Comments on: Oregon’s Willamette Valley

By: Jason Hagen

Jason Hagen — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:54:38 +0000

Great stuff guys. I love the format … and the theme

Too bad you picked a crappy vintage. 06 is pretty much monolithic which probably minimized many of the subtle differences. Revisiting them of 4 years may help.

Best and keep up the great work!

Jason

By: GrapeRadio Bunch

GrapeRadio Bunch — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:09:04 +0000

Doug, you are the 3rd person who has used the word “tedious” when talking about shows where the hosts are tasting. I guess you are right, if we where to post in this format, it would avoid the minutia. The show would be more compact and stripped of superfluous material.

I am a bit concerned that I do not want to turn GrapeRadio into a wine review show. Too much of that already on the WEB.

Jay

p.s Recording was a last minute decision, but I think we used one mic the last time.

By: Doug Smith

Doug Smith — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:48:41 +0000

Re. the ‘live chat’ option, personally I think it might be a bit tedious to hear people taste through each wine. I prefer this format, where we get the conclusions and the discussion that follows.

By: Doug Smith

Doug Smith — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:47:16 +0000

Excellent show, guys. I always love the shows where you just have the hosts around talking about something interesting. I’m also glad that you didn’t try to extrapolate from two cases to any sort of conclusions about each AVA. Of course, any two points make a line, and any two wines will be like and unlike each other in many ways that are irrelevant to determining local character.

But you need more microphones — some of the discussion was a bit out of range. (Didn’t you use more in the past?) It would make interactions more natural. The only benefit of having a single mic is that it allowed each of you to talk at some length without interruption, also nice.

By: GrapeRadio Bunch

GrapeRadio Bunch — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:54:53 +0000

Thanks Miguel,

I would like to take credit for the idea on the format, but the idea came from Rusty. A 2nd bottle from each producer sounds like a good idea. I would like to see us do more shows focused on a producer or perhaps on specific vineyards.

Tim’s suggestion about announcing the wines ahead of time is something I really want to do. No matter what, I am convinced we should do this format more often.

Jay

By: Miguel

Miguel — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:39:01 +0000

Gentleman,

Great job on this Oregon podcast and the way that the format was laid out. I dont think that there is anyting wrong with Mr. Soter for leaving California to come home and make Pinot. LOL! I liked how real Eric, Jay and Rusty where on the wines, but feel that it would have been better if you guys had 2 bottles of each producer. The sub’s where well represented from the little guys to the big guns. Californians have changed the way of the AVA’s and I feel that it is for the better. But it is confusing for the consumer and it is something that we are working on in educating consumers. Oregon is getting better year in and out. Keep up the great work but come back again to taste other Oregon producers.

Cheers!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:12:51 +0000

Kudos to Jay for sticking up for the “radicals.” I don’t want to buy wine from my dentist! Enjoyed the format a lot.

By: GrapeRadio Bunch

GrapeRadio Bunch — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:02:23 +0000

Cary, an excellent point – and one that is constantly being stressed by producers. “We just don’t know,” “We’re too young an area,” “The vines are too young,” “We haven’t refined the clone that works best here,” – we are constantly being told. And, they’re RIGHT! But, that doesn’t seem to stop people from wanting to classify, categorize, or otherwise pigeonhole clones, vineyards, and AVAs. Look how we gravitated to the scoring of wines. We just love to refine stuff!

Eric

By: GrapeRadio Bunch

GrapeRadio Bunch — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:51:48 +0000

Andrew, interesting question. First, I do not think the AVA system is striving to be like the AOC system, i.e. there are several differences such as crop loads mandated by the AOC. But, to your point about whether “they should taste/smell/look/feel the same,” I do think there is the perception that some common degree of characteristics do exist within these lines of demarcation – in both the AVA system and the AOC system.

Speaking for myself, I think the idea that an appellation has some “commonality” was probably a natural segue from the impression that the terroir of the AVA was supposed to be so similar as to nearly be the same — or at least produce similar results that could be defined. For instance, Margaux’s have more in common with each other than they do with the Pauillac’s right next door. Then there’s the similarity of “Rutherford Dust” for wines from this part of Napa Valley. This would certainly lead one to believe that similarity does exist – real or imagined.

I think they both AOCs and AVA’s strive to carve out areas that historically produce similar products from a similar environment. If the devil’s in the details, then certainly how we define “similar” is where it gets slippery.

Eric

By: Cary

Cary — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:56:36 +0000

Good show, however it can be argued that clonal selection from young (less than ~10 years) vineyards might overshadow any terroir differences.

By: Andrew Cheese

Andrew Cheese — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:27:24 +0000

Interesting show. Where does the notion that wines from the same “appellation” have to have some commonality. The French appellation system is about wines being from the same place as claimed not that they should taste/smell/look/feel the same. I don’t know the US AVA system too well but is it trying to be something more than the French appellation system ?

By: GrapeRadio Bunch

GrapeRadio Bunch — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:46:49 +0000

As Eric mentioned, we have talked about it numerous times. The key is announcing it enough in advance to give people the time to get the wines themselves. I would also be interested in toying with setting up a “live chat” as we went through the wines.

Jay

By: GrapeRadio Bunch

GrapeRadio Bunch — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:43:56 +0000

That’s a good idea, Tim. I know we’ve talked about it before, and have had ever intention of following through on it. But, as you’ve probably heard, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Eric

By: Tim Meranda

Tim Meranda — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:29:58 +0000

Very nice show. I enjoyed this format a lot. Will try to find some of these wines and taste them as I review the show. Have you ever thought of pre announcing a variety of wines and give the audience time to get them so they can drink along with a panel like this?