S. Oregon viticulture

[cpurvis]

Attended an interesting seminar last weekend that included a limited tasting. Hosted by Oregon State Univ. at the local Extension office complex & intended for grape growers & wannabes...approx. 100 attended. Generally informative. Particularly interesting was the LIVE (Low Input Viticulture) program. Oregon is now the first area outside of Europe to be certified by the program.

The tasting occurred just after a very good bbq lunch. The 4 wines were all local, mostly forgetable, & didn't match bbq at all.

1) Foris Pinot Gris..forgetable
2) ?? (obscure) Estate Chardonnay...typical sweet mass-market junk w/ a memorable banana-popsicle (who can forget that smell from childhood? [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]) nose.
3) Foris Pinot Noir..simple, quaffable w/ cherry flavors.
4) Griffin Creek 1998 Merlot...blackberry & vanilla nose, pure blackberry jam start to finish & then some. Wasn't sure whether to drink it or spread it on toast. I'll buy my blackberry jam for less than $30+ thanks.

The guest UC-Davis grad winemaker/wine scientist was asked: Of the varietals not presently grown in this area, what two would he recommend? Answer: syrah & viognier.

My thoughts: we have excellent grapes grown in this area (& recognized outside the area), but an almost complete lack of winemaking talent... S. Oregon needs an infusion. Most wineries are mom-n-pops that just got bigger. It will be 5-10 yrs before you hear really good things about wines from here.

cp