Erath Winery Oregon Happy Hour Wine Tasting With Special Guest Winemaker Leah Adint

"It's a hard grape to grow. As you know. Right? It's, uh, it's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's, you know, it's not a survivor like cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it's neglected. No, pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And, in fact, it can only grow in these really specific, little tucked-away corners of the world. And only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand pinot's potential can then coax it into its fullest expression."

Miles - Sideways

I remember my trip to Oregon in the summer of 1994 for the IPNC (International Pinot Noir Celebration) this is one of the best wine parties that I have ever attended. The festival is limited to 500 attendees as it is hosted by McMinnville College and that is all they can accommodate in their lecture facilities. I remember not only were the quality of the wines at the highest level but the people in attendance were some of the most passionate Pinot Noir lovers that I had ever come across. And although winemaking began in the 19th century in this state it is only recently that its potential has been recognized by the rest of the world.

It was in 1979 when serious wine producers started to look at the potential of this area as Eyrie Vineyards' 1975 South Block Pinot Noir placed in the top 10 of Burgundy-style wines at the Gault-Millau French Wine Olympiades, and was rated the top Pinot Noir. This send the news around the wine world and shortly after Robert Drouhin, head of Burgundy's legendary Maison Joseph Drouhin, was visiting America's west coast promoting the Drouhin Burgundies. The California wine industry was just starting to receive its first recognition back then, but there was little if anything going on in Oregon. Robert's first visit to the Northwest and its earliest vineyards left him with the impression that it quite possibly would be Oregon, not California, that would ultimately prove to be the best place to grow the great grape of Burgundy - Pinot noir.

Inspired by his trip to Oregon and the results of 1979 tasting that was held in Paris, where, for the first time, the best new Oregon Pinot noirs were tasted in competition with the finest Burgundies. Robert decided to hold his own blind tasting in 1980 at the Drouhin cellars in France, with several of the best Oregon Pinot noirs going up against the finest Drouhin Grand Crus. It was a Drouhin Grand Cru that took first place this time, but an Oregon wine (the now legendary 1975 Eyrie Vineyards South Block) placed 2nd by a very narrow margin with the French experts. News of this tasting brought the first widespread international attention to Oregon Pinot noir.

After a few years’ time Robert's daughter Véronique just graduated with an advanced degree in enology from the University of Dijon, and wanted to expand her experience by working in Oregon. Véronique interned with Adelsheim Vineyards, Bethel Heights, and Eyrie for the 1986 vintage. Later on, Robert mentioned to David Adelsheim that it might be interesting to buy a piece of land in Oregon, to see what it might produce. What started as a passing thought began its transformation into reality when Adelsheim phoned the Drouhins in Beaune not long thereafter to tell them of a property that was for sale that they might be interested in. The rest is history and with one of Burgundies foremost wine producing families moving to Oregon the writing was on the wall that this wine producing region would soon get its much deserved recognition as one of the world's premier Pinot Noir growing regions.

Today, the state of Oregon in the United States has established an international reputation for its production of wine. Oregon has several different growing regions within the state's borders which are well-suited to the cultivation of grapes; additional regions straddle the border between Oregon and the states of Washington and Idaho. Wine making dates back to pioneer times in the 1840s, with commercial production beginning in the 1960s.

Currently there are over 1000 wineries in Oregon and a bustling tourism industry has developed around wine tasting. Much of the tourism focuses on the wineries and tasting rooms in and around the Yamhill Valley southwest of Portland.

Join us as we welcome the third winemaker in the history of Erath Winery to South Florida Leah Adint will be here to taste through the latest releases from this landmark Oregon winery.  The fee for this Happy Hour wine tasting is $75 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com

 
Erath Winery Oregon Happy Hour Wine Tasting
With Special Guest Winemaker Leah Adint
Thursday, November 14th
6:00pm

2023 Erath Pinot Gris Oregon
Price: $15.75   Your Price: $13.86
The 2023 Erath Oregon Pinot Gris opens with delicate aromas of Nashi pear, basil leaf, and hints of white peach, offering an alluring introduction. A bright mouthful of jasmine flower, Meyer lemon and shortbread offers a plush palate that finishes up-tempo and satisfying. Offering an abundant array of tropical and stone fruit aromas and flavors, the 2023 Erath Oregon Pinot Gris is a delightfully refreshing wine that will enhance any food-pairing opportunity, any season.

