I just had the pleasure of opening up the older vintages of CMP that we’ll be pouring this weekend in the tasting room. I hadn’t tasted the ‘00 or ‘02 in a couple of years - it’s always interesting to see where they are in their development.

The 2000 was the very first Oregon wine we bottled (we started in 1999 with California Pinot & Chardonnay.) I was amazed at how lush, rich, plush, and young this wine is! Only three barrels were made,  all from top-pedigreed older-vine fruit in the Dundee Hills. It has a thick, velvety texture, an inviting ripe and earthy nose, and seems still quite young and primary. (Honestly it reminds me of a young Russian River Valley Pinot.) It would seem to have a number of years still ahead of it - this is indeed the surprise of the flight.

The 2002 hasn’t changed a great deal since the beginning either - though it is notably more evolved in terms of aromas, with a touch of forest-floor and a wild, sauvage character sticking its head up through the cherries & berries. This wine was always more stuctured and tannic than other vintages of this wine, and it remains so.

The 2005 is a blend from different blocks of Shea, Stoller & Ribbon Ridge, and is really nicely balanced, the most refined and elegant of these three older vintages. Lots of red berries and cherries on a frame of delicacy and finesse. I’ve always been a huge fan of our 05s, and I think they will age very well indeed.

And the current release, the 2007 is in the flight as well - with really pretty red fruits and silkiness throughout - truly slurpable and delicious, exactly what we’re looking for from this bottling.

A couple of cases of each of the older vintages are available for sale this weekend at $30/bottle - so it’s a good chance to get some nicely aged wines into your cellar. We look forward to seeing you here over the weekend - we’re open 1-5 Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Cheers and have a happy 4th!

I’m really looking forward to checking in on some older vintages of our Cuvée Martha Pirrie Pinot this weekend. We’re doing a vertical tasting of the 2000, 2002, 2004 & 2007 bottlings - the first two of which I haven’t tasted in some time. I’ll pop some bottles tomorrow and post my tasting notes here, and you can come by and taste ‘em Saturday & Sunday from 1-5. Tasting fee is $10 this weekend (which will also include a couple of nice Burgs) - 25% of which is being donated to the EcoTrust Farm-to-School program. I look forward to seeing you here! (A couple of cases of each will be available for sale as well at $30 a pop - email kellykarr@scottpaul.com to order if you can’t make it out.)

Just discovered a nice wine blog out of Seattle - Teri Citterman writes An Urban Sip - and we’re mentioned in a posting this week - check it out…

And on to soccer - which I haven’t spoken of since Barcelona’s wonderful victory in the Champions League - Oh My God - the insanity has begun! Real Madrid has spent about 200 Million EUROS to buy Cristiano Ronaldo (arguably the best player in the world, but I’ll take Messi, thank-you), Kakà (certainly one of the world’s top 10) and 21 year-old sensation Karim Benzema from my beloved Lyon - WOW, La Liga is going to be insanely interesting this year, to say the least. Can Barca repeat? Will all these superstars gel at Madrid? Can Arsenal sign the holding midfielder and central defenders they so desperately need? All will be revealed starting in mid-August. I cannot wait. In the meantime, I’ll be up in Seattle to see Chelsea play the Sounders in a couple of weeks - that should hold me for a minute…

It was great Burgundy that started me down this path so many years ago, and great Burgundy that keeps me going. The endless quest for that next “magic” bottle, or sometimes just the right bottle at the right time (which can be just as magic in its own right), is the force that drives me on and fills me with hope, energy and spirit.

Sometimes in the middle of the daily grind it’s easy to lose sight of the magic. Often when we are deepest into the grind, the lightning bolt arrives to fill us with inspiration and to reignite the flame. I admit that my pilot light had been on dim for a while when I arrived in Burgundy back at the beginning of June. Depressing news from all fronts, the economic woes affecting us and everyone I know in the business, a slow start in the vineyards here in the valley this spring - all conspired to make me feel less than inspired for the better part of the last six months or so.

