From the ski slopes of Mount Ashland drive along the Applegate River loaded with steelhead and salmon into the beautiful, often sunny, Applegate Valley. You will find it a great place for visiting and for cultivating grapes to produce fine wines. You may wish to join Omar Khayyám’s vision

a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou in the wilderness,

Swing by beautiful Applegate Lake, where trails take you back to forests, mountains and old gold mines.

While enjoying the great outdoors find time to visit our Applegate wineries where your tour guide may also be knowledgeable in computer software, education, hiking trails, and manufacturing, and may also happen to be the winemaker.

=/

Stay tuned for a brief review of the valley’s early wine business.

The Academy

Seating is limited to 50 and registration deadline is February 15. Cost for the seminar, which includes lunch, is $40 for current RVWA members and $50 for non-members. For more information or to register, contact Marilyn Hawkins at (541) 552-9922 or mhawkins@prhawk.com.

Wine Enthusiast magazine just released their “Top 100″ wines list for 2011.  Now admittedly, this is a worldwide list so the competition is pretty stiff.  But personally I think the NW might have been a little under-represented.  The list had 14 wines from Washington (9) and Oregon (4).  Those were:

#15 – Domaine Serene 2007 Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir – 95 points, $58
#16 – Buty 2007 Columbia Rediviva Cabernet Sauvignon-Syrah – 96 points, $48
#17 – Cayuse 2007 Cailloux Vineyard Syrah – 99 points, $65
#21 – Trisaetum 2010 Estates Reserve Riesling – 95 points, $32
#26 – Rasa Vineyards 2008 DuBrul Vineyard Creative Impulse –97 points, $95
#30 – Charles Smith 2007 Royal City Stoneridge Vineyard Syrah – 99 points, $140
#34 – Mark Ryan 2008 Dead Horse – 95 points, $45
#38 – Januik 2007 Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – 95 points, $50
#41 – Betz Family 2008 Père de Famille Cabernet Sauvignon – 95 points, $60
#45 – Adelsheim 2009 Nicholas Vineyard Pinot Noir – 95 points, $90
#49 – L’Ecole No. 41 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon – 94 points, $37
#53 – Leonetti Cellar 2008 Reserve – 96 points, $135
#56 – Gramercy Cellars 2009 The Third Man Red – 94 points, $45
#76 – Eyrie 2007 Reserve Pinot Noir – 94 points, $62

What do you think?

These wineries will conduct a Public Tasting on Sunday, November 13 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Portland Art Museum located at 1219 SW Park Avenue.  Tickets are $39. For more information or to order tickets, call (800) 781-9463 or visit the website www.sorwa.org.

There will be a FREE “trade only” tasting the following day, Monday, November 14th from 1 to 5 p.m. at Davis Street Tavern, located at 500 NW Davis Street. The trade tasting is free to media members, restaurant buyers, wine distributors and other members of the wine industry. An RSVP is required to attend.  For more information, and to RSVP contact regina.vaccari@gmail.com or call (541) 282-3041.

Applegate wineries did well as they collected nearly a quarter of all the medals awarded by these well qualified judges.

Be sure to check out the listing of those medals awarded to Applegate wineries under the “Awards” tab here at the website.

The Romans were responsible for the proliferation of vineyards and winemaking within the boundaries of the Roman Empire. As Rome spread its influence and power, Roman leaders had visions of long-term occupation of its holdings; that vision was realized by over 750 years of Roman rule. The Romans established transportation systems with well-built roads, waterways, and government, trade routes, the first mail system and etc. A “Roman standard of living” prevailed as the Romans absorbed the cultural aspects of conquered people, improving the prosperity of all Roman citizens.

Rome’s respect and increased knowledge of Etruscan and Greek cultures included agriculture and wine production. Successful crop production was necessary to feed the troops and the people of its expanding empire. Early Romans quenched their thirst at the local fountains, the drink of the day, for Romans, was water. Wine was a beverage of Greek and Etruscan nobles. The Romans looked upon wine, at first, as a medicinal drink with health benefits; wine was used to heal battle wounds and cure assorted ailments. The wine was highly alcoholic, white, and sweet.

The rise of the Roman Empire saw an increase in technology and awareness of winemaking, which spread to all parts of the empire. The Romans came to believe that wine was a necessity of life; this led to the desire to spread viticulture and wine production to insure steady supplies for Roman soldiers and colonists. In the hands of Romans, wine became “democratic” and available to all, from the lowly slave and simple peasant to the aristocrat.

As an aside the drunken orgies of the Roman aristocracy is legendary, but the Romans used low fire, lead based glazes to make their drinking vessels, which the acid in wine brought into solution. Nero’s madness, some scholars suggest, came from over consumption of wine, resulting in lead poisoning of Roman leaders. It’s interesting to think that wine, inadvertently, was a factor leading to the fall of the Roman Empire.

