On Saturday March 13th, 2010, from noon - 5 p.m., join us for the release of a new and very special addition to the Scott Paul Pinot Noir portfolio. Our first official release from Oregon’s outstanding 2008 vintage is a wine we have christened D122.

D122 is the name of the tiny two-lane road that winds through the great Grand Cru vineyards in Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits, passing through the vineyards of the famous villages of Chambolle-Musigny, Morey-St. Denis & Gevrey-Chambertin.

The Scott Paul 2008 D122 is a selection of just six barrels from the Ribbon Ridge Vineyard, a pristine 9-acre site planted to a mixture of Pommard & Dijon clones in 2001. We felt that Ribbon Ridge produced something really special in 2008, and that it deserved to stand on its own. It has always been our philosophy to blend from our different vineyards - unless something from a single vineyard stands out as complete and unique enough to be bottled separately. And thus, the 2008 D122 - 132 cases of rich, blackberry-scented, velvety, pure Scott Paul Pinot Noir.

The 2008 D122 is priced at $35 per bottle, and will be available only direct from the winery - either from our tasting room, via our website, or by phone order. A limited number of Magnums of the D122 will also be available.

Don’t forget, our case discount is now 20%! Also, there is still space available in the Burgundy Seminar that Scott will teach that night.

OK, enough with the endless teasers for “D122“. As you may know, it’s the name of the two-lane road that runs through the Grand Cru vineyards in Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits - starting in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin in the north and running south through Morey-St. Denis and into Chambolle-Musigny. It stands for “Départemental 122” - Départemental being the third tier in the French road system, coming after the Autoroute and Route National. It’s sort of equivalent to a state road in the U.S. Most importantly, it is the inspiration for the name of a special micro-bottling of Pinot we made from the 2008 vintage.

Over the years most of our wines have been blends from multiple vineyards, as with the younger vines we most often feel we can make a more complete wine by bringing together different characteristics from two or more of our very different sites. However, when a wine in the barrel tells us that it is complete and special enough to stand on its own - we’re happy to bottle it separately. That is usually the case with our Audrey bottling, which generally comes from a single block of our oldest vines at Maresh vineyard in the Dundee Hills.

From the outstanding 2008 vintage we not only produced the Audrey and La Paulée bottlings, but two additional small-lot wines that we thought were clearly special on their own. The first of which is the 2008 D122 - six of our best barrels from Ribbon Ridge Vineyard. There are only 132 cases of this baby, but oh what a baby!

Ribbon Ridge Vineyard

There’s an intriguing combination of red and black fruits on the nose and palate, with a round, ripe, richness in the mouth and flavors that keep building and building as the finish flows on and on. Come taste for yourself on Saturday from 12-5, for the official release party and your chance to grab a few bottles or twelve before they disappear. The D122 is $35 per bottle (and with our 20% case discount that knocks it down to $28 each by the case). I’m really excited to have you check out this wine, so join us on Saturday if you can.

We’ll also have a bunch of new arrivals from Burgundy for you on Saturday - new vintages from Taupenot-Merme, Jean-Marc Millot, Domaine Ninot, Buisson-Charles, Frédéric Gueguen, Violot-Guillemard, and a brand new addition to the portfolio - Chateau des Rontets in Fuissé (details later in the week).

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a shot of the hedonistically delicious charcuterie board at Portland’s Metrovino, where we had a rockin’ great meal on Friday night…

Hello unpaid garden helper!  I am so happy to see you and your friends.  So many of you!  With a rare few hours on a Sunday all to myself, I sought you out.  Thank you so much for munching all that dead green matter, aerating my soil and generally getting everything ready for my summer vegetable garden.  I hope I didn’t hurt you with the shovel — it kind of looks like you have a wound, but I was trying to be very careful.  I’m working on my computer all week, but I’ll be back on Sunday with some nutrient rich compost.  Hope you like it.  I got the good organic stuff.  Only the best for you.

15-hour leg of lamb with a turnip gratin at Bluehour

We’re off to the Classic Wines Auction tonight (at the Convention Center - 750 people!) for the first time in many years.  I appreciated Executive Chef Kenny Giambalvo’s refreshingly honest remarks at our more intimate pre-Classic Wines Auction winemaker dinner Tuesday night at Bluehour.  We were honored to be asked to participate, and it was a pleasure to reconnect with the owners of De Lille Cellars, a Washington winery focused on Syrah and Bordeaux-style blends, with whom we were paired years ago for a dinner at Oba.

