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Pies in the Sky
Eugene pizza makers are a slice above the rest.
By Melissa Bearns

For years, Chow featured a section called Triple Scoop. A writer would sample something small, even snack-sized, from three different locations around town then review, compare and contrast. We're not sure why the tasty tradition fell by the wayside, but we're bringing it back and we're starting with an old favorite: pizza. Welcome to Triple Slice.

For pure novelty, amazing combinations you'd never try at home and straight-up pizza creativity, Pizza Research Institute (PRI) takes the pie. Tucked away near the corner of 13th and Lawrence, PRI has made a name for itself among pizza enthusiasts for their heaping slices loaded with goodies. You won't find combinations like pear and ricotta or toppings options that include baby corn, peaches, or buttermilk-poppyseed dressing anywhere else in town. In 2004, Eugene Weekly readers voted PRI one of the best pizza joints in Eugene.

An example of PRI's Chef's Choice.

Founded by Will and Usha Boise in 1997, the space is small and intimate. You're right there with the guy at the front taking orders and baking the delightful herb dough. They must put the dough oven up front intentionally, because it fills the space with a wonderful aroma. Standing at the counter, one customer remarked, "That herb dough is amazing. A friend of mine is coming to visit from Chicago, and I told him the first place we're coming is here."

Part of the PRI philosophy involves a meatless existence — they don't serve any carnivorous concoctions. But with so many interesting toppings to choose from, even the meat-and-potatoes crowd will be happy. For the PRI crew, the creative options are a way of life. "This is an extension of who we are," Will Boise said. "Four of our six employees are directly related to us. This is our family and we like to keep it fun and interesting. If someone has something they want to try, the chef's choice makes that possible because even if that item doesn't work, there's still a lot on the pizza." One topping that never quite made it was cactus leaves. Yup, those crazy kids at PRI will try anything.

For the authentic PRI experience, sample a slice of the chef's choice at least once. The night we visited, we were treated to a mountain of vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, lightly marinated eggplant, tomatoes, onions, ricotta, pear, chanterelle mushrooms, roasted potatoes and red peppers. Don't expect to put down a whole pie when you visit PRI — we could barely finish two slices.

It arrived at our table with the toppings arranged like a mandala. The fresh veggies were delicious, but taking a bite of the towering slice was challenging. I found myself dissecting it, munching happily on my favorite toppings. The slightly thick crust was necessary to support all the melted cheese and vegetable deliciousness on top. The light and flavorful sauce with hints of oregano, basil and garlic nicely complimented the veggies and added a kick.

For an out-of-this-world pizza experience, there's no better place than Cozmic Pizza. All the ingredients and toppings are organic, from the flour to the sausage. You even have the option of a whole wheat crust.

Order à la carte from a long list of toppings or choose one of their chef-tested, customer-approved combos. If you like pesto, I highly recommend the Full Moon pizza on a whole wheat crust with sausage. Something about the combination of pesto, mozzarella, roasted garlic, mushrooms and meat makes this pizza one of the best I've ever eaten. If pesto isn't your thing, other options include the Odysseus (spinach, artichoke hearts and feta) or the Orion (pepperoni, sausage, red onion and kalamata olives).

But back to the luscious Full Moon. The crust is crispy where it should be and packed with so much flavor you could eat it all by itself. Drizzled with olive oil and just salty enough to bring out the light, fluffy oven-baked flavor, it won over even the hardened white-bread skeptics at the table.

Moving upward in our slice, we get to the pesto. Whatever pesto Cozmic Pizza uses, they've figured out that when it comes to this element, less is more. Without any of the nasty oils, fillers and thickeners you often find in store-bought brands, the flavors of pungent basil, virgin olive oil, salt and pine nuts blend together forming a perfect compliment for the next layer: the cheese and toppings.

