June Wine Club-Indigo

I've been thinking a lot about the fact that Idaho had vineyards back in 1872. I'm really wondering where the Idaho wine industry would be had Prohibition not come along and put a damper on things. In 1908 there were 40 varieties being planted in Idaho. It was nearly 80 years later before Idaho was back in the wine biz and it was a chance turn down Highway 3 on a 2007 road trip to Lenore that lead Mike Pearson and his wife Melissa Sanborn to discover an abandoned vineyard. They originally were headed to Lenore to check out a vineyard supposedly planted by the Rohchilds. It was in Juliaetta they discovered a vineyard that was dormant and covered in weeds. The place was for sale and for the first couple of years after they bought it Mike and Mellisa re-worked the vineyards.

https://youtu.be/I1KR6yg9cic ⬅️Great video of the vineyards today.

2008 marked the first vintage for Colter's Creek. 300 cases were produced. In 2009-production shot up to 1,500 cases with the first estate wine being made. In between making great wine Mike and Melissa, along with the wine makers from Clearwater Canyon winery, worked to get the Lewis and Clark AVA recognized. The newest Idaho AVA was made official in 2016.

Let's get to the wine. The indigo white wine selection this month is the 2022 Colter's Creek Chardonnay-Viognier. According to the tech sheet the 2022 vintage had a delayed bud-break, cooler temperatures and a late and long harvest. Compared to the 2021 vintage-harvest was complete by 01 October- the 2022 vintage started in September and "stumbled" all the way into November. Cool evenings and slow ripening and heavy fruit loads allowed the flavors to mature. This particular blend is bright and crisp. I picked up melon flavors and tropical notes. The finish is my favorite. Bright, clean, great acid and not a cloying or syrupy finish. California and Oregon are known for Chardonnays, Caution ⚠️Opinion ahead (Washington makes them, I question sometimes if they should?, I keep do keep trying them hoping one will turn out the be the benchmark Washington chardonnay and change my opinion)....I digress, Cali-Oregon Chardonnay, Cali is know for rich oak butter bombs, Oregon Chardonnay's are rivaling France's Burgandies. Now Idaho!? Can't wait to see how Chardonnay grapes evolve here in our home-state. I don't want to end this paragraph by dogging WA Chardonnays, Long Shadows Chardonnay is, so far, my favorite WA Chard.

Of course my thoughts turn to food and particularly what on the Bluebird menu would pair with this beauty. Shrimp and Grits, The Cauliflower appetizer, Salmon and risotto, my new favorite dish I've been drooling over lately is the Pork Chop (Walnut panko breaded pork chop, fennel/apple slaw, not so dirty rice). Comment below, what dish you paired this wine with.

I tasted these wines at a trade show last month and I was able to chit chat with the Assistant Winemaker Jon Harding. I tasted through their wines and picking a red wine for club was tough, the tie-breaker went to Jon, ultimately I decided on the 2020 Colter's Creek Tempranillo. Lewis-Clark Valley 😍 Estate bottled. According to the wineries tech sheet the 2020 vintage was "relatively normal." There were only a few days of 100°F extreme heat and the ground was well irrigated until mid summer. It was 2020 remember, there was a wildfire and that delayed the fruit ripening and then harvest. Luckily the fruit was able to ripen through the frost-free fall, harvested on 12 October 2020. The berry size was small but mighty, the flavors are deliciously concentrated. Black Cherry is the first flavor to hit my pallet. Dark, juicy, summer ripened black cherries. The tannins are light, I liked the subtle tobacco notes hanging on with the finish. The tech-sheet also recommended a high acid tomato dish as a food suggestion. The closest thing we have on the menu is the SEAFOOD GUMBO Andouille sausage, shrimp, clams, halibut, scallop, rice.

I did start out the year with a clear plan of what each month's wine's club was going to be. I'm trying to properly celebrate each states month. June is officially #idahowinemonth. I was a little nervous that I wasn't going to be able to fill all the spots, so I made June Idaho/Wines from Spain. I picked Spain in part because of Idaho's large Basque population. In the mid-1800 a large group of Basques from northern Spain came because of Gold but ended up staying because of Sheep. Again I digress, I was able to fill the Indigo and Sapphire spots with Idaho wines and our peacock wine does hail from Spain.

Basques in Idaho

⬅️Fun little National Geographic article on the Basques population in Idaho.

June Wine Club 2023

I'm pretty dang excited about the wine this month. It is officially #idahowinemonth. We've got some great juice from a couple of my favorite Idaho wineries. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find all the selections from Idaho so had a plan B of also doing Spanish wines. Southern Idaho has a big Basque community so I thought that was a good combo.

