The third Thursday in November is a big day in the Beaujolais region south of the Burgundy in France. On this day there is a mad dash for the first, freshest bottles of the new vintage of Beaujolais that has been sent into the markets to arrive on…
Happy Beaujolais Nouveau Day!
Decoded: Blends
Let’s talk blends, and what the language your local wine shop representative uses actually means. At the top of the blending language list we have Champagne and Bordeaux. The word Champagne is synonymous with being expensive, of quality, for celebrations, and from Champagne, France. Champagne is generally made…
What Is Rosé?
It’s synonymous with summer. It’s fashionable. It’s crisp. It’s light. It’s not just your grandmother’s White Zinfandel anymore. But what, exactly is Rosé? Speaking in broad general stokes, Rosé is not red wine mixed with white wine – The majority of France actually makes it illegal to do…
Decoded: Blending
Blending is essential for all wines. It can be argued that if it were not for blending by way of cross pollination or grafting of rootstocks most varieties of grapes that wines were originally made from would have gone extinct at this point in time, replaced by a…
Decoded: Oregon Chardonnay
While Chardonnay takes a distant third place in plantings in Oregon (behind Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris), more interest, investment and development has continued to be behind growth and plantings of the grape to develop its market presence and the potential diversity of its stylings. Oregon Chardonnay runs…
Decoded: Eola-Amity Hills
While we’ve dedicated most of the month to decorating the Pinots from Oregon, Chardonnay is the third most grown grape in the Willamette Valley, and routinely compared to the Chardonnays of Burgundy – which can be credited to Robert Drouhin who “discovered” the potential of Oregon soil in…
Decoded: Chehalem Mountains
Last month saw the release of our Lot 627 Chehalem Mountains Pinot Noir, a sub appellation of the Willamette Valley in the northwestern reaches of the region. As always, Cam’s notes will speak well towards the wine, but let’s look deeper into the region itself. While Papa Pinot…
