Final prep is done for the bottling of the lush and succulent 2009s. Kelley will hand bottle the Magnums today, and then we’ll run all the 750s on the line tomorrow. Bottling will only be a one day affair this year, as we sadly have very little of these gorgeous 2009s to bottle. We lost all of our Ribbon Ridge fruit to a freak spring frost last year, and that was to have been about half of our production. Fortunately, what little we do have is excellent. The fruit is round and rich and velvety and forward, though better balanced than the 2006s, for example. The 09s will probably garner a lot of good press and be very much a “crowd-pleaser” of a vintage.

As for our different cuvées in 2009, there will be three. La Paulée, of course, a scant 150 cases of Audrey, and a tiny 100 case bottling we’re calling “Dix” - French for “the Tenth” - as in our 10th anniversary (our first vintage was 1999.) So, watch for these babies in late 2011 and early 2012 - but watch quickly, they won’t be around for long…

Clusters at Ribbon Ridge, 8-20-2010

Our bizarre summer weather continues here in the Willamette Valley with a lot of yin-yang. Hot then cool, hot then cool. We remain about 3+ weeks behind, and are still in dire need of lots of sunshine and warmth throughout September and most of October to make it work. It happened in 2008, so why not again?

I draw your attention now to an article by Dana Tims in the Oregonian a couple of days ago, in which a few investers and farmers are touting mechanical harvesting and mechanized farming as the path to success for Pinot Noir in the eastern Willamette Valley. I wish them luck, and sincerely wish everyone in this business success, but there are some serious problems with that approach. Nowhere in the world is Pinot Noir mechanically harvested on a regular basis and then made into a quality wine. You just can’t do it with Pinot - it needs too much loving care and attention, and every corner you cut in the production process dramatically lowers the quality of the wine. Yes, mechanical harvesting is in regular use in Burgundy - in CHABLIS, where they grow only Chardonnay. And even there, the top quality producers take the time and care and extra expense to harvest by hand. There simply are no shortcuts to good Pinot Noir.

If the goal is to produce decent $15-$20 wines, California is already doing that to the tune of tens of millions of cases a year. Why compete with that - when even the low-priced Californians are having trouble selling their wines these days? What the Willamette Valley can do, perhaps better than any region in the world, is produce top quality Pinot Noir that can compete with the best, and generally deliver better bang for the buck than most world-class wine regions. What will continue to build Oregon’s hard-earned reputation for quality will be exactly that - quality. David Lett, David Adelsheim & Dick Ponzi did not come here to make mass-market grape juice - they could have stayed in California for that…

… too much good food and wine. (Although one’s body may sometimes disagree!) The past week has been a whirlwind of activity with our friends from Domaines Huber-Verdereau and Buisson-Charles in town from Burgundy, and it seems like we packed as much great food and wine into every day as much as humanly possible.

Thiébault Huber in action at Cork

Thanks to all who joined us at Cork Wine Shop on NE Alberta in PDX for a great tasting of the Buisson-Charles 07s and the ‘06 1er Crus from Huber-Verdereau. Then we kicked off the hedonism with a flat-out great meal at Portland’s Le Pigeon - where chef Gabe Rucker and GM-Wine God Andy Fortgang knocked it out of the park once again. I only had foie gras for two of the three courses that night, showing some unusual restraint! As always, the foie gras Profiteroles remain the most decadent dessert offering on the planet, one that I am never able to resist. (Even with the half-marathon less than three weeks away…) We brought a bottle of the 2000 Laurène from Domaine Drouhin that was showing really well - elegant and silky, yet still very primary - just showing the first hints of secondary aromas starting to emerge. Drink or hold for another 5-10, this is simply one gorgeous wine…

Patrick & Catherine from Buisson-Charles, pouring in Carlton

On Saturday we had the whole Burg crew in Carlton for a tasting from 12-5, and had one of our busiest days and biggest crowds of the year. It was like T-Giving Open House, only more fun! I have the feeling that many of the cases of Thiébault’s Crémant de Bourgogne that walked out of here Saturday have already been consumed - the perfect sparkler for the hot summer days that ensued. (Though now it’s back in to the 60s & 70s - what’s up with this summer?)

