Cellar report: 2002 Thomas Pinot Noir "Willamette Valley"

One of the best things about combining a healthy food obsession with a well chosen career in the wine business is that there are no shortage of interesting drinking options when it comes to doing the food and wine pairing thing. Especially with a well-stocked basement of delicious bottles waiting for the corkscrew. On the night I made the fabulous mushroom pasta, I wasn't sure what to pull out of the archives. I was thinking either an Oregon pinot noir or a barbera from Italy's Piedmont would be perfect. Then I got a call from w, bemoaning the fact that she was still at work, she was tired, some projects weren't going very smoothly. All in all kind a shitty day.

That's all I had to hear. Knowing her love of good pinot, I went right to the top of heap and grabbed one of my precious bottles of Thomas Pinot Noir, in this case the amazing 2002. A quick word about this: It is one of the two or three best pinot noirs made in America. Period! Winemaker John Thomas farms a tiny, meticulously maintained and organically farmed four acre vineyard south of Portland. His hallmark is perfectly ripe fruit, very low yields, very little new oak, and a fucking incredible talent for putting out perhaps the most Burgundian pinot in America. He only makes about 400 cases a year of this elixir, and demand always exceeds supply. Luckily I've known John since his first vintage, so I always manage to get my greedy mitts on a few bottles here at the wine shack.

This 2002, from a fabulous vintage for Oregon noir, was stunning. I decanted it, and we were able to taste it over about two hours time. The development was phenomenal. At first it gave off this faint strawberry and earth aroma. Then as it opened up, it just got better...and better...and better. Head spinning stuff was coming out of the glass....cherries, smoke, intense earthiness, strawberries. Then suddenly plums, a hint of mint, a whiff of white pepper. It just kept coming and coming. As with a lot of still young wines the last drink was the best....which is a cruel irony. This freakishly good juice could easily take another 5-8 years of aging. Needless to say with the mushroom pasta it was nails! Oh, and I think the mushroom pasta/Thomas pinot combo made my wife happy too, after her hard day, so that was the best part of all!

Wild Mushroom Pasta: lusciously local!

Maybe this whole locavore thing isn't such a bad idea. You know, the thought that you should get most of your food from within a certain small radius around your immediate community. I came to this conclusion as I was sitting at the wine shack at the end of the day fucking around on the computer, or as I like to call it, doing some important "internet research". Walking through the door is my friend Kate bearing bags of just gathered mushroomey goodness. AND she's in a sharing mood! It seems she and her friend Andrea were up in the woods about 40 minutes out of town gathering early season chanterelles. By the way, I can't even tell you how cool it is to live in a place where just outside of town you can gather incredible wild mushrooms! Anyway, when they got to her secret gathering spot (and if you didn't know, mushroomers are notoriously secretive types about their favored hunting grounds. Ask them and you get the "I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you" look) and as she was opening her car door, she literally looked down and saw this GIANT cauliflower mushroom right next to the car. That's just a small piece of it she gave me in the top pic.

Now earlier in the day when I was thinking about dinner I had halibut with remoulade in mind. But when someone throws this kind of bounty down in front of you, you bet your ass mushrooms were suddenly going to appear on tonight's menu! I mean, what sounded better last night: watching Barack and John arguing like schoolgirls while they try to impress someone named Joe the Plumber or playing with my new mushrooms? Yeah, that's what I thought, too! With something this fresh...I mean it had literally been in the woods about 60 minutes earlier...you don't fuck around with it. Simple is definitely better. My first thought was risotto, then the siren song of pasta started to sound even better. Something where you could fill up your senses with the full, glorious, unadulterated aromas and flavors. I had made this pasta a couple of years ago, and had wanted to remake it with a couple of tweaks...which means I really could have done better. This was the perfect opportunity. And so it was, and this dish absolutely nailed it. Sautéed in a little butter and olive oil, with onion, a little thyme and parsley, a splash of cream, it was absolutely stellar. One of those things with each bite you are swooning, like tasting nature. Really crazy stuff!

These mushrooms were so fresh they released a lot of liquid, but rather than boiling it off as some recipes call for, I let it be part of the sauce. I mean it was like built in mushroom stock (pic at left), especially infused with the butter, olive oil, and onion flavors. Incredible!

Thanks for sharing Kate...your generosity was much appreciated at our dinner table!

To drink with it I opened a bottle of what in my semi-informed opinion is one of the two best American pinot noirs made, a 2002 Thomas "Dundee Hills" Pinot Noir. More on that tomorrow, I promise! Any good, earthy red would work. A Barbera from Italy's Piedmont would also have been a nice choice. Just nothing too heavy, like a big cabernet or syrah, which would have overwhelmed the rich yet delicate flavors of the mushrooms.
*** *** *** *** ***
Wild Mushroom Pasta
an eat.drink.think. original
serves 4

ingredients:
3/4 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 to 1 pound mixed wild mushrooms sliced and chopped into not too small pieces
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 pound dry pasta
salt and freshly ground black pepper

parmagiano-reggiano for sprinkling

method:
heat 1 tablespoons oil and 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat in large sauté pan. When hot, add onions, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and sauté until soft, about 6-8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minutes more. Add mushrooms and sauté until softened, about 8 minutes. While mushrooms are sautéing start pasta water. Turn heat under mushrooms down to low and add heavy cream. Grind in a bit of fresh pepper, stir, and bring to a boil. Gently stir for one minute, then turn heat to lowest setting. I think letting this sit in the pan at low heat while the pasta cooks helps the flavors of the onions, mushrooms, thyme and cream come together. When pasta is done, drain, add to mushroom mix. Add parsley, saving some for garnish. Adjust salt and pepper, plate, sprinkle a small amount of parsley on top, and serve immediately. Pass grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and enjoy!

A big bottle birthday: 1999 Thomas Pinot Noir!

To carry on the last thought from yesterday's post about the glory that was the Pernil, I might have mentioned something about some wine that was worth sharing with you all. Before I get to that, I have to ask the question: What is better than throwing a birthday dinner, and having the guest of honor bringing a kickass cult bottle of Oregon pinot noir for everyone to enjoy. And not just a bottle of this impossible to find noir-ish delight, but a magnum of said grape-based beverage. I can hear you now, "Oregon pinot...big deal". Well, when the bottle in question is a magnum of 1999 Thomas Pinot Noir then it is a huge fucking deal.

A little background....I've been selling John Thomas' legendary pinots for over ten years. This cat makes pinots that have all the other winemakers in Oregon shaking their heads in awe. He has a tiny four acre vineyard that he tends himself. He makes a measly 350-400 cases of the most Burgundian-styled American pinot noir you can find. John himself is one of the nicest, most self-effacing people you could ever hope to meet. And oh yeah, mags are pretty much impossible to find. I always hook my sis and I up with a big bottle or two, just for the feelings of security and goodwill the engender, and that is why we were able to share this staggeringly great pinot noir at dinner. Six people plus one magnum is my kind of equation. This '99 Thomas was phenomenal. It kept changing again and again the longer it was open. Easily among the best Oregon pinots I've ever had, it took on about six different personalities throughout the meal. The kind of earthy complexity you virtually never see in American wine of any kind. Really incredible, and if any of you find yourselves fortunate to ever share some Thomas Pinot, you'll know what I'm saying. Thanks for the sharing moment KAB....Happy birthday to us, I guess!!