Aaron Kendall.
Beaux Frères is one of those hidden gems in the wine world. You may have seen it in a bottle shop or on a restaurant wine list and then quickly moved along to something more affordable. Beaux Frères wines are very expensive, among the most expensive Pinot Noir and Chardonnays made not just in Oregon, but throughout the United States. As we recently confirmed while tasting through the line up with assistant winemaker Aaron Kendall, they are very much worth it.
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The wine lineup at Nicolas-Jay..
Just a decade after their very first vintage and two years since producing the first full vintage in their own facility, Nicolas-Jay has very quickly built a reputation that is world class. Some would say this isn’t too surprising given that the “Nicolas” in Nicolas-Jay is none other than Jean-Nicolas Méo, winemaker and owner of Méo Camuzet, one of the very best wineries in Burgundy.
However, exceeding lofty expectations in a highly competitive and increasingly finicky wine industry is a significant achievement, regardless of wine pedigree.
Read MoreLast year we had the pleasure of sitting down with Moe Momtazi, founder of the highly respected Momtazi Vineyards and critically acclaimed Maysara Winery in Oregon’s northern Willamette Valley.
Tahmiene Momtazi.
We learned the story of the their humble beginnings and how Moe and his wife Flora’s journey truly defied the odds beyond any winery story we’ve heard to date.
They fled their native Iran on motorcycles during the revolutionary period of the early 1980s seeking political asylum in the United States. As they outran Iranian authorities they initially reached Madrid, Spain; Flora 8 months pregnant with their eldest daughter Tahmiene. That daughter is now the winemaker at Maysara since 2007. A mother herself to two young children, Tahmiene Momtazi’s journey in both wine and parenthood has now come full circle.
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Iris Vineyards.
Our recent visit to Iris Vineyards, just outside of Eugene, OR, was quite a revelation. Iris claims as its foundation the ancient Grecian concept of “areté”. Don’t feel sheepish if you don’t know the meaning of the term; it is hardly used in modern English. The ancient Greeks used the term to mean excellence or virtue in your purpose. I was surprised when I heard the people at Iris use the term since I had not heard it used since taking a course on Aristotle when I was at university.
Areté to Aristotle, we were taught, was not a theoretical concept, but a practical implementation of maximum effectiveness at a chosen goal. Areté in winemaking, to use a concrete example, is different than areté in cooking. Both have a similar philosophical underpinning, but each is a distinct form of areté. The concept of areté is abundantly present in all of the endeavours at Iris that we encountered: from how they grow the grapes to how they vinify the wine to how they offer it to their customers.
Read MoreIf you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be on an AdVINEture, click on the link below for a taste. We are unabashed fans of wine from Oregon’s Willamette Valley and our most recent trip featured visits to some old favourites along with new discoveries: Résonance Wines, Nicolas-Jay, Maysara Winery, Abbot Claim, Atticus Wine, Potter’s Vineyard, & Bells Up Winery (click on each for the full write up).
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