[Cornell Wine] Cornell Wine This Week

[Michael Beard]

CORNELL WINE COMPANY
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February 08 – Wines for Your Valentine
February 15 – Pinot Noir
February 22 – Toscana
February 29 – Cabernet Sauvignon
March 07 – Spain
March 14 – Zinfandel
March 21 - Greece

THIS WEEK
FRIDAY, February 1st
4:30 - 7:00pm

OREGON NEW/ORPHAN VARIETALS

CHEESE PLATE
We will offer a selection of northwest artisinal cheeses:
Juniper Grove Farmer’s Cheese         Goat’s Milk                   
Oregon
The “entry level” goat cheese from one of Oregon’s best.
Beecher’s Flagship                       	Cow’s Milk            	      
Seattle, Washington
This Pike’s Market cheese maker started business in 2003 and has  
already become a legend.  Aged for one year, this cheese is a  
complex, robust, nutty cheese.
Juniper Grove Tumalo Tomme         Goat’s Milk                  Oregon
A more expensive cheese from this Oregon cheese maker.
CHEESE PLATE $5.00

With this tasting we offer wines from varietals relatively new to  
Oregon, and ones that have been ignored – i.e. what we call “orphans”.

1. We start with RIESLING that has to be the ultimate orphan  
varietal.  Once the most planted grape in Oregon, recently it has  
been ignored.  However, JAY SOMERS, the wine maker at J. CHRISTOPHER,  
is one of the best RIESLING MASTERS in the USA.  He works with the  
MOSEL’s great DR. LOOSEN, and is obviously a pupil “pupil”.  Under  
his own label he produces a wine the equivalent to a German Kabinett,  
but in 2006 he made a fantastic dry riesling for the HOLLORAN label,  
from CHEHALEM MOUNTAIN VINEYARD fruit.  This is what Matt Kramer  
wrote in The Sunday Oregonian: “Somers has a deft touch with the  
riesling grape.  In this just-released 2006 bottling from Chehalem  
Mountain Vineyard, the result is a dry riesling of uncommon delicacy  
and pure (sic).  Classic riesling notes of apricot, minerals and  
green apples are buoyed by what can only be described as a come- 
hither acidity that refreshes your palate and makes you want another  
sip” - $20.00

2. GAMAY NOIR has been around for some time, but has been below most  
people’s “radar screens”.  A few producers, such as BRICKHOUSE, make  
serious, and expensive, GAMAY NOIR, and Myron at AMITY has always  
made a more BEAUJOLAIS-style GAMAY.  When I tasted LA BÊTE’s 2006  
GAMAY NOIR I found a wine in the middle – it has the joy of  
Beaujolais with the nice structure and balance of many BEAUJOLAIS  
CRUs - $14.50

3. CANA’S FEAST  (aka CUNEO CELLARS) has being playing with  
SANGIOVESE for a few years – they bottle some wines by the varietal  
name, and some under the BRICCO RED WINE label.  The 2005 under this  
label is 95% SANGIOVESE and 5% BARBERA, so could legally be called  
SANGIOVESE.  This is a medium-weight wine showing the potential of  
SANGIOVESE in the northwest - $16.50  (We still have a few bottles of  
the 2004 BRICCO RED which was a more full-bodied wine including  
CABERNET SAUVIGNON and CABERNET FRANC)

4. What “new varietal” tasting could not include TEMPRANILLO?  At a  
recent trade tasting I tasted TEMPRANILLO from seven different  
producers.  For my palate, the people producing this grape the  
longest, ABACELA, is still producing the best wines from this grape.   
ABACELA TEMPRANILLO UMPQUA CUVÉE never really made it for me until  
the 2005 vintage, as in earlier vintages I much preferred the higher- 
priced estate bottling.  In the 2005 vintage the CUVÉE is a blend of  
fruit from their estate and the McCORQUODALE VINEYARD, and is  
wonderful TEMPRANILLO at modest cost - $20.00

TRY THESE FOUR WINES FOR $10.00

For this week’s PREMIUM POUR we stay with ABACELA:

At the above-mentioned trade tasting there was no contest as to the  
best TEMPRANILLO, it was the ABACELA 2005 ESTATE.  This is a slightly  
richer, but much more complex, version of the UMPQUA CUVÉE, and I  
hope you agree.  I consider this wine to be similar to the  
TEMPRANILLO wines coming out of SPAIN’S RIBERA del DUERO, rather than  
RIOJA  - $33.00

TRY THIS WINE FOR $4.00/Taste or $7.00/4 ounces

NB: All prices are subject to change without notice.  The above  
information is based on verbal information from distributors, and  
actual wine prices will depend on the price invoiced at delivery to  
Cornell Wine Company.


SATURDAY, February 2nd
Noon – 5:00PM
Free

As usual we will have something interesting open – I just have not  
decided what!.

Cheers,

Pauline & Mick
Cornell Wine Company
14740 NW Cornell Road, #90
Portland, OR 97229-5400
(503) 531-3981
mick at cornellwine.com
www.cornellwine.com
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