Wow!  This is one hell of a wine.  Bitter dry raspberry aroma, gigantic dusty-dry flavor on a long, thin texture.  Yet the tannins were remarkably well developed for a 2000.  There were layers of complexity, but they have already settled down from harsh chaos to a wonderful symmetry.  This wine two-year old, $16 bottle has it together, and feels like it's six years older and $20 more expensive.  Very nice.

And now, back to our Oregon Pinot festival.  This is what I was looking for!  This was the taste I had in mind as I browsed the shelves of Fred Meyer in Portland.  The flavor is all Pinot, but the texture is almost Zin.  This isn't the thin, cranberry colored Pinot Noir, so sadly common now in the $10-15 range.  This Van Duzer had a fantastic flavor, mouth feel and finish.  

Van Duzer is a couple of bucks too expensive to qualify for my Best Bottles page, but it has instantly become a favorite.  I even loved the art deco label.  I'm going to have to seek out a Houston source, or else try my darndest to get someone (anyone!) in Portland to ship a few bottles back.  

As mentioned two reviews below, Van Duzer's Chardonnay remains one of my favorites.  

This is the second of three bottles of vintage Porto, bought in Lisbon (ah, Lisboa!) during our vacation exactly a year ago.  Our last afternoon in the country, while Julie was napping after a day of museum hopping, I rode the metro to the city's main square.  There, in the basement of a tiny storefront wine shop, I wandered the racks for more than an hour.  

It's one of the few times in my life I've truly wished for great wealth; not in an abstract, oh-it-would-be-so-nice kind of way.  No, I was standing there surrounded by musty racks of Port bottles, knowing exactly where my millions would go.  I finally forced myself to narrow the selection down to three bottles, an '85, a '94 LBV (reviewed last Dec.) and this '91.  Even so, the experience cost more than I care to remember.

The Burmester family has been making Porto wine without interruption since 1750.  They know what they are doing.  The 1991 vintage is well regarded as a classic, and is just now starting to show its full promise.  This wine is experienced in layers; from first sip to lingering finish.  Deep, powerful, complex, surprising flavors of chocolate, coffee and anise.  It will kill me to finish this bottle.

I didn't bring back a whole case of Oregon Pinot Noir.  Three of the twelve spots were occupied by other varietals; I had to make room for a little variety.  One of those "odd ball" bottles was this excellent Chardonnay.  I thought I'd bring back a Chard because of the great experience I had last Dec. with Van Duzer's Oregon Chardonnay (It's one of only two whites, and the only Chardonnay on my Best Bottles page).  The reason I'll go out of my way to find Oregon (and Washington) Chardonnay is that it tends to be so different from CA Chard.  Lean and crisp, instead of fat and round.

To tell the truth, the Argyle wasn't quite as lean as I had expected.  But still, a far cry from the mouth-of-melted-butter feel I get from most Chards, and a very complex arrangement of fruit and mineral flavors.  Julie and I detected a little pineapple tartness, and some oak.  Not quite as good as the Van Duzer, but still a good drink.

Yum!  Now this is much better.  After a disappointing start (see Aug. 9), my dive into Oregon Pinot kicks into high gear.  I probably would not have selected a wine called Stone Wolf on my own (I love a clever label, but this is just plain cheesy), but it came highly recommended.  A great example of  the style: lean, earthy, aromatic, dried fruit flavor.  A good drink, and just what I was hoping for.  Now I'm really looking forward to some of the pricier bottles.

A business trip last week took me to Portland, Oregon.  I can't stop saying good things about Portland, and hope to live there some day.  It's THAT nice!  And as long as I was there, I was determined to bring back a case of local wine.  This I accomplished, although I ran afoul of the law in the process, and can now add 'bootlegger' to my resume of vices.  (On a side note, I also sampled several fine micro and craft brewed ales, for which Oregon is equally famous)

With the assistance of a wine steward at Fred Meyer, I assembled a mixed case of Oregon's finest between $9 and $17 per bottle.  I made sure to select wines I've never seen here in Houston.  Of course, the bias was on Pinot Noir, but I also brought back a Chard, Pinot Gris and Merlot. Expect to be seeing quite a bit of Oregon wine here for the next couple of months.  

A shame, then, that the first one I tried at home was such a disappointment!  The Westrey Pinot, the least expensive bottle I brought back, has a cranberry juice color and a tart flavor to match.  Not acually bad, but certainly not good.  Thin and flat, the tartness didn't lessen any after more than an hour open.  So much for first impressions.  But fear not, I'm expecting much better things to come.

If you want to read my discourse on Argentine Malbec, it can be found on my May 14 review of Altus Vista Malbec.  It's worth revisiting, not so much because of my long-winded review, but because it is a better Malbec than Elsa's, at about the same price.  

Not that the Elsa was bad, just a little under whelming.  It has a good fruity, jammy flavor that would have been more appropriate in a Merlot.  Not as lush or complex as an Argentine Malbec can (and should) be.