The sauteed crimini mushrooms add a slightly smoky, rich flavor that blends with the mouthwatering roasted garlic, packing a subtle punch in every bite. The organic sausage is also delicious, light, lean and full of tasty goodness.

Ambrosia's El Diavolo

Last but not least, our search for the perfect slice took us to Ambrosia. It doesn't jump to your mind when you think pizza? Well, it should. First of all, it's got the best atmosphere and ambiance of any pizza-serving restaurant we tried. With ornate lamps, dark wood, dim lighting, and nooks and crannies for intimate dining, this is the place to go if good wine and great conversation are also on the menu.

Pizza comes in one size: 10 thin, crisp, Italian-style inches. This is not a thick, doughy affair, sopping with sauce. No. The crust of Ambrosia's pizza is light and balances the crunch of the edges with the inner layer that supports the toppings. Ambrosia eschews the sweet, overbearing sauces you'll often find at mass-market pizzerias, which turn out pies conveyor-belt style. The simple mixture of tomato sauce, spices and salt is used the way you'd handle an amazing salad dressing — sparingly, to accentuate rather than override.

We tried two different combos: El Diavolo and El Greco. Both were amazing. El Diavolo (which means the devil in Italian) came loaded with some of the most delicious sausage to ever grace a pizza. A wonderful change from greasy hunks of overly seasoned meat one is usually served, the sausage on El Diavolo was much finer in texture as well as flavor. Almost ground, it was evenly distributed over the entire pizza, adding a hint of smoke to each juicy bite. Along with the sweet red peppers and red onions, every slice was perfectly balanced flavor perfection.

El Greco

The El Greco was a nice contrast, topped with feta, basil and tomatoes. Bursting with just-picked-from-the-garden freshness, the slight sweetness of the tomatoes offset the pungent feta and savory basil.

Whether you choose the crazy and creative slices at PRI, the organic and tasty toppings at Cozmic, or the truly Italian experience at Ambrosia, they'll do you right.

 

 

Laughing Planet Café Dishes Out The Goods
Organic, healthy and fast food on the go.
STORY BY VANESSA SALVIA - PHOTOS BY JAMES BATEMAN

With brightly-painted walls, a cheerful atmosphere and peppy music playing in the background, Laughing Planet Café is a welcome choice for a fast but healthy meal. The menu features unusual options such as barley and quinoa pilaf, non-GMO corn chips and even plantains. It's not typical restaurant fare, but Eugene café-goers rejoice in the organic choices. Business is hopping just six months after the grand opening in August 2004. Owner Richard Satnick said, "People are so happy that we're here, they almost hug us!"

Steve, manager of Laughing Planet Café, gets his five fruits and vegetables daily.

Satnick opened the original Laughing Planet Café in Bloomington, Ind. in 1995. A second location in Portland followed in 2000. The idea behind the first café was to appeal to bikers and other athletes who wanted fast, healthy, affordable and portable meals. The first burritos were designed to fit inside a bicycle's waterbottle holder.

"What I had noticed is that people who are serious and active, and people who train a lot, want to eat more intelligently," Satnick said. "But the options just aren't out there on a quick-service basis. I wanted to use methods of fast food delivery, but use clean, wholesome, nutritious food instead."

Satnick buys organic and locally-grown food wherever possible, which has been harder than he expected. Navigating the rocky terrain of industrial food production and distribution is a challenge. "Most of the people you order from in the restaurant world are not clued into organics or locally-grown food," Satnick said. "So finding out where things come from and what's in the products you're trying to purchase is hard."

The biggest challenge has been finding organic poultry. Organic chicken costs almost twice as much as commercially-farmed chicken, and Satnick is reluctant to charge the high prices necessary to offer organic chicken regularly. "Sooner or later we will solve this problem," he said. "But the biggest challenge we're facing is the whole system."

Right now Satnick can't offer certain menu items he'd like to, but that could change in the near future as the café grows. For example, he'd like to use organic seitan produced by a Vancouver, B.C. company, but his local distributor won't stock it now because the demand isn't big enough. Satnick hopes to open more locations and when he does, he said he'll be able to use a whole palette.

