starting as a tiny, citrus-scented flower to reach this apotheosis: a quick snip in the cool of the morning. The life of the cluster has come to its end.

But that snip is the very beginning of the wine. An acre of grapes goes into one press. The berries, pressed, yield their juice–the first of the run of Pinot gris is tart and green. The press cycles—14 pounds of pressure, then 28, then 42—backing off the platen and fluffing the berries up again between each squeeze. Each cycle brings its own character to the wine, the last yielding juice the color of rose-hip tea and sweet with the sugars stored next to the skins. It takes three hours of slow respiration of the platen of our old basket-presses to finish the cycle. We are left with an empty press and a few hundred pounds of skins, but also with a full tank of heavy juice, giving leave to the yeasts to make it wine.

When you pick the grapes, you can almost hear the vine’s relief. The canes, unburdened of their fruit, spring straight again. The beautiful architecture of the vine, and all the hand labor that went into assisting it to its form, suddenly clarifies. The leaves change color almost immediately. Freed from the burden of photosynthesis, the vines secret their remaining sugars into their trunks and begin their preparations for the winter to come.

By the time the leaves have fallen, the juice has fermented to wine. The vines grow dormant. The cool of winter steals into the winery and the second fermentation begins, the long malolactic that carries the wine safely through winter. A period of age, the careful tumult into the bottle—and someday to the table, where another end, and another beginning, awaits the wine-to-be.”

~ Jason Lett, The Eyrie Vineyards

          Good wine and freshly grown food is like heaven.   Great wine regions of the world are never without great cuisine.  Wine taste so much better when shared as a part of a wonderful meal with friends and family.   Here is a quick you tube video about wine and food in Oregon.

          Ihttp://youtu.be/bgO3UXjc6Pw    (Just copy paste on You tube.)

          Every region on the 42^{nd to 45th}  parallel has something special to offer.  Although I have yet to visit the Burgundy Regions of France, I feel like I’m there when I look up into the hills of Dundee.  Little did I know that when I moved here, I would be taken with this area and truly I have fallen in LOVE with it.   Even though my husband was skeptical about moving here, he is finding his niche and is learning all about sustainable living by working at a fresh farm inspired and supported restaurant. The Blue Goat in Amity, Oregon as I have mentioned, prides itself on serving food cooked in a hand made wood burning oven.  Everything on the menu is from the owners farm or grown locally.There is something special and certainly healthy about eating food grown within 5 miles from your home.         The people who live the longest, in a healthy way, around the world and through the ages, live close to where their food source is.  It is becoming clearer to me every week, how this is possible even in this day and age of genetically modified foods, over processed boxed foods and foods filled with pesticides.   

            With an ever changing menu and the chance to try many different delicacies, each night brings a new taste and something for a variety of palates. David is so happy to serve many of the winery owners and winemakers as they make, “The Blue Goat,” their destination for dinner many nights of the week.  One night last week they put all the tables together in one big line for a special event in which patrons sit down for a home grown country style dinner. Everyone sat together.  People sat next to strangers, families next to other families.  Everyone shared in this meal which ended in homemade apple pie, made in the homemade oven.  I didn’t get to taste it but, David said the chef who made it has probably one of the best pie crust he’s ever tasted in his life, with the exception of his mother’s of course.

          I was able to experience the Dundee Bistro again this week with David.  (Of course we walked over ) My sip of the week has to be from Remy Three Wives Wine, Remy’s Red Blend. http://www.remywines.com/  Maybe because we were sitting next to a fireplace and I was sipping wine, eating a fabulous meal, the wine tasted exceptional.( Food and wine were great, but, the server had no personality.)  It is definitely a bottle I will seek out in the future . My small taste really wasn’t enough.  As Jason Lett said about his father David, “He always felt deeply appreciated by culinary types who understood that wine was made to go with food,” I totally agree that wine always taste better with food and is meant to go with food or a meal. 

          I’m so grateful I have the chance to live in a place that allows me to have the opportunity to live a healthy life.  I have a long way to go!  I was attempting to create new habits and have this kind of lifestyle in Carson City, Nevada with little success.  But, living here, in this fertile growing region where grapes thrive and everything grows, I know that I can make the changes I have wanted to make for years.  Something was drawing me here; maybe it was fate, maybe it was destiny.  But, I am here.  I am here in this amazing place for a reason.  

Have a Great Week!

jenni

p.s. one of the apps I have on my new phone is a translator.

So, here it is.. my first French phrase:

Cela est un grand vin---  This is great Wine.