When given the chance to say a few words, Kenny didn’t give himself even a minute in the limelight, but rather, thanked his team, and thanked Classic Wines Auction and its patrons for providing a forum for a little creative outlet — allowing the chefs to invent dishes to complement the wineries’ latest releases.  Last year wasn’t fun, he admitted.  He’s right.  It was more a year of counting beans than cooking them up creatively.  And while those of us in the food and wine industries do indeed get asked to donate until we want to cry  “Uncle,” it is still a privilege to be able to do it, and to take part in the fabulous evenings.  Yet, our donations of wine and wine adventures would be valueless without the good-hearted wine-lovers who bid on them!

Please check back soon…no-knead bread, and open-faced chicken pot pie, with lots of photos…coming up!

Ace in the hole cake?  Beyond Great Chocolate Cake?  In the time it will take me to come up with a moniker for this cake, you can bake it!  No matter what you call it, this is a new home run, go-to recipe for our family collection.  Scott is the chocoholic, while I dream in almond, lemon or raspberry, but I can honestly say that this cake sends me.  It is ridiculously easy, and each forkful is better than you remembered from the previous one.  Each of us kept remarking on the outstanding chocolate.  Since Scott used Scharffenberger 70% this first time, we’ll stick with that.  It was exceptional.  The only barely sweetened, softly whipped cream was a nice counterpoint.  The recipe comes from Clotilde Dusoulier’s Chocolate & Zucchini blog, where she attempts to credit the recipe’s provenance.

Melt-in-your-mouth Chocolate Cake

- 200g (2 sticks minus 1 Tbsp) butter
- 200g (7 oz) dark chocolate
- 200g (1 C) sugar
- 4 eggs
- a rounded tablespoon of flour

Note: like all dark chocolate cakes, this cake is best made a day ahead (or at least in the morning if you serve it for dinner).

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper (no need to if you’re using a non-stick pan).

Melt together the butter with the chocolate (in a double-boiler or in the microwave slowly and for just a few seconds at a time, blending with a spoon between each pass). Transfer into a medium mixing-bowl. Add in the sugar, stir with a wooden spoon and let cool a little. Add in the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Finally, add in the flour and mix well.

Pour the dough into the pan, and put into the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the center is set but still a little wobbly. Turn the oven off but leave the cake inside for another ten minutes, then put the pan on a cooling rack on the counter to cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate, and take it out about an hour before serving.

First off, I am happy to report that the Clotilde Dusouliers‘ recipe for “melt in your mouth” chocolate cake was a huge success. Pirrie and I worked on it together, and we are thrilled to have discovered what will now be our go-to cake when entertaining at home (or when we have that “I just need a whole chocolate cake” moment…) You can see the results on Martha’s Blog here…

Perhaps even more exciting is the way the English Premiere League race is shaping up. My Arsenal boys have moved within three points of Chelsea, and just a point behind Manchester United - and with ten games left Arsenal seem to have the easiest remaining schedule. Anything can and will happen - it is way too close to call, but I’m predicting a race to the wire that will down to the last day. Squeeky-bum time, as they say in the U.K…

In the cellar with Champagne maestro Clo Chauvet

Martha made the most excellent roast chicken on Sunday night, and we paired it with the Marc Chauvet Millésime 2002 Brut - which reminded me to remind you how wonderful Champagne is with food. Too often pigeon-holed as an apéritif or a celebration beverage, the great bubblies are a fabulous complement to food - you really should try it. We love it with sushi, almost all asian dishes, as well as salmon, chicken, and all sorts of fish and shellfish. I grew up drinking Champers with dinner, so it seems perfectly normal to me. If you haven’t experienced this combo yet, check it out soon, and let me know what you think…

Each year the Classic Wines Auction (one of America’s Top 5 wine auctions ever year) brings together top chefs and winemakers for a series of excellent winemaker dinners during the week before the auction in March. This year, we’re excited to be paired with Washington’s DeLille Cellars and O Wines for an intimate winemaker dinner at Portland’s outstanding Bluehour restaurant.

Dinner is at 6:30 on Tuesday March 2nd. Seating is extremely limited - reserve your spots now at the Classic WInes Auction website or call them at  503-972-0194. We look forward to seeing you there!