Until then, continue to expect more of the same: creative, tasty, healthy, food that's easy to carry and even easier to eat. "I'm also a grab-and-go, street-food kind of guy," Satnick said. "I have too many things to do to sit down and do the slow food thing. Someone reviewed us in Portland recently and called us 'slow food sensibility meets fast food efficiency.' That encapsulates what we are better than anything else."    

 

 

 

Time For Thai
Ta Ra Rin finds the right recipe.
BY MELISSA BEARNS

Restaurants have come and gone from 1200 Oak St. faster than New Yorkers file through the revolving doors of their office buildings at rush hour. But Ta Ra Rin Thai Cuisine may have found the recipe for success where others have failed — good food, good prices and excellent service.

The well-lit dining area, with its cushy booths and wide tables, makes up for its lack of intimacy with a laid-back feel well-suited to diners looking for a relaxed, casual meal and families with kids of all ages.

Ta Ra Rin's Fancy Eggplant

Skip the appetizer sampler and order the best item included on it instead: the Chicken Satay. Lightly marinated in a teriyaki BBQ sauce with a hint of garlic, the chicken is juicy and flavorful, especially when dipped in the wonderfully mild peanut sauce. The Royal Pumpkin is an excellent vegetarian choice, served piping hot, fried in a tempura-like batter until it's a crispy golden brown. Luckily this appetizer can stand on its own because the lackluster dipping sauce that comes with it does little to enhance the pumpkin's subtle, earthy and sweet flavor.

Thai food doesn't usually inspire visions of leafy greens and salad, but Ta Ra Rin does it right when it comes to raw veggies. The cucumber salad has a lightly sweetened dressing that brings out the flavor of the cucumber and adds a hint of spice. The green papaya salad was one of the best I've had. With a well-balanced blend of tart lime, sweet vinegar, pungent fish sauce and the spicy bite of red chilis, it complimented the delicate, crisp, white, thinly-sliced papaya.

Throughout the meal the servers were attentive yet unobtrusive. The food was served quickly, making Ta Ra Rin a good choice for lunch during a busy business day, as well as dinner. Dirty dishes disappear. Water glasses stay full. And each course arrives just as you finish the last one.

The Fancy Eggplant was the highlight of the meal, both in quality and presentation. It appeared from the kitchen trailing fragrant steam on a lovely green plate that looked like a giant leaf. The plate accentuated the inky purple of the eggplant, the dark green of the fresh basil and the deep red of the sweet peppers. A mildly spicy dish, the sauce was a delicate blend of basil and garlic, with chili paste and a hint of sweetness that brought out the flavor of the eggplant. Thoroughly cooked but still tender and firm, the texture of the eggplant was a perfect contrast to the crunch of lightly sautéed peppers and onions.

The Pad Woon Sen was unexciting with glass noodles that overwhelmed the subtle flavors of the mushrooms, peppers, green onions and thinly sliced beef. With hints of ginger and garlic, this dish lacked spice and flavor, especially compared to the others.

Save room for dessert and order the Crispy Bananas with Coconut Ice Cream. Made from scratch at the restaurant, the creamy, light ice cream is worth a trip to Ta Ra Rin all by itself. But when you combine it with the slices of banana, fried inside flaky square pastries perfect for dipping into the ice cream, this dessert is pure heaven.

Ta Ra Rin is open for lunch from 11 am-3 pm and for dinner from 5-10 pm.

 

Barely Legal
WINE 101
By Christine Mathias

I had just returned from Italy where my family and I toured the Chianti wine region of Tuscany. As my aunt sipped a Brunello and then held a half-hour conversation with the wine maker about how the French oak barrels really bring out the flavor, I stood humbly behind her trying to understand their jargon. I nodded along while they described in exquisite detail each flavor on their palette.

