More Wine Geeky Stuff

It is almost time to start cruising the wineries here in Oregon, and I can hardly wait to get started. What I love about the wines of the Northwest and Oregon in particular is that the wine makers do it for the sake of the wine. This may offend some of the bigger wineries but it is true. Bur Oregon wines are not created on the premise of will this sell, but will this taste good.

Collectively, Oregon wines are a exception to the rule of marketing mediocrity. Most Oregon wines are made with integrity. They come in better and worse versions-which is inevitable but their collective integrity can never be questioned. Partly this is due to the small scale artisan wineries of Oregon. Most Oregon wineries produce less than 5000 cases a year

Oregon seems to attract the willful wine maker who is more interested in making tha wine his, or her way, than they about a guaranteed, focus-group assured payday. And Oregon's pre-eminent "willful winemaker" is David Lett, the founder of The Eyrie Vineyards. Arriving in Oregon in 1965, it was Lett who literally brought pinot noir and pint gris to the state, despite the advise of his wine making professors in California who asserted that northern Oregon was "too cool." The rest is pretty much history.

Eyrie wines are now made By Lett's son Jason, who has no problem with his fathers asthetic convictions. Eyrie wines have always been of the finest quality. The Letts, father and son, have remained true to their school. And the latest expression of that high-minded conviction is the stunning 2005 estate-grown pinot noir. It is everything that and Oregon pinot noir should be and , oddly enough everything that they shouldn't be. This is probably the finest pinot noir I have tasted in my short time that I have actually been TASTING wines. So my advise is to try it for yourself and see if I'm not correct.



Morrell & Company's Premier Selection of Collectible Wines