An Editorial On The Abuse of Money and Power

I don't normally get very serious in my posts. I try to be informative and inject a little humor, but I'm moved to go on a little rant.


In September, it was reported that Tony Rynders, the former winemaker at Domaine Serene, was being sued by his former employer. Why? Well, in addition to a bunch of extraneous and ridiculous "filler" claims, the bottom line was that Domaine Serene accused him of stealing "trade secrets", specifically their method for producing a white wine from pinot noir, a black grape that makes red wine under normal circumstances. 


Now, before I go too much farther, let me say that Domaine Serene doesn't rate highly on my dance card. Ken and Grace Evenstad, the owners, are the antithesis of everything that makes the Willamette Valley wine scene so appealing - at least to me. Their story is fairly well-chronicled, but the essence is that they bought a family pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Minnesota for the outrageous sum of $1,500 in the late sixties and built it into a major player in the generic drug market - allegedly grossing $250 million per year. They then used that money to fulfill a dream of owning a winery. So far so good, right? It's the American dream.

Well, what they built is not just a winery, it's a showplace and a monument to their own egos. It's a 50,000 square foot yellow Italianate villa on a hilltop, filled with art and statuary and floored in terrazo; a study in excess surrounded by part of the 300+ acres of vineyard land they own. It's even gotten its own nickname: "Domaine Obscene".

While it's said that Grace worked her tail off to build the winery business and even pruned the vineyards, they remain aloof and disconnected from the wine community and are viewed as arrogant outsiders who are the ultimate in "hobbyist" winery owners. After all, they don't even live here full time, dividing time among their residences in Minnesota, Florida and Oregon.

They like to give the impression that everyone in Oregon learned to grow quality fruit and make quality wine from them, conveniently ignoring those who came before them, from David Lett, David Adelsheim and Dick Ponzi to their first consulting winemaker, Ken Wright and their long-time vineyard manager, Joel Myers. By doing that they alienate most everyone else in what's a fairly closely-knit industry, but they don't seem to care. What's worse is that their wines are over-done, over-oaked and over-priced for my palate and pocketbook, reaching almost-unprecedented levels. But enough of that.

I'm not going to defend Tony here. I don't know Tony and I don't know his motives, but he's involved in a venture with Laurent Montalieu called Grand Cru Estates where interested individuals can pay some outrageous sum ($25,000 if memory serves) to have one barrel of wine made for them every year and access to a swank party facility. Especially in this economic environment, that speaks to his ego (and Laurent's) almost as much as the villa does to the Evenstads'.

Nonetheless, Tony wanted to do something on his own (understandable) and - according the the complaint, which I've read - planned it while working for the Evenstads. They evidently viewed this as disloyalty and a violation of their trust, if not his employment contract which doesn't seem to exist. Okay, I get it in part, but here's what I don't get. After what was apparently an acrimonious parting of the ways, they sued him several months later. In Federal Court. In Minnesota, not Oregon. For the grand sum of $75,000. WHAT?

Their big "secret" - how to make white wine from black grapes, which the Champenoise have been doing for centuries and which I could do in my sleep because the methods are common knowledge - is worth $75,000? Is that all? When the winery is grossing somewhere well north of $20 million per year (and reportedly just showed its first profit after 20 years - a clear indicator of just how much money the Evenstads have thrown at it)? When there are at least 4 other wineries in Oregon who have made the same thing? That's the sum total of how much Lord and Lady Evenstad feel they were damaged? Please.

To make matters worse, they allegedly scheduled depositions with people who allegedly had knowledge of Tony's "indiscretions" (I'm doing my Tiger Woods imitation here) during harvest when their attentions were justifiably on anything but a spiteful lawsuit, just to be . . . well . . . spiteful.

Well, here's the good news. The case has been settled. I don't know if any money changed hands and no one is talking, but the legal fees had to have been substantial and the gist of the settlement is that they all agree to disagree about whether white pinot noir is made through the use of trade secrets that are exclusive to Domaine Serene - the Champenoise be damned. Oh, and Tony can't make any white pinot for three years. Big deal. The stuff sells about as fast as sea water or ham-flavored Gatorade. It's an oddity . . . a curiosity.

