On the Oregon Trail

On occasion, Joe Canal’s staff members are able to go on trips to meet the producers of the items that we sell. Whether we travel to the great wine regions, or any other location, the trips are educational, great for team-building, and, of course, they’re fun.

Wilson Arizmendi, Wine Manager at our Woodbridge store, recently visited Oregon's wine country on just such a trip with other Joe Canal's team members. Here's his report:

"Age is a measuring tool. Include it with context, and it paints a picture. A lot of the time we associate that picture with brush strokes of experience and highlights of expertise and knowledge. In football, if a running back is 30 years old then he is a veteran, but, perhaps, too old to play the position. A golfer who hits the 30 year old mark usually is in their prime with a bright future ahead, but still wet behind the ears. Age is a measuring tool, but it's not the ultimate totality of capability. Headstrongness, dedication to excellence, above average talent, timing, exceptional work ethic and patience are all variables to consider in an equation that may give you the summation of actual age, but may also wrongly infer youth or inexperience. This is Oregon Wine.

Oregon's wine producing has really only been around since the 1960's, with first accolades not coming until the late 70's, with commercial wineries coming in somewhere between those years. Wine production has only really reached significant numbers since the 80's. So by a standard of age, Oregon wine is really only 30-50 years old, depending on which of the above timelines you wish to use as the starting point. By contrast, California wine is over 150 years old. By similar contrast, California wine hadn't really attained international recognition until the mid-1970's as well. This may either show Oregon's steadfast and quick ascension, or a global renaissance that started to accept America as a force in the wine world. Either way, it is hard to ignore Oregon's speedy progress. With a steady 20% influx of new wineries each year and more and more accolades over 50 years, their wine industry has grown at what appears to be a rapid pace, and it's gaining ground on the larger wine producing regions of the world. Now, Oregon may never be as planted as Burgundy, but the above-average talent and dedication to excellence gets them closer to the pinnacle of the industry. One is hard-pressed to get in a conversation about Burgundy without the mention of the Willamette Valley, or a conversation about Pinot Noir without mentioning Oregon. Even though the actual age of Oregon's wine industry may infer youth or inexperience, their exceptional output suggests otherwise.

The one way Oregon wineries show their age is their youthful exuberance. Exuberance keeps the standard high and fuels an inner drive to keep getting better. This exuberance mainly focuses on just a handful of grape varieties, keeping the focus sharp on perfecting the skill of a few, rather than spreading the focus thin on numerous varieties. Even though the climate, terrain and geographical position may dictate Oregon wines focus, the producers have shown restraint by working within the terroir. Exuberance is good to keep things lively, lighthearted and compelling. There's an eagerness there. An eagerness that knows its doing big things and one that can't wait to keep doing bigger things. Touring through a few wineries in Oregon allowed me to see this outwardly projection of those youthful qualities and it got me excited.

One chronologically youthful winery I visited that was Gran Moraine. In fact, it's an infant. The newly-purchased (by a big California winery) property in Yamhill didn't start planting until 2005! So new, in fact, that their wines have not hit any market besides their own and their first bottling was their 2012 Pinot Noir. Tasting both the entry level and the Reserve proved to be a treat. To give you a hint of their excellent fruit, they sourced some of their harvests to Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, one of Oregon's most noted producers. Great complexity, composure and elegance makes me eager to see it hit the East Coast as soon as possible.
   
Oregon is beautiful. Extremely high peaks paint the skyline in the distance, whether you're on the valley floor or at a winery. King Estate has a gorgeous new facility that's only about 30 years old. The structures sit at a peak in the middle of the property, which is also the largest contiguous organic winery in the world. At King Estate, we were treated to some of their goodies. One was a barrel aged Pinot Gris, which I'd never had before. It was delicious, with extremely complex flavors that included a hint of toasted marshmallows.

courtesy Domaine Drouhin

Domaine Drouhin sits atop a hill so large you can basically see all of the Willamette Valley from their stunning main building. Drouhin brings the experience of decades of wine growing in France to America. Their wines are proof of their refined winemaking skills, showing an elegant and subtle profile more akin to French Burgundies than New World wines. In this special case, this is a new winery from a seasoned veteran and, in return, getting maximum output.

