Fall Wine Club 2024

Wow, it’s almost like nature knew I needed some fall inspiration this past week: a morning in the 30’s, highs in the 60’s, trees starting to turn red near the Box Factory. It’s starting to feel a heck of a lot like fall, even though Summer’s not quite done with us yet! I spent a recent weekend on the Oregon Coast with a few friends and - word to the wise - the mushrooms are out and just about to peak there. We filled a bag with a few pounds of golden chanterelles and lobster mushrooms, sauteed them in butter, and ate them with an enamel mug full of Aligoté, a pretty magical little pairing.

Wine and the PNW continue to reinforce my newfound positive association with autumn. Progressively shorter days and colder nights just mean it’s my favorite time to eat, drink, and be outdoors. I’m not the only one who fully embraces the shoulder seasons here. Between the hustle and bustle of summer and the snowy still of winter, it’s the best time for locals to get out and enjoy our beautiful home.

It also means I get to moonlight at wineries on my weekends. Being any part of a harvest is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve discovered since moving west six and a half years ago. As a winemaker or intern, you work your absolute hardest from sunrise to sunset, and every day brings new challenges, crucial decisions, and rewards. The excited and exhausted energy you feel while watching a flatbed trailer of grapes pull up to the winery is hard to describe. There’s also a responsibility you feel to make something beautiful for the farmer from their fruit, a tribute to their ardent work; a year’s worth of effort decided in just a few days. The pressure can be immense, but the lagniappe is immeasurable.

Your wines this fall are made with that exact mentality: relatively small producers able to coax the most nuanced expressions out of intentionally-grown fruit to honor the farming and give us a snapshot of time and place. They were raised with respect to nature and with you, the enthusiast, in mind. These are exciting producers, old and new, and I’m honored to be able to share them with you.

Gamine - Grenache Pet-Nat 2022

Kate Norris, pictured at left, is one of the more powerful female figures in the Oregon wine world. She’s half of Portland urban winery Division Wine Co. where she and Thomas Monroe make a number of cuvees from local Central French favorites Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and a few others. A child of a British father and Malagasy mother, she spent her childhood between London and a town in Central France’s Auvergne region called Boudes. Her family moved to America briefly, where she learned about CA and OR wines, before moving to Beaujolais and the Auvergne during the 2008 recession. She and Tom learned winemaking academically and practically there before moving back to Oregon. Their fun and hands-off winemaking style was a breath of fresh air into an otherwise very stuffy wine culture. After a number of years learning the scene, regions and fruit, they each began separate small projects, and Gamine was born. Through this project, Kate explores native grapes of the Rhône Valley grown locally in Oregon. Her Petillant Naturel of Grenache finished primary fermentation in bottle without any added sulfites. It is a mischievously charming, lively and fun wine with vigorous fizz and acidity. Pair with hors d'oeuvres and raise a glass to a powerful woman in your life!

François Mikulski - Bourgogne Côte d’Or 2022

François was born to a Polish father and a French (Burgundian) mother. Growing up, he was raised in Brussels and spent his summers in Burgundy with his winemaker grandfather and uncle, where he fell in love with the agricultural lifestyle and decided that he would one day make the wine himself. In 1992, his domaine was born, and he and his wife rented a little over 11 acres of his family’s vines. They now have double the amount of acreage and make some of the most ecologically and intentionally farmed wines in Burgundy today, making them very hard to get in any kind of quantity. It was only a matter of time before white Burgundy “entered the chat” of wine club, but it couldn’t be just any bottling. If I’m going to offer a Chardonnay, it needs to be something truly special. These 25 year old vines border Meursault, a village known for producing some of the best wines, with richness and concentration. Pair this with fresh-caught seafood and chanterelles, simple is better with serious wines like these!