Culotte Steak at Farm to Fork

Of course we had to follow that up with another killer dinner, this time at Farm to Fork in Dundee, where chef Shiloh (replacing the recently departed Paul Bachand) blew us all away with a non-stop array of fresh, intensely flavored goodness. I’m a huge fan of the duck & pork rillettes, and the culotte steak with tomato confit was perhaps the best beef of the week. A magnum of 08 Audrey was the wine star of the night, along with the 2001 Mazoyères Chambertin from Taupenot-Merme and a rockin’ bottle of ‘04 Meursault Bouches-Chères from Buisson-Charles…

About 100 of Oregon’s top wine merchants, restaurateurs and sommeliers turned out to join us in Portland for a tasting of over 75 wines from Burgundy’s 2008 vintage, all of which will be arriving on these shores in October. It was a great cross-section of our portfolio, and a nice chance to get the early line on the superstar releases from Mugnier, Lafarge, Confuron & Comte Armand…

Then we were off to Seattle to do the same thing again - a huge tasting for the trade and a consumer event with retailer McCarthy & Schiering. With of course more good meals thrown in - a festive and delicious dinner at Matt’s in the Market on the first night, and a quick but delicious bite at Café Campagne the next - not to mention breakfast at my favorite little bistro in Seattle, Le Pichet.

Now back at the winery, where the 09s have been racked into tank and await bottling next week. They are sumptuous, succulent and seductive Pinots that will be ready for release in 18 months or so. They are ripe and rich, but not as much so as the 2006s - better overall balance in what will surely be a crowd-pleasing vintage.

And here’s hoping we continue our endless string of sunny days - we need every golden ounce of sunshine to get these grapes ripe this year!

Thiébault, Catherine & Patrick in Azana Vyd.

First of all, do not miss our special tasting this Saturday from 12-5 in Carlton - with Thiébault Huber from Huber-Verdereau in Volnay and Patrick & Catherine Essa from Domaine Buisson-Charles in Meursault on hand pouring their killer wines - some of the most exciting reds, whites & sparklers in our entire portfolio. Be sure to get a taste of the Meursault Bouches-Chères 1er Cru from B-C and the Volnay Fremiets 1er Cru from H-V, wines that are rarely if ever open for tasting. (And I’ll likely have something “under the table” for those who mention this blog…)

Catherine & Patrick Essa of Domaine Buisson-Charles in Meursault

Looking ahead to this fall, I’m excited to announce the addition of three amazing grower-Champagne producers to the Scott Paul family - Bruno Gobillard, José Dhondt & Camille Savès. All three are names already well known to Champagne lovers, and it is with great pride that we bring these awesome wines into our portfolio. The first shipments will be arriving in October - details and producer profiles are on the way in the weeks to come. And of course we continue to be the importer for the outstanding Marc Chauvet Champagnes - save some room in your cellar for the ridiculously good 2002 Special Club that will be here this fall. After all, man cannot live on Burgundy alone - we need our bubbles!!!

Joining up with the three new Champagne producers comes on the heels of the additions of Burgundy superstars Frédéric Mugnier, Michel Lafarge, Bonneau de Martray, Comte Armand and Jean-Marc Pavelot - and we’ll have all of their new releases arriving this fall as well. I really think we now just may have the best overall top-to-bottom Burgundy selection around. It’s an exciting time at Scott Paul, and we look forward to to introducing you to all of these amazing wines in the coming months…

In just a couple of days, two of our favorite producers from Burgundy will be arriving in Portland for a series of tastings and events all over the Northwest. Make plans now to join us at the winery in Carlton on Saturday, August 14th from 12-5, for a special tasting with Thiébault Huber of Domaine Huber-Verdereau in Volnay, and Patrick & Catherine Essa of Domaine Buisson-Charles in Meursault. Tasting fee is $15 for this event, and we are looking forward to seeing you here!

Then that evening at 6:30, you’re invited to join us all for a winemaker dinner at Farm to Fork in Dundee, featuring the Huber-Verdereau and Buisson-Charles wines, and of course some Scott Paul goodies too. Seats at the dinner are $100 each, all-inclusive, and availability is limited. Email Kelly Karr to book your seats asap…

If you can’t make it out to wine country, join us all in Portland at Cork Wine Shop on N.E. Alberta this Friday afternoon from 4-7:30 -  Thiébault and Patrick & Catherine will be on hand pouring a selection of their gorgeous wines…

