We just returned from a wonderful trip to the Oregon Wine country – The Willamette Valley specifically.  I’ll have more about the trip a little later when I gather my thoughts – but one notable happening was that we picked up another variety on our Wine Century Club quest.

We sampled the 2008 DePonte D.F.B. Estate Melon a 100% varietal from DePonte Cellars a beautiful, somewhat remote winery nestled in the Dundee Hills just outside of Dayton, OR.  The grape variety is Melon de Bourgogne.  They also make excellent Pinot Noir.

Beautiful winery, beautiful vineyards, very hospitable and friendly staff, outstanding wine — what more could you ask for!

Posted by DRHamp as Wine-Wine-Wine at 9:21 AM GMT-0500

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We store a few bottles of wine over in Southlake at Classic Wine Storage and yesterday; Mark Nelson, the owner,  hosted a wine tasting.   The idea was that Mark would provide the facility, music, and Hors d’oeuvers and we all would bring a bottle of one of our favorites and share and taste together.

Needless to say, there were some outstanding wines for all to sample.  I took a bottle of Emeritus Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir (William Wesley Vineyard).  As a general observation, Pinot Noirs predominated with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot following.  There were others that stood out, among them was a 2001 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino, and a Blackbird Vineyards Merlot.  Another wine that was excellent was the August Briggs Charbono – a standout for us not only for the new taste, but also because we had never had the variety before and were able to challk off another variety on our quest toward Wine Century Club qualification.

So, not only did we taste some excellent wines, and meet some new friends, we advanced to 85/100 varieties tasted and moved a little closer to our goal.

Posted by DRHamp as Wine-Wine-Wine at 8:18 AM GMT-0500

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