When I got home I had a mission: Learn everything I could about wine. I bought a Wine Spectator magazine, only to find out that wine writers seem to be a part of a very prestigious culture. If you're still green, it's difficult to follow their articles. Then my editor suggested we tour the wineries. "Lot's of people are afraid to really get into wine because of that elite snobbery," she said. "You're 21, right?" Yes. Barely.

Was I scared to venture into the expert world uneducated? Just slightly. At first, when they lined up those tasting glasses, I worried I'd have to give my opinion of each bottle. But there's no need to fear wine experts. The employees at the wineries I visited were so willing to answer questions, they cheerfully would have explained the difference between red and white.

The "tour" took us more than 100 miles. If you don't want to devote an entire day to touring the wineries, you can visit the three in town (See Lance Sparks' article) for tastings and an excellent Cliff Notes wine education. I stopped at just one, LaVelle Wine Bar & Bistro, owned by Doug LaVelle who also operates the local vineyard by the same name. There I sampled both Pinots, the regular and the vintage select, as well as their Merlot.

The wine was tasty, but the best part of the visit was talking to LaVelle, who has an attitude toward wine that I can really get behind. "What I hate is when you walk into a tasting room and the guy behind the counter is looking at you like, 'I know something you don't know, and if you're really nice I might tell you,'" he said. "Wine should be fun."

LaVelle works hard to make wine into a full social experience complete with music and food. He's got a wine club with more than 800 members and throws parties and events year-round out at the vineyard. He's all about the perfect pairings of wine and different dishes too. He just invested $10,000 into the kitchen at the bistro so they can offer a full menu of foods, served in small portions so you can try more than one.

I learned that Cabernets and Merlots are more complex than Pinots, best served with red meat such as a thick, juicy steak. A Pinot, on the other hand, can support the richness of the steak, but will also pair well with tomato-based pasta sauces or even salmon.

We could have stayed all day, but it was time to hit the open road and take the full tour. Just past Veneta, Territorial Highway is home to six functioning Oregon wineries and five more lie within the rolling hills nearby. I went to three of those wineries.

I had fun. More importantly, I realized you don't have to be able to pick out the "notes of chocolate and smoke" in a Chianti Classico or the "elegant array of cream and fruit flavors" in a Chardonnay to develop your own taste for the wide variety of wines.

Located up a winding gravel road off Territorial Highway, Secret House Vineyards lives up to its name. After initially missing the sign and the turn, we finally made it to the small aluminum house the color of split-pea soup that serves as their tasting room. The house is nestled in a grove of overgrown trees and peeks out onto a majestic landscape of rolling hills. On the December day I visited, mist seeped through the trees, pouring over the adjacent hilltop.

The Chappel family has owned and operated Secret House since 1986, but their first major wine production came in 1991. Today four employees turn out 5,000 cases of wine annually. "We wear a lot of hats," said General Manager Jana West, with the kind of chuckle that tells you it's not just a lot of hats, it's a lot of work. The official winemaker, 23-year-old Chad Dalton, gets plenty of help.

When I asked West to tell me some wine basics, she suggested wine festivals for the beginner. The Secret House holds a Wine and Blues concert series in August, and participates in the annual Newport Seafood and Wine Festival, where more than 40 Oregon wineries congregate for sampling and music. "Wine is an acquired taste," West said, "so gateway wines [introductory wines] would be sweeter." West suggested Riesling, Muscat and Gewürztraminer to start off a wine newbie because they're all sweet white wines without the tannins, which create the bite in a typical dry white or red wine. Tannins form when yeast ferments and they give the wine a "chalky" aftertaste, often described as dry.

"We're in Pinot country," West said, meaning this environment is where Pinot grapes grow best. "The grapes like to be cool at night, which means that Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris are good here." The long growing season, cool nights and clay-loam soil of Oregon produce some of the best Pinot Gris, a mutation of the Pinot Noir grape that probably originated in the Burgundy region of France in the Middle Ages. Noir, I learn, is a French word meaning black, and gris means gray.

