Adventures in Winemaking Installment #6

We are still making wine, but the excitement of the wine club party and holidays placed winemaking on the back burner. It is about time we share our progress.

We left off in mid November when we were “punching down” the cap on our four buckets of Cabernet Sauvignon. Since then quite a bit has happened to our wine and I would like to mention a few particular milestones. The first big and possibly my favorite step was pressing our wine. In order to extract color we left our wine on the grapes skins for just over two weeks. The skins and seeds also contribute to the amount of tannin our finished wine will have. As we personally don’t have a press we purchased a cheese cloth, strained our wine through the cloth, and pressed with our hands the remaining berries. Although, our fingers were frozen we had a great time squeezing as much juice as possible. As luck would have it, we ended up pressing the very same day that Jean-Michel pressed his Cabernet Sauvignon, it made us feel like we were doing something right.

Check out this quick video of the day we pressed.


The second milestone, that is important to mention, is the completion of the fermentation process. In order to stop fermentation you must kill the yeast. There are a variety of ways to stop the fermenting wine such as Campden tablets, but we decided to get ours cold by placing it in large refrigerator. After a night in the cold we then experienced our third milestone, racking. Racking consists of removing the wine from the lees at the bottom of the bucket or the residue from the grapes. This will take place a number of times before our wine is finished. We also were transferring the wine from the four buckets to two five gallon carboys.


Now with our carboys full and our wine having gone through fermentation we had a few things left to do. The first is adding oak. Both Jen and I like slightly bigger and spicier wines so we decided to add a bit of French oak. As we don’t have a barrel the size we need, nor does Jean-Michel have barrels to spare our option was to use oak supplements. We quickly learned that there are a variety of oak enhancements to choose from. Jean-Michel was kind enough to offer us his sample kit. We had the choice of type of enhancement from staves, beans, chips, and rice, in addition to the choice of oak from Hungarian, American, and French and even the choice of toast light, medium and heavy toast. We chose to go with medium toasted French oak staves. Oak enhancements can be powerful so we have slowly added ours and continuously tasted the wine to make sure the oak flavor does not take over.

The next step in the process of making red wine would be to allow the wine to go through a secondary fermentation called Malolactic fermentation. This process is a bacterial fermentation that transforms the tart tasting Malic acid to the softer Lactic acid. The purpose is to stabilize the wine. We, however, have not started the Malolactic fermentation. The fermentation will only take place if the wine is kept at a warmer temperature. At the moment we are keeping our wine cold and have chosen to wait until later this winter or early spring to kick off the secondary fermentation. Our wine will remain in the cool warehouse and will be checked on periodically with tastings.

Stay tuned for more of our winemaking adventures in 2011!

Del Rio's Kitchen: Volume 2

Susie Moore had the winning recipe from our staff bake off for our December wine club party. Enjoy her wonderful recipe!

Not a Creature Was Stirring . . . .

Ingredients:

• Maraschino cherries with stems
• Chocolate chips (white, dark, or milk) depending on the color of mice you want or flavor you want.
• Sliced almonds (for ears)
• Frosting for eyes & nose (you can use store bought tubes)

Instructions:
Rinse cherries and dry very well – the chocolate won’t stick if the cherries are wet (roll them around on a towel) Melt chips in a double boiler over hot NOT boiling water. (It is important not to let any moisture invade the chocolate while melting or it will burn into a big glob.) Dip each cherry including part of the stem into melted chocolate and place on waxed or parchment paper. Using some of the melted choco., place 1 morsel on cherry for nose and nestle almonds behind nose for ears. Decorate with eyes and nose with a color of your choice. Chill until set and you are ready to eat.

Happy Birthday Rob!

A Del Rio Thanksgiving Meal

Wine and food have always been meant for each other. This week offers a significant opportunity and challenge to making the combination shine. Thanksgiving is a meal filled with a delicious variety of flavors often making the pairing of wine a slight challenge. Here are our recommendations for pairings for traditional Thanksgiving dishes.

White Wine
2009 Del Rio Pinot Gris
The light gold color of the Pinot Gris brings in the true varietal flavors of apple, pear with a touch of almond and vanilla.
The Pinot Gris would be a great wine to serve and start off your dinner. It pairs wonderfully with fresh veggies and green salad.

