Analemma Blanc de Noir

In astronomy, an analemma is a diagram showing the variation of the position of the Sun in the sky over the course of a year, as viewed at a fixed time of day and from a fixed location on the Earth.  It can be a diagram, or a composite photograph.

In wine, Analemma is a winery in Eastern Oregon that produces a variety of wines, including sparkling wines.

I was introduced to Analemma Wines at the BubblesFest Sparkling Wine festival hosted by Anne Amie Winery in the Willamette Valley.  It was the first time I had ever seen Analemma wines or this wine, a 2011 Blanc de Noir.  I purchased this bottle at the last BubblesFest I went to in 2016 – I need to get back there again!

Analemma Blanc de Noir

The 2011 Blanc de Noir is 100% Pinot Noir grown in the Columbia Gorge AVA; the wines are some of the oldest in the state’s wine industry, over 40 years old.  The wine is produced in the Methode Champenoise, and aged sur lie for 42 months. The color is a golden yellow, with flavors of creamy yeast and butter.  It was so smooth, and was easily the best sparkling wine I have had in a while…  I drank it over three days. Although the bubbles didn’t last until the third day, the wine was still delicious!

If you have had their wine, please let me know what you thought!

 

 

 

Art Brut 2011 Blanc de Blancs

As it is just a few days before Christmas, I wanted to treat myself, so I got a lobster tail and cooked it up alongside a medley of baked vegetables.  And what goes better with seafood than sparkling wine!

The ART BRUT 2011 Blanc de Blancs is a sparkling wine made in the methode Champenoise style by winemaker Chris Berg at Roots Wine Company.  It is named after the art genre Art Brut, also known as Outsider Art, Raw Art or Visionary Art.  It is a Blanc de Blancs, made from 100-percent Chardonnay sourced from the Sienna Ridge Estate in Red Hills.

Art Brut 2011 Blanc de Blancs – Roots Wine Company

Upon first opening the wine, there was a heavy taste of yeast and I worried that I had waited too long, but it settled down after about a half hour.  It is delicious – with just a bit of tartness balanced with the creamy Chardonnay light butter flavors.  The bubbles had mellowed after years in the bottle, but it still had enough to give that sparkling wine effervescence.  It paired very well with the lobster too!

I don’t remember the price I paid, but I think this wine was about $30.  I purchased it at the Bubbles Fest sparkling wine festival hosted by Anne Amie Winery in the Willamette Valley a few years back. It’s an awesome wine event, if you have the chance to go!

If you are a fan of charitable giving with your wine drinking, you will be pleased to know that a portion of the profits from all sales of ART BRUT wines were donated to the American Art Therapy Association.  Plus, it has horses on the bottle, and that is always a positive (even if they are heavily stylized)!

This wine is sold out, and I’m not sure that the winery is making sparkling wine anymore; all the sparkling wines on their website are from 2010 and 2011 and seem to be sold out.  Perhaps it is a wine I’ll never have again, and that’s too bad!

Happy Holidays – I hope you are all well…

The Bet…

The last couple of weeks have been difficult.  Work stuff, which escalated to a whole new level. Personal stuff too, which I’ll get to in a different post. Meanwhile, during some of the worst days, someone important to me made a commitment, and I questioned whether it would be kept…

I was chatting with a dear friend and mentioned the commitment, and how I was skeptical that the promise would be kept.  A bet was born.  My friend was more hopeful than I was that the commitment would be kept.  If the promise was honored, I lost the bet, and owed my friend a bottle of whisky.  If the commitment were to be broken, then I won a bottle of wine (while still sadly losing).  The specifications were either a French Champagne, or an Oregon Pinot Noir, chosen by my friend.  My favorites!