Thiébault Huber

Thiébault Huber is one of Burgundy’s brightest rising stars. He was awarded the trophy for Burgundy’s best young winemaker a few years back, and his since been “discovered” by the major writers and critics who cover the region. The family estate of only 7.5 acres had been leased out to other producers for 20 years when Thièbault took it back at the end of the lease in 1994 while in his early 20s. He has since enlarged the estate with additions of small, strategically placed parcels in Volnay & Pommard, and now has over 15 acres under his control. Thièbault has become one of the leaders of the Biodynamic farming movement in Burgundy, and has been featured on a number of network broadcasts in France. He has twice been a featured winery at the International Pinot Noir Celebration here in Oregon, and is known to many of you as the producer of the fabulous Crémant de Bourgogne sparkling wine that has consistently been the most popular wine in the entire Scott Paul portfolio.

In the cellar with Patrick Essa at Buisson-Charles

Patrick & Catherine Essa are the 5th generation at the helm of Domaine Buisson-Charles, having officially taken over from Catherine’s father Michel as of the 2008 harvest. Patrick and Michel worked side by side for the past 15+ vintages, and the transition has been seamless as Michel starts his active “retirement”. The domaine is revered by Burgundy aficionados for their classic, intense, and wonderfully age-worthy Meursaults. Their prime old-vine holdings in the 1er Crus of Meursault Charmes, Goutte d’Or, Bouches-Chères and Cras produce some of Burgundy’s longest-lived whites, and their Meursault Vieilles Vignes bottling from five different parcels averaging 65+ years in age is one of the most complex examples you’ll find.

We hope you can join us at one or more of these upcoming special events with two of Burgundy’s best and brightest. Cheers!

… to say the least. I’m certainly not trying to put a happy spin on it, nor am I gloom-n-dooming it - just trying to tell it like it is. We’re looking at what could possibly be one of our latest harvests ever this year, due to the non-stop cold and rain that dominated May & June. Spring, what spring? The cold and rain also contributed to a very uneven fruit-set around the valley, and so we have virtually no crop at some sites and an abundance of too-large clusters at others. Other than that, everything is normal!

And of course the vineyard that always yields our best fruit and makes our best wine is the one with hardly any fruit this year. The gods are cruel, at times. (Of course I’ll be singing their praises if they give us a great, sunny & dry September and October in the fall - which it appears we will need every single day of). Our old vines in the Dundee Hills up at Maresh Vineyard tried their best, but about half of the potential clusters aborted and bore no fruit (caused by the extended cool streak prior to flowering). Every vine is so different there this year that it’s impossible to estimate what we’ve got - we just need to hope that whatever it is we do have is damned good!

Maresh Block 10 - nice leaves, no fruit

The healthiest and most robust vineyard so far this year is our new Azana vineyard, where of course we were not planning to harvest any fruit this year, being only the third leaf there. We won’t take our first fruit from Azana until 2011, but at least it is looking balanced and healthy at this point.

Ribbon Ridge Vineyard actually has a fairly normal looking crop hanging now - I’m guesstimating 1.75-2.0 tons per acre from a quick eyeballing this morning, but we’ll be able to get a more accurate estimate in the last week of August (at which point we’ll still have some 50 days to go before harvest. Yikes!)

Ribbon Ridge Vineyard

And for the first time, this year we’ll be working with some fruit from Nysa Vineyard in the Dundee Hills. Nysa is directly adjacent to my old stomping grounds at Domaine Drouhin Oregon, and has also set a pretty solid crop-load in 2010. We’ll be doing a thinning pass later this week, bringing it down to a potential 2-2.25 tons per acre, and then we’ll see how it’s looking around veraison late in the summer. If we need to we can drop a bit more then.

Fruit-set at Nysa Vyd. in the Dundee Hills

We typically say that the quality of the vintage in Oregon is all about September. This year it will be all about October too - as we’ll need at least 2-3 weeks of warm & dry October weather to get this crop ripe before the proverbial merde hits the fan. Daunting, disheartening, discouraging, depressing - ahh, the multi-colored joys of growing grapes and making wine!

IPNC 2010 is in the books, and once again we’ve lived to tell the tale. And what a tale - as it is every year at this magnificent event. This was the 10th straight IPNC I’ve participated in, and while each of them tend to blend together into one delicious memory, they all take on their own unique personalities as well.