2008 Del Rio Chardonnay
This wine has a very nice weight to accompany its exciting crispiness.
Our Chardonnay would balance nicely with a crab cake appetizer or a base for your turkey. The wine would also compliment the creamy traditional green bean casserole.

2009 Del Rio Viognier
The nose displays aromas of peach, grapefruit and fresh mint flavors. On the palate the smooth texture is held up by the acidity with a slight lemon characteristic.
As many will tell you pair a white wine with a light meat and our Viognier is a perfect match for your turkey. It too will marry well with a green salad.

Red Wine
2009 Del Rio Pinot Noir
Our 2009 Pinot Noir has a bright ruby color and displays aromas of cherry, rosemary, and vanilla.
This delicate red is a traditional favorite to pair with a turkey dinner. Our 2009 Pinot is a great staple to have on every Thanksgiving table.

Dessert
2009 Del Rio Rose Jolee
Fragrance of honeysuckle and roses, this delicately sweet wine is the perfect partner for summertime fun! Aromas leap out of the glass in an explosion of peach and tangerine. The flavors of citrus balance well with the aromas and, a slight spritz completes this fun wine.
This wine is the perfect refreshment to the end of your meal. It can stand alone as dessert or be paired with your jello salad or sweet potatoes.

Cheers to a delicious meal surrounded by those you love. We hope you all will have warm and full bellies this Thanksgiving!

Visit our online store to purchase your holiday wine today. Enter coupon code: NovShip for free ground shipping. Excludes HI & AK.

Roam the Rogue: Fall Passport Tour

We are excited to announce our participation in the "Fall Passport Tour," Roam the Rogue. On Saturday, November 27th from 11:00am to 5:00pm take a tour of the Upper Rogue Valley Vintners. Join us as each of the Upper Rogue Valley winemakers introduce their newest wines and share their inspiration while paring delicious appetizers with some of the best wines from each of the participating wineries.

The following wineries are participating:
Agate Ridge Vineyard
Cliff Creek Cellars
Crater Lake Cellars
Daisy Creek Vineyard
Del Rio Vineyards*
Folin Cellars
Madrone Mountain Vineyard
RoxyAnn Winery

Tickets are only $25 per person and include a commemorative Riedel glass; plus delicious appetizers and wine tasting at all 8 participating wineries. Tickets are only available for purchase online. Click here to purchase tickets. Visit the Roam the Rogue website for more information including a tour map. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, taste@delriovineyards.com

*Del Rio will be pairing a delicious cheese soup with our 2008 Chardonnay. Watch the video below for the recipe. We also will be offering some wonderful Roam the Rogue six pack deals.

Del Rio's Kitchen: Cheese Soup

Home Winemaking installment #5

We are happy to say our Cabernet Sauvignon is in the fermentation process right now! It must have started over the weekend while we were away. I came to work on Monday and to my delight there was a “cap” in each of the buckets. The cap occurs when fermentation starts and the berries float to the top. Since we are making a red wine, we need to extract the color from the skins to develop the deep dark red character of a Cabernet.

To help extract the color, we need to “punch down” the cap. This process is quite simple, as you basically push the berries down to the bottom, keeping them moist at all times. This process should be repeated a few times per day; however we find that we can’t always make it out to our cellar for the second/third punch down. Lindsey was in Georgia on business so I didn’t have her with me on Monday to bounce questions off of but I did retain some information from our 4 hour crash course on winemaking. I remembered that we must never use wood in winemaking as it is too porous and could harbor bacteria, so I went searching for something made of stainless steel to punch down the cap. The best Jolee and I came up with was a stainless steel pipe I borrowed from the winery tool room. Today, Lindsey and I are now using a stainless steel spoon and we both feel that a potato masher would do a better job. We are still in the process of finding the perfect tool.