I won the bet, while sadly still losing, because the commitment was broken.  A few days later a bottle of St. Innocent 2014 Momtazi Vineyard Pinot Noir arrived.  My friend chose the bottle based on the name of the winery, without knowing that this is a winery I have been wanting to try for years…

The Tasting Notes:

This is a complex wine that reflects the heat of the afternoon sun, the cool, windy evenings, and the rustic soils of the McMinnville hills while retaining the dark beauty of its intense, ripe fruit. It is aromatically complex with layers of blue and black fruit, Indian spices, coffee hints, and pepper. In the mouth the blue/black fruit flavors and eastern spice notes are layered with a “sauvage” sense of wildness. Texturally layered, its flavors vary in intensity and quality over your tongue and palate. Ample ripe tannins balance with its acidity.

The Technical Details:

Our Momtazi Vineyard grapes come from four blocks at the top of the vineyard on steep, exposed hillsides that become quite windblown. The de-stemmed grapes were fermented in small stainless steel and Burgundy oak fermenters. After gently pressing and settling the wine aged in French oak barrels, 28% which were new, for 16 months before bottling by gravity.

Crop Level: 2.4 tons/acre
Harvest: 9/27/14
Bottled: February 2016

 

 

I opened it last night, when the work stuff had settled a bit…  I opened it while chatting with my friend – a virtual toast from thousands of miles away.  This wine turned out to be everything a perfect Pinot Noir should be.  Delicate cherry, with lots of smoky, earth tones.  The light tannins balance out the acidity.  It is very smooth, and at 13% ABV, it packs a subtle kick that creeps up on you just a little…  I think it is my new favorite Pinot Noir.

The only disappointment?  I didn’t get to share it with my friend.

Cheers.  To dear friends and a clean slate…

 

2015 Anne Amie Pinot Gris

I had one more day of my long weekend to enjoy before I have to head back to work tomorrow.  Today was a quiet, lazy day.  I unpacked from a weekend trip, cleaned the house, took a short nap, and read my book on the deck.  It was glorious.  Temperatures have also come down here again, so the house wasn’t roasting hot!  This evening I finished off a bottle of 2015 Anne Amie Pinot Gris that my friend and I opened while we were down in Oregon.

It has floral and apple aromas, and flavors of sweet apple and peaches.  A delicious summer sipper; Anne Amie does their wines right.

I hope your work week has started out right!  I hope mine does too.  Cheers!

 

2014 Argyle Pinot Noir

I was craving a Pinot Noir.  It has been raining, and somehow a white wine didn’t seem fitting.

According to the winemaker’s notes:

Argyle Pinot Noir is an honest representation of the Willamette Valley. Fermented entirely in small lots, and blended for purity, it toes the line between red and dark cherry, while offering spicy forest floor and hints of black tea. The palate is lively and graceful, building density and focus as the silky tannins build into the long, energetic finish.

All I know is that this is a great wine, I’m tired, and it hit the spot.  Happy Father’s Day everybody!

 

2014 Penner-Ash Riesling

Gregory Dal Piaz, a reviewer on Snooth.com, described this wine as:

Honeysuckle, almond, mineral, jasmine and lime aromas pop from the glass. A bit soft in the mouth at first, this seems to be lacking a smidge of acidity though it’s very easy drinking with flavors that have a peachy cast to them. Nice minerality emerges on the mid-palate with some green apple and green nut flavors that yield to a modest, dusty mineral and lime toned finish. The aromatics here are great but this stumbles a bit in the mouth, though it is super approachable and quaffable.  87 points.

I am tired from being away for work all week, chores over the weekend, and some lingering effects from my recent cold, so I am taking the lazy way out and don’t really have much to add. Except yummy, and pairs well with raspberries.

Argyle Winery Conducere, 2011

Argyle released one of its vintage sparkling wines, a 100% Chardonnay sparkler with a hint of minerality, and lots of cream on the palate.  Upon popping the cork, this wine has lots of bright bubbles, but they fade quickly to a light effervescence in the glass.

