One of the best descriptions of a well-made wine is when it is said to be in balance. At Youngberg Hill in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, this description holds true not only for the finished product, but also in their approach to the entire farming and winemaking process. Fully organic and biodynamic, they are solely focused on finding harmony with Mother Nature and the results definitely speak for themselves.
Our latest Video AdVINEture features a sneak peek of our recent trip to Oregon! After a night in Portland we headed to the Willamette Valley to interview Doug Tunnel of Brick House Vineyards and Wayne Bailey of Youngberg Hill Vineyards & Inn. We also experienced the provisions tasting at Soter Wines and stopped into Sokol Blosser for a tasting. Fall is our favourite time to visit any wine region and with harvest just completed, there was lots of activity and lots of optimism about the 2018 vintage. We are big fans of the wine coming out of Oregon and this latest trip solidified that the Willamette Valley truly deserved to be named Wine Region of the Year (Wine Enthusiast 2016)!
Champagne is the ultimate celebratory drink, the drink of toasts, of special occasions and in our book, one of the finest wines around. But ask most people how those bubbles got in their glass or what their favourite region of Champagne is and you are likely to see blank faces staring back at you. Learning the fundamentals of Champagne is not as daunting as you might think. We have broken this wine down into 5 basics that are easy enough to remember and give you a good overview of the wine.
There really is a first for everything. We recently visited South Africa for the very first time and we are the first to admit that our experience with wines from the region was limited at best. Relatively speaking, few South African wines make it to Canada so our experience has been inconsistent in terms of quality. Our first visit to the region of Franschoek began with a stop at storied family winery Haute Cabrière. We were drawn to this particular winery because of its history and the fact that they are reputed to make top quality Pinot Noir and Sparkling Wine. We discovered not only does this winery’s reputation precede it, it’s a reputation that is well deserved.
From respected winemaker Merry Edwards, this Russian River Valley offering is a perfect example of why this region in Sonoma has a world-class reputation for Pinot Noir. A very expressive wine with dark cherry and plum backed with secondary notes spice and earth. We had to double check the label that this was actually 11 years old! Still lots of structure and very fresh, making us think it still has a few years ahead of it. Great mouth feel and quite a long finish for a Pinot Noir.
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