Portland Indie Wine Festival: Wine Watch

The Portlan Indie Festival is staged this coming weekend. The fest was by Lisa Donoughe (and a friend) who had the idea to give a little help to the little guy; wineries and winemakers too small to get into other exhibitions, and it's worked. Lisa's lemonade stand fesetival kick off plenty of new and exciting names in the Oregon wine world. No! That's not Oregon, I'm just kidding you! Oregon mostly irrigates--so where is this? (Clue, most of this place irrigates as well, but just not this vineyard) I was there in March to help judge the wines for presentation. These aren't scored, just judged to see which wines should be shown. As a judge, we did not taste all the wines, just those assigned to out panels. I'm sure I missed out on a wide assortment of goods. But here are some impressions from my modest sampling of sixty wines. #1- 2007 was a hard year to mess up for pinot--at least that's what I thought for the first flight! #2- Except for the exception (such as Eyrie Vineyards who can do no wrong) many just do not know what to do with pinot gris. #3- By the second flight, I found plenty of folk who messed up in 2007, with lovely aromas of sauerkraut and the like. #4--I think that malbec does well in the south! Here, here Rogue Valley! I have not done my research so I don't know for sure how the wines that I liked were made or anything about them--ROified, acidified, enzymaticized or dustified. as I wanted to show them to you (and to me) without prejudice, merely based on the tasting. Should you head to Portland and taste this weekend, visit my favorites and let me know what you think. * Vitae Springs Vineyard: pinot noir V. pretty nose. Some warmth and florality. Kinda yummy. Nice acidity. Rosy. Tarry. And a definite lack of concentration which seems right to me! *Ribera Vineyards, Stormy Mtn. Vineyard: pinot noir Quiet nose, which I appreciated. Honeysuckle. Cedar. A little flat on the finish, but big deal. *Dukes Family Vineyard Alyssa: pinot noir Ink. Water. Rose. Kltzy. Minty-menthol and someone underipe spice. But, it all picks up on the finish! It sneaks under the finish line! Flight two---was awful---a flight of 2007s...so much for not being able to mess up a vintage! Flight Three *Cubanisimo Vineyards 2008: pinot noir Money! It smells like money! Felt well made, but to me somewhat uninspired, calibrated and schooled. Not my thing, but on the other hand, not bad. Outside of my palate, but know quite a few people who would like it. *Gresser Vineyard 2008: pinot noir Might have been my second favorite. Quiet. Great acidity. Long length and salty! This needs some time to balance itself. *Luminous Hills: 200 pinot noir This got my highest marks for queen ann cherry that starts on the nose and carries through on the palate with an inkwell finish. *Seven Bridges --08 red blend: merlot & malbec Licorice, balance, earth, fruit, hot, hot finish but has interest.