Oregon Chardonnay Celebration

Patrick_Duffy · February 24, 2020, 9:23pm

We (wife, younger daughter, son and I) attended the Oregon Chardonnay Celebration on Saturday. Something like 63 Oregon wineries, each pouring one chard. Attendance was about as many people as the Allison Hotel could hold and it was sold out. Great opportunity to survey how chard in Oregon is developing. Overall, I think it is improving a lot, with some very good producers out there now. There is no way to taste through everybody’s offering. My daughter did some advance research to narrow down what we wanted to taste. Oak is not in our wheel house, so we tried to avoid those producers. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that…” A few producers’ web sites offered no information about their chardonnay cuvee, which was disappointing but we had enough other wineries to taste anyway. There was very limited ability to set down your glass and write a note about what you had just tasted. As a result, my notes were not extensive or, perhaps, useful for those who weren’t there, but…

Chardonnay that we really liked:
Arlyn 2017 Lionne Chardonnay Chehalem Mountains. Good acid, but not unbalanced
Bergstrom 2017 Sigrid Chardonnay Willamette Valley. Unanimous “likes,” good acid and fruit balance, especially on the front palate
Elton 2017 Elton Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills
Furioso Vineyards 2018 Chardonnay Yamhill-Carlton
Gothic Wine 2018 Ophelia Chardonnay Willamette Valley. Good nose, very good fruit, with a nice shot of acid on the finish. Probably our #2.
Morgen Long 2017 Chardonnay Willamette Valley. Mild flavors, very nice. He says that he’s trying to be Burgundian and I think he’s succeeding. Probably our #1 favorite. He only does chard.
Saffron Fields Vineyard 2017 Estate Chardonnay, Yamhill-Carlton. Good fruit, less acid, but served way too cold. improved with some warming in the glass.

Many of the wineries had their wine much too cold. We’re talking almost refrigerator temperatures, even a hour into the tasting. This definitely affected our impression of some wines. At a tasting like this, you simply do not have the opportunity to see how it will be when it has had the chance to open up.

00 Wines 2017 VGW Chardonnay, Willamette Valley. We had a very enjoyable previous experience with 00 and were looking forward to tasting it again. I won’t say we were disappointed but it had a bit of oak (not a lot) that we hadn’t noticed before. It did not stand out from the others and it was our first stop. The first is always in a tough spot because everything else gets compared to it. Not served as cold as some others but probably a bit colder than it should have been. I will want to revisit this one.

Goodfellow Family Cellars 2017 Durant Vineyard Chardonnay, Dundee Hills. This was a totally different wine than any other that we tasted. Petrol on the nose and front palate. The fruit comes through on the midpalate, however, with a long finish. Assuming this wasn’t a atypical bottle, this is another one to revisit. My wife “likes,” which is her seal of approval and I’m a smart enough husband to know that means I’m supposed to buy some.

John_Peacock · February 24, 2020, 11:30pm

It is WAY easier to warm up a wine that is too cold in the glass than to try and chill a wine that has gotten too warm. I would bet/expect that the wineries had an ice bucket to keep the wine chilled, but it is hard to keep the bottles at a perfect temp in a busy event like that.

Brandon_R · February 24, 2020, 11:38pm

Great, precise recap, Patrick. I appreciate it. Stoked to see Seth Long (Morgen Long) get your approval…his wines a fantastic. Goodfellow sounds killer, too. I’ve never heard of Arlyn, Elton, or Furioso. Will have to rectify that. OR Chards are some of the most exciting wines to me right now.

Seth_M_Long · February 25, 2020, 3:38pm

Honored.

Patrick, thanks so much for posting about and supporting this great event!

Philip_G · February 25, 2020, 4:49pm

If you liked the Goodfellow Durant you should try his Richard’s Cuvée Whistling Ridge. Incredible and even more unique, IMO.

Should still be time to get in on the Spring release, this stuff sells out.

James_Lyon · February 25, 2020, 4:56pm

Thanks for posting your notes and interesting thoughts. One of these years, I’m going to attend this event.

I checked the website for the list of featured wineries. In addition to Goodfellow, I would have highly recommended Crowley, Lingua Franca, Vincent and Walter Scott for their wonderful chardonnays.