Idaho is definitely part of the new frontier of grape growing areas. Fun fact-the first grapes were planted in 1864 in Lewiston and until prohibition Idaho actually had a nationally renowned wine industry. From the time prohibition ended until 1970 when grapes were planted in the Snake River Valley-radio silence from Idaho wine industry. Can you imagine where we would be if Prohibition didn't derail the early success of Idaho wines? Snake River AVA was the first Idaho AVA approved in April of 2007. In 2008 there were 38 wineries and now Idaho is home to more than 60 wineries. Idaho is a wee babe as far as the wine world goes. After talking with the wine makers for Cinder and Colter's Creek winery (this month's wines) I am so excited to see what happens in Idaho in the next 15 years.

The Colter's Creek wines are June's Indigo selection. This month we are featuring a Chardonnay/Viognier blend for the white wine and the red wine is the Tempranillo (the winemakers' favorite wine).

The sapphire selections are wines from Cinder. The white wine is the Dry Viognier and the red wine is a Malbec. I'm hoping to get my hands on some special order Cinder wines for a feature later this month.

For the Peacock selection I did defer to a wine from Spain. It might be a couple of years before Idaho is producing higher end wines. There are probable some out there-I would love to try them, but with the resources I have I deferred to plan B and chose the 2018 Macán Clásico Rioja from Spain.

We've even got Bubbles this month.

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For the Royal participates the quarterly bubbles hail from France, of course. Gremillet Dosage Zero is the selection this quarter.

Keep checking back I will have lots more information on the wine selections for this month. We are gearing up for a great summer. Hope to see you all soon.

May Wine Club-Sapphire/Peacock

I was introduced to Brick House wines way back before Syringa moved to the current location. I'm geeking out because I like having the wine knowledge/memory to compare and see how the wines have evolved over 5+ years. I'm amazed at what I remember, customers orders from years ago, but not their name. I remember tasting the Brick House Chardonnay way back in the infancy of my wine adventures, and knowing its not your momma's California chardonnay and my baby wine brain was starting to relate Oregon Chardonnays to its big brother of Burgandy. Unbeknownst to me when I put this line up together we are sticking in the Ribbon Ridge AVA.

The 2021 Brick House will stand out in my brain again for another few years. Take note for those of you with Peacock subscriptions as the selection is a Pinot Noir from Brick House.

The winery is a small production facility, located in what was once the farm's horse barn. They produce about 3,800 cases, in 1990 they were Certified Organic and since 2005 they have been Demeter Biodynamic.

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I had to know what makes it Demeter Biodynamic and what I gathered from Brick House website and the very detailed information I found at https://www.demeter-usa.org. Don't worry I got the wine info...a very basic overview.

This chardonnay definitely isn't your momma's chardonnay. 330 cases were made. Roasted pears hit my pallet first, not that I roast pears very often but this is the flavor profile that stands out the most. The finish is dry and lemony in a meringue sort of way. The flavors are rich, but not in a syrup-y sort of way, the crisp finish keeps it refreshing and thinking about the menu items at Bluebird I would pair with this: Fried Chicken with Honey Miso, the Scallops dish of the moment and the King Salmon with risotto. I did hear Chef talking about Copper River Salmon...probably gonna want to check out the Insta and FB for specials when they drop-they tend to go fast.

We are leaving the Ribbon Ridge AVA and headed southern Oregon in the Applegate Valley. Quady North wines showcase particular varietals that thrive in the southern Oregon Rouge valley and they have over the years developed their estate vineyards and many more throughout the AVA. They too are organically farmed and LIVE certified....another 🐇🕳️

https://livecertified.org/certify

The Quady North 2019 Cabernet Franc is stunning example of what southern Oregon has to offer. This wine is rich and meaty but black cherry flavor stand up to the many layer of this wine. The wine is aged in French oak and lends itself to long term cellaring for 5-10 years. This wine isn't as seductive and luscious as last months Washington's Spring Valley 'Frederick' Cabernet Franchbut it's uniquely different and I think it's a great way to celebrate Oregon wine month. It would be a no-brainer to put all pinot noirs in the wine club of Oregon wine month, but from the wines I picked, and there are many more, Oregon is doing some cool stuff that isn't Pinot Noir.

May Wine Club-Peacock

Buuuut, for some reason it does Pinot Noir really really good. We are back in the Ribbon Ridge AVA which is contained in the larger Chehalem Mountain AVA and I picked a Pinot Noir for the peacock wine.

I tasted the 2021 'Les Dijonnais' Pinot Noir along side the Brick House 'Select' Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir. They are from different blocks on the vineyard, not that far from each other but how they can be two completely different wines baffles my tastebuds. The 'Les Dijonnais' is definitely the sophisticated big sister of the 'Select' Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir, both are equally well made wines, its just amazing what a little elevation and a different vineyard does for the wine. The winemaker's have use what nature has given them and used sustainable wine making practices and coaxed the grapes into the best versions of themselves. The fruit that shines through is blackberry. It shines through the bigger finish than you may be used to for a Pinot Noir. The acidity is refreshing and I even got hints of blood orange on the finish. The particular block was planted in 1995 and may be in its prime. This wine could stand a few years in a cool cellar.