Wineries at 2022 IPNC

[lleichtman]

David, the information on the IPNC website makes it sound like the same wines are poured during the Alfresco tastings during the weekend and the Passport sessions on Sunday. Is it possible to only pour on Sunday? If what you describe is the cost to pour to both events, I don’t think that’s unreasonable, particularly since I would guess that it includes a ticket to the event.

Good point. It’s true that if one were to have wines that fit the various Alfresco themes, we could show at multiple events. But I’m pretty solidly a Pinot-only producer at this point. (I will be making Chardonnay in 2022, but it will likely take me a few vintages to lock it in : ). Still, I think it’s probably worthwhile given the cachet of being selected as a top Pinot wine maker.

It’s alway been a “you’re or you’re not” situation at IPNC. A winery is a participant in everything, or nothing. Some try to “work it” by buying Salmon Bake tickets and spreading their wine around the event, but that’s not a good environment to tell your story so I don’t think it would be productive.

A lot of people did that last night. Some were pretty good, some not so good. Could see why they weren’t included.

[Sean_S]

De Ponte is a winery I have not thought about in years. One of the wineries we visited on our first WV trip in 2007. Recall really enjoying their Melon de Bourgogne more than anything, but thought the Pinots were solid. What was your take on their wines now, Sean?

Pinots were solid a little richer and riper that my preference. The chardonnays were very good and I thought the Melon was the star of the show. Views were beautiful and I did bring home to melon and chard to sample further.

[Sean_S]

Tasting of the weekend so far was with Vincent Fritzsche and Saul Mutchnick. We met at up at Grochau cellars and tasted through some of Sauls wines, Vincents wines and some local California wines I brought. Great to stand around and geek out on wine for a few hours. Time flew buy and I had run out to dinner but such a treat. Looking forward to the next release from both these fine winemakers. The 83 Calera Jensen was on point and showing even better than it did at our Big Jensen blind vertical tasting on July 1st.

[Sean_S]

Salmon Bake was fun but hot… Rob was pouring some Sandar and Hem as well as a Mag of 2014 Corton Charlie and I brought an autographed Mag of 2004 PGC Notorious. It was great to chat with Rick Allen and my WOTN was the Heater Allen Pils.

Sean

Sean

[Rick_Allen]

Thanks Sean! The PGC was in a really good place. I was fortunate to try a bunch of fantastic wines. Probably my highlights were the two Sean mentioned, along with a PYCM (Meursault?) that Mike Passo brought, a Leflaive Puligny Montrachet (Folatieres?) that Andy Steinman brought, a 2010 Belle Pente Estate that Brian O’Donnell brought by, a 2010 Brickhouse Cuvee du Tonnelier from Savannah Mills (Asst winemaker @ Brickhouse), and a 2008 Brickhouse Gamay Noir that I brought. All were served out of magnums. I also tasted a 2008 Brickhouse Evelyn’s that was superb even if it wasn’t from a magnum… I’m probably leaving out a bunch as well. The beer was good and popular too!

[Vincent_Fritzsche]

Great to see you Sean and thanks for the wines you brought. The ‘83 Calera Jensen was terrific, what a treat.

Special wine alert - 2017 Ladd Cellars Chardonnay Cuvee Voile. I don’t believe I’ve ever tried Eric Lundblad’s wine before but this was exceptionally good. Must find more Ladd Cellars wine. I apologize Eric that it’s taken me so long to see the light. Thanks Sean!

[Jim_Anderson]

Thanks Sean! The PGC was in a really good place. I was fortunate to try a bunch of fantastic wines. Probably my highlights were the two Sean mentioned, along with a PYCM (Meursault?) that Mike Passo brought, a Leflaive Puligny Montrachet (Folatieres?) that Andy Steinman brought, a 2010 Belle Pente Estate that Brian O’Donnell brought by, a 2010 Brickhouse Cuvee du Tonnelier from Savannah Mills (Asst winemaker @ Brickhouse), and a 2008 Brickhouse Gamay Noir that I brought. All were served out of magnums. I also tasted a 2008 Brickhouse Evelyn’s that was superb even if it wasn’t from a magnum… I’m probably leaving out a bunch as well. The beer was good and popular too!

Glad to hear. Of the 22 vintages we’ve had at PGC if you toss out 2020 (making it 21) I would put 2004 near or at the bottom. In some ways it speaks to the relative stability of Oregon (even as things have changed drastically over 22 years), the general high quality of vintages over a huge breadth of winemaking time and the complete weirdness of not only that vintage but that vintage year. So, happy to hear that it’s still holding up.

[lleichtman]

Is there a scheduling conflict with Linfield? I agree they need to move it earlier just after graduation in May or early June. Plus many of those dorms they have people staying in don’t have A/C. Maybe the college needs time to clean up after the students move out.

Linfield is busy pretty much all the time. A lot of football and soccer camps go on there, especially earlier in the summer. I’m told that the reason for doing IPNC when they do is because that weekend has the least chance of rain during the year. Linfield (actually McMinnville) doesn’t have a venue big enough to host the event indoors. Historically, June can get pretty wet. For example, this year, the first three weekends in June would have had rain, and the fourth had temperatures in the 90s - not much different than now. It’s pretty much always hot for the event, though I’ll admit that this year is a good 5-10 degrees hotter than usual. You just have to plan accordingly (and drink lots of beer).

Good point about the outdoor events but I still think the organizers need to rethink. Cold and wet June or May weather will become increasingly rare no doubt, and more tents/shifting the programming a bit would be preferable to the (almost guaranteed) heat in my opinion. Many of the vineyard/winery-based programs I have attended were for the most part in the cellar/production area or a covered patio (for the shade) but yeah, the marquee events would require extra planning and cost.

I agree. Yesterday so was so frigging hot, my shirt was soaked and almost too hot for the salmon bake. Unfortunately, they use a lot of Linfield students as staff and they may not be available in May.

[Richard_T_r_i_m_p_i]

Wish I could! I’ve been advocating IPNC move to the last weekend in May due to the heat this past decade. I actually had been asking for June, but last year we had all time high temps. that week. If you all agree, send a note to the IPNC organizers : )

The heat definitely seems to be an increasing problem. Hopefully the fires and smoke of 2020 were anomalous. IPNC does seem to generally coincide with OR fire season. All of Oregon is now in fire season - OPB

The late July timing works quite well for Linfield College. Not sure what else might work.

Tasting and enjoying Pinots in 80 - 85f+ weather is less than ideal IMHO. 90f+, much less so.

RT

[ToddFrench]

Wish I could! I’ve been advocating IPNC move to the last weekend in May due to the heat this past decade. I actually had been asking for June, but last year we had all time high temps. that week. If you all agree, send a note to the IPNC organizers : )

The heat definitely seems to be an increasing problem. Hopefully the fires and smoke of 2020 were anomalous. IPNC does seem to generally coincide with OR fire season. All of Oregon is now in fire season - OPB

The late July timing works quite well for Linfield College. Not sure what else might work.

Tasting and enjoying Pinots in 80 - 85f+ weather is less than ideal IMHO. 90f+, much less so.

RT

And Passport to Pinot was 95f+ - I couldn’t taste more than 5 tiny pours myself, just had to chug water nonstop as I was losing so much from the heat/sweat

[Richard_T_r_i_m_p_i]

Wish I could! I’ve been advocating IPNC move to the last weekend in May due to the heat this past decade. I actually had been asking for June, but last year we had all time high temps. that week. If you all agree, send a note to the IPNC organizers : )

The heat definitely seems to be an increasing problem. Hopefully the fires and smoke of 2020 were anomalous. IPNC does seem to generally coincide with OR fire season. All of Oregon is now in fire season - OPB

The late July timing works quite well for Linfield College. Not sure what else might work.

Tasting and enjoying Pinots in 80 - 85f+ weather is less than ideal IMHO. 90f+, much less so.

RT

And Passport to Pinot was 95f+ - I couldn’t taste more than 5 tiny pours myself, just had to chug water nonstop as I was losing so much from the heat/sweat

That sucks.

IPNC’s late afternoon al fresco tastings were my favorite venue for plunging in to full Pinot tasting geekdom. I remember a few warm afternoons but luckily not many with temps around 90. Looks like high temps were 95 - 100+ every day of the 2022 IPNC.

With such hot temps, it seems like the organizers need a Plan B to move the tasting indoors…which would add logistical challenges. It sure beats sweltering while trying to appreciate a wide variety of fine Pinots. For the Passport tasting, considering the size, it would be very challenging to move it indoors.

RT

[RobB]

I agree with Sean that the Heater Allen Pils Anniversary Edition was the beverage of the night for the Salmon Bake. It was simply too hot to drink Pinot after 8+ hours of outdoor sessions over two days above 95F. Trading some of my Pinot for a splash of ice cold 2017 Bergstrom Sigrid was the best trade of the night. And Sean and I owe Nathan Kandler a bottle or two for talking us out of staying in the dorms and insisting we get an Airbnb with AC for the weekend. This 85F Bay Area temperature seems quite civilized now.