And then one morning, in the space of two hours in the village of Chambolle-Musigny, the sun burst through once more. I had an appointment to taste at the venerable Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé, holders of some of the most magnificent vineyard land in all of Burgundy. (Outside of DRC, I would argue that de Vogüé’s holdings are in fact the best in all of Burgundy.)  A whopping 70% of the magnificent Musigny (17.5 acres, including the only Musigny Blanc.) The largest piece of Bonnes Mares. The best piece of les Amoureuses. Nice chunks of 1er Crus les Fuées and les Baudes (which go into the village wine.) And wonderful holdings at the village level as well. Every one of their vines lies within the boundaries of the tiny (only 444 acres) village of Chambolle-Musigny - home to the most graceful, perfumed, elegant, and refined Pinot Noir-based wines on the planet.

The de Vogüé wines are legendary and sought after around the world. They have in fact produced a number of my favorite wines of all time, including the legendary ‘47 and ‘49 Musigny. Perhaps only La Tâche and Romanée-Conti itself can surpass the greatness of Musigny, but with a gun to my head I would have to say that a great “Moose” is at the very pinnacle and in fact second to none. But we digress…

I was scheduled to taste with winemaker/enologist François Millet - who is often described as being “reserved, dry, introspective”. With that reputation in mind, I wasn’t expecting much lively discourse or fanfare. What I found, instead, was one of the most inspiring, fascinating, engaging and spark igniting gentlemen I’ve had the pleasure to meet. (Oh, and the wines did not suck, either.)

He did start out a tad on the dry side. But then something blossomed. Perhaps it was because he was happy to meet an American who was comfortable conversing in French (though his English is superb),  or perhaps because I’m a winemaker who approaches things in a very similar manner to M. Millet, or maybe the stars were simply properly aligned that day - but I had an epiphany in the de Vogüé cellars that day with François.

That the wines were stunning is without question. Even in mid-malo, the 08s were showing a very special loveliness, with an uncommon length and finesse, and pure transparent minerality. My notes on the wines stop there, however (normally, I’m scribbling away with detailed notes on each wine, each barrel.) This time I found myself just enjoying listening to the wines, and listening to the very fascinating M. Millet.

That he’s a great winemaker who is blessed to be working with profound terroirs is without question. But perhaps he is actually more philosopher than winemaker. I’ve never tasted with anyone so deeply involved with his wines and terroirs at such a thoughtful, philosophical level. He doesn’t speak in “wine” terms per se. He talks about the differences between the aromas of morning flowers versus flowers that bloom in the afternoon, about fermentation being the poetry phase of the wine, the pre-soak being merely prose, about classic French literature and the ancient philosophers of Greece. To say that this man is deeply thoughtful is an understatement. But there’s also a sparkle in his eye, the soul of a poet, and a sense of delight and wonder that permeates his carefully measured words.

In all, in the space of those two hours in the de Vogüé cellars I refound my footing. Not that my passion has ever waned, more that I was inspired anew. I left Chambolle that day feeling I was back on the path, my path, once again. Un Grand Merci, François!

François Millet and the magnificent wines of Domaine de Vogüé will be the featured tasting event and seminar at this year’s IPNC (the International Pinot Noir Celebration) - held here in Oregon wine country every July. The top Pinot producers and pinot lovers from around the globe convene here every year for three glorious days under the Oregon sumer skies - I hope you get to join us this year and share in all the festivities! (And don’t miss Anne & Hervé Sigaut - the rising stars of Chambolle-Musigny, who will be here as one of the IPNC featured wineries this year!)

I don’t often write about music, though that world was where I spent over 30 years of my professional life before diving down the rabbit-hole of Pinot & Burgundy. I’ve been away from the music industry long enough now to have rediscovered my pure and unadulterated love for the music itself (working in the star-maker-machinery for so long nearly robbed my of that love near the end.) Fortunately, I can’t imagine ever tiring of great old bottles of Burgundy or Oregon Pinot or Champagne - so hopefully there’s no burnout ahead down this road. But back to the music.

