The Wine Knows

One of the relatively obscure gems in Southern Oregon has located its tasting room in the northern Willamette Valley. Cliff Creek has opened in Carlton, the main town in the Yamhill-Carlton District.

The federal government is taking comments (press release, PDF) on the establishment of a new American Viticultural Area in Washington's Yakima Valley.

The Snipes Mountain AVA would be the state's second-smallest appellation at 4,145. About 535 acres of vineyards already are planted in the proposed region, including some of the state's oldest. Included in the region is Harrison Hill.

Domaine Serene owner Ken Evanstad announced Monday that longtime winemaker Tony Rynders is out and Drew Voit, former associate winemaker, will oversee the operation until a new winemaker can be found.

During our judging Saturday of 116 Pacific Northwest Rieslings, we had just one corked wine. In fact, the far bigger problem was oxidation.

One might see this as a good trend that we found just one wine infected with TCA, the compound that makes a wine smell like a wet dog sleeping on rotting cardboard in a musty basement.

Jeff Hellam is the owner of Hellams Vineyard, a wine shop in La Conner, Wash., that specializes in Northwest selections.

Wine Press Northwest correspondent Jon Bauer recently caught up with Jeff at his wine shop and asked him to talk about some of his favorite picks from Washington.

Going into our big Riesling judging today, I figured we would be able to get a sense of where the Pacific Northwest stands in alternative closures. With Riesling being a white wine that generally will be drunk in its youth, there would be a greater likelihood of alternatives such as screwcaps and synthetics.

I know better than to dry my crystal wine glasses by putting a cloth inside the glass then twisting the base.

I know better.

One item of note as we prep for our Riesling competition this weekend: The noble white wine grape of Germany and Alsace is produced throughout the Pacific Northwest. In fact, I'm a bit amazed at how many various appellations are represented on wine bottles.

One of the versatilities with Riesling also is one of its perception problems with consumers. This came to light as I entered wine for our Riesling judging into our databases.

Very few Rieslings provide signals about whether the wine is dry, off-dry or sweet.

The Wine Press Northwest crew is prepping for a Riesling judging this weekend, and I am salivating as I enter wines into our database.

While Chardonnay still is far and away the most popular white wine in America, I have to think that Riesling is the greatest.