courtesy Rex Hill Winery & Vineyards

Rex Hill Winery reminds me more of a Napa Valley facility, given that it is located right off a main road that is lined with wineries in both directions. Rex Hill takes a more rustic approach, converting their main building from an old fruit and nut drying facility, leaving some of the original structure intact. Like a lot of other wineries in Oregon, Rex Hill is merely 30 years old, but has already claimed a piece of the wine pie, producing a well-respected, yet affordable Pinot Noir under the "A to Z" label. They've made such headway that they've even attracted the likes of Greg Popovich, the head coach of NBA's San Antonio Spurs, as an investor. Being an investor has its perks, as Popovich has the winery make him a private label for his personal consumption under the label 'Rock & Hammer'. All wineries are a piece of the growing Oregon wine puzzle.

My stay was brief, but the impression lasting. At times, some wineries seemed like an organized clutter. A mad scientist hiding behind stacks of papers filled with formulas. Raw talent rookies with tremendous upside solidifying their place in a lineup full of experience. My trip offered a small sample size, but the effort is clear to see. Oregon is serious about wine, in contrast to their youthful mannerisms. Age is a measuring tool, but in this equation, not the totality of capability…….or a final statement of what lies ahead."

On The Road Through Napa

On occasion, Joe Canal’s staff members are able to go on trips to meet the producers of the items we sell. Whether we travel to the great wine regions, or any other location, the trips are educational, great for team-building, and, of course, they’re fun.

Wilson Arizmendi, Wine Manager at our Woodbridge store, recently visited California wine country on just such a trip with other Joe Canal's team members. Here's his report:

Life's experiences are sewn together by the fabric of relationships and memory. They say one of the biggest factors that may determine if you like a particular wine is the ambiance that surrounds you while you drink it.  What kind of company are you around? Are you laughing? Are you stressing? Where are you? How's the weather? Is it a place you've never been but are excited to be there? Are you eating? Is the food amazing? Could you do without it? There are times when all these things click on a level of utopian measures and what you have left is a great memory of good times, great people and a wine that was absolutely more memorable than any you might have previously had. A wine that you will forever remember and a wine that will always remind you of that particular time. Like fabric is to a crocheted blanket or your favorite pair of jeans, so is the connection between feelings of memory and environment that intertwine together to produce an experience.

Recently, I was able to take a trip to California's renowned Napa Valley with some of my co-workers. Not only was this my first-ever trip to wineries, but I was going to the the heart of it! There are the wonderful wine producing regions such as France, Italy, South America, Spain, Germany and New Zealand but, to me, this is the top of the totem pole. Ok, it may be MY heart but if you were creating a Mt. Rushmore of wine producing regions of the world, undoubtedly Napa Valley has a reserved spot. The first 2 bottles of wine that ever blew my socks off and that left a lasting impression on my psyche were both California produced, so, needless to say I was extremely excited.

The wine-making process itself has always fascinated me; Maybe I watched too much Reading Rainbow as a child but the journey of a grape from vine to glass is enthralling. The entire process needs a cohesion of events that will ultimately result in the juice that we so rigidly judge. Sometimes hard work is taken for granted in the shadow of good results. The unfolding of the end of one step quickly rolling into the beginning of another step seamlessly is a work of art. Take for example what needs to be done at the Hess Collection Winery property on Mt. Veeder. It gets really hot at the end of a growing season and water is sometimes scarce, which is very crucial to the development of ripe grapes. To solve the problem of maybe not getting enough water, at the end of harvest season (between October and December) after the last grapes have been picked and the winery goes through their dormant stage, their workers dredge trenches from the top of the mountain to a man made reservoir at the foot of the mountain. It collects water all year long and provides a reserve supply of water during the summer. They do it manually. Good old fashioned shovel and man power. Without that one step, the process either gets highly expensive, requiring the purchase of extra water or it's left up to chance, with fingers crossed for a good wet season. The connections between man and nature are of utmost importance in the cultivation of wine, and exemplary wine is a result of natural processes enhanced by the influence of man.

