Early Harvest

My brother-in-law, Tom, and his wife, Carolyn, were in town this weekend for my father-in-law's "70-Sumtin" birthday. On Saturday, we took them to a few old haunts, first we took them out to Wooldridge Creek Winery so we could pick up our autumn release and say hello to old friends Kara & Greg, the winemakers, and Terry in the tasting room.  Then we were off to Red Lily Vineyards to introduce Tom & Carolyn to our of our favorite places.

This time of year is early harvest, the whites and early reds, such as Pinot Noir, are starting to work their way onto the crush pad. Harvest time at a winery means many long days and hard work as the wineries rush to battle nature's capriciousness. In addition to judging the perfect brix (or sugar levels) in which to pick the grapes, birds, bears, deer, rain and other sundry natural forces conspire against the harvest crews in getting the grapes in at just the right time.

When we arrived at Red Lily, owner and winemaker, Rachel Martin was still on the crush pad finishing up for the day. We wandered over to check her progress and get an update. Rachel explained that their newest addition,  a white grape, Verdejo, was doing great and the first of their famous Tempranillo was coming in.

As I said, harvest is hard work, long days and lots of beer (no wine can be made without copious amounts of beer). This year, Rachel battled a new scourge, bees. She said the bees were wildly abundant this year, having worked themselves into the grapes. She alone had gotten stung eight times (so far). She told us the grape press reverberated with the sound of bees as the grapes went through it.  Apparently bees are attracted to the sugary grape pulp, they do not, however, pollinate grapes.  Grapes are pollinate via air -borne pollen.

Harvest will be going on for sometime in the valley as the grapes do their slow, steady march toward ripening and their eventual plucking from the vine to be made into delicious Southern Oregon Wines.

To all of the winemakers, staff and harvest crews, I wish you a great harvest and look forward to the "fruits of your labor"!

Linda Donovan Wines

Wine tasting comes in many forms.  It can be a friendly tasting with friends at home, it can be a big wine event, it can be at the local store as reps ply you with their latest releases, or it can be at a winery or tasting room.  Even within the confines of the tasting room, there are a myriad of approaches to presenting the wines. Some tasting rooms offer tastings and then wines by the glass and bottle for on-site consumption, often with musical accompaniment, food and other attractions to round out the experience. Others still take a more simple approach, invite you in, taste the wine, enjoy, tell the story and maybe sell you a bottle or twelve.

The latter approach is what is offered up at Linda Donovan’s new tasting room. Linda is an accomplishe winemaker who runs Pallet Wine Company in Medford and produces her own labels as well as labels for small wineries  throughout Southern Oregon. Pallet is a humming, busy place, but it does not offer wine tasting. Initially there were plans to do a tasting room at the facilities, but time and space concerns dictated otherwise.

Recently, Linda decided it would be good to open a small, simple tasting room where she could serve her wine and tell her story. She chose a site on her sister’s Valley View Orchard, right next door to the orchard’s historic farm stand. It has an open air feel with a large roll-up door, a bright, basic room and a wonderfully expansive vista overlooking Ashland. 

The Linda Donovan Wines Tasting Room takes a basic approach – it is only open Thursday – Sundays, from 1pm - 6pm and no glass or bottle consumption is available. She prefers to let the wines be the center of attention and the stars of the show. She certainly has accomplished this style. We had a great time sampling wines, playing with her large yellow lab Finnigan and taking in the information Linda was all too happy to share with us.

We opened with a 2011 “Le Jeune Chien” Sauvignon blanc. I love a nice, crisp sauv blanc and this did not disappoint. I had to ask as to the name and Linda explained that a while back, she had two old dogs that she had been with many years. After their passing, friends kept saying get a new dog, so she ended up living up to the belief that you should adopt, don’t breed or buy. This dog became Le Jeune Chien or the young dog.  

Next up was a 2011 Late Bloomer Dry Gewurtztraminer, which had “nothing sweet about it”. It was dry, dry, dry for a Gewurtz, a perfectly crisp wine on a hot day or for pairing with food.

We moved on to reds with a 2008 Linda Donovan Tempranillo, made with grapes from Fortmiller Vineyards, which always produces smooth, delicious fruit. This rich wine was a mouthful with beautiful, smooth-grain tannins. After the Tempranillo, we had a chance to taste a 2010 Long Walk Vineyard Mouvedre, grown on property at Valley View on the Corner Vineyard. Mouvedre is rarely a single variety, often paired as a GSM, but this wine is gorgeous with earthy spicy tones and a (savory) umami mouth feel. As a special treat we had the opportunity to sample the 2010 Orchard Red, a blend of Long Walk Vineyard consisting of 29% Mouvedre, 14% Gernache, 29% Cinsault and29% Carignan, a unique wine with surprising depth and character.

Before we left, Linda offered us a sample of her value label, Pick Me. These are the perfect Tuesday night wines, with a Pick Me White, a blend of Semillion, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc and the 2009 Pick Me Red Merlot. Priced at $8 each, these wines are perfect for the non-occasion occasion, a second bottle or a quick nip.  :-)

It is my belief that every wine producer in Southern Oregon would be well served to offer $8 bottles of wine, but that is for a later post. Linda subscribes to this theory as well, much to my delight.

So, for a simple, laid back and totally relaxing tasting, and great wines to boot, I highly recommend visiting Linda Donovan’s Tasting Room at Valley View Orchard in Ashland. 

I do not think you will be disappointed.

p.s. While camping at Howard's Prairie last weekend, we ran out of wine! A quick jaunt to the HP store and we found the Pick Me Red and White, which was enjoyed around a roaring campfire with wonderful company.