I spend a lot of time in the car back and forth from Portland to Carlton and our vineyard sites in the Dundee Hills, Ribbon Ridge and Chehalem Mountains - and the iPod (actually these days it’s an iPhone, to be precise) is my constant companion. When the music isn’t stirring my soul, I catch up on my favorite soccer podcast - World Soccer Daily. And then occasionally something comes along that I literally can’t stop listening to. (A huge point of difference with wine - that stellar bottle of ‘49 deVogüé Musigny is not likely to be repeated anytime soon, one can only savor the moment and the memory. The great song or album, however, you can crank on endless repeat if you’d like…)

If you’re an aficionado of great, pure “pop” - of the Brian Wilson/Beatles school - you may want to check out an amazing album called “Under the Covers Vol. 1″ by Matthew Sweet & Susannah Hoffs (He a bit of a music geek’s insider secret and mid-90s alternative star, and she the main lead voice of the Bangles.) Together they selected some of the greatest pop nuggets of the 60s - some of them were major hits in their day, and others totally obscure but brilliant slices of the pop pie. They’ve remade them with love and reverence, and the upgraded technology that we all wish they’d had back in the 60s!

At any rate, this is some of the most delightful stuff I’ve heard in ages. I thought I was the only person on the planet who knew the Left Banke’s lost classic “She May Call You Up Tonight” (I actually have the original on my iPhone) - but obviously they did too. Also featured are lost treasures originated by the Zombies, Fairport Convention, and the Marmalade, along with well-known classics from Neil Young, The Beatles, Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Mamas & Papas, Bob Dylan, the Who, the Stone Ponys and more. In all, it’s breathtakingly gorgeous stuff - the voices and harmonies are captivating, the production is sonically brilliant, and I’ve been listening non-stop for days.

This album actually came out in 2006 - I just discovered it last week when I ran across a pre-release blurb on Under the Covers Vol. 2 - which is coming out on July 21st. Vol. 2 is their take on a bunch of killer 70s nuggets - including the Raspberries, Fleetwood Mac, Todd Rundgren, Derek & the Dominoes, Carly Simon, Tom Petty, Yes, Rod Stewart, Bread, and more! I literally can’t wait. If it’s anywhere near as good as the first one (and from sneak-previewing samples on Amazon it sure seems so) it will soon be in hot rotation on the iPhone. (For the record, I have zero connection to this project, I’m just a major fan. I did interview Sue a couple of times back in the radio days, but that’s the end of it.) And now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

Met an old friend from Los Angeles radio days who was visiting Portland and scoping it out for a potential move here (sounds familiar - didn’t I just do this 10 years ago?) We snagged a table outside on the deck at the new location of Noble Rot on East Burnside. Wow - what a fabulous view over the city and the West Hills, and a great line-up of wines and eats as always. Loved the squash panino, and the ham & cheddar panino w/mango chutney. Great space, great vibe, delicious grub, killer wines. Summer in Oregon does not suck…

I’ll leave you for now with a shot in Block 10 at Maresh from yesterday afternoon…

Had a great time at Portland’s new Metrovino in the Pearl last night - really nice high-end winebar/restaurant/bottle shop - over 80 excellent wines by the glass and a delicious selection of small plates, cheeses, and full-on entrees. We started with the decasdently delicious charcuterie platter, which included a deep-fried slice of terrine of short ribs, bone marrow and morels - a true hedonistic delight!

Also loved the tortellini stuffed with sweatbreads in a pea broth (below), the smoked trout and pork belly salad, and the baked escargot with button mushrooms and almonds.

On the wine front, you can’t beat the Huber-Verdereau Crémant de Bourgogne for starters, and the René Leclerc 2006 Gevrey-Chambertin was a perfect match with the escargot. If you haven’t been, get this place on your list asap…

Also had the chance to stop by the grand opening of Farm to Fork restaurant, Press Wine Bar, and the Inn at Red Hills - all together in a lovely new building right on Hwy. 99 just south of “downtown” Dundee. Wow - what a gorgeous space, what fabulous rooms, what a great wine shop/bar, gourmet foods shop, and full-on rockin’-good restaurant (with Chef Paul Bachand at the helm.) I just had time for a glass of Argyle bubbly and a sample of some of Paul’s house-made charcuterie and rillets - but early reports from friends dining there have been unanimously big-thumbs-up! Can’t wait to get in for a full meal (and the rooms are truly lush and deluxe - so great to have a new top-of-the-line lodging right in Dundee.) More details soon…

You never know when or where inspiration is going to strike. A bottle of ‘61 Krug on the family dinner table when I was in high school is probably what started me on the path to the here and now… Great memories touch someplace inside us that provoke deep, indelible feelings. My heart will always melt at the thought of looking into each of my children’s eyes for the first time. I feel a yummy squeeze in my chest thinking about the firt time I kissed my wife. The sound of Joni Mitchell’s voice stirs someting in my soul. And recently, I’ve been struck by the magic wand of inspiration repeatedly.

