B and I were coming home from the Oregon coast this afternoon and stopped in at one of our favorite vineyards, WillaKenzie, for some wine tasting and to pick up a bottle for dinner. We tasted several yummy pinots and had a bit of a tough time deciding what to take home. While perusing the available wines for purchase, we saw the '09 Kiana. We asked if they had a bottle open to taste and unfortunately they did not. We have had the pleasure of tasting and purchasing a bottle of the Kiana before and knew how incredibly smooth and amazingly delicious it is. Of course, not being able to taste the '09 Kiana just made us want a bottle even more :) So B made an executive decision and asked to purchase the Kiana.
Sidenote: We were fortunate to taste WillaKenzie's Pinot Noir Thibaud's Couvee during our visit. It was SO TASTEY!!! If it were for sale we would have purchased some. We were told it is sold exclusively to a small group of restaurants in San Francisco. If anyone knows what these restaurants are I'd LOVE to know. I would love to grab a bite there next time I'm in San Fran.
Anyhow, we got home and started making smoked chicken for dinner...we figured it would go real well with the '09 Kiana (we were right). We let the bottle sit to open for about 20 minutes. The following are my wine notes :)
ruby in color
slow eye-droplet looking legs
nose - tobacoo, cherry and vanilla
first - soft vanilla
mid - berry/blackberry
finish - tannins, leather, dry
If you haven't been out to WillaKenzie, GO THERE. The grounds are gorgeous and the tasting room is spectacular. It's located in the Ribbon Ridge...a new personal favorite area for grape growing. Their tastings involve 6 tastes; two whites and four reds, and are $15. They waive tasting fees with any $25 purchase. Which isn't hard to do since most of their wines are between $30 and $50. The bottle of Kiana B purchased was $48 and worth every last penny. Thanks B ;)
Cheers!
xoxo,
kegw
Holy smokes, I have so much to write about!! For those of you who don't know, I've been in the process of moving for about the past month. It's been a whirlwind and I am very glad to say, It's over :) Now all settled in my new digs, I am ready to start publishing reviews I've taken while being off the radar (so to speak). Here's a quick update...
Firstly, we attended the TeSoAria quarterly pick up party, which was held at the Ford Building's - Ford Food & Drink (http://www.fordbuildingpdx.com/). Neat space, great people, drool worthy food, and damn delectable wines. After tasting the '08 Mistral as well as several other bottles, B and I decided we needed to up our quarterly bottle amount... I know, shocking right!? We went in expecting to take away 6 bottles and instead walked away with 9. Seems like that always happens to us :) We also attended Savor Southern Oregon, which was held on a delightfully sunny and hot Portland afternoon in Director's Park. What a great turn out. The food was tastey and it was lovely to try wine from more of Southern Oregon's vineyards. However, I would say that at some points the music was far too loud, and I am still confused as to why there was a coffee roaster there (coffee screws up your tasters!). We snagged bottles of Delfino's 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, Cowhorn's 2010 Grenache58, Melrose's 2008 Baco Noir, Cliff Creek Cellar's 2006 Claret and 2006 Syrah, and Agate Ridge Vineyard's 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. Don't worry, I will be publishing reviews of all of the aforementioned wines, as B and I have drank all but two of the bottles we purchased that afternoon thus far. I also joined Cliff Creek Cellar's wine club at Savor Southern Oregon and have had my first shipment from them as well (reviews to follow)! October is here, which means Trader Joe's is stocking their shelves with some interesting inexpensive wines around this time of year. I have (of course) been stocking up on said wines, and I will report back.
Anyhow, I'm glad to be back typing my fingers off :) More soon!
xxoo,
kegw
