By Cleve Twitchell
For the Mail Tribune
The high quality of many Southern Oregon wines used to be a well-kept secret. That's changing.
Consider the judging results at the recent Oregon Seafood & Wine Festival. The event, held in Portland, attracted entries from 64 Oregon wineries. Of those, 14 were from the Rogue/Umpqua district, or just under 22 percent of the total.
Judges awarded 47 medals. Of those, 19 went to Southern Oregon wines — or more than 40 percent.
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Only three of 13 silver winners came from here: Bear Creek 2004 Claret, Cliff Creek 2004 Syrah and Del Rio 2003 Merlot.
But 13 of the 28 bronzes (nearly half) were from the south: Bear Creek 2005 Pinot Noir Dessert Wine, Champagne Creek 2005 White Riesling, Cliff Creek 2003 Claret, Crater Lake Cellars 2005 Syrah, Del Rio 2003 Cabernet Franc and 2005 Viognier, EdenVale 2003 Syrah, Melrose 2005 Baco Noir, Spangler 2005 Cabernet Franc, three Troon wines (2003 Insomnia Port, 2004 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 River Guide White) and Valley View 2005 Anna Maria Viognier.
Mary Gardner of Crater Lake Cellars summed it up: "Overall, we represented Southern Oregon well."
ARTHUR'S, THE RESTAURANT at the Eagle Point Golf Course has upgraded its wine list significantly. Of the 25 wines on the list, all are from Oregon and 15 of those are from the Rogue/Umpqua area. All but four are available by the glass. The list is presented in an attractive book with each page devoted to just one wine.
Labels include Del Rio, LongSword, RoxyAnn, Carpenter Hill, Velocity, Troon, Trium, Sarah Powell, Foris and Bridgeview. Prices start at $18 a bottle and $6 a glass — the latter a bit steep, but then these are high-quality wines.
I chose RoxyAnn Pinot Gris to accompany my salad and Valley View's Anna Maria Syrah to accompany some smoky prime rib. One curious thing, however: Wine by the glass prices on our check didn't match those on the wine list. One was higher, the other lower.
A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, Kaleidoscope Pizzeria of Medford offered a wine list of about 100 labels. Now it's up to the 180 range. About 80 of the wines are from Southern Oregon. Prices start at around $18. Patrons can take home a bottle of wine with their take-out order for $7 off the list price. As before, there is a shorter by-the-glass list that changes from time to time, usually with four whites and five reds. Some excellent Wooldridge Creek 2005 Chardonnay ($6.75) accompanied my salad and Devitt 2005 Precipe (blend of merlot and zinfandel, $5) with a pizza of spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and several cheeses.
"INTERNATIONAL" MIGHT BE THE best word to describe the wine list at the Dragonfly — an interesting Asian restaurant in Ashland. The list of 40-plus wines includes labels from Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Italy and then Oregon, Washington and California. Two local wines are listed, from Griffin Creek and Del Rio.
Prices start at $13 a bottle, $4 a glass. About 30 of the wines are available by the glass. Pricing favors ordering by the bottle. We tried Montes 2005 Chardonnay from Chile which cost $16 by the bottle, $5 a glass. It's a pretty good wine and went well with a tomato pesto salad and bowls of lemongrass and coconut milk broth plus shiitake mushrooms, other veggies, rice or noodles and chicken or beef.
WINES FROM EOLA HILLS winery near Salem, will be served at a winemaker's dinner at 6:30 p.m. Friday, at the Jacksonville Inn. The wines will include the winery's "Mystery Block" Chardonnay made with grapes from Southern Oregon. Cost is $80. Call 899-1900.
ALSO SAMPLED RECENTLY:
- Chateau Ste. Michelle 2005 Columbia Valley Riesling. I like to call this Washington state white a riesling for folks who are not wild about riesling. You are more likely to note its pleasant spiciness rather than the more traditional riesling flavor. And it's only about $6-$7 a bottle.
- Chateau de L'Abbaye de Saint-Ferme 2002 red. Here's a rich, robust and affordable French Bordeaux in the $10-$11 range. It's 70 percent merlot, 25 percent cabernet sauvignon and 5 percent cabernet franc.
Cleve Twitchell is a retired Mail Tribune editor and columnist.