Most recently, last night - when Chef Gabe Rucker of Portland’s Le Pigeon restaurant pulled out all the stops for an all-time amazing meal. Gabe was chosen by Travel Oregon (the state tourism commission, the folks behind those “Oregon Loves Dreamers” ads you see in all the national magazines) to star in a video they are producing in conjunction with Portland’s ad-agency giant Wieden + Kennedy (the folks behind Nike, Coke, and a few small products like that.) The shoot followed Gabe around the state of Oregon - fishing, farming, making cheese, raising cattle, making chocolate, wine & beer - and then culminated with a private dinner for 10 at the restaurant, where Gabe created a menu of 8 courses inspired by his travels and all the artisan farmers & producers he met on his travels.

I was honored to be a part of the dinner, and to have one of our wines featured with one of the courses. Without waxing on endlessly, I simply must say it was a truly memorable and amazing meal. I’ve had the great pleasure of enjoying the culinary artistry of Ducassse, Keller, Gagnaire, Verget, Troisgros and other 3-star royalty - but this meal last night clearly makes my personal all-time Top 10. We were in the presence of a true talent, who was clearly inspired and playing at the very top of his game.

On offer: Oysters w/Pepper-Vodka cocktail sauce and oyster jus gazpacho

Frog Legs w/radishes & seafood butter

Hop-smoked & beer-braised Pork Cheeks w.chard, onion & goat cheese

Rockfish w/pea puree and cucumber (no photo - I got too excited)

Hay-roated Beef w/porcini mushrooms and Candy-cap mushroon crème-fraiche

Blue Cheese Crème Brulée w/biscuit & strawberry jam

And to cap it off with someting light -

Chocolate Truffle & salt-caramel tart w/hazelnut espresso cream

First off, I am in a food coma just remembering it all. Second of all, god it was good! Gabe said he was more excited about this menu than anything he’d done in the restaurant to date - and was especially pumped about the blue-cheese crème brulée (which he said was inspired by a visit to an artisan cheesemaker in southern Oregon - and a dish that I promise you will reappear at our IPNC dinner next month!)

Suffice it so say we were well sated and ridiculously happy after four hours at the table (and of course great Oregon wines accompanied every course - including our ‘07 Audrey with the beef, a gorgeous pairing.) Gabe will be cooking for us at our annual pre-IPNC dinner at the winery coming up on July 23rd (a few less courses, we hope!), and a few seats remain if you’d like to join us. Just email kellykarr@scottpaul.com for info and reservations.

I am inspired by greatness. Gabe Rucker is young, tatooed, irreverent, crazy like a fox & immensely talented. Last night, the greatness simply shined. A meal I will surely never forget. Thank-you Gabe, Andy, and the entire Le Pigeon team (with a special shout-out to “Lunch Box” the pastry chef!)

(I’ll let you know when and where you can see the finished video - should be a great piece!)

Kelley and I spent most of yesterday doing final blending trials and selecting individual barrels for our upcoming 2008 bottlings. First off, everybody’s enthusiasm for the 2008s certainly seems justified. There is a completeness, a level of concentration, a depth to the wines that we haven’t seen since, well, ever - at least not in the 10 years we’ve been making wine here. My favorite Oregon vintage to date has been 2005, but I imagine when all is said and done the ’08s will eclipse them - and it appears to be one of those rare vintages where virtually everyone made excellent wine across the board.

The old-vine fruit from our 7.29 acres at Maresh in the Dundee Hills was again the star of the cellar. We tried endless combinations of barrels from this lot, until we arrived at what we thought was the absolute finest and purest representation of the vintage, and arrived at a total of 11 barrels that will become the 2008 Audrey - it will end up being about 250 cases of what will likely be the best wine we’ve ever made. Lovely aromas, rich sweet fruit and silky texture, superior length - this one truly has it all. It will be released in spring 2010, and should age well for 10+ years in the bottle, I would think…

The 2008 La Paulée will be comprised of the best lots of Ribbon Ridge and Momtazi, and a good bit of Maresh as well. Red & Black Cherries from Ribbon Ridge, Blackberries and earth from Momtazi, and a top note of red fruits from Maresh make this a really interesting and well-balanced cuvée. This proved to be a relatively easy blend to put together - the parts all seemed to just fit together harmoniously, and with much less trial & error than in some past vintages.