What we have is a case where Ken and Grace Evenstad sued Tony Rynders, who served them admirably for more than ten years and helped multiply their business more than tenfold, for the same reason a male dog licks himself. Because they could. To be a nuisance and annoying. It's an abuse of all good reason and a clear case of using their considerable resources in an attempt to intimidate someone for whom $75,000 is a much more princely sum than it is to them.

They'll never see a nickel of my money and I hope they'll never see any of yours.

The "Weekend Before" in the Willamette Valley - Westrey

We actually went to Westrey last and, though I was supposed to report on Ayres next, there are no photos from there, so I thought I'd post about another "anti-showplace" since there are nice pics to demonstrate that a multi-million dollar facility isn't a requirement for making good wine.

Sometimes my mouth gets me in trouble. I had stopped by this palatial facility in the McMinnville "wine ghetto" (note the cell tower in the background) back in September in the hopes they'd be there so I could pick up a couple of bottles and, in the midst of the day's chaos of bottling I opened my mouth and the wrong thing came out. Nothing new there, but this one's gonna hurt me in the wallet.

What did I say? After David had dipped a glass into the tank of 2008 Justice vineyard pinot noir they were bottling and offered it to me, I told him that he needed to charge more for that wine and the Oracle bottling as well. What was I thinking? I must have figured the words would go in one ear and out the other in the confusion, especially since he and Amy have always felt very strongly about pricing their wines fairly.

I was wrong. He listened and the prices on those two wines are up, though they still fall into the "more than reasonable" category and the rest of the lineup is unchanged. Well, the prices are unchanged. The quality of the wines continues on its steady upward spiral.

The wines?

2008 WV pinot gris - This wine just gets better every year. At one point it tended to have a bit of an aldehyde problem and be a little too nervy. These days it's loaded with peach fruit and it's round and delicious.

2008 WV chardonnay - A worthy follow-up to the 2007, which I loved. Resembles a junior Puligny in flavor profile with apple-pear fruit balanced by subtle oaky/doughy notes. Rounder than the 2007 yet it has the bracing acidity the 2006 was lacking.

2007 chardonnay reserve - Though it saw less new oak than the 2008 WV, the oak stands out more. I suspect I'll like this wine in a couple of years but right now it doesn't float my boat.

2008 WV pinot noir - Too delicious for words. Lots of bing cherry fruit and some spice from the oak, which was about 25% new.

2008 Justice pinot noir - I can't decide which I like better, this or the Oracle. Eenie, meenie . . . just pick one. The Justice is a bit more black-fruited than its sibling, owing in part to the clones in the vineyard and part to its location in the Eola-Amity AVA, adjacent to (and managed by) Bethel Heights.

2008 Oracle pinot noir - As before, this is simply quintessential Dundee Hills pinot noir. Lots of red fruit, though it doesn't show the strawberry that many wines from that area show. More like raspberries and perhaps red currants. Lots of floral notes on the nose. The best news is that there are almost 600 cases of it!

2007 Reserve pinot noir - For whatever reason, this wine - though excellent - just kind of escapes me. It always has. It's a blend of four vineyards and its personality seems muddled to me. If I had to guess I'd say it's the Abbey Ridge fruit which, being very distinctive, sort of fights with the rest of the components.

2007 Abbey Ridge pinot noir - I love this vineyard and what it produces. Strawberry-raspberry fruit with violets and lavender on the nose. A hint of earth/forest floor and pepper. I can't wait to try the 2008, but this is nothing to turn your nose up over.

Which Stemware Should I Use For My Pinot Noir?

For many of you, especially my wine geek pals, this going to be laughing-out-loud basic, but I was reminded today that there are a lot of people who don't know how much the proper size and shape of stemware are critical to the enjoyment of pinot noir and all wines. Since this is a blog about Oregon wine and especially pinot noir, I'm going to address that issue.