In the 5th century the Romans were the first inhabitants to plant vineyards in the Champagne region located in NE France near present day Reims and Epernay. The name Champagne comes from the Latin campania and referred to the similarity between the rolling hills of the province and Italian countryside of Campanula located south of Rome.

The early wine of the Champagne region was a pale, pinkish wine made from Pinot Noir. The Champenois were envious of the red wine made by their Burgundian neighbors to the south and sought to produce wines of equal acclaim. The northern climate of the champagne region, however, gave the Champenois a unique set of challenges in making red wines from Pinot Noir. The grapes struggled in this extreme viticulture climate and would not fully ripen and have high acid levels and low sugar content. The wines were lighter bodied and thinner than the Burgundies. Furthermore, the early, cold winters of the Champagne region prematurely halted fermentation in the wine cellars, leaving dormant, but active, yeast cells in the wine, that would awaken and activate in the warmth of spring and start fermenting again.

One of the byproducts of fermentation is the release of carbon dioxide gas, which, in bottled wine is trapped inside the wine causing intense pressure up to and exceeding 110

Page 2

P.S.I. This unreleased pressure build up caused the early, weak, French bottles to explode. If one of these unstable, grenade wine bottles survived, the wine was found to contain bubbles. These bubbles were the carbon dioxide trapped in the wine and finally released upon opening the bottle. These released bubbles were something the early Champenois were horrified to see and considered them a fault and flaw in their winemaking skills; three cheers for serendipity.

While the Champenois and their French clients preferred their Champagne wines to be pale and still, the British were developing a taste for the unique bubbly wine. Champenois winemakers, most notably the Benedictine monk, Dom Perignon (1638-1715) were still trying to rid their wines of the bubbles.

The next article will deal with Dom Perignons’ attempt to rid his Blanc De Noir from bubbles and how to control the process and make wines deliberately sparkle and describe the dawning of the modern champagne wine industry.

All the Best,

Michael Giudici

John Michael Champagne Cellars

1425 Humbug Creek Road

Applegate, Oregon, 97530

(541) 846-0810 winery@budget.net

www.johnmichaelwinery.com

“Hospitality” (Hos-pi-tal-i-ty) – kindness to visitors: friendly, welcoming and generous treatment offered to guests or strangers.

Last week I had the chance to talk to some first time visitors to our Applegate Valley Wine Trail.  The group of tourists were from California, were well versed in wine and had spent a great deal of time exploring the Napa and Sonoma  wine regions.  Before they spoke, I knew that their reviews of our tasting rooms and vineyards were going to be positive by the smiles that they had upon their faces.  They gave what I feel to be the highest compliment to our area.  They said that they enjoyed the wines immensely and they could not remember the last time that they had been treated with such hospitality.  They said that every tasting room they visited, the owners and staff went out of their way to make them feel welcome.  Was I surprised by their comment?  No, but I was thrilled to hear it!  I know how friendly and welcoming our wineries and tasting rooms are.  This group of people I am proud to call my friends and my industry mates.  We are helping promote one another and our beautiful region. 

     Come and hear our stories.  We are grape growers, winemakers, farmers, pilots, mothers, cattle ranchers, accountants, grandfathers, firefighters, lawyers, woodworkers, chefs, and soldiers.  Each with a little different tale but we are bound by this passion called wine making and we would love to share our story with you.

Cheers-

Rachael Martin

Red Lily Vineyards

Flowering in the Vineyard

     Hello from the beautiful Applegate Valley.  The sun is out and it is starting to finally feel as if summer is upon us.  This has been the wettest spring in over a hundred years, and I know I speak for all of us when I say how happy to we are to feel the warmth of the sun!

     Currently our vineyards are in the stage of vine development referred to as fruit set.  This happens just after flowering and can take place anywhere from 40 – 80 days after bud break.  During this stage, all the fertilized flowers will start to develop into berries.  Some people think of insects or wind when they think of vine fertilization, but they usually play a small role in aiding pollination.  Grape Vines are able to self-pollinate, with the whole process usually self contained within the vine.  Bees, us grape growers love them, but we don’t necessarily need them!    Not every flower on the vine gets fertilized, with the unfertilized flowers falling off the vine.  There are many factors that play an important role during this stage.  During fruit set, climate, humidity, high temperatures, health of the vine, and water stress can potentially reduce the amount of flowers that get fertilized.  One more thing for farmers to worry about…add it to the long list! 

      From a winemaking perspective, each step in the process of grape development is critical.  During fruit set, I will be keeping my fingers crossed that my vines have set a balanced amount of fuit, not too heavy and not too light. 

     Take a drive out to our stunning valley this month and enjoy all that our surroundings have to offer.  We would love to pour you a glass of wine!

Cheers – Rachael

Red Lily Vineyards