I wonder if my favorite Oregon brewer and Oregon Chardonnay enthusiast, Rick Allen, was present for the event. If so, I would be interested to hear Rick’s thoughts as well.

Arterberry Maresh, Cameron and Eyrie were all notable absentees from the event.

Seth, I will be out the last full week of June and I would like to check out your chardonnays. Perhaps we can schedule a tasting as we get closer to June.

James

Marcus_Goodfellow · February 26, 2020, 1:06am

2017 Crowley Four Winds was just lovely, such a great vineyard and always fantastic in Tyson’s
very capable hands! I didn’t taste that many other wineries but I hit a few of the good ones.
Lingua Franca and the Morgen Long were both also excellent.

I didn’t make it by but I heard great things about Michael Lundeen’s Balnc de Blanc as well.

Rick was at Zwicklemania, so I don’t think he made it by the event.

Marcus_Goodfellow · February 26, 2020, 5:01am

btw-the Durant Chardonnay can have a bit of petrol to it, almost a smokey tone. It usually goes through a pretty good range of expression when you’re working through a bottle of it. I am happy to hear that your wife likes it, that’s always a good sign!

Rick_Allen · February 26, 2020, 5:04am

Unfortunately, as Marcus said, I missed the event. I need to talk to Amy about picking a different weekend…

dougwilder · December 19, 2020, 8:46am

We (wife, younger daughter, son and I) attended the Oregon Chardonnay Celebration on Saturday. Something like 63 Oregon wineries, each pouring one chard. Attendance was about as many people as the Allison Hotel could hold and it was sold out. Great opportunity to survey how chard in Oregon is developing. Overall, I think it is improving a lot, with some very good producers out there now. There is no way to taste through everybody’s offering. My daughter did some advance research to narrow down what we wanted to taste. Oak is not in our wheel house, so we tried to avoid those producers. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that…” A few producers’ web sites offered no information about their chardonnay cuvee, which was disappointing but we had enough other wineries to taste anyway. There was very limited ability to set down your glass and write a note about what you had just tasted. As a result, my notes were not extensive or, perhaps, useful for those who weren’t there, but…

Chardonnay that we really liked:
Arlyn 2017 Lionne Chardonnay Chehalem Mountains. Good acid, but not unbalanced
Bergstrom 2017 Sigrid Chardonnay Willamette Valley. Unanimous “likes,” good acid and fruit balance, especially on the front palate
Elton 2017 Elton Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills
Furioso Vineyards 2018 Chardonnay Yamhill-Carlton
Gothic Wine 2018 Ophelia Chardonnay Willamette Valley. Good nose, very good fruit, with a nice shot of acid on the finish. Probably our #2.
Morgen Long 2017 Chardonnay Willamette Valley. Mild flavors, very nice. He says that he’s trying to be Burgundian and I think he’s succeeding. Probably our #1 favorite. He only does chard.
Saffron Fields Vineyard 2017 Estate Chardonnay, Yamhill-Carlton. Good fruit, less acid, but served way too cold. improved with some warming in the glass.

Many of the wineries had their wine much too cold. We’re talking almost refrigerator temperatures, even a hour into the tasting. This definitely affected our impression of some wines. At a tasting like this, you simply do not have the opportunity to see how it will be when it has had the chance to open up.

00 Wines 2017 VGW Chardonnay, Willamette Valley. We had a very enjoyable previous experience with 00 and were looking forward to tasting it again. I won’t say we were disappointed but it had a bit of oak (not a lot) that we hadn’t noticed before. It did not stand out from the others and it was our first stop. The first is always in a tough spot because everything else gets compared to it. Not served as cold as some others but probably a bit colder than it should have been. I will want to revisit this one.

Goodfellow Family Cellars 2017 Durant Vineyard Chardonnay, Dundee Hills. This was a totally different wine than any other that we tasted. Petrol on the nose and front palate. The fruit comes through on the midpalate, however, with a long finish. Assuming this wasn’t a atypical bottle, this is another one to revisit. My wife “likes,” which is her seal of approval and I’m a smart enough husband to know that means I’m supposed to buy some.

I came here to see if anyone else had tasted Janis Pate’s wine, Arlyn as I just reviewed her new releases including the 2018 Lionne. It is made by Thomas Savre of Lingua Franca. It is well worth looking for.