For our first stop, we headed north past Rutherford and St. Helena to Trinchero Estates Winery. After getting a wonderful tour of the winery grounds, we sat on a back porch sipping one of the best Merlots I have ever had (their Vista Montone Daybreak Block Merlot) while looking over the vineyard with a direct view of the Mayacamas Mountains in the distance. We got to talking and the question was asked if all the vineyards that we saw were theirs. The tour guide informed us that it wasn't and their property ended by a light post in the distance and that after that, those vineyards belonged to their neighbor. I asked, "So do you ever go them and ask to borrow sugar?" After some abbreviated laughter she replied, "No, but they used to take Bob into their vineyards to teach him about the production of wine." Bob was the son of Mario and Mary Trinchero who purchased the vineyard and who eventually would take it over in the 1970's. It made me think that maybe Napa Valley was more of a tightly interwoven community rather then my prejudged idea of it being a bunch of business conglomerates elbowing each other out of the way. But not all circumstances are like that, and the picture of community took its first brush stroke in my mind.

Caves at Trinchero

The next day we visited the Hess Collection property. The main building was located high above the valley floor on the top of Mt. Veeder, on the Eastern Napa Valley Mountain region. The drive was a STEEP incline through narrow roads and heavily brushed roadsides that opened up at the end point to this immaculate building overlooking vineyards that tumbled up and down the Mountain terrain. Larry was his name. Our tour guide. A man I will always remember. A man who taught me the S, GS, and VGS system. The idea of community continued and was a result of Larry's uncanny ability to make you feel at home. If you ever visit this place ask for Larry. Tell him the Joe Canal's team sent you.

Mt. Veeder, while we were at Hess

   
Because our trip was during the second week in October, we missed the grape harvest by only a couple of days. But that meant that there were some bunches of grapes still on the vines. The taste of a grape off of one of these cultivated Caberent vines was so concentrated, so sweet and absolutely so delicious. That would be a peek into the Hess Block 19 Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon, which we would later taste, a Cabernet that I would later fall head over heels for. From the vine we also had a shriveled  grape, dried of all its water by the sun, which would also be one of the tastiest raisins I have ever had.

At one time, the mountains that the vineyards sit on were dominated by huge Redwood trees. Large formations of Redwoods are detrimental to the survival of anything around it, as they are Natures instrument of population control, periodically starting anew through natural forest fires. So that land was cleared of all of the Redwoods and the first wines that Hess actually produced where aged in huge vats made from felled Redwood. As time passed and techniques perfected the Redwood vats became outdated. They were so enormous, well-constructed and beautiful they didn't want to just toss them in the garbage. They found a home when the owners of Merryvale winery bought them and displayed them at their winery. Another example of the interweaving I've seen in the valley.

Drawing a barrel sample at Franciscan

At the Franciscan Winery I learned that the business was heading toward bankruptcy when two gentleman bought them out and steered them straight. Those two gentlemen were the owners of the Silver Oak winery at that time and implemented a more hands-on, boutique style that saved Franciscan. At one time Mr. Augustine, the Chilean owner of Veramonte, bought Franciscan winery and operated it between 1985 and 1999. He would later buy Montes, Quintessa and Flowers wineries, as well as the Prisoner wine company. Gloria Ferrer winery, producers of outstanding quality affordable sparkling wines, are an offshoot of the Freixenet family which is the largest producer of Cava in Spain. The family doesn't stop there as they collectively own about 18 wineries throughout the world. Domaine Chandon winery, which produces still wines but mostly are known for their high-quality sparkling wines is the American venture of Moet & Chandon, the producers of champagne with the same name and Dom Perignon. When we we drove past the Grgich Winery, there was a big banner that read "Come celebrate Mike Grgich's 90th birthday with us." This is the man that created the Chardonnay that eventually put California Chardonnays on the map when he won the Paris Wine tasting of 1976, infamously called "The Judgement of Paris". But it wasn't his label that won, but it was his work as winemaker for Chateau Montelena. The Robert Young vineyard grapes are shared by two big wineries: Simi winery and Chateau St. Jean. This is just a minuscule tip of the proverbial iceberg when you start to realize how interwoven the wine community in California is to each other. There are hundreds of other examples of winemakers starting out in well-known wineries, then venturing off on their own and leading those new wineries to international recognition. Or even business owners from other parts of the world taking over already established California wineries or continuing, in the US, their visions from back home by creating new American labels. This interweaving of stories is fascinating and layered with history.