Pascal Janvier - Coteaux du Loir Rouge 2022

Pascal was raised by parents who farmed grapes yet never made wine. He became a butcher by trade, but at 30 he completely changed course, returning to school to study winemaking. Those who know him say he is prone to quiet contemplation and deliberation, any decision he makes is never on a whim. Today, he and his wife rent and farm sixty-six different parcels of vines, totalling less than 25 acres. This incredibly hard work pays off, however, as the wines they make contribute towards the revival of their small appellation of Jasnières. They’re mostly known for their Chenin Blancs, crisp, flinty mineral-driven wines. This is their lone red wine, made of the native grape Pineau d’Aunis (pronounced “pee-no doh-nee”) and it’s so amazingly fragrant that it fully stopped me in my tracks the first time I experienced it. The varietal was almost completely wiped out in the late 1800’s as disease and commercial pressure led to more Cabernet Franc being planted. This is a finicky grape to grow, but this wine goes to show that careful farming can produce profound results. There is so much nuance yet simplicity, this bottle can pair with pretty much anything. I suggest takeout from Real Taste of India and a sunset tailgate.

Liska - Gamay “Pamar” 2022

Chris Butler & Draga Zheleva met while studying Viticulture and Enology (winegrowing and making) at UC Davis, where Chris was Draga’s TA. After graduating, they traveled Europe then the rest of the world following harvest around until choosing to call the PNW home. They adopted a dog and named it Liska (Czech for “fox”) then began their own winery while Chris worked as an assistant winemaker at Cristom, where they still make the wine today. Having worked in cellars in Germany and Australia, they decided that their wines would have lower alcohol and higher natural acidity. They settled here due to their love for cooler climate varietals (Riesling, Pinot, Gamay) and felt the Willamette Valley to be a “paradise.” Their wines showcase the varietal diversity of the Willamette Valley, only utilizing the more rare and unique varietals planted there. 2021 was their first vintage, only making 400 cases (with a newborn baby!) with Draga making the relief prints for the labels. This, a single vineyard Gamay Noir from their second vintage, shows their winemaking skill. It’s a deep and brooding version that will go over well at your friendsgiving potluck.

Domaine Gramenon - Côtes-du-Rhône 2022

As a former nurse (who often favored natural remedies), Michèle Aubéry-Laurent has come to treat her vines with the same care, conviction, and passion as she had for her former patients. She and her husband, Philippe, a talented and edgy vigneron who liked to push the envelope, bottled their first vintage of Southern Rhône wine in 1990. Nine years later, Philippe was tragically killed in an accident, leaving Michèle with 3 kids, vineyards, and a winery to take care of on her own. Crushed but undaunted, she rose to meet the challenge and boldly picked up where they left off, finding her own creative voice over the years. Today, she and her son Maxime François farm over 60 acres of vines Biodynamically. This, their most iconic bottling, is 100% Grenache from the Southern Rhône but certainly doesn’t drink like its neighbors (Châteauneuf du Pape, Gigondas). Instead, Poignée de Raisins—which translates enticingly to a “fistful of grapes”—has gone on to influence countless contemporary growers across France who embrace a similar style. Drink with someone who builds you up, and tell your mom you love her!

Giulia Negri - Langhe Nebbiolo 2022

Born in Palermo, raised in Rome, and educatedin Milan, Giulia came to Piedmont in 2011 at theage of 24, traveling back and forth to farm herfamily’s vines and make some of her first wineswhile still in school. Her first full vintage was in2015 and her popularity has exploded since; shewas featured on Stanley Tucci’s “Exploring Italy.”She is a self-described “curious, cheeky” girlthat gets along better with garagista winemakerswho make tiny amounts of wine without dogmaor convention. However, she still values theknowledge and techniques of the talentedwinegrowers who made Piemonte famous. Shecalls her philosophy of simultaneously following tradition and revolution “BaroloGirl.”Active since the 1800’s, Serradenari is her family’s farmhouse and farmland at thehighest elevation in Barolo in the village of La Morra. Here is where she makes whatsome people consider the prettiest wines coming out of Piemonte. This is herentry-level Nebbiolo, a stunningly pure wine. Both serious and jovial, enjoy thisincredibly special bottle before doing something that scares you, like quitting your jobto move to Italy! (No, I didn’t, yet…)