Behind the tasting room, steel vats store hundreds of gallons of wine. There I met the grounds keeper, one of those multiple hat-wearers. He was going though the tedious process involved in making one of the Secret House Vineyards' most prized wines: a unique sparkling red wine called Early Muscat.

He removed each bottle from a wooden holder that looked like a gigantic slice of Swiss cheese, raised the bottle over his head, then swung it down. "You have to shake the bottles after the second fermentation," he said. "And twist the bottles each morning." The process moves the dead yeast from the bottom of the bottle to the top so it can be filtered out.

Hinman Vineyards/Silvan Ridge was our next stop. In production for 25 years, Hinman/Silvan is the oldest vineyard in Lane County, and the 14th oldest in Oregon. When the Chambers family bought it in 1979, they adopted Carolyn Chambers' maiden name, Carolyn Silvan, and added the Silvan Ridge line of wines. Silvan Ridge is known for its reserve wines, which means the "best-of-the-best" grapes are used, while the Hinman Vineyard label has cheaper "easy sippers but not as complex."

The 15 winemakers and cellarmates at Hinman/Silvan harvest enough grapes to produce 25,000 cases of wine each year. The five acres, with row upon row of grape vines, stretch endlessly under an open sky. Manager Angela Bennett said that the landscape is even more beautiful in the summertime when the hills are in bloom. They host a Labor Day Celebration, recently renamed from Jazz on the Vine to accommodate a larger variety of music, in the natural grass amphitheater.

Bennett and I moved to a room painted deep red. With a crackling fire and long wooden tables, the room was reminiscent of a great hall from the days of King Arthur. Then she led me on the tour.

We walked through the cellar doors, where the thick, sweet smell of balsamic vinegar overwhelmed me. Stainless steel vats holding 8,000 gallons of wine towered over us. After "crush," wine lingo for harvest, the wine is temporarily stored in plastic vats, then moved to the stainless steel containers, which regulate their temperature while they ferment. The Muscat vats are so cold, they're covered in a thick layer of frost.

In another room, French oak barrels, which hold enough wine to fill 26 cases, were piled 40 feet high. The wine sits in the barrels for ten to 18 months. The French oak adds the necessary flavor to the wine, but the process is costly: Each barrel costs $600 to $800 and lasts only six years.

Brian Wilson, the winemaker, looks like a young Harrison Ford with glasses and gray hair. He was up at the top of the barrels on his forklift tasting the wine, a process they call "quality control."

Then Scott Frietas, the brew master, appeared from somewhere among the barrels. Frietas was also working on "quality control," using a small beaker with a tube in it called a "thief" to take a little wine from each barrel and test the contents. It was already time to move on. I waved goodbye, with the sweet taste of their dessert Gewürztraminer on my lips, ready for my final stop.

As we drove up the long curving driveway to King Estate, the tiny building at the top of the hill grew larger until its castle walls loomed over us. By far the largest of the three wineries, this 110,000-square foot building modeled after a French chateau looks out over 820 acres, 250 of which are planted vineyards. Owned by the King family, the winery is 100 percent certified organic, meaning no pesticides, herbicides or fungicides are used to grow any of their grapes.

The tasting room is quaint. In 1992, when the winery was built, the family didn't expect anyone to travel that far to taste their wine, so they didn't build one. Now the winery gets so many visitors, King Estate is building a 7,000-square foot visitors' center to accommodate them. It should be finished in May.

The tasting room attendant poured a glass of Nouveau for me. "I call it flash wine," she said. The whole grape cluster (stems, leaves and all) goes into the holding tank, which gives the hot-pink wine its spicy taste.