From 2008 we will also introduce two new micro-cuvées - both single-vineyard bottlings, one of them an exciting experiment - all the details of which will be revealed here in future posts…

Flowering continues in the vineyards under excellent conditions so far - keep your fingers crossed!

First off, I wanted to alert you to an opportunity to get in on a very special offering of some once-in-a-lifetime wines that will be produced in Burgundy this fall. A group of Burgundy’s top producers, including Aubert de Villaine of DRC, our friend Véronique Drouhin of Joseph Drouhin & DDO, and the folks at Dujac, Leflaive, Roulot and more - have gotten together to produce a limited series of Magnums from top 1er Cru vineyards this fall, all to raise money for local charities in Burgundy. They’re calling the group “Climats de Coeur” - click the link for all the information.

You can reserve your wines online starting Friday June 26th - they are sold only in sets of 4 magnums, with a limit of only one set per person. Only 1,000 sets will be made - stunning 1er Crus from Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée, Meursault, and Puligny-Montrachet. Incredible stuff! We have no connection with this endeavor - just thought it would be cool to pass it along. Seems like a good time to share a nice shot of Richebourg while we’re at it…

While in Beaune last week, I got to spend some time with an American friend who has moved there, and is now offering wonderful cooking classes and market tours in Beaune. Meet Marjorie Taylor of the Cook’s Atelier - she has a delicious blog, a great website, and is living the dream in Burgundy (and cooking up some fabulously tasty stuff!) She has just started up an amazing program offering dream weekends in Beaune - including world-class lodging at a new four-room masterpiece that has just opened in the middle of town. Get in on this treat before the world is hip to it!

As I’ve mentioned here a while back, we made our first wine in Burgundy last fall - one whole barrel of a gorgeous 2008 Scott Paul Chambolle-Musigny.  Talk about a dream coming true! I still can’t really believe it, but each time I check in on our barrel it starts to sink in a little more. I ordered the labels a couple of weeks ago, which seemed to make it even more of a reality. Before dropping in to check on the juice, I stopped by the vineyard - I thought you might like to see exactly where this wine comes from. It’s a lieu-dit called Les Bussières - on the northern edge of Chambolle right at the Morey-St. Denis border -

Our barrel is sitting quietly in the cellars of Anne & Hervé Sigaut in Chambolle. It is coming along nicely in barrel (a once-used François Frères Allier MT, in case you’re interested), and the élévage has been going smoothly. As previously noted, malolactic fermentation is happening late for most of the 08s, so when I stopped by the Sigauts to taste their finished 07s in bottle and check in on our barrel last week, it was in mid-malo but showing some very succulent ripe fruit at this stage nonetheless. I’ll check in again next trip, and keep you up to date - at this point we’ll likely bottle in February or March…

Anne proudly showed off their new custom stone floor walkways in the cellar, made from local stone quarried in Chassagne-Montrachet…

We then tasted thru their range of very pretty 07s - a vintage which clearly favored my favorite village of Chambolle-Musigny, with bright, pretty, elegant red fruits and subtle, intoxicting perfumes abounding. Their 07 Chambole-Musigny showed distinct notes of raspberry that I found very appealing. Then on to the 1er Crus - the Fuées, from their youngst vines (planted in 96) was nicely balanced, and a touch more complex than the 06 version, I thought. The Noirots was dense and concentrated, leaning toward darker fruits, and very long. The Chatelots was the best of the cellar on the day in my opinion, with fine tannins, ultra-pure elegance and finesse through and through (Anne also thought it was her best of the vintage.) Then the Sentiers (from their oldest vines dating to the 40s) - it was as fine and pure as the Chatelots, but with more structure and grip - I said it reminded me of a “Baby Bonnes Mares”. Here’s a shot of the days’ lineup…

I’m really looking forward to welcoming Anne & Hervé to Oregon next month for their first appearance at IPNC. Watch this space and your email for details on a special tasting event at the winery in Carlton while they’re in town - with their full range of 06s now in-stock and ready to take home for your dining and dancing pleasure!