Meanwhile, we are analyzing our wine daily, taking brix measurements, ph and TA. We decided that it was time to add sugar as the juice had started fermentation and was dropping approximately 1° brix per day. The reason why we added sugar is that our brix at harvest were 21° and if we are to calculate 21 x .60=12.6% alcohol. We would like our wine to finish off with an alcohol of 13.8% so we will need to add approximately 3.25 pounds of sugar. The yeast will convert the sugars to alcohol, so the higher degrees of brix, the higher alcohol content your finished wine will have. To do this, we measured the granulated sugar into a stainless steel bowl and stirred in some of our fermenting juice to create a syrup.

Once the sugar was dissolved, we poured equal amounts of the syrup back into our buckets of fermenting juice and gave it a gentle stir. I’ve been wondering about the sugar since we added it. My mind is visualizing the yeast going bezerk over the amount of sugar and bubbling over the buckets and blowing off so much carbon dioxide that it splatters all of our cased wine.


Stay tuned to find out what happens next at L&J Cellars….

Home Winemaking installment #4 - Jen & Lindsey’s Cellar – No men allowed *

Wow, harvest has come and gone so quickly. I have to admit that Jen and I have been slacking in our commitment to our winemaking experiment. We luckily were informed that Wednesday was the last day of harvesting and just in time. Now, if we truly wanted to experience winemaking, we needed to head out to the winery and snag some of the year’s final grapes. Yes, we must be honest in that the idea of taking a short cut did entice us. We could grab some fermenting or fermented wine from the tanks in the winery. Our consciences got the better of us. Regretfully, though, neither the Viognier nor the Syrah were available as both were already fermenting.

We were able to get four buckets of Cabernet Sauvignon. It had gone through the de-stemmer, so we received buckets with both juice and grapes but, naturally, no stems. We began with the most important aspect of the process: analysis.


Brix – 21 degrees
pH – 3.45
TA – 7

Both the pH and TA are great. The only thing we would like to adjust is the level of brix. The reason is that brix measures the sugar content in the grapes, which during fermentation is turned into alcohol. Once fully fermented, a level of 21 degree brix will generate around 11% alcohol, a relatively low level for a red wine. Our goal will be to reach between 12 and 14% alcohol. To be able to reach this level, we will need to add sugar. It may seem strange to add table sugar. Despite the common assumption that this will turn the wine sweet, the added sugar will instead turn to alcohol during fermentation.



Our first step is to kick off this fermentation process. The grapes contain natural yeast and if left to their own accord, will ferment, but not quickly enough. So, we are adding yeast to speed up the progression. We pulled already acclimated yeast from tank #1 which had just been added to the Viognier. The juice was blended into our four buckets. Now it is time to wait for the process to begin. We cannot wait to share pictures of our fermenting Cabernet Sauvignon. We also hope to share with you our end result. Be warned, we are amateurs and have no idea how it will turn out, but we promise to keep you posted on all “J & L Cellar” tastings.



*The question on everyone’s mind is, of course, why “no men allowed?” According to French tradition, women are bad luck in the cellar. We are neither French nor bad luck, so we decided to set up our own shop in a small corner of the warehouse.

Happy Halloween!

Here is a fun video we quickly made on Hattie, the ghost of Del Rio Vineyards.



Have a sweet and safe Halloween! Click here for some sweet saving on Del Rio wine.

Rock Point Bridge Opening!

KTVL had a nice brief feature on the opening of the Rock Point Bridge.

Rock Point Bridge - Celebration

As the Rock Point Bridge celebration draws closer I find it fitting we learn a little bit more about the history of the bridge.

Bridge History

The Rock Point Bridge was unveiled in 1920, a time when Oregon's paved roads totaled only 620 miles and its designer, Conde B. McCullough, had barely settled in as Oregon's state bridge engineer. McCullough would later go on to leave a legacy of beautiful bridges along Oregon's coast. Both his trademark aesthetics and efficient, custom-designed spans are present in the Rock Point Bridge.

McCullough illustrated how form could complement function and the nearby landscape. Using a reinforced concrete deck arch, he designed a 505-foot span bridge over one of the rockiest sections of the Rogue River, hence the name Rock Point.
According to Historic Highway Bridges of Oregon, construction was a challenge: "Because of the great depth of water at the bridge location, it was impossible to build falsework under the main arch span. Thecontractor (Parker and Banfield, Portland) solved the problem by building a temporary wood truss span over the bridge to give support to the forms."

The bridge's south approach was replaced in 1953. In 2000, the Rock Point Bridge underwent expedited repair work to strengthen the crossbeams, which lifted a 10,000-pound weight restriction on the span.
For more information ab

out the rehabilitation work, visit the project
web site: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/REGION3/234_rock_point_bridge.shtml

Conde B. McCullough

McCullough arrived in Oregon in 1916 to teach engineering at Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University). A pioneer of the movement to create a well-planned American highway system, McCullough argued that bridges should be built efficiently, economically, and aesthetically. He became Oregon's state bridge engineer in 1919. His legacy of beautiful bridges lives today and most of his bridges are considered significant landmarks. Historical photographs of Oregon bridges are available online at the ODOT History Center:
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/CS/BSS/historycenter.shtml

SOURCE: Oregon Department of Transportation.

Home Winemaking Installment #3

Wow, what a difference a week makes. Today, Jen and I went out again to test the Viognier and our results are reflecting ripening grapes.

Check out our new data:
⁰Brix = 22
pH = 3.33
TA = 12
Taste = I can say “yummy” this time around. Not nearly as tart.

The numbers are looking better, however, still not quite time to pick.

Enjoy a few pictures of the "testing" process:

Measuring Brix with the refractometer.

Checking out our pH.

Jen attempting to pull a sample.

Lindsey is titrating to determine the TA.

Measuring the TA - Struck out twice before realizing we forgot the coloring agent (Phenolphthalein).

Yes, we got it to turn pink!

Restaurant Tips

Ordering a bottle of wine can be a process in a fine dining experience. The first step is to select the wine you would like with dinner and the second is to know what to do when your bottle of wine arrives. Snooth, a website devoted to improving the wine online shopping experience. Snooth is a great source for wine education. Recently they included a great article on wine service in restraints and the six steps to know and follow.

Check it out.

Home Winemaking Installment #2

⁰Brix – Ready or Not? - Determining Ripeness
How does a winemaker, viticulturalist, harvest intern, or wine enthusiast know when to pick the grapes? It boils down to four main categories: sweetness, acidity, pH, & flavor.

Here is our (Jen & Lindsey) first test of the Viognier: Jen picking and Lindsey squishing our Viognier sample.

Sweetness:The sweetness or sugar content of the grapes is measured in degrees ⁰Brix. Through the process of fermentation the sugar is converted to alcohol. The ideal level for Brix is different for each wine, whether red, white or dessert. The higher the sugar content, the higher the final alcohol content can be. For white wines, the ideal is between 21 and 23 ⁰Brix, for Red 23-25⁰Brix and as high as possible for dessert wines.Here, Jen is looking through a refractometer to measure the Brix. Our Viognier is at 20.5, which is not quite high enough.

pH:pH is both a microbial and chemical importance. It drives reaction toward or against the designated goal. The level of pH is incredibly important in producing a quality wine, and it is important to always monitor. The appropriate range for white is 3.2-3.5 and for reds 3.3 to 3.6.

Lucky for us, Nicolas, our new harvest intern, was in the lab and willing to help with our TA and pH testing. Our pH was at 3.31.

Acidity:The acidity in grapes is mostly Tartaric and Malic acids and some Citric, Acetic, and Suscinic acids. The acidity determines how tart the finished wine is and contributes to overall quality. Acidity is measure in g/L and at Harvest, should be between 7-9 g/L for whites and 6-8 g/L for reds.

Our TA was at 15, signaling our Viognier is not ripe enough.

Flavor: Flavors progress through the ripening process. The white wine grapes go from bean, veggie, and grassy flavors to citrus and then to honey and raisin. The red grapes start with a green pepper or olive flavor and transition to berries, fruit, and spice then ending with flavors of jam and raisin. All that said, each varietal has its own unique flavor profile.

The overall appearance and condition of the grape is also important to consider. There can be damage from birds, mold, or sunburn. If the grapes are not ripening or are falling apart, it is time to process. The weather also highly influences the schedule of picking. Cool, dry weather is ideal as cold fruit is the best.

The Viognier was quite tart. All measurements indicated that we need to wait to pick our viognier. We are looking forward to harvesting some fruit but will just have to keep watching and waiting.

SOURCE: Donovan, Linda, 2010 Home Winemaking Class, September 8 & 9, 2010

Drink Pink - Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Drink Pink at Del Rio. Support breast cancer awareness by purchasing Del Rio's Rose Jolee.

We are offering a 6 pack bundle of 2009 Rose Jolee for $60.00. For every bundle purchased, Del Rio will donate $5.00 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure project. The promotion will continue throughout the month of October.

Pink (Rose Jolee) Details:
Delightfully pink, with a fragrance of honeysuckle and roses, this delicately sweet wine is the perfect partner for fun! Aromas leap out of the glass in an explosion of peach and tangerine. The flavors of citrus balance well with the aromas and, a slight spritz completes this fun wine.

Composed of 80% Early Muscat, 10% Merlot, & 10% Malbec
Retail price: $15.00/bottle

The Breast Cancer Awareness Bundle is available for purchase in the Tasting Room and our online store.

Adventures in Winemaking

Jennifer and Lindsey go toe to toe with Jean-Michel and put their home wine making skills to the test.

We will attempt to document the experiment, the comedy, and hopefully the fine wine that comes with it.

Installment #1

Home Winemaking 101 Class

The OSU extension office in Central Point hosted a two night home winemaking class taught by local winemaker and owner of Pallet Wine Co., Linda Donovan. The class was a quick overview of both red and white wine making, with the end result being that students would be capable of making a total of 5 gallons of wine. Our first evening of lecture took us from harvesting, berry and juice composition, adjustments, to white wine making. Our second lesson delved into analysis techniques, red wine making, finishing, bottling and we ended the evening tasting some problem wines from previous attempts of novice wine makers.

Although, it was an incredibly quick tour of wine making, both Jennifer and I feel up to the challenge. The stumbling block may just be how much Jean-Michel is willing to tolerate in our invasion of the winery. We will begin small only selecting 6 gallons, which with spillage will most likely result in 5 gallons. 5 gallons translates to roughly 2 cases of wine or 24 bottles. So, what will we be harvesting? Something Red or White? We are not quite sure . . . whatever is ripe enough. I am voting for Syrah and Jennifer is pulling for Viognier. Maybe we will do both. Any suggestions?

We are hoping to have regular weekly updates. We also would love to hear any of your home wine making stories. Stay tuned for our first visit to the vines.

Back to School by Susie Moore

90 Points - Del Rio Claret

Monday evening we were given the good news, the 2007 Del Rio Claret was given 90 points by the Wine Spectator.

Wine Spectator is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertainment pieces. Each issue also includes from 400 to more than 1,000 wine reviews, which consist of wine ratings and tasting notes. All wines are reviewed in blind tastings, unless specifically noted, to reduce any potential bias.

Harvey Steiman, tastes and reports on a wide variety of wine types, but his primary areas of responsibility as a critic are Australia and the Pacific Northwest. Harvey Steinman describes Del Rio Vineyards 2007 Claret as “Smooth and velvety, nicely ripe with cherry and herb flavors carrying through against refined tannins. Lingers nicely on the deftly balanced finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2014.” –HS

Quick Factsheet:
Blend:
50% Cabernet Sauvignon
30% Merlot
10% Malbec
10% Cabernet Franc

Wine Making:
Aged 18 months in 60% French, 30% American, 10% Hungarian oak barrels, of which, 30% was from new oak.

Price:
$35.00/bottle *Wine Club members save 20%

Available online – purchase today!

Women Who Wine

Join the members of the Upper Rogue Wine Tour for this fun and exciting 2nd Saturday event - Women Who Wine. Sample wine and enjoy the fun themes located at each vineyard.

Themes:
Agate Ridge Vineyard - Sip & Shop
Cliff Creek Cellars – Spa Day
Crater Lake Cellars - A little bit Cheezy!
Del Rio Vineyards – Creative Cupcakes
Folin Cellars – The Joy of Olive Oil
LaBrasseur Vineyard - Chocolate Cravings

When: Saturday September 11th
Time: 11-5pm

Free Wine Tasting @ all locations
Click here for Upper Rogue Map!

End of Summer . . . stepping closer to harvest

August is almost over and summer is drawing to a close. Although, it is tough to say goodbye to summer we are excited about what fall and the harvest season has to offer. Harvest is looking like it will be a late start, we will be lucky if we can start picking in the third week of September. Here are a few pictures of pre-harvest preparation. Jason & Clayton Wallace are cleaning the bins used for grape holding and transportation.

An evening of fine wine, gourmet food, and fabulous people!

Saturday marked the 3rd annual Dinner Under the Stars for Del Rio. I was thrilled to be an attendee for the event. The evening started out a bit breezy with the mighty wind making its way through the park, a sure sign that a storm was in the evening air. We, however, were lucky and the lightning didn’t make it all the way to Gold Hill. Instead, we were treated with five star service and a fun event. Our menu was melt in your mouth good. Platon and the Jacksonville Inn dinner crew were all wonderful servers. In addition to great food, Platon offered a window into each meal and entertaining stories of Greek life in East Africa.

Jean- Michel provided the inside scoop to each of the wines paired with our courses. He glowed as he spoke describing the process and characteristics of the 2008 Estate Reserve Petite Syrah, our 2010 World of Wine Gold medal winner. The evening was topped off by the sounds of talented local guitarist, Michael Cruz.

In the end, debates ensued over the favorite course. Mine was the Salmon Cannelloni, Jolee loved the Rogue Creamery Blue Cheese gelato and Rob said hands down the ribs were the best. Overall it was a yummy and joyous occasion. I learned from fellow dinner guest Ron Semoni about raising and showing miniature donkeys, enjoyed my first compressed watermelon, and once again experienced Del Rio at its finest.

Please enjoy the following pictures and we hope to see everyone back next year!

Summer Concert - Clint Ingbretson

Summer Concerts – Friday August 13th – 6-9pm
Clint Ingbretson

Clint Ingbretson is an entertainer to the core. Mr. Ingbretson is well-renown in Oregon and has entertained thousands while performing and impersonating legendary artists such as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson, Dean Martin, Neil Diamond, Tony Bennett, Johnny Cash, Louis Armstrong and many others. People frequently comment that his voice and performances are often better than the original artists themselves… especially during his performances as Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. Outstanding!

We are excited to have Clint back this Friday. Bring a blanket and a picnic dinner to enjoy on our tasting room grounds. *Outside alcohol is not permitted

Cover Charge: $7.50 Public and $5.00 for Wine Club members

Harvest T-Shirts

Harvest is just around the corner and that means our 2010 Harvest T-Shirts are in! Check out this year’s design and order yours today:


The t-shirts are only $12.50 each. They are available for purchase at the tasting room or online.

Happy Birthday - Jean-Michel!

Today, we celebrate Del Rio winemaker, Jean-Michel’s birthday. This last birthday year has been filled with great new adventures for Jean-Michel and his wife Liza. Last fall they welcomed a new addition to their family with sweet baby Eloise. This year marks Jean-Michel’s third crush at Del Rio. He, like Eloise, has been a great addition to the Del Rio family. Jean-Michel came to Del Rio with a long history of wine making. Jean-Michel has been making wine since early childhood at his family's 50-acre vineyard and winery in France. He is well traveled and has produced wines from many grapes varietals and from various climates throughout the world. Before finding a home in Oregon, Jean-Michel traveled the world, working in Hungary, Australia, and South Africa. His French wine making style has blended well with Del Rio grapes, making each vintage unique and delicious.

Ice cream cones in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, we toast to another year of success and joy. Happy Birthday!

Blind Pinot Tasting – Picks Del Rio!

The Pinot American Brasserie, a soon to be opened (August 2nd) restaurant in Portland, has focused their wine list to highlight the best Pinot Noirs Oregon has to offer. In order to build their premier wine list the Brasserie teamed up with the Oregon Wine Brotherhood for a two-day blind tasting of 246 Oregon Pinot Noirs.