2022 Erath Pinot Noir Rose Willamette Valley
Price: $16.75                 Your Price: $14.74
(89 Points) This rosé's fresh cantaloupe and lemon zest aromas will have you looking for your sunscreen, beach towel and flip-flops. The wine almost crunches in the mouth, thanks to its exhilarating acidity, as strawberry and citrus flavors swirl about. — Michael Alberty Wine Enthusiast

2022 Erath Pinot Noir Resplendent Oregon
Price: $18.00   Sale $15.84
Sultry and dark, aromas of black plum, Marionberry, fragrant carnation, and a whisper of vanilla entice and intrigue. The palate is ripe with juicy black cherry, fig, and a hint of the exotic smoky tea. Smooth and satisfying throughout, the finish lingers with dusty tannin and a hint of acidity.

2021 Erath Oregon Pinot Noir
Price: $21.50   Your Price: $18.92
The warm growing season offers decadent aromas of boysenberry and dark cherry with layers of jasmine and fresh herbs helping to maintain freshness. An Oregon icon, this wine achieves the perfect balance between delicate and playful.

2018 Erath Pinot Noir Leland Vineyard Willamette Valley
Price: $45.00                 Your Price: $39.60
This purple-hued beauty boasts yeasty and meaty aromas that mingle with Mission fig, lavender and a touch of toasted coffee bean. The silky-smooth palate is awash with pomegranate, dark cherry and black tea. The satiny texture persists through the even, refined finish.

2018 Erath Pinot Noir Knights Gambit Dundee Hills
Price: $75.00   Your Price: $66.00
This wine encapsulates everything we love about the Dundee Hills – unabashed red cherry and currant flavors, generous palate weight and silky texture, and a seamless almost-too-drinkable finish. Complex notes of thyme, nutmeg, and cocoa add to the loveliness and length of this wine.

Menu
Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie
Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Bisque with toasted pumpkin seeds
Chorizo, Roasted Red Pepper and Caramelized Vidalia Onion Flatbread  with Goat Cheese
Duck confit Spring Rolls with strawberry bbq Sauce
Beef Sliders with Truffle Mayo and Gruyere Cheese

The fee for this tasting is $75 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. 

A bit about winemaker Leah Adint

For Leah Adint, the love of winemaking has taken her around the world, giving her unique experiences that she brings to her role as Head Winemaker at Erath Winery.
Throughout her career, Leah has worked in viticulture and winemaking positions in California, Australia, France, Switzerland, Washington, and Oregon. “I was really attracted to the wine industry as a trade that could take me around the world, and it has!” she says.
Leah graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in Viticulture & Enology as a recipient of the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates scholarship. Following college, she worked several vineyard and winery internships in California, including internships at Hall Wines in Napa Valley in 2007, Balletto Vineyards and Dutton-Goldfield in Russian River in 2008, and at Trinchero Family Estates in Napa Valley in 2009.
Leah went on to earn a master’s degree in Oenology at the University of Adelaide in 2012. While in Australia she participated in work experiences in the Hunter Valley, Adelaide Hills and Riverland, and spent time as the red winemaker at Berri Estates, the largest winery in the Southern Hemisphere. During her five years abroad, Leah also worked harvests in Burgundy, central England, and Switzerland.
After living in Australia for five years, Leah decided it was time return to the U.S. and joined Chateau Ste. Michelle as a traveling winemaker in 2015. In 2021, Leah moved  to Oregon and joined the winemaking team at Erath. In 2022, she was appointed Head Winemaker, becoming just the third person in Erath’s 50-year history to hold the role.
“Oregon winemaking is all about being different,” Leah says. “It’s the reason Dick Erath came here in the first place; he saw the opportunity to leave California and create something new and untouched. I think that mentality still holds true around the Dundee Hills. People here are trying different varieties, playing with different winemaking techniques, and trying to make wines that taste different from everything else on the shelf.”
Working on Pinot Noir is a dream come true for Leah. “While being a bit temperamental in the vineyards, Pinot Noir is so much fun in the winery,” she says. “From sparkling to Rosé to truly age-worthy red wines, Pinot Noir can do it all. No other red grape offers  such diversity.”
“It’s the Burgundian way to keep winemaking very simple and allow the vineyard to express itself in the wine. My style is a bit different,” she continues. “I want to use small winemaking adjustments to help better accentuate what each different vineyard wants to express. This might mean native yeast, cold soaking, whole cluster, or extended maceration. It only takes a small tweak here or there to really help amplify the best qualities of a wine.

