Friday Sips
FRIDAY SIPS
Wines We're Thankful For
Today November 11 from 1:30 - 6:30
Wines We're Thankful For
Today November 11 from 1:30 - 6:30
We want to help you find the best wine to toast your family and Thanksgiving turkey roast! And if you keep reading we promise not to throw out any more rhymes, no seriously, we're here to focus on wine.
What would Thanksgiving dinner be with a couple bottles of good wine to accompany good friends and good food? The best part is we can promise to gratify for under $25, because let's face it, turkey is not haute cuisine. Although these wines can dress it up to impress. Unless you cook the turkey like Gracie (Bryan's mom), dry as a sneaker in the desert, you want to your wine choice to be vibrant and alive.
We tend to lean away from high-tannin, over-oaked 15% alcohol booze-bombs, instead let's get creative and colorful to quench our Thanksgiving thirst. There really are no rights or wrongs when it comes to pairing with turkey. We say reds, roses and whites all can play and pair well.
What would Thanksgiving dinner be with a couple bottles of good wine to accompany good friends and good food? The best part is we can promise to gratify for under $25, because let's face it, turkey is not haute cuisine. Although these wines can dress it up to impress. Unless you cook the turkey like Gracie (Bryan's mom), dry as a sneaker in the desert, you want to your wine choice to be vibrant and alive.
We tend to lean away from high-tannin, over-oaked 15% alcohol booze-bombs, instead let's get creative and colorful to quench our Thanksgiving thirst. There really are no rights or wrongs when it comes to pairing with turkey. We say reds, roses and whites all can play and pair well.
2014 BELLE PENTE PINOT NOIR
YAMHILL-CARLTON
$24.99 BTL./$299.88 CASE
YAMHILL-CARLTON
$24.99 BTL./$299.88 CASE
It is always fun to sell great wine, but when it comes to selling wine from a cool person, it is even more fun! Brian O'Donnell is an established, humble, quiet superstar in Oregon whose wines we absolutely believe in. As previously mentioned earlier this week, Brian is a Pinot Gris master, however he also happens to make superb Pinot Noir. The Yamhill-Carlton bottling is over-the-top phenomenal for the price point, especially given all of the newbie, many dollar Oregon versions out there.
What we love about this wine is that you can just sit around a smell it for days. Intense aromas of ripe raspberry and plum with a beautiful exotic spice are both poised and outgoing at the same time. In the mouth, the berry flavors continue only with more of a presence of wild strawberry, dark cherry, and hints of earth. Here is where you can feel it is from the New World, as its, weight, richness, and intensity take over, yet without ever losing its elegance or endurance. Drink through 2023. This Oregon Pinot will be quite a delicious pairing with the holiday bird but more importantly, will more than impress your out of town guests.
What we love about this wine is that you can just sit around a smell it for days. Intense aromas of ripe raspberry and plum with a beautiful exotic spice are both poised and outgoing at the same time. In the mouth, the berry flavors continue only with more of a presence of wild strawberry, dark cherry, and hints of earth. Here is where you can feel it is from the New World, as its, weight, richness, and intensity take over, yet without ever losing its elegance or endurance. Drink through 2023. This Oregon Pinot will be quite a delicious pairing with the holiday bird but more importantly, will more than impress your out of town guests.
2012 MATELLO 'FOOL'S JOURNEY'
SYRAH/VIOGNIER
$22.99 BTL./$275.88 CASE
SYRAH/VIOGNIER
$22.99 BTL./$275.88 CASE
To say that Oregon Pinot Noir hotshot Marcus Goodfellow is killing it would be a big understatement. From his Pinots to his whites and now this smashing, Northern Rhone-inspired blend, everything that comes from this cellar seemingly is over the moon in top quality/price rapport. I’ve known Marcus for 20 years and The Cellar Door has been long time friends with him and many years ago we all shared a hell of a lot of top-level French wines from the Northern Rhone, particularly those if Alain Graillot in Crozes-Hermitage as well as a few from Côte-Rôtie masters like Gentaz and Gerin.
90% Syrah & 10% Viognier. No, this is not rose; it is traditional to blend a bit of Viognier in, as they would do in Côte-Rôtie for aromatics, acidity and lift. Deux Vert Vineyard is in the Yamhill-Carlton District and planted in 1994 and 1995, these Syrah and Viognier vines and grapes have proven what many of us have long thought, and Syrah can thrive well in the Willamette Valley. I recently had a go at this wine for the first time in 15 months and was wildly impressed at how has come around and moved into something quite stately. As mentioned, this red’s inspiration comes from greats of the Rhone and not overdone like many of those from Australia, Washington or California. Expressive, full of finesse, layered with fine fruit and above all, display rock-star aromatics. Smoky, peppery and chock full of cassis, currants and cracked pepper. Lavishly textured and high-toned, this is beginning to show off beautifully and complete along with and having persistence and length than from just how well these grapes took to the 2012 vintage. This is my choice for pairing if you were to smoke the turkey. It will also work extremely well with the rest of the main dish and trimmings. For those who are not serving turkey, it works beautifully with lamb or beef.
