In Piedmont, there are many, many enotecha. Wine shops or wine bars are scattered around Alba. But some are more special. Some are designated Enoteca Regionale. They showcase wines from local producers and many are housed in historic buildings or castles like the one I visited Monday.

Above you’ll see the photo of the castle of Grinzane Cavour. Cavour was an Italian statesman and not surprisingly, winemaker, back in the 1800s. The wine shop and tasting are on the first floor. There’s also a restaurant and museum in the building.

Being the first enotecha I’ve been too like this one I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I found this first one to be surprisingly large, and open. A woman at a counter up front greeted me and led me to one of several tasting bars. While there are literally hundreds of regional wines available on shelves to buy, on any given day what they will be tasting will be limited to a few selected bottles. On the day I arrived there was one Arneis, some red table wines I didn’t specifically make a note of and then three Barolo, a couple Barberesco and a Langhe Nebbiolo.

The photos here are of the ones I tried. First up, the Roero Arneis. The Roero is a wine region located to the north of Alba. It’s a crisp white wine that’s a little floral on the nose. Very refreshing and something nice to start with.

Up next the Langhe Nebbiolo. The Langhe is the hilly around and south of Alba. See my photo included at the bottom here. Everywhere you look, the hillsides are covered with vineyards. Much of it is Nebbiolo, which is the grape in all three of the red wines I tasted here.

The Langhe Nebbiolo was very nice. In fact, the favorite of the three I tried here. It was a rich red wine with an excellent structure though not too tannic. Lots of dark berry and cherry on the taste. Details here. The woman that was helping me with the tasting made a point of telling me this wine had what I gathered was a special designation from the ‘Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini di Alba’ (in fact the back label includes the award designation … I wouldn’t have otherwise remembered that name.) That’s the Italian way of saying: the Order of the Knights of the Truffle and Wines of Alba. I don’t know how much of such a distinction gets you but she seemed to think it was worth mentioning.

Next was on to the Barbaresco. Also of Nebbiolo, the wine can be a ‘Barbaresco’ if it’s produced in one of three towns: Barbaresco, Treiso and Neive. More on those places later. I headed in that direction on Tuesday. It also has to be aged at least two years (1 on oak).

Of the three, this Barolo was much more tannic than the other two. Which is interesting because after the fact I found a web site with information from the producer and it says the La Serra comes from soil and microclimate that produces “never excessive tannins”. (Even the knowledgable woman helping me that day said this was the most tannic of the wines I was trying that day. She also mentioned this as a young wine. She told me the year but I didn’t make note of it and it’s not evident on the photo I took.)

Like the Barbaresco, to be called a Barolo the wine has to have come from designated areas in and around Barolo. The number of towns is larger but the vineyards are those selected with the best soil and orientation. Additionally, the wine must be aged a min of 3 years.

For me, the Barolo would have been a lot better had I been having it with some meat or aged cheese.

As you can see, the weather was great that day and I just wandered the grounds for a bit and took pictures of the area. In every direction, it looked very much like the photo below. And seeing all these hills, my mind began to wander to the bike tour of the next week. Gonna be a lot of hills to climb.

Today has been the first full day in Piedmont and I’m beginning to feel a lot less like a zombie than yesterday. That’s my typical reaction to the timezone change though when I come to the EU. My body seems to go through a kind of withdrawal for at least a day and I can barely function. Much better today though.

Given that this area is the birthplace of the “Slow Food” movement and not to mention, that I’m on vacation, it’s perhaps appropriate and maybe poetic that my watch stopped today too. Maybe I should take the hint and slow down a little too.

Today there was nothing that really moved too fast. I got here all the way from Austin in the time it took my luggage to finally make the transfer from Turin. Patience… By the time it arrived though I was returning from a slow lunch.

Given I was waiting for the luggage to show, I didn’t venture too far to find lunch. I found Osteria del Vecchio Gallo a few blocks into the central part of Alba. They had a bunch of nice tables set up outdoors, it was beautiful weather and they seemed to have a pretty good crowd, so I found a table.