Mary Bellando met me in the tasting room after a few minutes. She poured a large glass of wine, put it into my hand with a smile and motioned me to a place where giant steel vats reached up towards the ceiling in endless aisles. I sipped my wine and gawked at the immensity of the vats. We walked through the cavernous cellars, narrow staircases, stone arches, tiny hallways, barren rooms, offices that still smelled of construction and new carpet, and older rooms filled with the musty scent of antiques.

Somewhere in the middle we stopped in a large conference room, where the winery conducts competitive tastings after each crush. Wines from other vineyards are brought in and placed alongside their own wines with brown bags over each bottle so the King Estate staff don't know what they're tasting. Then they rate each wine. "King Estate always ends up first or second," Bellando said.

It was getting late and I had taken in all the wine and info I could handle for a day. I left my castle tour feeling warm and happy about all I had learned — or maybe that was the wine talking.       

 

To find out how you can visit the wineries of Lane County, visit www.winesnw.com, or call the individual wineries to set up wine tasting appointments and tours.

Benton-Lane Winery: 23924 Territorial Rd. Monroe, OR (541) 847-5792

High Pass Winery: 24757 Lavell Rd. Junction City, OR (541) 998-1447

Pfeiffer Vineyards: 25040 Jaeg Rd. Juncton City, OR (541) 998-2828

Rainsong Vineyard: 92989 Templeton Rd. Cheshire, OR (541) 9987-1786

Eugene Wine Cellars: 255 Madison St. Eugene, OR (541) 342-2600

Territorial Vineyards & Wine Co.: 907 W. 3rd Ave. Eugene, OR (541) 684-9463

Iris Hill: P.O. Box 137 Lorane, OR (541) 345-1617

Lavelle Vineyards: 89679 Sheffler Rd. Elmira, OR (541) 935-9406

Secret House Vineyards: 88324 Vineyard Lane Veneta, OR (541) 935-3774

Briggs Hill Vineyards: 27127 Briggs Hill Rd. Eugene, OR (541) 341-3974

Silvan Ridge/Hinman Vineyards: 27012 Briggs Hill Rd. Eugene, OR (541) 345-1945

Saginaw Vineyard: 80247 Delight Valley Rd. Cottage Grove, OR (541) 942-1364

King Estate: 80854 Territorial Rd. Eugene, OR (541) 942-9874

Chateau Lorane: 27415 Siuslaw River Rd. Lorane, OR (541) 942-8028

 

 

SOUTH WILLAMETTE WINES
Local winemakers are world-class.
BY LANCE SPARKS

California's Napa and Sonoma Valleys used to be comprised of sleepy agricultural villages just north of the Bay Area urban centers. Calistoga, Oakville, and Yountville dozed, quiet and cozy. A few area folks grew grapes and made wines that generated a bit of hoopla among world wine geeks. Land was affordable, and the influx of weekend tourists was merely irritating.

Then the 1980s transformed the entire region, as wine boomed and the valleys and surrounding hillsides sprouted vineyards. Now 20 years later, Highway 29 from Napa to Calistoga is one of the busiest roads in the state. Want to buy an acre of agricultural ground? Bring a FAT checkbook.

Here in the South Willamette Valley, on Territorial Road from Lorane to Monroe, and on Highway 126 from Eugene to Veneta, farm folks run some cattle and horses, cultivate filbert and apple orchards, raise Christmas trees, garden some veggies. They grow some grapes, and make wines, too.

And those wines are good, some say very good, though only a few winegeeks are aware of how good they really are and will be in the near future. Meanwhile, no one in government at the local level thinks about the potential impact fine wines might have on the communities near the vineyards. It's still sleepy-time in our countryside.

Eugene-area winemakers are relatively few, and with one major exception, production is miniscule compared to Napa or Sonoma. But, barring catastrophe, that will certainly change, and soon. Cruise our local vintners and their don't-miss vinos.