“We sent out a ‘Call for Pinot’ to all Oregon wineries in May, and were thrilled with the enthusiastic response,” says Bill King, Executive Chef/Partner of Pinot American Brasserie and longtime Brotherhood member. “The restaurant is honored to tap into the Brotherhood’s expertise, and bring some added excitement to our extensive Pinot Noir selection.”

Source: http://www.pdxfoodpress.com/

The partnership turned out a 36 Pinot wine list and we are so very excited to announce our 2008 Del Rio Pinot Noir made the cut! We also are thrilled that the 2008 Chardonnay will be poured by the glass.

For more information on the new Pinot American Brasserie visit their website at http://www.pinotpdx.com/index.php

Here is a bit more on our 2008 Pinot Noir:
The vines that produced this high quality product are
grown in Block 7 of the vineyard. This is a wonderful site for Pinot Noir, consisting of predominately cobblestone soil allowing for excellent drainage. The 2008 harvest yielded 2.5 tons. This 100% Pinot Noir was aged for 12 months in 17% new French oak, 11% stainless steel, and 72% neutral oak. Fermented for 15 days on skins with 5 days of cold soak and malolactic fermentation occurred naturally in the barrel.

Tasting Notes:
This wine shows classic attributes of Pinot Noir from Burgundy with deep color, cherry, prune, blackberry, and vanilla aromas. The nose gives way to supple texture with violet flavors, impressive ripe tannins and a long finish.

To enjoy your own bottle of 2008 Del Rio Pinot Noir visit our online store today!

Dinner Under the Stars

This year marks our third annual dinner under the stars wine dinner. We are excited to share the menu prepared for us by the Jacksonville Inn. The five course meal is sure to be a hit, as each wine has been selected with care to offer the best possible dining experience. Tickets are on sale now and are available online or you can purchase though the tasting room.

Dinner Under the Stars - Menu

Presented by Del Rio Vineyards
Jacksonville Inn - Platon Mantheakis

House Cured Salmon “Caneloni”
with Lemon-Chive Cream Fraiche and
Crispy Potato
2008 Chardonnay

Compressed Watermelon Salad
with Aged Balsamic, Pickled Red Onions, Greek Feta and Chef’s Garden Micro Basil
2009 Rose Jolee

Chipotle Barbeque Baby Back Ribs
with Grilled Seven Oaks Farm Corn and Baby Arugula
2007 Claret

Cracked Black Pepper Crusted Filet of Beef
with a Wild Mushroom Brandy Sauce, Sautéed Potato Pearls and Baby Carrots
2008 Petite Syrah

Dessert
Rogue Creamery Bleu Cheese Gelato with a Cherry-Apricot Salad and Chef’s Garden Micro Lemon Mint
2006 Syrah Port

Details:
When: Saturday August 14th, 2010
Where: Del Rio Vineyards Park
Time: 7pm
Tickets: $75 - Click here to purchase

Contact us at the tasting room if you have questions - (541)855.2062 or email us at taste@delriovineyards.com

Wine Blending

Sunday, Del Rio hosted a Wine 102 blending course for our wine club members and had a great group of eager blenders. We blended three wines right from the tank: 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2009 Malbec, and 2009 Syrah. To kick off the event, Jolee provided a great amount of information for our blending preparation. The majority of wines are actually blends. All wines in the state of Oregon are able to be given a name of a single varietal if it contains 80% of that varietal. There may very well be a small portion of another grape blended with the wine. For example, our 2007 Merlot is a blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Malbec. The only exception to this rule is Oregon Pinot Noir. All Pinot Noirs must be at minimum 90% of the blend.

Each grape provides a different component in the blending process. The Cabernet Sauvignon offers structure and lasting tannins. The Malbec supplies a rich fruit taste and bouquet. Syrah provides a deep color and bold tannins for added longevity. The enjoyable part of blending your own wine is you can find the flavors you enjoy and experiment with each element from color and smell to taste. At the end of the day, every one of our blenders created their own unique blend. The class was fun and educational. Thanks to all who participated, we hope to see you again soon.

Here are a few pictures of Diana finding the right percentages and corking her creation.