-I can confidently say that Portland is one of my all-time favourite cities. It offers an ‘in between’ pace of life that I could get used to. This time I was able to spend most of a day exploring a wine region that I’ve been dying to get to – the Willamette Valley. In this brief rendezvous with Willamette Pinot Noir, I didn’t get a chance to fall completely in love with any specific producers, but I was able to get an idea of the lay of the land.

-The 200-odd wineries (and 12,000 vineyard acres) in the Willamette are very focused in what they specialize in. It caught on quickly that Pinot Noir did well here and it’s now made by nearly every producer. Compare this to slightly smaller (acreage wise) wine region in British Columbia where there still appears to be little agreement on what does best. BC’s scattered regions with a range of climates and also general youthfulness probably have a lot to do with this.

-The Willamette Valley gets a fair amount of winter precipitation, but otherwise very little throughout the grape ripening season. This makes it much easier to farm without chemicals and Oregon has a proportionately high level of grape growers working organically, biodynamically, and sustainably – with or without certification. It was interesting to see some, such as Eyrie, that farm without irrigation as well.

-Ryan Reichert (of blog.oe-no-phile.com) was a great host at Trisaetum – a younger winery (and one I still have trouble spelling) that is set into the beautiful rolling hills of the Ribbon Ridge AVA. The Pinots were good – definitely age worthy and I’m intrigued to see how the ’08s blossom with another year or two in the cellar. The standout for me was the Artist Series No.5 ’08 Pinot Noir, with bright acid and depth of smoky and meatiness to the dark red fruit. $60 and only available at the winery.

-I was really looking forward to Penner-Ash‘s lighter and more feminine expressions of Pinot (made by Lynn Penner-Ash), but I was mostly underwhelmed by our seven-wine flight. The ’08 Riesling, with its minerality and Mosel-like lime acidity was good and quite refreshing (and only $18). I was fond of the earthiest Pinot from the bunch, made from the young estate vines surrounding the winery – ’07 Dussin Vineyard. $60 – have I mentioned yet that the Willamette Pinots tend not to be inexpensive?

-David Lett, the founder of Eyrie Vineyards is one of the pioneers who in the mid 60s planted most of the varietals that Oregon is now famous for. Eyrie also boldly claims that Mr. Lett was the first person to plant Pinot Gris in the entire New World. The wines were by far the most minerally and complex of the day. Certain bottlings included old vine fruit from the original plantings in the 60s, some of which are on ungrafted rootstock. The vineyards are farmed organically without irrigation (which apparently is unnecessary in parts of the valley) and they also allow fermentations that behave properly to continue without getting inoculated. The star for me was the ’05 Pinot Noir Reserve “Original Vines” which was light and pretty with bright red fruit and an interesting hazelnut character. $60, but I believe the ’06 is now the current release.

-Overall I didn’t care for the wines from Argyle. I can understand why certain wine drinkers would (including some of those who award points to wine), but for my tastes the wines were generally too juicy and too oaky. Ironically, my favourite was the ’07 Brut Rosé with somewhere around 20 g/l of sugar. Raspberry and red apple skins with enough citrusy acidity to mask the sweetness. That being said, $40 is more than I’d be comfortable paying for it.

-I picked up the Arterburry Maresh ’07 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir as a staff recommendation at the very humbling Vinopolis Wine Shop. It was likely the bottle most in tune with my palate. Light, soft and spicy. The bright berry fruit comes across a touch too sweet, but it was a steal for $22ish.

-While a service I will always cherish, Zipcar is a serious company. Should you return your car to its stall even 10 minutes late, believe that they will charge you the advertised $50 late fee. That being said, Zipcar is also a compassionate company. If you call and winge about how you were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic behind a highway accident, they will also grant a one-time refund of that $50 fee.