A bit about Erath Winery:

You would have to look hard to find a more self-effacing wine "giant" than Dick Erath, Erath's owner and winemaker.  One of the founders of Oregon's wine industry, Dick is quick to play down his role in the industry.   "The Northwest was my home as a teenager," says Dick, "and I saw how well many different types of fruit grew in this climate.  It seemed to me that vinifera grapes should thrive in this environment since it so closely resembles Northern France."  A man with an imposing frame and searing eyes, Dick Erath had his first career as an electrical engineer with Tektronix Corporation.  He began his winemaking career by making Bordeaux-style wines in the basement of his California home.  In the fall of 1967 Dick came to Oregon to purchase some pinot noir grapes.  The quality of the wine produced from these grapes so impressed Dick that he and his family purchased land almost immediately in the Dundee Hills in the northern part of Oregon's Willamette Valley.  The family moved to Oregon early in 1968 and began planting their vineyard that spring.

Dick Erath and his former partner, Cal Knudsen, started Knudsen Erath Winery in 1975.  The relationship with Knudsen began in 1972 when Erath developed a vineyard for Cal Knudsen in the picturesque Red Hills near the town of Dundee.  Erath and Knudsen each wanted to have their own separate wineries and share the cost and the use of expensive winemaking equipment.   Legal restrictions prevented them from carrying out their plans, and instead the two men joined in partnership in 1975 and formed the Knudsen Erath Winery.   At the time, there were only a few other wineries in the state.   The first crush at Knudsen Erath produced a total of 216 cases of wine split between three varieties: Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer, and White Riesling.  While living with his family in an unheated logger's cabin, Erath built the original winery building and the family home.  Once the first cedar log structure was completed, wines were fermented and cellared in the garage, while the Erath family lived upstairs.  In subsequent years the winery has expanded to include five other buildings devoted to winemaking, case storage, and aging.  

For a time the wines were sold under separate labels; but beginning in 1980, Knudsen Erath adopted a single uniform label for all their wines.  In 1988, Erath acquired sole ownership of the winery.  In Oregon small wineries are the rule, but Erath ranks among America's largest producers of Pinot Noir.  Erath produced 27,000 cases of Pinot Noir in 1993, using fruit from estate vineyards and from Eola Hills and Dundee Hills vineyards in the northern Willamette Valley.  The winery regularly produces three different bottlings of Pinot Noir: Dundee Villages Pinot Noir, a regular Pinot Noir, and a Vintage Select Pinot Noir.   Also, from time to time when the vintage warrants it, several other special Pinot Noirs are produced.  In 1992 the winery produced a single vineyard Reserve Pinot Noir from the Leland Vineyard and also produced a reserve-styled Pinot Noir from the Niederberger Vineyard.  We were quite impressed with the 1992 Vintage Select Pinot, which was rated an impressive "Best Value" (91) in The Wine News.  The 1994 vintage provided the best fruit that Oregon winemakers had seen to date in this infant wine region, and it turned many heads, giving true hope to the plight that this could be the new world’s best piece of real estate for Burgundian style pinot noir.  Erath produced a stunning 1994 “25th Anniversary Bottling” Pinot Noir, which opened in the glass for hours and seemed much better the second day after the bottle had been opened.

From its rather modest beginnings, the winery has become known for its quality and value - now a tradition for more than twenty years.  Robert Parker wrote recently of Erath's Pinot Noirs in The Wine Advocate: "To his credit, Erath will never be accused of overcharging for his wines, as they offer some of the best values in America...How many readers can find a Pinot from Burgundy priced under $20 that can compete with the attractive strawberry and cherry fruitiness of these medium-bodied, supple-textured, lush wines?"  In addition to being one of Oregon's oldest producers of Pinot Noir, the winery also creates Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, and Riesling.  Total production at Erath stands at about 35,000 cases.