Red Burgundy

Red Burgundy

A big "thank you" goes to Roger and Chris Wooley for once again hosting the Portland Confrerie annual Red Burgundy event.
Starter wines for the day were two Chablis wines.

2008 Dom Bernard Defaix Chablis

2008 Dom Bernard Defaix Chablis Vielles Vignes


The focus this year was Chambolle-Musigny. The following was pulled from the Wikipedia site.

Wine and viticulture is the main business of Chambolle-Musigny. The village name is also an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) for red wine with Pinot Noir as the main grape. There are also 25 vineyards classified as Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru, the most famous of these Les Amoureuses, and two Grand Cru vineyards: Musigny and Bonnes Mares.[1] It is Musigny which has lent its name to the village as a suffix. The trend of adding a vineyard name as a suffix started in 1847 by Gevrey successfully applying to the king to add Chambertin as a suffix to its name. This trend started off as a result of a clever marketing strategy to be able to use the name of the most famous vineyard also as part of the name of simpler wines from the same village. Thus, Chambolle became Chambolle-Musigny in 1882.
Towering high above the other vineyards stands Le Musigny, a 10.86 ha piece of land owned and exploited by no less than ten different wine producers. Producers include Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue, Domaine Georges Roumier, Domaine Leroy, Domaine J.-F. Mugnier, Maison Louis Jadot and Maison Joseph Drouhin. It is most famously described as "the queen of all Burgundy" and "an iron fist in a velvet glove". Classed as a Grand Cru vineyard, it is one of two such classed vineyards on the commune.
The other is the majority of Les Bonnes Mares. 13.54 ha lie in Chambolle with a further 1.52 ha technically within neighbouring Morey-Saint-Denis (which like Chambolle adopted the name of one of its four Grands Crus, Saint-Denis). Bonnes Mares is generally considered to be firmer and more tannic. Most producers of Musigny also happen to own or exploit land in Bonnes Mares.
There are two dozen Premier Cru vineyards, most at least of good quality. One bears special mention, however. Les Amoureuses, a small 5.4 ha climat is considered better than the other 23 Premiers Crus. It is generally considered to be a very close sibling to Musigny itself, with perhaps less longevity and less all-out power; but one which is closer in style to Musigny than Bonnes Mares. The wines tend to be very expensive like a Grand Cru as well and most producers blessed enough to own a parcel of this tiny vineyard enjoy high incomes.

The 8 wines we tasted were as follows:

2003 Christian Clerget Village
2006 Patrice Rion 1ER Cru Millesime
2007 Patrice Rion 1ER Cru Millesime
1999 Christian Clerget Les Charmes 1ER
2003 Christian Clerget Les Charmes 1ER
2004 Michael & Patrice Rion Les Charmes 1ER
2006 Michael & Patrice Rion Les Charmes 1ER
2007 Michael & Patrice Rion Les Charmes 1ER

Tasting Notes

As always this is a highly anticipated event with stellar wines. Well done Roger!

Grgich Hills

In February we were fortunate enough to have Sharon House welcome us to her home for a tasting of Grgich Hills wine. Grigich Hills is an "old school" Napa producer.

Mike's most celebrated achievement came in 1976 when a Chardonnay he crafted for Chateau Montelena beat the very best wines in France in a now famous blind tasting in Paris. This event that stunned the wine world catapulted the Napa Valley into the front ranks of the leading wine-producing regions of the world. "For years, everybody in the world believed that only French soils could produce great wines," Mike explains. "We shattered that myth. That was probably the most significant result of the Paris tasting.

Sharon being the hostess with the mostest

The tasting lineup included:

2007 Fume Blanc
2007 Chardonnay

2006 Grgich Hills Merlot
2006 Grgich Hills Zinfandel
2003 Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet
2004 Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet
2005 Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet
2006 Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet

Feast of St. Vincent

Well, 2011 kicked off in fine form with the Portland Chapter's Feast of St. Vincent. Once again this year the event was held at the Oregon Culinary Institute.The event featured a champagne reception along with appetizers done by our own outgoing Chancelier Norm Schoen.

Cheese / Meat /Vegetables

Smoked Salmon Crostini

As always the Oregon Culinary Institute did a fantastic job with hosting and giving us a first class dining experience.

Feast of St. Vincent Menu

-Starter-

Roasted Cauliflower Soup – Brown Butter Croutons

Butternut Squash Fritter – Quince Dipping Sauce

-Salad-

Blood Orange and Pomegranate Salad –Arugula, Pistachio, Ricotta Salata and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Belgian Endive Salad – Fuji Apple, Oregon Blue Cheese, Rosemary Roasted Walnuts and Cider Vinaigrette

Roasted Pumpkin Salad – Frisée, Pickled Raisins, Toasted Hazelnuts

& Dry Jack Cheese with Saba Vinaigrette

-Entrée-

Dungeness Crab Paperdelle – White Wine, Meyer Lemon

w/ Shaved White Truffle, Fennel Pollen and Cream

Cider-Braised Duck Leg – Rainbow Chard and Roasted Apple

w/ Bacon, Raisin, Duck Liver and Pecan Stuffing

Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder – Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes

& Grilled Radicchio with Maple Gastrique

Grilled Venison– Parsnip-Potato Purée, Sweet

& Sour Glazed Cippolini Onions and Cavolo Nero

-Dessert-

O.C.I. Chocolate Dream Torte

Rum Baba – Citrus Supremes and Crème Chantilly

Angel Food Cake – Sorbet Trio

Crème Brûlée –Shortbread Cookies

Chancelier Steve Lutz helped make the evening more festive by providing champagne flutes for the event (who knew that flutes could be both pink and light up?). Also Steve presented beautiful decanter's to members who had stepped up and hosted events during the year 2010. What a way to start the New Year!