For a long time, I didn’t quite get Champagne.
A glass of Taittinger.
I certainly understood its place in the wine world: the long history, the meticulous production, the reverence. But every time I found myself at a party where a bottle was opened, I couldn’t understand why people were willing to shell out several hundred dollars for something that never quite lived up to the fuss. The bubbles were fine, the wine was pleasant, but it rarely left a mark.
What I didn’t realize then was that what I’d been drinking often wasn’t Champagne at all. More often than not, it was sparkling wine passed off in the same broad category—a prosecco here, a cava there—festive, fizzy, and fun, but not the same thing. I knew enough about wine to know Champagne had pedigree, but not enough to know I hadn’t really met the real deal yet.
That changed one day on the California coast.
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Rodeo Hills Estate Vineyard.
In Oregon’s Dundee Hills, Jared Etzel has found a way to translate memory, place, and restraint into wine. His 7-acre estate may be modest in scale, but it carries a sense of calm conviction and is the product of a winemaker who values observation over intervention.
Etzel’s surname is a familiar one in Oregon wine. His father, Michael Etzel, co-founded Beaux Frères, a name that helped define modern American Pinot Noir. But Rodeo Hills isn’t a continuation of that legacy, it’s a reflection of Jared’s own curiosity and discipline. “My dad’s work taught me to respect the vineyard before the winery,” he says. “That’s where everything starts.”
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There are wine tastings you attend, and then there are those rare moments when wine becomes a portal.
A most memorable tasting.
Our recent encounter with the Piper-Heidsieck Diptyque 1982 belonged firmly to the latter. Even now, several days later, we’re still replaying the sensations, along with the quiet awe of realizing we were experiencing something that may never be repeated.
We’ve been fortunate to be invited to many extraordinary tastings over the years. Chalk it up to the life we’ve built orbiting vineyards and cellars, or to generous friends who know how deeply we love this world. But this one, the Piper-Heidsieck blind side-by-side tasting of the 1982 Brut Sauvage and the 1982 Hors-Série, was different. It felt almost ceremonial. A once-in-a-lifetime privilege wrapped inside a milestone birthday celebration for a dear friend we adore and admire. A friend more than deserving of such grandeur.
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Recent Quail’s Gate releases.
Quails’ Gate Estate Winery represents one of the Okanagan Valley’s most influential agricultural success stories; one that began long before the region was known for wine. The Stewart family has farmed its stretch of West Kelowna for more than a century, beginning in 1908 when Irish horticulturist Richard Stewart Sr. established one of the valley’s leading nurseries.
His son Dick planted the first grapevines in 1961, setting the stage for the family’s transition from horticulture to viticulture. In 1989, Dick’s son Ben and his wife Ruth formally founded Quails’ Gate Winery, laying the foundation for what would become an enduring BC estate.
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Chef Lauren Jackson [source: Jackson House]
Woodinville has no shortage of tasting rooms or polished spaces for sipping Syrah, but true restaurants—those that blend a sense of place with a sense of occasion—remain surprisingly rare. Enter Jackson House, the latest creation from Chef Lauren Jackson, whose name will be familiar to anyone who dined at Valdemar Estate’s former restaurant, where she earned a loyal following for her deft, globally inspired dishes.
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The stunning view from the winery patio.
When most wine lovers think of BC, their minds drift to the Okanagan with its shimmering lake framed by golden hills, sprawling vineyards, and a well-worn wine tourism circuit. But tucked away in the Fraser Canyon under the gaze of the towering Coast Mountains, lies Fort Berens Estate Winery, a Lillooet gem that continues to surprise and delight.
We’ve written about Fort Berens before (see our earlier pieces here and here), so rather than rehash their back story, it’s worth re-visiting them with their recent release of 3 Lillooet VQA wines that feel perfectly suited to the cozy, celebratory spirit of the holidays.
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L to R: Guillaume Large, Ryan Clark, Thibault Gagey.
The invitation promised more than a dinner. It offered a passage across time and place. On one side of the Atlantic, Burgundy, where centuries of patient stewardship have made Pinot Noir a language all its own. On the other, Oregon’s Willamette Valley, younger but no less compelling, carving out its own expression of the same grape.
At the heart of it all were two guides: Guillaume Large, winemaker at Résonance, and Thibault Gagey, third-generation steward of Maison Louis Jadot. Their presence was felt from the moment they entered the room: Guillaume with a warmth shaped in the vineyard, Thibault carrying the weight of legacy.
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Michael Etzel.
By any measure, Michael Etzel’s impact on Oregon wine is indelible. The founding force behind Beaux Frères, one of the most respected Pinot Noir producers in the Willamette Valley and a winery that helped put Oregon on the global fine wine map, Etzel is the sort of restless visionary who can’t quite sit still, even in “retirement.”
Now, with his son Mikey at the helm of Beaux Frères and another son, Jared, forging his own impressive path with Rodeo Hill and other projects, Michael and his wife Carey have turned their energy toward a deeply personal endeavor: Sequitur Wines, a 12-acre biodynamically farmed vineyard and boutique winery on their serene Chehalem Valley property known as Etzel Farm.
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