Vineyard at Gloria Ferrer

Like the communal connection of the people in wine country, the vines and their surroundings are interwoven deeply, which reveals itself in your wine glass. Whatever is planted around the vines will impart some of its character into the grapes. At Hess, there is Lavender planted in the same field as the grapevines, thus imparting some of its aroma and even taste into the wine. There is also a lot of fennel that grows in vineyards all over Napa, and it is a common nuance in the wines. Since there is an abundance of fennel in Napa Valley, you will also notice a lot of Napa restaurants that use fennel extensively, creating a complete circle of symmetry between the wine and your food. Larry, our tour guide at the Hess winery, explained how the little lizards that you see scurrying all along the property where integral to the organic sustainability of the vineyard. When harvesting is complete, the leftover grape bunches (those that don't fill the requirements in making any particular wine) that stay on the vines eventually fall off, and birth swarms of fruit flies. Those lizards have no qualms about lending their pest control services for the vineyard. At the Gloria Ferrer winery in Carneros, they brought in blue jays that also help them do their own little pest control. This allows nature to sort things out, instead of using harmful chemicals that would also be imparted into your bottle of wine. The climate in Carneros is also very important to the varietals of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, as during the day it gets scorching hot, allowing the grapes to ripen quickly. To keep them from ripening too quickly or burning from the heat, nature sends gusts of wind from the San Francisco Bay over the mountains and into the Valley everyday around 3 o'clock, cooling the grapes off.

etoile, where we had dinner one night

An incredible amount of factors within this trip made it a lasting memory of both professional and personal pure pleasure. There was dinner at etoile, a 5 star restaurant located on the Domaine Chandon property, where it was my first time I ever had rabbit, as they served a rabbit roulade, paired with their Chandon Pinot Noir. An absolutely perfect combination. Also, the first time I ever tried Squab (a pigeon of sorts, but don't tell them that) paired with the first Pinot Meunier I ever had. That falls between, in body, a Beaujolais and a Pinot Noir (Pinot Meunier is one of the 3 traditional grapes, along with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, that are used in the production of champagne). There was the awesome hospitality of our hosts at Trinchero, Hess, Stag's Leap Winery, Chandon, Franciscan, Simi and Gloria Ferrer. The amazing personalities of our guides highlighted by Larry (Hess), Gillian (Simi) and Andrew (Franciscan). The amazing cuisine that paired so harmoniously with our wine selections. The tour at Hess was also highlighted by the visit to the art gallery on their property, which houses some of Mr. Hess's own private collection of fine art. Art is a passion of mine (and obviously his) and they have one of the most amazing paintings I have ever laid my eyes on: Franz Gertsch's "Johanna II". A real life, meticulously and perfectly constructed painting of a fabricated women's portrait, which conveyed different emotions that stood larger than life on its enormous canvas. I still get chills when I look at the painting in the souvenir book I bought there, and happy that I was able to see that personally.

There was also dinner with the remarkable Cameron Hughes in San Francisco, on our last night in California. Cameron Hughes is a Negociant; he doesn't grow grapes but he buys the best grapes he can find in California (and elsewhere) and makes his own wine from them, giving you high quality wine at affordable prices. He breathed a fresh unprejudiced breath of air into the business. As we sat in the steak house overlooking the Bay Bridge and its dancing light show, all the pieces had finally connected. Interwoven themselves in my memory of an experience that I will euphorically forever remember, where all the pieces matter. Where all the components are relevant.