EUGENE'S URBAN WINERIES

Eugene Wine Cellars, located at 255 Madison Street, produces a wide range of wines, all gaining popularity, especially with local imbibers and restaurateurs. EWC viognier, pinot noir, melon (a grape variety) and pinot gris are all quaffable, but they have set a goal of making a definitive syrah. The 2001 EWC Syrah is very good – dark, rich, peppery, on its way to top-shelf. Also, lotsa locals are grabbing up EWC 2002 Pinot Noir Pindarvine, a single-vineyard bargain due for a big jump in price.

Territorial Vineyards is Eugene's newest urban winery, and it's already making a big buzz in the winepress. From 20 acres and selected contracts, Territorial bottles a fine pinot gris and some of the state's tastiest Chardonnay. But their two top pinot noir bottlings, Stone's Throw and Capital T, are both superb, with super futures.

LaVelle Vineyards, located in Elmira, maintains a bistro/tasting room in Fifth Street Market, pouring their full line including a good sparkling wine, riesling, pinot gris, pinot noir and others. Invite LaVelle 2002 Pinot Gris to dinner with your favorite salmon.

THE PEARLS OF TERRITORIAL ROAD

Chateau Lorane produces a wide range of wines, some standards (pinot gris, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, syrah) and some rare (honey mead). New (2000) winemaker David Hook is a crafty New Zealander with lofty goals: slurp Chateau Lorane 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon Applegate, Asian Vyd., organic, yummy.

King Estate is our region's largest producer, with an international rep for top-quality wines. Their reserve pinot gris is widely acclaimed and delicious, but King Estate 2002 Pinot Noir Estate is flat-out world-class, meticulously detailed winemaking by Ray Walsh, another brilliant Kiwi.

Iris Hill is just beginning, but watch this label. Their pinot gris is a fine value, crisp and bright. Hinman/Silvan Ridge has a long history and they produce a wide range of very good wines, but for my palate none is more consistently terrific than Silvan Ridge Early Muscat, a delicious dessert wine/aperitif, semi-sparkling, with wonderful flavors. Coming soon, just across the road, Sweet Cheeks Winery, opening Memorial Day weekend.

Up the hill from Hinman, Briggs Hill doesn't have a tasting room, but owner Ron Kuhn scores with a pretty "white table wine" and will soon release Briggs Hill 2001 Pinot Noir. Hide it for awhile, let it develop, be happy.

At the Territorial/Hwy 126 intersection, wheel toward Florence, roll a mile or so, and haul in at Secret House. Expect to taste fine riesling and an array of good wines, but don't leave without Secret House Red Silk, a rosé sparkler made from pinot noir, full-flavored and food-friendly. Back there at Elmira, follow signs for LaVelle Vineyards and their tasting room and gallery, just too lovely to miss, inside and out.

Turn north on Territorial, toward Monroe; you're on the way to tiny High Pass Winery (yup, on High Pass Road), on the fringe of civilization. Owner Dieter Boehm took gold and Best of Show at this year's State Fair for High Pass 2002 Pinot Noir Walnut Ridge Vineyard; deep, rich, complex.

Wheel on, bucolic scenery. Near Monroe, whoa-up at Panther Creek Winery, grab some 2001 Pinot Noir. End in charming downtown Monroe, at one of the state's best, Broadley Vineyards. Load the truck with as much Claudia's Choice Pinot Noir as you can afford.

That's it, folks – the South Willamette Grand Tour of Wines. We might have missed some because more are coming all the time. With each vintage we get a little stronger and look a little more like the younger versions of Sonapacino. Only with better wines.    

 

 

Deconstructing the Wine Glass
Does the new stemless design knock wine off its pedestal?
BY CHRIS AMMON

Maximilian Riedel wants to make drinking wine more hip. As an 11th-generation heir to Austrian crystal maker Riedel Glas, the 20-something designer just introduced a set of wine glasses aimed at the cool crowd: stemless glasses called the Riedel "O" series.