This year we kicked it off with a stellar dinner in the cellars on Thursday night. We knew it was going to rock, but not that hard. Chef Vitaly Paley and team totally brought their “A game” - and pulled out all the stops for a meal that seemed to be the buzz of IPNC all weekend long.

Chef Paley at the stove, in my favorite t-shirt...

The rabbit salad was mind-blowing, while the ribeye was transcendent. 30-day dry-aged, hay-smoked over oak wine barrel chunks and grilled to perfection - I can still taste the beef four days later…

Sink your teeth into this...

It was an honor to have Allen Meadows, Ray Isle, and Greg La Follette with us, not to mention young Paul & Louis Meunier, the next generation of Domaine J-J Confuron in Burgundy. It was their first trip ever to the U.S., and as I drove them to the airport last night they were already plotting to return next year!

Gilles Ballorin, Kelley Fox, and Louis & Paul Meunier at Azana Vyd.

The seminars and tastings throughout the weekend were well-executed and interesting as always. The two big dinners on Friday & Saturday nights are always where the great wines show up. This years’ highlights for me were the Mugnier ‘07 Amoureuses - drop-dead sexy and the most beautiful mouthfeel I’ve ever come across in a young wine, the ‘00 de Vogüé Musigny, the ‘97 Leflaive Pucelles, ‘01 Amoureuses from both Groffier and Drouhin, ‘01 RSV from Confuron (stunning!), an ‘01 Montrachet from Drouhin, ‘01 Mazoyères from Taupenot-Merme, and several other goodies I can’t recall in my current state!

The revelry in full effect at the IPNC Salmon Bake

It was great to see everyone over the course of the weekend - tons of friends old and new, and I already can’t wait for IPNC 2011 - the big 25th anniversary blow-out that should be quite the extravaganza! Now, back to my much-needed annual post-IPNC restorative nap…

Yes, we are finally doing a tour of Burgundy, and we’ve locked in the dates - June 19-25, 2011. This will truly be the ultimate Insider’s tour of Burgundy, with private tours and tastings at our top estates, lunches in the vineyards, dinners at the top restaurants on the Côte, and comfy lodging at a private inn in the heart of Beaune.

Our friend Kim Gagné will be your guide and translator for the duration, and I’ll be doing a Burgundy seminar for the group, as well as joining you for a number of the tastings and events. This trip/seminar has space for just 10 people, so don’t hesitate if you’re interested. I am really looking forward to showing you my home-away-from-home (and of course eating and drinking exceptionally well!) Contact Kim to book your spots today.

It’s the best week of the entire glorious Oregon summer - the 24th annual International Pinot Noir Celebration, commonly known simply as IPNC. 60 of the top Pinot producers from around the globe converge on Oregon wine country for four days of great tastings, seminars, dinners and general hedonistic delights. All told about 600 people attend the full weekend proceedings - about half of which are consumers from all over the U.S., and the other half are in the wine business one way or another. (And a few hundred more attend the Sunday-only tasting event called Passport to Pinot - tickets for this killer tasting are still available.)

Salmon-bake dinner at IPNC

We are honored to once again be a featured winery at this year’s IPNC, along with Burgundian superstar  Domaine J-J Confuron. We’re featuring the amazing Confuron wines in our tasting room Friday through Sunday this weekend - so make sure you come by to check them out. We’re also honored to have just received some wonderful reviews for our wines - the new issue of Steve Tanzer’s hugely influential IWC (International wine Cellar) has just been released and we are the beneficiaries of some monster scores from Josh Raynolds, the Oregon Pinot specialist for Tanzer.

Our 2008 D122 Pinot grabbed 93 points - the 2nd highest score given in the report! We also received scores of 91 for La Paulée, Audrey, and our forthcoming Dom Denise Pinot - I’ll take all four in the 90s any day! Add these to the 95-point review for Audrey and the 93-pointer for La Paulée in Wine Enthusiast, and we’re off to a great start this year in the press. It always amazes me when we get good scores, because honestly our wines are not in the style that tends to be the preference of the bulk of the critics of this era. Maybe elegance, finesse, balance and grace are indeed making a comeback. (Of course from our point of view they’ve always been in style and always will. Tastes may change, but our style remains the same!)

So please join us in celebrating the wonderful gift of nature that we call Pinot Noir - the only red wine grape capable of rendering wines of such ethereal beauty, subtlety and nuance. Cheers - and I look forward to seeing you this weekend at IPNC!

