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Wine:
Fools'
Wines The cruelest month is tough on wine snoops. People turn loopy, wear goofy grins, can't be trusted to give straight answers to simple questions. It's ga-ga time in the Willamette Valley. While chunks of America's Midwest and East are still shoveling sidewalks and huddling at homefires, denizens of Western Oregon valleys have been sucked out of their houses by the strangely bright yellow orb in the normally leaden sky. Our pasty, pale-gray faces cannot resist the orb's curious warmth, even while our soft and doughy hands reach toward still-sodden earth, grasping for weeds, groping through blinding bursts of color — hyacinths, tulips, rhodies and azaleas, anemones and forget-me-nots, pansies and the last daffodils. Even the cultural wasteland of mass media, the reeking cesspool of Bush-league politics, the savagery of worldwide war, pollution and pestilence cannot fully suppress or deny the sappy whisperings of Oregon spring splendor. Lucky for us, good wine abounds, nearly as plentiful as dammit dandelions. Give a gander: Our Washington cousins make some decent wines, almost as good (in rare cases) as our own. And folks at Hogue Cellars, on the (go figure) north side of the Columbia, keep sending me samples, apparently opining I'll be impressed enough to boost them here. Well, farkles, I guess they have a point or two: for forward-fruit flavors and price-point value, these are really drinkable. Hogue 2003 Gewurztraminer ($9) is widely available and kinda tasty, with a sweet grapefruit palate suitable for spicy Asian dishes or stand-alone sipping. The wine is fermented in stainless steel, not soaked in oak, so all the flavors are clean and fresh, backed by some small percentage of residual sugar that imparts a roundness in the mouth. Hogue 2003 Columbia Valley Pinot Grigio ($10) may not be as serious or complex as some of Oregon's best pinot gris, but it's not intended to be; in calling this pinot gris by its Italian moniker, the Hogue marketeers clearly intend consumers to grasp a stylistic denotation: stainless-steel fermentation, crisply dry finish, focus on fruit flavors of fresh pears, green apples, hints of spice. This is quaffable vino, complementary to crab, smoked salmon, white cheeses, a wine to take on an early picnic and cool in a still-frigid stream, then toss back with pleasure and not a lot of conversation (about the wine). Point made. The first rush of spring warmth calls out lush salads, greens still trembling from fields, maybe color-contrasted with slices of first strawberries, marking the return of lingering light and long sunsets. Pretty wines make happy matches. Try the little-known and vastly under-appreciated chenin blanc grape. Bethel Heights Vineyards (Salem area top-shelf winery) used to make one of the prettiest versions of this wine in the market; sadly, they decided to take out the vines and plant the more complex pinot blanc — which is beautiful, but I miss the little wine with the fresh face. Happily, other versions are still available. The French are still masters of this vin: Look for Monmousseau 2001 Vouvray ($8) in your market, and you'll have tagged a tangy white with aromas of flowers and green fields, flavors of pears and green melons. For a few pennies more, South Africa produces Kanu 2003 Chenin Blanc ($9) that's as charming as an adolescent who doesn't pretend to know it all. Spring cannot come without pinot noir, and no lover of the season and these wines should miss the fact that many makers are just now releasing reserve versions from the fine 2002 vintage. And soon now we'll begin to see first releases from 2003; from what we've tasted in barrels, the best of these will bring tears of joy. Right now, two bargains (for pinot noir) stand available: A to Z Wineworks 2002 Pinot Noir ($17.50) is touted as "the best ... under $20;" might be true, or close — medium body, bright flavors of cherries and raspberries, a touch of pepper — loverly, just loverly. Competitive at a little less is Torii Mor 2001 Pinot Noir ($17), again medium body, distinctive black-cherry pinot flavors and aromas with a pleasant earthy note, quite satisfying juice. For many, spring marks the last days for big reds and we really like Cline 2002 Red Truck ($9). The label alone is fun on the table, but the wine is a big, juicy blend of dark grapes like mourvedre and syrah, plus others, yielding rich aromas and flavors of berries and cherries, tingles of chocolate. Uh-oh, gotta go. Sun just broke out again. Must plant bulbs, shallots, onions, maybe send condolences to friends in Maine. Cya'll at Saturday Market! Hahahahahahaha!
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