It has flavors of cream, butter, and is a rich sparkling wine with just a hint of stone and minerals. Several of the reviews that I read talked about its minerality, but I didn’t pick up much of that.  One review said it tasted like a Big Hunk candy bar, but I certainly didn’t get any of that.  I’m not even sure that I have had a Big Hunk candy bar…

2011 Argyle Winery Conducere – 100% Chardonnay

To me, it tasted more like what it is; the sparkling version of a Chardonnay.  Granted, Oregon certainly goes more for the unoaked variety of Chardonnay, but this one certainly has that light butter taste.  Flavorful, delicious, and certainly worth picking up a bottle if you can find it around.  It is sold out at the tasting room.

Happy Weekend!

 

Stoller Family Estate 2015 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir

With our cold snap continuing here, I went for a walk with a girlfriend this morning, stopped by the grocery store and then spent the rest of the bright, sunny, below-freezing day doing some early spring cleaning.  Rearranging, purging the old, deep cleaning, tossing old paperwork to be recycled or shredded, and hanging artwork that hasn’t seen the light of day in awhile.  It felt good to be motivated to get some more meaningful housework done.

I had some crockpot chili that I cooked up the other day, and felt like splurging a bit on a nice bottle of wine tonight.  I opened up the Stoller Family Estate 2015 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir.  It has a nose and flavors of light smoke and earth, with dark cherries and overripe blackberries.  With heavier tannins than many Pinot Noirs, it held up to the strong flavors in the chili.  I loved this wonderfully robust Willamette Valley Pinot!

Stoller Family Estate 2015 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir

I got mine during Safeway’s 30% off all wines over $20 sale, that they run in November (and December?).  You get an extra 10% off if you buy 6 wines too (mix and match is fine).  Fortunately for me, my brother lives in Oregon, so I stopped by their local Safeway to see what they had before heading out to drive home last time I was there.  Unfortunately for me, this is the only bottle I got of this one…

Stoller doesn’t have it on their website, although they do have the 2014 vintage.  I assume that means that they already sold out.  If you can find it, grab it!  It is delicious!

Stay warm!

Good Friends and Wine

Over the weekend, we had a couple over for dinner that we hadn’t seen in far too long. That’s one of the tough things about Jon’s crazy schedule.  It is hard enough for us to find time together, and even harder to coordinate our schedules with our friends!

We decided on appetizer dinner; does anyone besides me and my friends like to do this?  Basically, you combine a whole bunch of appetizer foods into a meal – who cares if they are the same style – they are all delicious!  We had proscuitto, olives, hummus, tapenade, naan bread, pita chips, blue corn tortilla chips, spring rolls, Pad Thai, grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, garlic marinated mushrooms, chevre, and brie.  It was all so good!

With so many different foods, we need a wine that pairs easily.  I chose a Kramer Vineyards Celebrate! Rosé of Pinot Noir, with a rosy pink color, and aromas of strawberries and rose hips. On the palate, it is super dry, with a crisp berry flavor.  I loved it!  Kramer is an Willamette Valley Oregon producer, known for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and several sparkling wines.  I first tried Kramer during the Bubbles Fest Oregon Sparkling Wine Festival last Valentine’s Day, and was hooked!  But I haven’t had a chance to get more!

Kramer Vineyards Celebrate! Rosé of Pinot Noir

As we filled up on appetizers and wine, we talked and laughed and debated.  There was a lot of laughter and catching up on life, and pets and travel.  It was fabulous; exactly what I needed.

Here’s to appetizer dinner, good wine, and great friends.

Chehalem 2013 Ridgecrest Grüner Veltliner

Ahhh…  the end of the work week, and I get my last summer schedule Friday off tomorrow.  Unfortunately, I’ll be spending this last Friday loading branches into a trailer to haul away.  The work will start early, and go until it is done!  The storm left a lot of busy work, but luckily Jon and I will have help from our Dads!

So tonight, I’m relaxing with a glass of Chehalem 2013 Ridgecrest Grüner Veltliner.  It is a nice summer white with balanced acidity, and flavors of lemongrass with a hint of light butter.  It finishes with more lemongrass and white pepper.  It is a very food friendly wine with medium body.  I enjoyed mine with a breakfast for dinner of eggs over easy and toast.  Which just goes to show that I’ll drink wine with anything!

Here’s to the long weekend!