| Northwest Wine Fan Presents Owen Roe and Oysters 2006 By Tim Sinniger Owen Roe Lunch and Wine Tasting Date: Friday, June 2 - 2006 Where: Owen Roe wine making facility in St. Paul, |
| We finished with the always excellent Owen Roe Zinfandel from the 2004 vintage. It had been bottled just recently but was already showing some of the qualities you come to expect with an Owen Roe Zin. It displayed rich vibrant fruit and smooth tannins. In a few years this will be another of the great Owen Roe wines. We recently served the 2000 and 2001 Owen Roe Zinfandel at our spring wine dinner with the main course of herb encrusted lamb. They were magnificent! We left the Owen Roe facility with three cases of purchased wine heading for the Oregon Coast to continue our Wine and Waterfalls weekend. Our most gracious thanks to David, Jerry and the whole staff at Owen Roe Winery for their hospitality and the camaraderie we all enjo |
| Year |
| Wine |
| Score |
| $ |
| 2003 |
| Cabernet Sauvignon - Yakima Valley, Dubrul Vineyard |
| 94 |
| $60 |
| 2003 |
| Merlot - Yakima Valley, Dubrul Vineyard |
| 92 |
| $45 |
| 2004 |
| Cabernet Franc - Yakima Valley, Rosa Mystica Block |
| 91 |
| $36 |
| 2003 |
| Yakima Valley Red |
| 91 |
| $42 |
| 2004 |
| Syrah - Yakima Valley, DuBrul Vineyard Lady Rosa |
| 91 |
| $45 |
| 2004 |
| Syrah - Columbia Valley, Ex Umbris |
| 91 |
| $24 |
| 2003 |
| Cab Sauvignon - Walla Walla, Seven Hills Vineyard, Saint Isidore Vineyard |
| 90 |
| $42 |
| Contents copyright 2006 Northwest Wine fan |
| "Hey! It's the oyster people." Upon arriving at Owen Roe those were the first words we heard from staff as we walked towards the wine-making facility. OK, let's back up. It all started at the Owen Roe wine dinner held at Vino Mercato in Bend on St. Patrick's Day. Wine club members Kevin and Wendy sat with David O'Reilly at his table that night and Kevin was talking about Willapa Bay Oysters. David remarked that he loved them and Kevin offered to bring some over to the winery. David remarked "If you bring oysters I'll supply the wine." And so our adventure began. |
| As you can see, the Owen Roe staff was excited to see us. We introduced ourselves to these exuberant oyster fans and soon after David O'Reilly came out to greet us. We made our way to a kitchen with a large community table located above the wine lab and settled in. Brian, one of the winery staff and resident chef extraordinaire began to shuck the oysters and prepare lunch for all of us as we mingled and started to taste some of the wines that David had brought out to enjoy with our meal. |
| The Food Our feast consisted of Willapa Bay Oysters served on the half shell with a mignonette sauce, fresh Washington asparagus brought back the previous day by Owen Roe proprietor Jerry Owen and three cheese enchiladas served with two sauces, the first being a sumptuous green chili cream sauce and the other a bold Mole sauce, both made from scratch. Needless to say we were surprised since we thought we would just be enjoying oysters and some wine. David told us that the winery staff got together most days for a community meal and since Friday is a meatless day the oysters were a real treat. How appreciative and honored we were to be included at their table! |
| The Wine White Wine We started with a 2005 Owen Roe Pinot Gris. Since there were only 44 cases produced this wine has not been made publicly available. We also sampled the new 2005 Dubrul Chardonnay. Both of these whites were expressive with the Pinot Gris being rich with great acidity and the Chardonnay showing bright fruit, fresh, and not the over-oaked butter bomb you find in a lot of Chardonnays. Red Wine We moved on to the reds beginning with a 2005 O'Reilly's Pinot Noir. It was wonderful, with cherry and raspberry showing and a slight earthy, gamey finish to it adding to its depth. This Pinot has fruit from the Casa Blanca Vineyard (One of my favorites) and other vineyards as well. Also at the table was one of Owen Roe's flagship wines, the 2004 Dubrul Cabernet. When Carolyn and I tasted this same wine from barrel last year we both agreed it would be wonderful, but still needed time in the barrel to flesh itself out. We can say to the last person WOW! What a difference a year makes in the evolution of a wine. Last years possibility is this years rock star. This wine is just being bottled as this article is released so look for it this fall (and stock up). |
| Off To The Barrel Room After lunch we stopped by the lab and talked with wine assistant Aaron Lieberman. He explained how they went about deciding the blends including the fact that the Abbott's Table red wine comes first in the decision making process on how and what wines to make and blend. I was looking at his computer to see the many different percentages and vineyards they calculate and taste to make the wonderful blended wines they produce. From there we headed to the barrel room where we were to try some of the 2005 red wines that have not been bottled yet, but first David stopped at a few barrels marked Semillon. This grape is a white grape varietal used to make still white wines in the French area of Bordeaux as well as some of the best desert wines in the world coming from Sauternes. This Semillon was from Washington and has a remarkable story behind it. |
| The story of the missing barrels When making the Sharecroppers Cabernet Sauvignon last year it seems a couple of barrels of port belonging to another winemaker who was storing them at the Owen Roe facility were accidentally mixed into the final blend. Feeling bad about this David set out to make a wine for his friend that would take the place of the lost barrels. When visiting Outlook Vineyard in Washington he came across an old block of Semillon last fall. When David asked what the proprietor was planning to do with a block of Semillon David had come across the proprietor said he did not know. So arrangements were made and Owen Roe acquired the grapes and let them stay on the vine until mid December when they were finally harvested. The wine was then frozen and stored in caves over the winter. Finally allowed to thaw and transferred into barrels and made into wine we tasted Owen Roe's 2005 Late Harvest Semillon. This is a desert wine as light as a feather with refreshing acidity and none of the caramelized syrupy texture that a lot of Sauternes show. This is a world class desert wine and with only 4 � barrels of this exciting wine in existence (and a couple of those being bottled for his friend) there will be little available. According to David this might only be available to patrons on the Owen Roe mailing list. My recommendation is to be on the mailing list and try to acquire a few bottles of this intoxicating elixir. |
| We continued on to taste some Pinot Noir from barrel. David wanted to show us the difference there can be on a vineyard so we tried two clones from Cummins Vineyard, a Dijon and a Pommard clone. Both were still young in their evolution but you could taste the difference between Dijon showing bright cherry and the Pommard showing black cherry as well as a earthiness to it. It is the winemaker's blending of these different grapes that will tell the tale as to how the 2005 Cummins Pinot Noir will turn out. When leaving the barrel room we came across some split oak barrels planted to herbs by one of the winery staff. As David pulled a leaf of Basil he waffed it across his lips and nose and you could tell he was thinking of the perfect meal to incorporate it in. |
| With a hearty "Thanks for the oysters" David had to dash off to Portland for a meeting. We continued our visit with Brian, chef extraordinaire. He led us up to the upper warehouse where we tried the 2005 Owen Roe Dubrul Cabernet Sauvignon from barrel. As with last years barrel tasting of the 2004 we all think this will be a really great wine. Brian had that gleam in his eye and without saying so I feel the he and the other Owen Roe staff think this will be a momentous wine. |
| Here are some recent Spectator score for Owen Roe wines |
| Talk To The Cellarmaster |
| Name: |
| Tim Sinniger |
| Email: |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |