2013 King Estate Oregon Pinot Noir

Happy Hump Day!  I just got back from the gym and now I've popped a pizza in the oven, so what wine to open?  How about a nice Oregon Pinot?  In this case it's a bottle that my friends brought last weekend and left for me (along with a water bottle and a sparkly hair apparatus), the 2013 King Estate Oregon Pinot Noir, so let's see how it is!

The wine is a bit lighter in color, with bright ruby color, classic Pinot.  The nose presents aromas of green grass, tar and that classic Pinot twang (which can best be described as a combination of tart cherry, burnt toast and barnyard).  The taste is pretty nice for a Pinot (and you know I'm not the biggest Pinot fan), with a rush of tart cherry, currant and some pepper spice that transition to some notes of tobacco and a hint of vanilla midpalate.  The finish is very nice, with a reprise of tart fruit on a long, smooth and dry finish, that seems to linger a bit.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, as it's a nice example of the varietal, but not spectacular,  This wine would pair well with a variety of dishes, from salmon to dungeness crab, to a classic pot roast.  But tonight, I'm enjoying this wine with a thin crust pizza with spicy sausage and caramelized onions, as the tart fruit in the wine is a perfect foil to the richness of the pizza.  Cheers!

2002 Woodward Canyon Barbera

So tonight's wine hails from one of my favorite wine regions, Walla Walla and the Columbia Valley of Washington state.  Now you'll recall I just returned from an epic adventure to Walla Walla wine country a couple months ago, but this bottle was purchased on my last trip through Walla Walla when I moved out to the Midwest back in 2004!  In fact, on this last trip I mentioned to the folks at Woodward Canyon that I still had a bottle of the '02 Barbera, and they seemed rather surprised and suggested I might want to drink it soon, as it might be well past it's prime.  So, last Saturday I decided to bring the bottle over to some friends for a wonderful dinner.

Well, thankfully the folks at the winery were way off on their assessment, as this wine turned out to be absolutely wonderful!  The color in the glass was deep ruby, and the nose was a wonderful mix of red fruit, burnt toast, leather and chocolate.  The taste started out with a wonderful mix of fruit, rich blackberries and ripe plum which transitioned to a smokiness mixed with cedar, black pepper and herbs midpalate.  The supple tannins formed a wonderful foundation for the long, dry, smoky finish.

We enjoyed this bottle with a lovely, Pacific Northwest sort of meal, consisting of cedar planked salmon with lemon and a variety of fresh herbs, some grilled beef tenderloin and a lovely selection of grilled veggies from my friends at Schuler Farms.  It was such a delicious meal, and the wine went along perfectly.  Overall, I would rate this one a solid 8.5, and I'd love to get more, but unfortunately that is no longer possible.  I guess maybe I'll have to wait another 8 years to open a bottle I bought on my last trip!