This minimalist design is said to cater to the younger set simply through its informality. But I suspect it courts them subliminally, like most marketing. A stemless glass tacitly permits a hipster to partake in something as tradition-steeped as drinking wine while retaining some semblance of rebellion. It's a way of saying, "I may be drinking wine, but I subvert the dominant paradigm of conventional wine glasses." Or, "Whatever."

The wine industry, which courts consumers through pretentious advertising and a general air of exclusivity, has consistently alienated Generation X. So ratcheting down the pomp-factor attached to wine is a smart move on Riedel's part. Something needed to change. But does stemless glassware remove this pretension? Or does Riedel's invention just irritate gimmick-weary Gen Xers?

In Europe, wine is an everyday beverage, served at lunch and dinner like water. It holds no aura of pomposity. Of course you'll find the folks who love to talk about the grapes, the year and its weather, and show off their wine knowledge. But it's still the drink of the common man. And it's more frequently served in short round glasses a little larger than tea light candle holders than in delicate, long-stemmed beauties.

I recently attended a winetasting at Ashland's Lithia Springs Hotel. Most of the people I knew there were fairly young and quick to point out that they got in the door with free tickets. They milled around tables lined with oysters-on-the-half-shell and stabbed toothpicks into chunks of cheese.

"Who cares?" said Dana Goldfarb distractedly. Then the 34-year-old flashed a grape-tinted grin: "Besides, why drink it from a glass when you can drink it straight from the bottle?"

Standing on the hotel's breezy patio, Derek Volkart insisted that he's happy drinking wine out of anything, including a plastic cup or a ceramic mug. He said fretting over glassware was frivolous and indicative of "the extremely pretentious and affluent lifestyle that Americans prefer to lead."

Despite such cynicism, the $20-a-pair stemless glasses aren't aging on retail shelves. "We sell a ton of 'em," said Steve Baker, manager at Sundance Wine Cellars in Eugene. He said people of all ages buy them, adding that the glasses are dishwasher safe and less prone to breakage.

Brook Fuller, the wine buyer for Marché restaurant, acknowledges the glasses are a nice novelty, but said he prefers traditional stemware for the restaurant. Fuller explained that in stemless glasses, the temperature of the hand warms the wine — a common criticism. "This all may be wine geek stuff," he said, "but to truly enjoy wine, they are the antithesis of what you want."

As a Gen X wine lover, stemless wineglasses leave me feeling conflicted and inconclusive. Given the troubles of the world — old-growth logging, the tsunami — it seems uncool to become absorbed with the minutia of vintages, wine lingo and stemware. For me drinking wine is so much about bonding with friends and savoring sensory nuances, it often feels like an expression of gratitude, a simple affirmation of life. In the end, hip or not, what I like most about the humble architecture of this new glass-without-a-stem is that it brings wine a little closer to the ground, to its origins and to the earth itself.

 

 

Happening Servers: Rebekah Hillebrand & Todd Cooper

Six months ago Rebekah Hillebrand and Todd Cooper opened Latitude 10 Café inside the Friendly Street Market. The café features homemade organic food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. "We make everything from scratch," Cooper emphasizes. "We like to cook that way at home, but there was no place to eat out." Together with Hillebrand's brother Boaz, a trained chef, the couple worked 18-hour days through the summer to get the café up and running.

Now, with eight employees sharing the load, Hillebrand is in school studying interior architecture, while UO grad Cooper has cut his average work day to 10 hours. The menu includes organic meat dishes as well as vegan, wheat-free, and dairy-free options. Tortillas, beans, salsa, guacamole, soups, salad dressings, cookies, and pies are among the items made fresh on the premises. Check the current seasonal menu and prices at www.latitude10cafe.com."I feel energized after eating there," says musician Paul Prince, a regular customer. "They put so much care into each dish." Prince will play solo African and Hawaiian guitar at the café this Saturday, Jan. 29 at 6pm. — Paul Neevel