Ecosse Wine's Rouge

I picked up a mixed case of dry red wines from Mike the wine guy at John's Marketplace (http://www.yelp.com/biz/johns-marketplace-portland) last weekend, and found this gem in the lot.  I have not heard of Ecosse Wine before and found there is essentially nothing about the winery on the internet.  Their website (http://ecossewine.com/home.htm) is terrible and doesn't even have a completed 'About Us' section.  Also their Rouge is listed under the 'Coming Soon' section of the website... oh and there is no vintage year on the bottle.  Okay enough ranting, B and I decided to open this Columbia Valley red blend this evening and give her a whirl.  

B opened and directly poured two glasses, we let them sit for about 15 minutes and began to enjoy them.  Generally I aerate red blends like this, but surprisingly this red blend did not need it.  Eccose's Rouge is garnet in color and smells like a cab merlot blend might.  The swirl test produces very few light, thin legs.  Rouge starts strong with an almost airy yet dry finish.  Initial tastes include cherry, tobacco, spice and leather.  This wine rounds out mid pallet with buttery bursts of berry and finishes delightfully dry.  I found myself making little awkward slurping sounds after each swill to savor the dry finish... I then found B making fun of me for it :)

We drank this with our chili dinner and it went really well.  I think this is a very drinkable wine which would go well with most foods.  Ecosse's Rouge would be a great inexpensive option to serve at a dinner party.  Overall, I will purchase this bottle again.  I am not sure where else to purchase this bottle, but if you're in Portland, just stop by John's Market and try a bottle.

If anyone knows anything about Ecosse, I would love to learn more about the winery, so please write me.

Until next time...

xoxoxox
KEGW

TeSoAria 2010 Eponyme

B and I had our TeSoAria pick up party last Saturday at Ford Food + Drink (http://goo.gl/maps/xDOHK).  It was such an amazing evening... great people, a lot of fun, Christmas sweaters, delicious food and DELECTABLE wines!!  We purchased several bottles (of course!) three of which were TeSoAria's 2010 Eponyme...one of our all time favorite wines!  

The color is a sultry jeweled burgundy with a delicious reddish tint.  My swirl test produces slow, very skinny, long legs with gorgeous droplet shaped starts.  On the nose, the 2010 Eponyme smells like leather, cherry and a bit of tobacco.  One of the things I love the most about this wine is that you can literally open it and enjoy.  I don't have to let it sit, I don't have to aerate the Eponyme, its just straight up amazingly drinkable.  I have even re-corked a bottle, and completely enjoyed it the next day.  Now, on to how it tastes :) To start the initial taste on my pallet is buttery smooth blackberry.  Mid pallet this wine opens boldly with leather and complex tannins. The 2010 Eponyme finishes with a layered spice flavor like I have never experienced.  This wine is subtly complex and wonderful.  We have shared it with friends who prefer delicate pinot noirs and they have even appreciated this wine.  

Hands down, this is the number one wine B and I can agree on.  Our main issue with the 2010 Eponyme is keeping it in our wine cellar.  It seems like I am always begging to open a bottle, and B is always the voice of reason, "No Korin, this is really good.  We need to save it at least for a special occasion."  

TeSoAria's 2010 Eponyme is now libraried, so we are going to try really hard to keep some in our cellar.  I know this review kinda sucks, cause its not like you can go out and buy this amazingly tantalizing wine, but I will consider bribes :)

Cheers!!

xoxo,
KEGW

2011 Hahn Winery GSM

Went to the Multnomah Village First Friday this evening and ended up at John's Market (http://goo.gl/maps/jVerf) for a wine tasting of some delish wines... tasted an amazing GSM from Hahn Winery.  It was their 2011 vintage and at $8.99 a bottle, we purchased several :) 

On the nose it smells like tobacco, leather and blackberries.  The legs are fast, thin and mesmerizing :) Front pallet is an amazingly delicious melange of butter, spice and cherry.  Mid pallet brings a burst of spice and the wine finishes with a delightful currant flavor.  

We had this with Thai food and I can only imagine this would go pleasantly well with any meal... thanks Mr. Mike!  We are really glad you let us taste this evening!!

2010 Edgefield Primitivo

B and I decided to head to the McMenamins in our hood for some late night eats, brews and vines... Upon the urging of our fav waiter we tried the Primitivo. Wow! This primitivo hales from the Columbia Valley and is 13.5% abv.
Smells like tobacco and blackberry
Mid pallet is a burst of blackberries and a hint of cherry.
Finishes smooth with a bit of bark, but super wet... awesome drinkable red.  Reminds me of a Zin...  would be perfect for Thanksgiving dinner!!

Everyone should try a glass and tell me what they think :)

xoxo,
kegw

2009 WillaKenzie Kiana Pinot Noir

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 

"It's Been a Long Time"

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

TeSoAria 2010 Syrah

Its a slightly gloomy day here in Portland, OR and in honor of the coming Autumn B really wanted to open a delicious dark red.  We went over to the old wine rack and spent some time debating what to open.  After careful consideration we chose to open one of our bottles of 2010 TeSoAria Syrah.  YAY!  

This syrah is a deep purple-ish red.  In fact, it is difficult to see through the glass because this '10 syrah is so dark.  Which I know deep dark reds are always my favorite. In doing my favorite 'swirly test' (as I like to call it) this '10 syrah revealed thin fast running legs.  

The TeSoAria 2010 Syrah has a very enticing aroma.  I smell tobacco, blackberries and spice.  B mentions that he smells pepper, which I think he does because that is what he is hoping to taste :) However, B was speaking with the wine maker and learned a fun fact about the syrah grapes.  TeSoAria's wine maker went to another grape grower to potentially purchase the syrah grapes used in his syrahs. Evidently, when the wine maker got out to the fields to inspect the grapes, he could smell the pepper from the syrah grapes and knew he wanted to purchase the grapes.  Anyhow, this syrah starts off pretty creamy with hints of raspberry and chocolate.  Mid pallet this wine explodes with an earthy blend of pepper and plum but finishes delightfully dry.  B says its good to the last drop and I whole heartily agree.

If you like syrah, you should definitely give this one a try.  

http://tesoaria.com/index.html

xoxo,

kegw