First off, I am still basking in the glow of Barcelona’s dominating 2-0 win in the Champions League Final yesterday. Being a life-long Chicago Cubs fan, I’ve gotten used to “my” teams never winning anything, filling me with hope only to come crashing down in disaster at the finish. To win a big one felt really good, I’ve gotta say. The icing on the cake was the three guys from Barcelona who came to join us for our viewing party in Portland (they’re all chip developers for Intel, and were in town working on a project with their Portland counterparts.)

I was sitting across from Guillem, who’s a season-ticket holder at Barca - and it was really exciting to be a part of their singing and hollering in Catalan, English, and a few words in some language I’m sure I don’t really need to know. The peak was when Messi scored the 2nd goal - and I suddenly found myself in the arms of a tall, skinny Spanish man, being bounced up and down into the air in pure joy (followed by the sheepish expression of realizing we had each just been hugging and dancing with another grown man that we really didn’t know!) At any rate, here’s the world’s best soccer player, lashing the final goal past United for the title…

And now on to the promised land. Over the course of all the seminars, classes and tastings that I do throughout the year, one of the most common questions I get is “when are you going to lead a trip to Burgundy?” Well, I’ve finally got an answer. How about next Friday? And you don’t even need a passport…

Here’s the deal - I’m arriving in France on Friday June 5th, when I will attempt to conduct my first ever “virtual” tour of Burgundy. I have always blogged pretty extensively during my 6-8 weeks a year in the motherland, but this time it’s gonna be different. Via the magic of this blog, Twitter & Facebook, and my trusty iPhone - I will try to bring my adventures in Burgundy directly to you. Lotsa photos, tasting notes, food notes - anything and everything that unfolds over my days in the vineyards and cellars and restaurants of the Côte d’Or, and a quick day trip up to Chablis, plus a run down to Rully and the Mâconnais as well. You’ll see what I see, what I taste, what I eat - but I promise to draw the line there (this is not going to be a reality show - we don’t need to get into much more than that, right? Some things you just don’t need to see or smell.)

So come to Burgundy with me - and tell your friends. You can’t beat the price, and it’ll be as close as you can get without actually being there.

And here’s a shot of the village of Pommard, with Volnay visible just off in in the distance - come join me!

Champion’s League Soccer Finals with Winemaker/Burgundy Importer Scott Paul Wright and Storyteller Wine Company Proprietor Michael Alberty at Agency Ultra Sport Lounge (1939 SW Morrison St., across from PGE Park) in SW Portland. Enjoy top Oregon Pinot noirs along with microbrews, sliders and more, in a private room with plush seating and several large HD screens. $35/person includes wine, beer, food, and the company of people just as crazy for soccer and good wine as you are! Limited to 30 fans and reservations are required. Email Kelly Karr at kellykarr@scottpaul.com or 503-852-7300.

It’s the dream match - Barcelona v Manchester United, one game for the Championship - and it’s all happening on Wednesday at 11:45. Fellow soccer fans, come out and join us for our private Champions League Finals viewing party at the Agency Ultra Sports Lounge in Portland - we’ve got a great room with a bank of HD monitors, and free-flowing Pinot, some nice Spanish wines courtesy of our co-hosts Storyteller Wines, and of course beers and sliders. We still have some seats available - $35 it’s all it takes - just email me directly, scott@scottpaul.com to confirm your seat…

The Champions League final, exciting as it is, also brings a huge let-down, as it’s the last game of the season, and I will now have to go through soccer withdrawal until the action resumes in late August. I got very emotional this morning, watching the highlights of one of my true heroes, Juninho of the French giants Olympique Lyonnais - as he scored his 100th goal in his last game before retiring over the weekend, leaving the field with tears in his eyes to a rousing ovation from the entire stadium. I think we’d all like to go out like that, no?

Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday for the match. I just found out that a few guys from Barcelona who just happen to be in Portland this week will be joining us for the event - it’ll be great to have some true, autentico Barca supporters in the house. (Note - don’t anyone wear any Real Madrid gear to the game - you’d be taking your life into your hands!)

In the meantime, here’s my man Juninho, scoring his 100th for Lyon…

Join us in Carlton for the unique opportunity to taste our elegant, hand-crafted Oregon Pinots from some of the valley’s oldest vines, alongside top red & white Burgundies from our Scott Paul Selections import portfolio. 10-4 Saturday, Sunday & Monday. $10 fee, refundable with minimum 3-bottle purchase.

Featured Wines:

Domaine Thibert 2006 St. Veran

Domaine Rene Leclerc 2006 Bourgogne Rouge

Scott Paul Wines 2007 Cuvee Martha Pirrie Pinot Noir

Scott Paul Wines 2006 La Paulee Pinot Noir

… and get a free pour of Grand Cru Burgundy! Come up to my pouring station over the Memorial Day Weekend and say “Chambolle” for a free a taste of a nice Grand Cru from our import portfolio - a little something special for our blog readers and followers on Twitter and Facebook…

We are as ready as we’re gonna be for the weekend festivities. Hours are 10-4 all three days, tasting fee is $10, and that’s refundable with a three bottle purchase - plan on making a stop in Carlton (where you can hit about 25 other wineries within walking distance.) The weather looks to be fabulous - bright sunshine and mid-70s all weekend, really couldn’t be nicer.

