A wine-themed soiree in Arizona…love these decanters with chalkboard signs!

A darling history and pictures scanning the history of champagne on the ever-dependable Design*Sponge.

And so many wine-inspired gifts at SFMOMA in association with what I can only imagine is a pretty amazing exhibit on the history of vino.

The owners and staff at Winderlea are genuinely kind and are more than happy to share information about the winemaking process, the vineyards, and their tasting room, which is a glass and steel construction with floor to ceiling windows that take in the panoramic view of the wine country. I wish I could live there.

After leaving Winderlea, we decided to venture to a winery just down the road–or so we thought. Lack of signage and perfects our imperfect map reading, led us to abandon our original plan and choose another tasting room on a whim. Down a long, winding road, we spotted a sign for Trisaetum, agreed that it sounded intriguing, and steered our car toward the Trisaetum tasting room. The first thing you notice about the interior of the tasting room is that it closely resembles the clean lines and uncluttered space of an art gallery. This was the first sign that I knew I would love this place. I have a degree in arts management, minored in art history in undergrad, and love visiting museums. In this one place, my love of art and love of wine collided and created the perfect zen atmosphere for tasting Trisaetum’s Pinot Noirs and Rieslings.

The tasting is divided into three parts: first, you enjoy the two Rieslings and then descend into the barrel cave to enjoy two Pinot Noirs with James Frey, the owner, winemaker, and artist. The barrel cave is a long, compact corridor lined on both sides with stacked barrels. Candled dimly lit the cave. James was standing behind a small table with his bottles of Pinot Noir waiting for us to sample. The first Pinot was so full bodied that I thought I was actually drinking a Cabernet. When I expressed this to James, he told me that one of the best things about Pinot Noir is that it can take on characteristics so very unlike the Oregon Pinot Noirs that I am used to tasting. The second Pinot was much more in the traditional style–light, juicy, smooth. Returning to the tasting room upstairs, I tasted a Pinot that resembled a blending of the two in the cave, and had the fortune to meet fellow wine blogger Ryan Reichert of oe•no•phile blog, who also happens to be the tasting room associate manager at Trisaetum. It is my first in-person meeting of a fellow wine blogger and it was quite exciting! Ryan has graciously agreed to be interviewed for Vininsane in the near future and I am hoping to contribute to Palate Press soon as well where Ryan is the managing editor.

It was certainly a serendipitous day in wine country and I look forward to cultivating my relationships with Portland-area wine lovers and bloggers as well as the peers I know via their blogs and Twitters. I highly recommend the Estate Riesling at Trisaetum, the Rosé at Winderlea, the Pinot Blanc at The Four Graces, and the Syrah at Duck Pond.

I must jet but more on the Ribbon Ridge AVA in a later post!

I could not have asked for a better trip to Oregon wine country than what I experienced this past Sunday. I ventured into the Willamette Valley as I have done so many times before with experience guiding my expectations. However, my past did not dictate this adventure. Not only was I fortunate enough to taste at three wineries I have never visited before but I spent a fair amount of time at one of my favorite spots in wine country, Winderlea. Quite surprisingly, I was also fortunate enough to meet a fellow wine blogger at a gallery/barrel cave/tasting room in the heart of the Ribbon Ridge AVA. Serendipitous indeed.

Our first stop was at a well known winery called Duck Pond. Duck Pond’s wines are common players on grocery store shelves in Oregon (perhaps other places as well?) and tend to be your garden variety red and white table wines. While hardly complex, these wines are nevertheless consistently satisfying in price. The basic tasting was complimentary and the so-called premium wines were $2 a taste. The gift shop was one of the most well stocked I have seen in a tasting room. Honestly, this is something I usually do not appreciate, finding that the array of overpriced cheese platters and wine charms are unneceesary, but I sure warmed to the idea when I spotted a stand of $2 baguettes. While the Pinot Gris and Chardonnay lacked discernible characteristics (plain looking secretaries sporting boring attire and loafers) and the Pinot Noir failed to impress, the Syrah was a decent find with great tannins and not overly heavy-handed on the alcohol.