While I wish the photo was better, I obviously got the ravioli. To be specific, the “ravioli del plin burro e salvia”. Now let’s be honest. I didn’t really know what that was going to be. Ok, I at least knew the ravioli part. The “del plin” part turns out to mean a small filled ravioli. And the “burro e salvia” just means it’s covered with butter and sage. Something tells me I should be installing google translate onto my phone.

Lunch was a leisurely event and by the time I got back to my stay, my luggage was there. Cool. Off to a regional enotecha …

Day 3 of tasting in the Willamette Valley were all wineries I’d never been to. All based on recommendations though.

Winderlea

Winderlea had been recommended but based on reading in advance I realized they were not going to be open to the public over Memorial Day weekend and instead were doing a sit-down tasting event by appointment only. So I emailed and got us an appointment. I think they chose wisely. While new and modern looking the tasting room at Winderlea is pretty small and there’s very little parking. I imagine leaving it to chance might have been a pain for all concerned. As it was, it was leisurely and enjoyable.

As you can see, the weather was great and the tasting room opened up to a deck that overlooked the vineyards below.

Two of the wines had already been poured. On the left was the 2012 Winderlea Chardonnay. On the right, the 2013 Winderlea Rosé of Pinot Noir. The bigger glass were for the Pinot Noir to come.

They did a nice job of pairing the plate of snack with the wines. From left to right: a lemon parmesan tulle crisp, a wrapped grilled asparagus, some sautéed cremini mushrooms and then a rhubarb macaron. We were told the chef for the event was Tan Huynh though he wasn’t at the event that morning.

This was probably my favorite tasting event of the trip. The spot was great, the wines were good and the food and its presentation were done well.

My favorite wine here was the 2012 Winderlea Crawford Beck Pinot noir. From the tasting notes: “nose of savory dried herbs, lavender and fresh earth”. For me, definitely a lot of cherry and cranberry on the taste.

antica terra

A couple of people that morning – one at breakfast and the other a person at our table at Winderlea – had recommended we give antica terra a try. It was the sort of place that you could easily just drive by. The tasting was done in more of a warehouse type of building. The recommendations didn’t steer us wrong though. Very nice wines. Here, I think my favorite was the 2012 Antica Terra Aurata Chardonnay. At $75 a bottle probably not one I’d get on any kind of routine basis though.

Alexana

I only took a few notes at Alexan. Yet another Rosé of Pinot Noir here as you can see and there really wasn’t one of those from anyone I didn’t like. Favorite from there though was the 2012 ‘Single Clone Pommard’ Pinot Noir.

Lemelson

I snagged no photos at Lemelson. My notes tell me I liked the 2012 Chestnut Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir the best of their offerings though Lemelson was a little frustrating. While other wineries had planned things in a way that the holiday weekend crowd moved along well, things were a little chaotic at Lemelson.

Soter

By contrast, Soter had set up stations throughout the winery and had set up tables out in back for the crowd to flow out to. As you can see in the photo, a pretty good crowd at Soter. Sadly I didn’t take any notes here that I could find but I remember they had some of the best snacks of anyone that afternoon!

My notes from Day 2 of tasting in the Willamette Valley this year are a little more sketchy than Day 1. For example, I know we visited De Ponte Cellars but for the life of me, I can’t seem to find any info I took with me from that tasting – or any photos. This is what happens when you take too long to jot down your notes. But I do have some of my other notes and memories so I’m going to jot a few here.

1st stop that Saturday was Domaine Serene.

But first, a quick sidebar. It took a fair bit less time than I imagined to drive up to Domaine Serene so we just drove around the hills for a bit before our 11am appt. (Previous visits had suggested there would likely be a lot more traffic on the highway than we ever encountered on this trip, even though it was a holiday weekend.) As we went down one of the gravel roads near De Ponte we happened upon a couple of older women along the side of the road. One was down on the ground and the other was trying to help the other woman up. As we went by it was clear the [very] old woman on the ground was in some distress. She had a cut on her head too. So we stopped to lend a hand. The old woman had taken a tumble in the gravel and her daughter wasn’t able to get her upright to walk the quarter mile or so back home. So, we helped her into the car and drove her up the road and helped her into a chair. Other than a little sore – and frail to begin with – I think she was fine. Our good deed for the day.

Domaine Serene

Domaine Serene has wines that you can routinely find here in Austin, even at HEB grocery. So I’d had some Pinot Noir from here before and loved it but despite previous trips that had me a stones throw away, I’d never managed to visit. So, this one I actually planned in advance, and bought what seems to me in hindsight to be pretty expensive tasting reservations. Advance reservations were $40/person. For that you got to taste 6 wines and there was a plate of cheese/snacks that accompanied.

As you can see, the tasting room at Domaine Serene is a large and kinda upscale place. So if nothing else the experience there was nice. We had a private table and someone was assigned to us to lead us thru the tasting. I should have gotten her name but didn’t. She was very knowledgable and a good guide thru the 6 wines. There were two Chardonnay, 3 Pinot Noir and one Rosé.

The Chards in Oregon tend not to be the big oaky and buttery type you’ll get from Calif. So I personally tend to like them better. We started with the 2012 Evenstad Reserve Chard. Winery tasting notes say it “shows complex aromas of citrus blossom, stone fruit, nutmeg and crushed stone”. Despite all that I made a note of how much oak I was getting on it and while I liked this wine I preferred the 2nd of the Chards, the 2011 Etoile Vineyard, better. As a single vineyard wine this one immediately adds $20. 😉 Tongue in cheek of course but I did like this one better. Winery notes: “exhibits the most Chablis-like profile of our of Chardonnays. The aroma boasts … minerality, lime zest and flint, leading to green apple and citrus flavors”. My notes added ‘lemon zest’. I liked this one a lot.

Our next tasting were of three Pinot Noir. The 2011 Yamhill Cuvee, the 2011 Evenstad Reserve and the 2011 Jerusalem Hill Vineyard. While I enjoyed all of them, I can’t say any of them blew me away.

Lastly there was the “r” Rosé. The winery notes on this one say it’s a “proprietary blend that offers the exotic complexity one might find in a Bandol Rosé. The intriguing aroma profile offers notes of citrus blossom, fresh strawberries and passion fruit”. Definitely tasted like something from southern France and yet the $35 price tag was out of line with a comparable and quaffable Rosé imported from that region. As much as I enjoyed this one I’m not going to pay $35 for a pink wine I could just as easily find/enjoy that’s <$15. I preferred the Rosé from Stoller the day before.

White Rose

Just down the hill from Domaine Serene is White Rose Estate. I wanted to return to White Rose based on a previous visit a couple years ago. At that time I logged it as being my favorite Pinot Noir tasting I did on that trip. I was equally happy with the choices this time around and while the 2012 Luciole Vineyard and 2011 Marsh Vineyard Pinot Noirs were awesome, I ended up taking home a 2011 Neo-Classical Objective Pinot. I’ve subsequently found this article about where the name comes from.

The photo here is of the winemaker, Jesus Guillen, at White Rose. He did not appear to be a man of many words but it was nice of him to sign the bottle I bought. When I finally get around to opening it I’ll have to come back and find this photo.

Archery Summit

I don’t have notes of the wines at Archery Summit but the wine cave was cool to visit. I snagged this photo on the way in.

Sokol Blosser

We’d been told by multiple people to check out Sokol Blosser. In part, the recommendation was based on checking out the new tasting room. Since the old bldg is still there it’s pretty clear that the new one is 3 or 4 times as large as the old one – with a much more modern design. You can see it in the photo below. The deck out front made for a nice place to just chill out for a while.

Of the wines here, the 2011 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir was my fav. “black cherry, raspberry, cola, cassis”. The 2013 Estate Rosé of Pinot Noir was enjoyable as well.

Dinner later that evening was at La Rambla back in McMinnville. This was a return visit and just as good as I remember. Enjoyed all the food but those fried green beans were killer!