When you come out you’ll notice the beautiful fields of red clover that are now in their full-bloom peak - simply gorgeous stuff. Looking forward to seeing you here over the weekend!

I’m sitting in my office (aka The Agency Sports Bar across from PGE Park).  By the way, they have a meltingly juicy Tillamook Cheeseburger for $4 on the Happy Hour menu.  You’ll get to try them if you’re planning to join Scott and Michael Alberty, owner of Storyteller Wines, for the Soccer and Pinot event we are jointly hosting here at The Agency on May 27.  See our events page for more info.

I’m loving this sunshine and heat and feel like I can hear my plants growing.  If you’ve read past posts, you know that I’m an enthusiastic neophyte vegetable gardener.  Last year brought some extremely tasty rewards and much fun with Pirrie.  So we’ve looked forward all winter to getting back at it.  I poured over the Territorial Seed catalog this past winter, with some intention of actually mapping out the whole garden, companion plants and all.  But in the end, I grabbed what I could, when I could…some plants starts here, some seeds there, based on whim and recommendation.

Imagine my extreme delight three Saturdays ago when Pirrie and I spotted friends Susan and Chris Stubberfield in Carlton, just as they were about to duck into their greenhouse on Kutch Street in Carlton.  They invited us in to their hot house oasis.  A new-found interest in gardening has mushroomed from small hobby into big greenhouse teeming with hundreds of plants.  On that particular day, they were transplanting dozens of seedlings to bigger pots.  They also showed us the portion of their greenhouse that they offer to a Yamhill teenager, who grows peppers and sells them at area farmers markets.  We walked out of there with basil, onions, cilantro, tomato and edamame.  Earlier we had planted seeds for eggplant, sugar snap peas, nasturtium and radish.  I’ve not had much luck growing from seed, so this is a new venture.  The organic lettuce and kale starts that we picked up at Food Front Co-op in Portland are already yielding…big leafy plants with no pest problems whatsoever!  The lettuce is so soft and buttery.  I dressed the greens in a spicy New Orleans vinaigrette and topped that with seasoned, sautéed shrimp and sliced avocado.  Delish!  And last night, I put the homegrown kale on the menu.  See recipe archives for the Kale Salad recipe.  I topped that with some roasted fingerling potatoes and local salmon baked with a thin layer of sour cream on top.  I picked that idea up from Molly Wizenberg (aka Orangette), in her new monthly column for Bon Appetit.  She called for topping a 2-pound salmon fillet with salt and pepper and ¼ cup of sour cream or crème fraiche and baking at 425 for 12-14 minutes.  I added a teaspoon of lemon zest when seasoning the fish.  Why?  Because Pirrie was looking for a kitchen job and I handed her a zester and bowl of lemons.  And it was delicious.  I’ll make it the same way again.

Looking forward to seeing some of you this weekend during our Memorial Day Weekend Open House!   And if you’ve never been because you don’t like the sound of the crowd, come early for more time and attention (we open at 10 a.m.)!  You’d be surprised how pleasant it is in our tasting room before the afternoon crush.

A comparative tasting of Clos Vougeot from Domaine JJ Confuron, Domaine Francois Lamarche, and Domaine Jean-Marc Millot. $25 tasting fee for the Grand Cru flight. Our $5 standard flight, including both white and red Burgundies and our Oregon pinot, for those not wanting the Grand Cru flight, will also be available. A 25% discount will be offered on these featured Burgundies. For more information email kellykarr@scottpaul.com.

… has become The Weekend. It used to be a bit of an “insider’s secret” that the weekends before Memorial Day and Thanksgiving were great times to come out and visit the wineries before the huge Open House extravaganzas. Over the past several years, it has become clear that the secret is out - these “weekends before” have become almost as popular as the “official” events, and a lot of wineries open up some special wines just for these sneak-preview events.

We are excited to do our special Grand Cru Burgundy tasting on Saturday - a rare opportunity to taste three different examples of 2006 Clos Vougeot, from three top producers. The J-J Confuron just got the 2nd highest score in the new Wine Spectator (94 pts), the Lamarche scored a 93 and the Millot a 92 in Burghound - these are all stellar wines, and at 25% off this weekend are also stunning values. I’ll be in the tasting room all weekend and I look forward to seeing you…

Thanks to everyone who joined us at Cork yesterday for the Benjamin Leroux tasting, and at Urban Farmer for our winemaker dinner - both were a blast. Good food and wine were had by all! There are still a scant few bottles of Ben’s wines available, but it looks like we’ll have to wait until the release of his 2008s next year to get our hands on more…

The first leaves are just budding out at Ribbon Ridge. I walked our blocks this afternoon and everything looks to be in great shape. More sun and some warmth is supposed to be on the way for the weekend, which should really get some growth going quickly. We’re a couple of weeks behind “normal”, whatever that is - though with global warming I don’t think there actually is a “normal” anymore.

At any rate, here’s the view from the top of our Azana vineyard this afternoon, a gorgeous sunny day across the valley…

Benjamin will be in town pouring his first releases, including 2007 Volnay Premier Cru, Savigny-les-Beaune, and Bourgogne Blanc.

http://www.corkwineshop.com/