Happy New Year! 🥳🎉🥂 What a year. I've been saying that for a couple years now, I'm pretty use to what the universe has to throw at me, I've gotten really good at adapting. It's been a big year of changes for us at the Bluebird too. Just like the rest of the world we've dealt with staffing shortage which lead us to close for lunches😢 {but now we have BRUNCH on Saturdays 10am-1pm} so not all is lost. If you haven't been yet, Viljo and the kitchen guys have put together a killer menu. Another big change is Viljo and I bought the building that is The Bluebird. We started in the kitchen with a project that needed immediate attention, kinda boring, but we have more up our sleeve. We have dreams of expanding the kitchen, our little neighborhood is getting bigger and we will need to be able to keep up.
The one big change I don't think I've come to terms with is the departure of our front-of-house manager Greg Jaramillo.
He has worked for The Bluebird for over 6 years, and like I said, it hasn't really sunk in yet. What he did for the wine club, you guys know, was AMAZING. After Krista's departure, he built on what Krista started with the wine club and he went above and beyond, he really put his heart and soul into putting together the selections and managing the wine. He also managed the Front of the House staff all the while. I'm jealous at how at ease he is serving customers, his main priority has always been the customers dining experience and he is really going to be missed. They're big shoes to fill, I'm a little nervous, but really excited to get back into the wine world. I've been behind the scenes the past few years, I did manage Syringa front-of-house in the early days, 17 years ago, dang, that means I'm only getting older. I'll be a little shaky at first but it's like riding a bike right?
Did mention I'm really excited to get back into procuring wine? You probably don't know this about me but I'm kinda OCD and I like being organized. I have the year planned out for each month already, this months the theme is NEW. I could get probably get away with just saying I'm NEW to this, but there are "NEW" aspects to all the wine selections. Now. The Wine.
INDIGO
The wines from this level are really just beautiful expressions of the varietals. This particular wine is fact new to our distributor.
Coeur de Terre itself has been in business for over 20 years, it is located in the Willamette Valley, McMinnville specifically. In 1998, Scott & Lisa Neal stumbled upon the property Memorial weekend and by Labor Day weekend the same year they moved in. They are committed to sustainable farming practices and the property has been farmed organically from its inception. Their website has great information on their farming practices and I love that they put maps of the vineyards.
As far as tasting notes from me.....it's going to take some practice to write about wine. I do take notes and both of these wines, like I said are spot on for their varietals, but tasting wine is so subjective. My notes for the Pinot Gris reads, "fruit shines, delightful spice on the finish." The Pinot Noir I remember vividly as being F💣 good. (I'll keep it professional but sometimes, that's all I got) Like the Pinot Gris, the fruit on the Pinot Noir is bright and fresh and the fresh forest funk finish makes this wine very quaffable/drinkable .... in my humble subjective opinion. Cassie, my wine rep, also brought the Heritage Reserve Pinot Noir, made with estate fruit. Definitely the big brother of the Coeur de Terre Pinot Noir. If I can get my hands on some bottles later this month I would love to do a wine special, The Reserve wine paired with the Duck on the menu 🦆🍷🤤
SAPPHIRE
I know Greg has used the Day wines before, so not necessarily new to you but it's a new year and it's new wine to the area.
It's really easy to keep picking wines from Day Winery, Brianne Day just keeps making good juice and the wine geek in me appreciates that she is pushing boundaries with Oregon grapes. Brianne has worked, pretty much all over the earth-Italy, New Zealand, Argentina and France, she worked at Brooks winery before starting her own winery in a rented space. In 2013 she was working at The Little Bird restaurant in PDX when a customer asked about her grape tattoo, that conversation lead to where she's at now, a 14,000 sq. foot winery in Dundee, Oregon. The wines this month pretty left me dropping expletives again. The Dazzles of Light 2021 white blend, is aptly named. The google definition of dazzle is ・amaze or overwhelm (someone) with a particular impressive quality. Yep, 100% dazzling in your mouth. It's a blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc. Its pretty floral nose leads into an expertly layered fruit explosion with a slight minerality on the finish. Then we have Infinite Air Castles, the 2021 vintage is a blend of 75% Gamay and 25% Dolcetto. This tastes like the vacation to Italy I've never been on. This light bodied blend is straightforward and easy-to-drink wine with very little tannins on the finish. The finish for for me had hints of dried red currant.
Another thing you may not know about me is I think about food all the time (I eat breakfast and think about dinner) the menu item I'm drooling about with this wine is the Salmon - King Salmon, white bean puree, sautéed butternut squash, watermelon radish, lemon miso sauce. One thing about this new format, is the comment section, I would Love to hear all your thoughts on the wines.
PEACOCK
The selection this month comes from a well established winery in Napa. Pahlmeyer has been making wines for over 35 years. Since the 1986 vintage, which included smuggled clones from Bordeaux, the viticulture teams have managed their paradisal* estate atop the ridge of Atlas Peak in Napa Valley (*google: {of a place or state} ideal or idyllic, heavenly.)
Rocky, desolate, low vigor, good drainage - sounds heavenly, this has been the key to Pahlmeyers success with growing Bordeaux varieties. 2019 Jayson Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is really amazing, and my wine notes sound dumb to me and I want do this wine justice, so I defer to the winemaker notes:
Our bold, full-bodied classic Napa Valley character and structure. Focused and layered, generous fruit notes of wild blackberry and cassis blend with hints of vanilla bean, black tea and Herbes de Provence. Youthful upon release, the wine’s firm, assertive tannins on the mid-palate will soften over time, whether in the cellar or swirled in the glass. Enjoy over the next six years. Pair this alongside a grilled burger topped with aged gouda or gorgonzola, or herb-crusted roasted lamb.