Our next three stops were, hands down, amazing wine tasting experiences. Walking into The Four Graces tasting room feels like you’re visiting your favorite aunt who also happens to drink killer wine and could be an interior designer on HGTV. For $10, I tasted a Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and two Pinot Noirs. Of the two whites, I favored the Pinot Blanc, relishing its vanilla and tropical fruit characteristics. It was showing signs of being almost chardonnay-esque with hints of vanilla and some of that buttery flavor. It was not overwhelming, though, and the wine was refreshing. It would make the perfect compliment to a pork chop dinner or pesto salmon dish. This wine delivered the simple pleasure of tasting a white that was both satisfying, all around delicious and full of flavor. For a mere $18, you need to add this Oregon pinot blanc to your “Must Buy” wine list. Visit the website for the winery’s notes about this wine as well as what appears to be two delicious recipes.

Both The Four Graces and Winderlea are located in the Dundee Hills AVA. Thanks to the handy Guide to Willamette Valley Wineries brochure, one of the finest specimens of collateral I’ve ever seen (perhaps not design wise but it offers so much wonderful information!), I learned that the first grapes in the Willamette Valley were planted in this AVA. Trisaetum, the last winery we visited, is situated in the smaller AVA of Ribbon Ridge. I’ll touch upon this in my next post as well as detail my incredible culinary and wine tasting experience at Winderlea, and my meeting with fellow wine blogger, Ryan Reichert, of oe•no•phile.

Array of wine storage solutions on Apartment Therapy. You can follow AT here: @AptTherapy

2) Meg Houston Maker Words of the Day on Twitter

From buckshee to absquatulate, these word of the day tweets bring out the philologist in me. She blogs about wine in simple, passionate prose at www.makerstable.com.

3. A Rosé Roundup on 1Wine Dude

Give me a glass of rosé and I’m a happy gal. Find 1WineDude’s post about his top rosé picks on his blog.

4. My return to twitter.

Keep up on all the action @marketingmegan1

5. When Art and Wine IntersectThis wine lover’s art print from Etsy seller ishootnouns is darling and needs to be in my house.

6. FOOTBALL

The return of one of the greatest sports in the world (next to futball!): American football!! Is anyone else as excited as me to watch the rematch between the Saints and Vikings? Plus, my dear Cardinals finally let go of Matt Leinart. It feels like my birthday.

2007 Silvan Ridge Oregon Pinot Gris – $14

2008 Methven Vineyards Willamette Valley Pinot Gris – $18

2009 Anne Amie Willamette Valley Pinot Gris – $19

2008 Hawks View VIneyard Chehalem Mountains Pinot Gris – $24

2008 King Estate Domaine Oregon Pinot Gris – $25

More at oregonwinepress.com!

Gemelli With Cheese, Garlic, and Black Pepper
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

• 2/3 cup gemelli pasta – Boil, cook, and drain, but reserve 1/3 cup of the water.
• Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan on high heat until it is steaming hot.  Add 1/4 cup finely-chopped onion, a couple cloves of minced garlic, the cooked pasta, the reserved water and 1/4 cup white wine; turn heat to medium-high and allow liquid to evaporate.
• Toss in 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup finely-shredded low-skim mozzarella cheese and remove from the heat. Finish it off with a generous sprinkling of fresh cracked pepper and sea salt. I added a cup of steamed broccoli on the side. This dish looks like it came out of a magazine and is so satisfying!

A bottle of San Greal 2007 set me back seven or eight dollars at Trader Joe’s, and the wine guy compared it to cult-cheap-wine-favorite, Gypsy Chariot, a wine I have tried and failed to find in any of the TJ’s in Eugene or Portland. San Greal is a play of words from the French phrase for royal blood: sang real. The wine is produced in Mendocino County in California, has 13.8% alcohol content, and is a 25-25-50 blend of Merlot, Sangiovese, and Syrah. The San Greal Winery uses grapes from 100% organic or biodynamic vineyards.

The label terms it a “Red Supper Wine,” and this table red is nothing to shun. The color is beautiful and rich, the taste is tannic and full of overripe berries. Its inherent boldness is not expertly paired with my more delicate pasta dish, but would be a welcome companion to a bowl of homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

Lo Tengo Malbec 2008 beckoned to me from the shelf in my local grocery store, a great little place called Capella Market that sometimes features ridiculously good wines at ridiculously good prices. This Malbec hails from Argentina, is produced by Bodega Norton, hand-harvested, with 13.5% alcohol. Well-known wine critics dubbed this a great value and if you go by the point system, is easily mid-80 point wine. Basically, it’s drinkable and sports characteristic Malbec features. More alcohol on the nose than I like to sniff and somewhat tart on the mid-palette. I get cherries and raisins from this, but the wine is not as well-balanced as I hoped. For less than $10 it’s a steal, sure, but it needs food to cut down on its lingering sourness. Hey, at least the holographic wine label is pretty!