… for parties in the vineyards (and IPNC, lots of cold Champagne, and more parties…) With the sun finally shining on a regular basis and the grapes growing strong, we are now in full-on summer mode and enjoying it immensely.

Our party deck is nearing completion at Azana Vineyard. We plan to test-drive it with the family in a couple of weeks, and then start to schedule some events there before harvest this fall. The view over the vines and the valley may be one of the most inspiring around - we can’t wait to have you join us. Watch your email and this space for more info soon…

A belated Bonne Fête Nationale to all - more commonly referred to here as Happy Bastille Day. One of my favorite memories is the annual celebration in the town square in Meursault every July 13th - where the whole village assembles for food & drink, live music, dancing on the plaza, and a great fireworks show over city hall on the night before France’s equivalent of our 4th of July. (Though Martha & I agree - they need much better street food over there. The wine, however, rocks…)

We celebrated Bastille day last night with an excellent meal at Portland’s Olympic Provisions, a new spot that has been drawing crowds and foodie raves for the past few months. I was thrilled with both the braised rabbit dish and the roasted pork belly, and can vouch for the orange-almond cake with orange cream. Big yums all around, and a nice wine program too…

Be sure to check Martha’s blog for an update on her organic garden in Carlton and all the delicious goodness that has been pouring forth. Loved the first beets, and the beet greens with pulled pork and our first potatoes on puff pastry that she made the other night was a big hit…

We are the very thankful beneficiaries of a gorgeous write-up in the Beyond the Bottle Blog, written by Seattle’s Thad Westhusing - check it out here…

I have long admired the wines of Evesham Wood, which Russ & Mary Raney launched 24 years ago. For me their wines have consistently set the standard for elegance and purity, and Russ & Mary have set the standard for integrity and quality on every level. The news just broke yesterday that they have sold the winery, and will be spending a couple of months a year in their new maison in France. Huge congrats to them on a fabulous 24 year run. (And if anyone wants to buy us and send me off packing for France, please contact me directly!)

Our biggest event of the year, the annual pre-IPNC dinner is one week from tonight! Kudos to our chef Vitaly Paley, whose Paley’s Place was just named restaurant of the year, again!  -  I’m off to find a few treasures from the cellar to share at all the festivities - Cheers!

… at least when it comes to “normal” summer weather patterns here in the Willamette Valley. One of the coolest and wettest springs ever was quickly followed by a nasty heatwave (la canicule in French) in the hi 90s, only to be followed by a dip back in to the mid-60s! Those poor vines don’t know whether to grow, stop, or die! And they appear to be doing some form of all three, depending on the day. All I can say for sure at this point is that we will be losing a good 25% or more of the crop at Maresh due to a large amount of shatter and necrosis, and that we are about four weeks behind at this point. We are in full bloom just about everywhere, but that still puts us at a projected harvest of October 18th or thereabouts. May the gods be kind to us in September and October…

A bevy of beauties from Nuits-St. Georges

Thanks for joining us on Saturday for our first ever Nuits-St. Georges tasting. It was great to see you and share these excellent wines. We sold-out of most of the offerings, but a few bottles of the Confuron and Mugnier remain if you’re interested but couldn’t make it out to Carlton…

We are so fortunate to be in Oregon, and be part of the wine community of Carlton and the greater Willamette Valley. There is a generosity and inclusiveness here that make the quality of life that much more special. A huge thanks to Chris & Hilary Berg, Dewey & Robin Kelly, and Rick & Heather Karl for the invites to three amazing parties we’ve had the pleasure of attending over the last couple of weeks. Each involved a magical setting overlooking the vineyards, excellent food, way too many choices of good wine, and a great group of people…

Looking over the vines from the Karl's treehouse above Carlton, seen through a glass of Scott Paul '07 La Paulée. Photo: Martha Wright

The biggest and best party of all of course is the upcoming IPNC - a few tickets still remain for the weekend-long event, as well as for the Sunday-only tasting. This is THE one not to miss, and I look forward to seeing you all there for three days of revelry, hedonism, and an embarrassment of riches in the food & wine department. I’m off to turn my attentions to final prep work for our participation there, but I’ll leave you with a teaser. Our good friend Thiébault Huber of Domaine Huber-Verdereau in Volnay will be coming over in August for a couple of days, and we’ll be announcing details of a winemaker dinner with Thiébault in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned…