May Wine Club-Indigo

After a little research on my own I am more excited for you to to try the Indigo selections this month. Again, one of the reasons I was excited for these wines was the enthusiasm my wine rep has for these wines and the winery. I instantly became enthused when I tried the wines.

Their philosophy at Ribbon Ridge winery is “SIMPLE ALWAYS - GREAT GRAPES FROM A PERFECT ANCIENT SITE, MADE INTO WINE BY THE BEST WINEMAKER, WITH HUMILITY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!” According to LIVE (Low Input Viticulture & Enology) standards, Ridgecrest Vineyards is dry-farmed sustainably. Established in 1980-the vineyards were planted in 1982. There are a total of 120 acres with 41 of them being planted. “A minimalist hands-on approach is very common in the Willamette Valley and this is our philosophy too.” The wines are crushed, aged and bottled a the Carlton Winemaker’s Studio. https://www.winemakersstudio.com/our-wineries

Another quick link to a brief, but eloquent, behind-the-scenes of the magicians behind the wine.

https://www.winemakersstudio.com/wineries/ribbon-ridge-winery/

My wine tastes have developed over the years and I somehow appreciate weird obscure varietals - for October this year I have planned weird/scary varietals.

I’m not saying Grüner Veltliner is a scary varietal.... I could however say ”saying Grüner Veltliner” is scary. grew-ner velt-LEE-near I will refer to it as GV the rest of the article, adding the diaeresis to the U everytime….

Winefolly.com described GV as an exotic alternative to Sauvignon Blanc. The name translates to “Green Wine of Veltlin,“ an area in the lower Alps during the 1600’s, currently Valtellina, Italy.

This wine is so expressive. The first wave to my pallet was the fruit. It is stone fruit heavy, creamy nectarines with hints of juicy overripe peaches. The next wave is the acidity. Imagine its a beautiful summer day and for some reason you squeeze a lemony yellow lemon directly into your mouth, the anticipation of the juice hitting your tongue, and then it washes over your mouth with hints of honey. The lemony acid coats your mouth and the wine continues to linger with a green herby finish.

The last time I ate dinner here I ordered the Shrimp & Grits-it's back with the green curry sauce and a mango salsa-I ate every last bite🫠I wish I would have thought to re-try the wine with this meal.

On to the red selection, thinking about it this is the second time around with the Gamay varietal this year-Day Winery, Infinite Air Castles Gamay/Dolcetto was the first. I hope it's not to obscure for you all. This one is a little more punchy than the Infinite Air Castles. I thought the vintage notes from the website for the 2020 Ridgecrest Old Vine Estate Gamay Noir will help understand why James Suckling gave this wine 94 points.

This wine is definitely a food wine. It usually takes me a couple of sips to form an opinion on some wines, this wine is so uniquely nuanced and for those of us who don't drink Gamay on a daily, this wine initially attacks your tastebuds. It did for me anyway. My first favorite thing about this wine is the deep rich luxurious purple color. My next favorite thing about this wine is it's not like any "normal" wine. Of course my brain goes right to food and what would this pair with, from the bluebird menu-The Duck🤤 is a no brainer, the Salmon 🤤with mushroom risotto would be🤤good🤤as well. Major cranberry notes for this one and I wish I could tell you to the tannins are soft, nope. The tannins are racy and linger on but, paired with the right meal, with make you want to keep drinking it.

May Wine Club 2023

I didn't realize how busy April was until May snuck up on me. We have had some big changes in the last month. While we were closed for a couple weeks for repairs there was a lot of behind the scenes stuff still happening. Opening back up was like a brand new restaurant and we have had some new employees join our team and a big move was to have Sarah Champagne join us down here at Bluebird. Sarah has been our Manager at Syringa and we are excited to have her work her magic down at the🐦 Bird. I'm excited, as it will give me a chance to catch up and bring you all more wine club content. May is officially #oregonwinemonth and I am really excited to share the selections.

May - Indigo Wine Club Selections

Aside from being delicious wines, one of the reasons I choose these wines from Ridgecrest is because of the enthusiasm of my wine rep, Lisa - this is one of her favorite wineries which she's visited multiple times. Another reason I like these two selections is they aren't a Pinot Gris and/or a Pinot Noir. DON'T GET ME WRONG - I think Oregon does both of those grapes really well, remember January's selection with Coeur d'Terre, totally legit wines. One of the goals I have with wine club is to expose you all to wines/grapes you might not think you like. I really think you will like these wines. This month the white wine is a Grüner Veltliner and the red wine is a Gamay Noir. Stay tuned for more information on the Indigo selections this month

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May - Sapphire Wine Club Selections

The Sapphire selections are more familiar selections with the Brick House Chardonnay and Quady North Cabernet Franc. In an upcoming post I will expand on these two wines and expound on the virtues of both the these wines. In the mean time think about this👇🏼

PORK CHOP - Walnut/Panko breaded pork chop, fennel/apple slaw, not so dirty rice.

If you make it in - both of the Sapphire wines would be killer with the Pork Chop. #foodporn

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May - Peacock Wine Club Selection

And last but not least the Peacock selection is a Pinot Noir. It is another wine from Brick House winery and knowing a little background on the vineyard site and the winery practices this wine is an outstanding representation of what an Oregon Pinot Noir. Again stay tuned for a future post with more information on Brick House and this month's Peacock selection. 🪺 I wanted to do a little experiment and see if anyone is reading the posts. So if you've made it this far and you are an active member of the wine club come in and visit us for happy hour - I have an extra case of the February Indigo Red selection (the La Varenne Chinon) and as a perk of being a wine club member we want to you to have a glass of wine on us. While supplies last.

It has been a hectic month and there have been a lot of changes - but I am so excited for summer, I'm excited for you all come in and see the new improved bluebird and I'm really excited to bring you some more great wine.

April Wine Club - Peacock

I'm a bit late with the final post for April's wine club, April was busy at Bluebird. If you've been in and seen the changes hopefully the delay in the newsletter will make sense. This Thursday marks 7 years for us at the Bluebird and as intense as April was with a lot of changes, I couldn't be more positive and excited for things to come. I will have May's wine club stocked in your bins- tomorrow (tuesday) morning. Before I get ahead of myself - April's Peacock wine selection...

We are staying in the PIedmont region for the 2017 Villadoria 'del comune di Seralunga d'Alba' Barolo. Daniele Lanzavecchia was born in 1887 and worked the land his whole life. He is/was descibed as a determined and intelligent young man and he had a dream of making wine. Pietro Lanzavecchia, Daniele's son, was born in 1920 after the Great War left its "painful mark." Pietro shared his fathers passion for wine-he studied Agriculture at university and understood the land that is the Langa. The Villadoria wine estate-located on the Serralunga hills- was set up in 1959. Pietro's son Daniele and his daughter Paola currently manage the company.

Doing research for this wine I appreciate (again) what it takes to put some grape juice in a bottle and make it amazing. Part of the cool factor is the story behind the wine. This family understands that Nebbiolo grows really great there and the wine maker tames the "vegetative vigour and production potential". The grapes are harvested by hand, destemmed and crushed gently. It spends 25 to 28 days on the skins. It is aged for a minimum of 18 months in Slavonian oak barrels and finished in tanks for a total of 38 months. The website recommends this wine is best after 4 years from harvest......but "will unwind in the cellar for at 25 years.

The color of this wine is a lovely garnet color, and it's not often I notice the color of a wine. After swirling it in my glass the nose was very expressive; cherries, slight rosy flavors, opening up to a rustic earthiness. Dark cherries are persistent throughtout this wine. The tannis are firm but the wine is creamy and luscious on the pallet.

Some #foodporn to give you inspiration for what to drink with this wine club selection next time you come. Chef brought back the Tomahawk steak we ran as a special in February for valentines month. This baby is about 32 ounces of prime rib #getinmybelly goodness. It is served with Chef Snacks - Roasted, smashed fingerling potatoes, veal demi-glace and frizzed shallots, and roasted carrots with miso butter.

This wine would go great with the reimagined Spinach Dip. Same ingredients as before-just served up a lil' bit "fresher'?

Better late than never keep rolling around in my head with this last April wine club selection. In retrospect April was a blur and there were a lot of big changes here at The Bird. I'm signing off and will literally be stocking the bins with your May wine club selections. All the while, thinking and starting to plan for June wine club and thinking about the great food pairings for your May wine club selections. May is Oregon wine month and I'm really excited for you all to try the unique and delicious selections I found from Oregon. I'll get the selections out in my next post and I will roll out some more information sooner than later.