Adelsheim and Dijon clones

At Winebow’s tasting on Tuesday I got to talk to David Adelsheim of Adelsheim Winery in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. I tasting four of his wines and liked them a lot. The whites, which all had screw caps, were the 2006 Pinot Blanc, the 2006 “CH” , and unoaked chardonnay, and the 2007 Pinot Gris. He was showing one red, the 2007 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, which has yet to be released.

The chardonnay, and the pinot gris, had a finish on them that I am used to finding in white Burgundies, an almost candy-like taste and feeling that I compare to cotton candy, or barbe de papa, as the French call it. (I was at a carnival in Nuits-St. George when I put two and two together.) I’d always wondered why I’d get this only in Burgundian chardonnays until I was talking to a local winemaker — this was awhile ago, and I recall it being Greg Gove of Peconic Bay Winery — and he said it had to do with the type of chardonnay clones, and that Dijon clones give the wine that taste.

So I asked Adelsheim about it.

[The hard to hear video is of him talking about the difference between the 2006 and 2007 vintages in Oregon. 2006 was hotter.]

A tour of Greece

This week’s Winebow tasting in New York was pretty good. There was plenty of space between the tables, it was well lighted and the tables and the page numbers were coordinated in the book. This may seem like a minor detail, but it’s so much easier when you don’t have to keep flipping through the pages to find the wine you’re tasting.

I got a quick tour of Greece by Andrea Englisis, who really knows her stuff. She showed me some things and then would say, “Let’s go to the islands.” She is vice president of Athenee Importers, which she owns and runs with her mother.

In the above video, she talks about the greek grape limnio, originally from the island of Limnos; it’s similar to cabernet franc.