Search Results - Save This Search

Wine Type Vintage Name Variety Locale Date Posted Score Helpful Comments Comment Date Community Score More...
Red

2018 WillaKenzie Estate Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

 more
Options

8/23/2022 - Palette49 Likes this wine: 92 points

Recently, we moved to Oregon and set about tasting and drinking Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley AVA and its several subregions. The pandemic had severely restricted our travel mobility and this seemed like a satisfactory backup plan. I was no stranger to Pinot Noir as I had spent a number of years in France and had often relied on Burgundy when choosing a wine.

Included in our Willamette Valley quest were some relatively expensive Pinots from exclusive wineries and some that were readily available from my local supermarket. I was rarely disappointed and often quite impressed.

Pinot Noir pairs well with a long list of dishes and culinary experts write clever articles and include their recommendations. I have no doubt they are spot on. However, I have recently taken to having a glass all by itself. In the evening, with Kathy, outside in the fresh air.

Yesterday, I opened a bottle of WillaKenzie’s 2018 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and poured two glasses. The grapes are sourced from multiple vineyards in the Willamette Valley. It’s summer, so it’s been hot during the day but the evenings have been cool. I let the wine just sit for a bit. We were in no hurry. We watched the sun begin to slip over the horizon.

Time to taste. Nice. Subdued oak. Moderately acidic. Gentle tannins. Not overpowering. The wine is mostly about dark fruit. I spent an hour savoring this glass. By the time of my last sip it was all about dried cherries and raisins. Time well spent.

  • Comment posted by Palette49:

    10/21/2022 8:56:00 PM - Nice! Thanks
White

2019 WillaKenzie Estate Chardonnay

 Willamette Valley more
Options

9/6/2022 - Palette49 Likes this wine: 92 points

Film Noir and Chardonnay. Seems Chardonnay pairs with everything. The 1941 film “The Maltese Falcon” directed by John Huston has actually been made three or four times. No doubt, Dashiell Hammett was relieved when they finally got it right. The first few versions were ridiculous.

Several years ago, I read Dashiell Hammett’s novel and came to realize that Mary Astor must have kept a copy in her pocket because she played the femme fatale role EXACTLY as Hammett had envisioned. She was terrific. And he provided Bogart with a lifetime of gestures and mannerisms all intended for the character of Sam Spade.

Watching classic movies with a glass of wine is time well spent. The similarities between wine and film are worth noting. Both may require patience before all is revealed and your experience is greatly enhanced if you really pay attention. Sometimes they age well. So here I go again: Lights out, roll film, glass of Chardonnay in hand, stream away.

I took a sip. Actually a big sip, and tossed it around. Tough guys are like that. But this wine was friendly, easy on the oak, but it still lingered pleasantly between takes. Lemons of course, and fresh flowers. I kept pouring. Could be a double feature.

Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Tough guy banter and clichés all around, but Sam Spade always had the best lines and the calm swagger. And now that I’m three glasses in, I was beginning to swagger a bit myself.

“Don’t be silly” Sam finally quips, “We’re sending you over, you’re taking the fall”. Who writes like that? Even Shakespeare got into the last act with Sam’s final scene with another take on… “the stuff that dreams are made of…”

I’m not making this up. It’s all there in black and white.

  • Comment posted by Palette49:

    9/6/2022 8:03:00 PM - touché

Loading wine details...
loading

×
×