March 19, 2014: Foris Pinot Blanc 2009

     Tonight I served a really light and delicious pasta with baby peas, asparagus, and a very faint cream sauce. Delish! And this wine was the perfect pairing for such delicate flavors.

      This wine comes out of the Rogue Valley in Oregon. I am sure the Willamette Valley gets more press, but these guys deserve their due. Foris estates have been producing wine since 1974 and the grapes are sourced from the Siskiyou Mountain terrace in the cool, western climate. The winery lies only about 7 miles into the state of Oregon. The vineyards are close to the Pacific Ocean and have cool nights leading to long "hang time." The estate is owned by the Gerber family and the winemaker has been nurturing the product for about 35 years! Their pinot blanc grapes come from their Cedar Ranch vineyard-- an acquisition from a US Marshal drug property seizure and the Three Creeks Vineyard, an area of low vigor soils composed of clay loam and pebbles. This Pinot Blanc is fermented in stainless steel with a variety of aromatic yeasts with the goal of showcasing the unique attributes of the grape.

      Overall, we found this to be a pleasant white with a style somewhere between the crispness of Chardonnay and the fruitiness of Pinot Gris. And very food friendly! This would go very well as a pairing with nearly any chicken, fish or vegetarian meal. Or just on the back porch in spring.

JUST THE FACTS

It pours a light yellow color

On the nose, we got apples, honeysuckle and a chalk/clay aroma.

In the glass, the taste of apples predominated to us and the finish was clean and mildly lingering.

This wine is meant to be drunk young, but a five years didn't seem to hurt it.

The ratings on this wine are usually around 88 with mild variation.

Price: $11 to 18. I bought it for $12 dollars at Mac's Liquors in Atlanta. Most of the sellers for this bottle are on the west coast.

“Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.” 
― Louis Pasteur

  (Hey, who am I to argue with the father of pasteurization."

March 17, 2014: Acustic Cellar Montsant White Wine 2010

            For St. Patrick's Day, I made a Guinness Beef Stew. I wouldn't think to serve a white wine with that meal, but that did not deter my husband. He chose the Acustic Cellar Blanc 2010. And it went pretty well with all the veggies and the background of Guiness and tomatoes.

          This is a modestly priced Spanish white blend of Garnacha 60%<, Macabeu 25%, Pink Garnacha 10% and Pansal 5% grown in the Catalonia region.  These are not grapes we encounter on a daily basis in Knoxville. The vineyards for this winery are about 45-60 years old.

          I really love the vineyards' tasting notes on this wine, because they contain such improper English, but still transmit their passion for wine making:

"Our philosophy to create this wine, claim and look for the roots and the value of traditional viticulture, by processing without makeup or current technologies such as other wines.
Fine wines, elegant personal and express the characteristics of our vineyards sages quite naturally."

          Really, it's hard to add to that! This wine is 30% blended from oak barrels.

JUST THE FACTS

This wine pours a very clear and straw yellow.

On the nose, we detected citrus especially orange and a hint of honey. The winery also mentions wild flower .

On the palate, there is again the citrus and honey components as well as a faint hint of butter and just a tad of oak. Other tasting notes have mentioned peach as well. 

We found the finish to be short and not overly complex.

Cellaring will likely not add anything to the taste on this product, but we are drinking it at four years old and didn't get exactly the profile that is typical to the internet drinker a couple of years back.

Ratings are pretty consisently between 88-91. I'd give it a solid 90. (So did Robert Parker!)

We purchased this for $19 at Asheville Wine Market,  but I do see it listed at various  locations for $2-3 less. The closest seller I see on wine locator is The Wine Merchant in Cincinnati.




WINE QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“We all need something to help us unwind at the end of the day. You might have a glass of wine, or a joint, or a big delicious blob of heroin to silence your silly brainbox of its witterings but there has to be some form of punctuation, or life just seems utterly relentless.” 
― Russell Brand, My Booky Wook

(I think Paul and I will just stick to the wine!)