90% Syrah & 10% Viognier. No, this is not rose; it is traditional to blend a bit of Viognier in, as they would do in Côte-Rôtie for aromatics, acidity and lift. Deux Vert Vineyard is in the Yamhill-Carlton District and planted in 1994 and 1995, these Syrah and Viognier vines and grapes have proven what many of us have long thought, and Syrah can thrive well in the Willamette Valley. I recently had a go at this wine for the first time in 15 months and was wildly impressed at how has come around and moved into something quite stately. As mentioned, this red’s inspiration comes from greats of the Rhone and not overdone like many of those from Australia, Washington or California. Expressive, full of finesse, layered with fine fruit and above all, display rock-star aromatics. Smoky, peppery and chock full of cassis, currants and cracked pepper. Lavishly textured and high-toned, this is beginning to show off beautifully and complete along with and having persistence and length than from just how well these grapes took to the 2012 vintage. This is my choice for pairing if you were to smoke the turkey. It will also work extremely well with the rest of the main dish and trimmings. For those who are not serving turkey, it works beautifully with lamb or beef.
2015 BAUDRY CHINON ROSE
$17.99 BTL./$215.88 CASE
$17.99 BTL./$215.88 CASE
Turkey wines are different from wines to serve with turkeys. Turkey wines are jiveass wines like Yellowtail, Turning Leaf, or DaVinci. Wines for turkey include deliciously dry, multi-faceted Rose. Here at The Cellar Door, we have an unwritten motto: We don’t follow trends, we set them! We will continue to wear our white dresses and drink rose year round, and if you think that it is too chilly or cold to consume Rose, just turn your furnace up to 80 degrees, grab the shorts and flip-flops then go to town with a bottle or six.
In all seriousness, DRY rose is wonderful year round, especially ones like this that are so profound with many varying cuisine choices. The gravelly soils along with the sun scream out on the 2015, which teems with prominent scents of raspberry and hawthorn along with underlying minerality and fine herbs. Vinous yet very poised texture, not only is this a pleasurable Rosé, it also takes on a serious tone and will carry to the table very well indeed and will especially liven the white meat and escort the darker portions of the turkey. It also pairs handsomely with swordfish, tangy goat cheese, and grilled salmon or by itself to kick off the festivities.
In all seriousness, DRY rose is wonderful year round, especially ones like this that are so profound with many varying cuisine choices. The gravelly soils along with the sun scream out on the 2015, which teems with prominent scents of raspberry and hawthorn along with underlying minerality and fine herbs. Vinous yet very poised texture, not only is this a pleasurable Rosé, it also takes on a serious tone and will carry to the table very well indeed and will especially liven the white meat and escort the darker portions of the turkey. It also pairs handsomely with swordfish, tangy goat cheese, and grilled salmon or by itself to kick off the festivities.
2015 VIGNALTA PINOT BIANCO
$13.99 BTL./$167.88 CASE
$13.99 BTL./$167.88 CASE
It's always fun to receive a visit from Vignalta owner Lucio Gomero because his products (wine, vinegar, salt) are all so damn good! Founded in 1980, Lucio created Vignalta based on his passion for the red wines from the Right Bank of Bordeaux as well as whites that are especially conducive to the soils and hillsides of the Il Veneto's Colli Euganei region which is a mere 45 minutes west and slightly south of Venice.
Lucio has made Pinot Bianco for years but he recently had an epiphany in the production of his wines. Formerly this wine was made in a heavier style but a change occurred with the 2015 vintage and Lucio moved towards following his passion for pairing wines with food and morphed this wine into a more electric, cool, crisp and food-friendly version. This wine really shows off the aromatic side of Pinot Bianco with forward aromas of nose-tickling minerality, citrus, pear, and soft cardamom spice all from the site and varietal, as this white sees absolutely no wood. Balancing fresh terroir character with ripe and pure fruit, this wakes your palate up and coats it with balanced earthy richness that makes it perfect to start a meal or with savory seafood dishes or subtle white meats.
Lucio has made Pinot Bianco for years but he recently had an epiphany in the production of his wines. Formerly this wine was made in a heavier style but a change occurred with the 2015 vintage and Lucio moved towards following his passion for pairing wines with food and morphed this wine into a more electric, cool, crisp and food-friendly version. This wine really shows off the aromatic side of Pinot Bianco with forward aromas of nose-tickling minerality, citrus, pear, and soft cardamom spice all from the site and varietal, as this white sees absolutely no wood. Balancing fresh terroir character with ripe and pure fruit, this wakes your palate up and coats it with balanced earthy richness that makes it perfect to start a meal or with savory seafood dishes or subtle white meats.
