Gorge Tour
As I mentioned in my first post, my affection for wine began in the Columbia River Gorge. I still remember my first wine tasting stop -- a quick run into the Maryhill winery to pick out some wine to go with dinner with the in-laws. I tried several, and didn't appreciate them as much as I probably would now. However, my palate did enjoy their Fort Rock Red, which, while still a bit dry for my tastes back then, still provided enough sweet flavor to keep me interested.
But my affinity for wine didn't really begin until my parents took my wife and I (with our 4-year-old tagging along) to the
Cathedral Ridge winery in Hood River, OR. They had several varieties, and I'd have to look back at my wife's wine journal (I'm going to get her to sign up on Blogger so she can join me 'round here) to see the entire list that we tasted, but I do know they had the standard Chard, Riesling, Merlot, Cab, etc.. My wife and I fell in love with their Halbtrocken, and that pushed us over the edge into exploring the world of wine snobbery.
I remember feeling out of place, in spite of having had the first experience a few weeks earlier at Maryhill. I was starting to catch on that when you're tasting wines, you start from light to dark. I learned about the "dump bucket" and how it was actually OK for you to dump a wine that you didn't like (and, really, even wines that you DO like -- probably a wise choice when you're navigating down steep, curvy, one-lane roads like the approach to the Wind River Cellars winery). I'm still figuring out when the best time is to rinse out your glass between varieties. Fortunately, the wineries we've been to have been not so into wine snobbery that they expect neophytes like us to know the ropes. The
FAQs at sites like Wine Press Northwest help out a lot, too!
After sampling the varieties at Cathedral Ridge (and purchasing two bottles of Halbtrocken, and another white variety that I've since forgotten which), we ventured up the hill to
Pheasant Valley. They were sampling all their varieties, and the vitner for
Viento was also set up in the corner of the Pheasant Valley tasting room. Whatever resistance I had towards becoming a wine snob completely evaporated when the Pheasant Valley Riesling first touched my tongue. They say people are suckered in by sweeter wines first, and then progress to the drier, bolder, more complex wines. Indeed I've traversed down a similar path.
Nowadays, I actually prefer the dry and complex varieties of Cabernet Savignon. Fortunately the
Dry Hollow winery makes an excellent Cab, and it's well worth the $16 per bottle. It's my recommendation for the best bang-for-the-buck wine out there. It tastes as good as some $50-80 Cabs I've had.
It's that good.
A Newbie
Hello!
Well, since Blogger doesn't limit you on how many blogs you can create, and since I'm interested in a wide variety of things, I've decided to tackle another one: Wine Snobbery.
Actually, I've been a bit of a beer snob since high school, when I developed my taste for beer while on a school trip to Germany. I could drink all the beer I wanted over there, but it was hard to come home with my newly-acquired palate. I still had 4 years until I could legally purchase my own beer, but when I was able to sneak some money to older friends and relatives to buy me some beer, I always chose quality over quantity.
When I finally turned 21, and could buy my own beer, I still had my memories of the distinct flavor of German ales, pilsners, bocks and märzens. I searched all the watering holes for beers that satisfied those cravings. The closest I could come to drinking German beer in Germany (not the lesser-quality exported stuff that, while decent, doesn't taste anything like it does in Germany) was the unfiltered, unpasteurized Belgian ales. After awhile, I developed a strong preference to drinking Belgian ales. Fortunatly, the rest of America has caught on, and you can find more than just Chimay in many stores now. And, there are several companies that are brewing "Belgian-style" ales. Imitation is definitely a good form of flattery.
Last November, however, my parents took me on a tour of some Columbia Gorge wineries. Actually, I'll take a step back a bit. One of my blogging buddies (from Walla Walla) was always talking about drinking Merlot, and we had several discussions around wine and Belgian ale. He agreed to try some Belgians and I agreed to try some wine. So, technically, I dipped my toe into the waters of wine snobbery around the time that I stopped at the Maryhill winery to choose some wine for dinner with the in-laws -- a few weeks BEFORE my parents took me on my first dedicated wine tour.
Nevertheless -- it all started in the Columbia River Gorge (the REAL Gorge -- not "The Gorge at George" where the concerts happen). I'll share more of the story later, but my foray into the world of wine snobbery started with the wines of the greater Hood River/White Salmon/Bingen/The Dalles/Maryhill vicinity. Several wine tasting trips, and a few hundred dollars spent on wine later, here I am to discuss how to become a wine snob.
So, this blog will be my journal that captures my journey into wine snobbery. Since beer is more fattening than wine, I'm deciding to transfer my indulgence into alcoholic beverages from good beer into good wine. Of course, even a good Belgian costs a bit less than a good wine (though that's not always true), so the budget will have to be stretched a bit. But, if this place actually gets some readership, I'm hoping you'll help me develop my palate for wine, and my ability to distinguish a good one from a bad one. Of course, it's all subjective anyway, but still, there are methods and secrets to really enjoying a good glass of wine. I would like to know them!