Cellar report: 2002 Chateau de Chorey...aka "Real pinot noir"

Today's first economics lesson: Good Product + Good Price = Happy Customers

I'm thinking about this because last night I was swilling down this awesome 2002 Chateau de Chorey les Beaune. A French pinot noir, this is everything domestic pinots wish they could be at a lower price than way too many of them. The economics lesson comes to mind because I have a wine shop in the heart of Oregon wine country, where over-inflated pinot noir pricing is seemingly a rite of passage. Now there are some guys, actually a lot of producers, who seem to keep their egos in check and offer their customers good value for every dollar spent...Cameron, St. Innocent, Westrey, J. Christopher, Patricia Green and many others. Then there are those who seem to have insatiable egos that are only fed by emptying their victims...er, customers wallets as fast as they can with their one dimensional, over-ripe, over-oaked wines....Archery Summit, Beaux Freres, Domaine Serene, Bergstrom come to mind. There are a couple of Oregon wineries who actually charge $100+ a bottle for their wine. To which I can only reply "Are you fucking kidding me??!"

Today's second economics lesson: If you pay more than $50 a bottle for Oregon pinot noir you are a sucker. If you do it more than once you're an idiot.

I always think of this when I drink yet another satisfying bottle of French Burgundy like the Chateau de Chorey. Now this is a around a $38 retail bottle, not cheap, but it delivers more pleasure than ANY comparably priced domestic noir. 2002 was an underappreciated red burgundy vintage, and the wines are just now creeping out from under their youthful shells. This is a classic case in point. Still tight when the cork gets popped, as it opened up blueberries, spice, fresh flowers and that Burgundian earth came cascading out of the glass. On the palate the longer it sat open, the more "weight" it put on, filling out in the mouth with each passing minute. Beautifully rich, pure fruit. Smooth, elegant, perfect acid balance, with tons of complexity and years of life ahead of it. Plus it was so freakishly good with my grilled lamb chops. The other sad fact of American winemaking is that domestic grape juice will never have the exquisite food affinity the Euros seem to do as a matter of course. Don't think I don't like Oregon pinot. I do...a lot. I also don't expect Oregon pinot to be like Burgundy and get the differences, but when I have something like this I realize how good life can really be.............
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one year ago today @ E.D.T.: do you know what white people really like?

Roughing it!

There's nothing like a getaway to the great outdoors to instill that sense of awe at the wonders of nature. Even if that getaway includes sleeping in the comfort of my beloved '71 Silver Streak "Sabre" trailer at a crowded Detroit Lake State Park last Sat-Tues. We did have all the requisite elements in place: great hikes, campfires, water view, and of course loads of refreshing adult beverages and some killer camp grub.

Lakeside living in the Streak!










Our first dinner at DLSP was a much anticipated, perfectly red/pink piece of wild chinook salmon w bought and I was dying to cook over an open fire. Nothing better. Simply drizzled with olive oil, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, a side of salad and rice, washed down with a perfect bottle of 2002 Westrey Wine Co. "Willamette Valley" Pinot Noir. I did say roughing it, right?

Salmon-ey goodness, hot off the fire!











Day two brought on some outdoor activity involving a 3-mile hike up to Dome Rock for some awesome views of the surrounding central Cascades.

w soaking in the view at the top of Dome Rock while Chops rests for the trek back down.

That of course was a prelude to an oh-so-refreshing Negroni back at camp, which was itself a prelude to a fantastic dinner to follow. While we were prepping our palates with some cheese and a couple of glasses of Provençal rosé, I prepped a couple of grass finished New York strips we'd picked up from a vendor at our local farmer's market. w meanwhile got busy with what I thought was the highlight of our meal, and is my new camp fave food, a foil pack filled with chopped potatoes, garlic, carrots, a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme, a quick drizz of olive oil, s&p, thrown into the coals of the campfire to steam together for about 25 minutes. Wow! I know it's kind of standard camp fare that you cab adapt almost any root veggie to, but it was new to me and it's got me thinking of all kinds of possibilities for a simple steamed dinner or side. The steaks were perfect, and washed down with my new favorite wine in the world, a 2000 Mastroberardino "Radici-Taurasi", which is a 100% aglianico from Italy's Campania region. This is some seriously stunning juice. I would love to throw this bad boy into a tasting of top flight Bordeaux and watch people be amazed.

Dinner is served!















I've heard that great effort gives great reward. Well, you can bet after day three's 11-fucking-mile hike, I was ready to be rewarded back at camp. Although I have to say that at the top of this in-and-out hike was the almost out-of-this-world scenic beauty that is Jefferson Park. The hike starts at about 4000' feet and climbs to almost 6000' elevation in about 5.2 miles. Not a difficult hike, but long and dusty. Once at the top though, with 10,500 foot Mount Jefferson looming right above you, beautiful flower filled meadows stretching for acres all around, and hidden lakes peeking though the trees, it is absolutely breathtaking.










Meadows and lakes at Jefferson Park....crazy beautiful!

Of course, then there's the walk back down, which we were so done with after about two miles. Unfortunately, we still had three more to go. We kept the complaining to a minimum...sort of...and I kept the motivating vision of ice cold beers back at the trailer foremost in my head. Plus, I had Marcella's perfect spaghetti alla carbonara all prepped and ready for cooking. After getting my equilibrium back with a couple of coldies, we wolfed down some quick, grilled roasted peppers, devoured the carbonara, and absolutely tumbled into bed.












Peppers coming out and carbonara coming up!

A great trip was had by all, Chopper admirably, if futilely, let the squirrels in camp know he was on patrol, and the trailer was, as always, the perfect cozy cabin!

"You call this work?"...pt.1

Occasionally in the wine biz, a person gets invited to what they call trade tastings, where a wholesaler will lay out a bunch of their wines for retail and restaurant people to sample. This one took place at Nostrana, and was put on by the PDX distributor Casa Bruno. I know, I know. I can hear you already...."THAT is what you do for work? Gee, tasting about a hundred wines in an afternoon while snacking on some great chow sounds SOOO tough!" Well, just let me say that when you go to one of these trade tastings, not all of the wines are that good. Okay, at this tasting, most of the wines were pretty spot on. But don't forget about the hardships: palate fatigue, having to spit into a little bucket without splashing on yourself or others, deciding if the 2000 or 2001 Brunello di Montalcino is the better wine, not to mention how to juggle a plate of apps, a tasting sheet and pen, and a glass of wine. The things I do for my craft........
An unending row of grapey goodness!










David Autrey of Westrey Wine Company (on the right, standing next to Doug Tunnell of Brick House
Vineyard) trying to feign interest in yet another inane question.