Georg Riedel (REE-dle) of Riedel Glas Austria was the man who, along with support from wine critic Robert Parker and the recently deceased Robert Mondavi, popularized stemware designed specifically for each type of wine. Previous to his efforts that started in the mid-'80s, stems came in essentially three shapes - red wine (larger), white wine (smaller) and Champagne. The Champagne glasses were those little flat things that dissipated the bubbles and are rumored to have been modeled after Marie Antoinette's breasts, but I digress.

Georg designed stems for Bordeaux (cabernet), Burgundy (pinot noir), riesling, sangiovese, syrah and a host of others. He's even designed a stem specifically for Oregon pinot noir (as opposed to Burgundy or California pinot noir) that's very pretty and some people swear by it. Riedel's stemware is excellent, but they're expensive ($20-25 each for the machine-made stems and up to $90 for the handblown models) and they're really easy to break.

I used to buy Spiegelau stems because they were much more reasonable, but that company has been bought by Riedel and the quality has slipped a bit while the price has crept up. About a year ago I discovered the stems from Schott Zwiesel. They're made with lead-free crystal and, with an addition of titanium, they're much more difficult to break. I haven't broken one in a year and believe me, that's some sort of record. They're not UNbreakable, but they will stand quite a bit more abuse than Riedels. Just remember that the easiest way to break a glass (other than dropping it or smashing it on the kitchen faucet) is to twist the stem off while drying it by hand. The Schotts aren't immune to that, which is why I use the dishwasher, but if you live where the water is hard they're gonna spot, so just be careful.

This is the shape you need for pinot noir. Notice the shape of the bowl. It's much more rounded than what you might expect and it's much larger, too. They hold almost 25 ounces, so you can get almost a whole bottle in one which, of course, you don't want to do. Just pour 4-6 ounces in the bottom and give yourself room to swirl and sniff.

You're probably thinking I'm out of my mind; that it doesn't really make any difference. Well, I'll tell you, I've performed an experiment many times with people who thought I was nuts and it's worked every single time. Pour some pinot noir into a smaller glass - your grandmother's crystal will work fine, as will any small wine glass or even a jelly jar - and some into a glass like the one above. Smell both. You won't believe the difference, and it even carries over into the flavors.

Put your old stems in the next garage sale and get some of these. They're available from Amazon, and they're a bargain at $12 each.

So You Think You Hate Lamb?

I confess, I've never "gotten" why some people claim they don't like lamb. "It's 'gamey'", people say. "I've always heard it's strong and smelly," say others. Well, it's not and I have, once again, Tracey to act as my witness.

Having subjected her to roasted brussels sprouts and having her ask for them again, I figured it was time to force her to choke down some lamb. I had a small piece of a butterflied leg, so I treated it like a thick steak as I usually do, but indoors rather than on the grill, which would have been better. Alas, she managed to leave her grill behind in Reno when she moved, so the grill wasn't an option.

I seasoned it with salt and pepper and a bit of garlic, seared it in a cast-iron skillet and finished it in a 375 degree oven, removing it at 125 degrees. It was about 140 by the time the carryover cooking stopped, which was a bit more done than I'd like, but it was still tasty.  Here it is with Mom's green beans simmered forever in onions, garlic, tomatoes and oregano and some orzo "alfredo" - orzo with a sauce of butter, garlic and parmesan cheese. The picture isn't the best because the light was a bit off, but it was a yummy dish. And Tracey went back for seconds. I'm two for two with new foods!

Wine match: Lamb goes with almost any red wine and I'm often moved to choose a syrah or something from the rhone. This I matched with a 2008 single-vineyard pinot noir from the Willamette Valley that I can't name. It's not that I don't know, it's that I promised I wouldn't make public reference to it.

I had stopped by the winery for a bottle of the 2007 from the same vineyard and, despite the fact that they were in the middle of bottling their 2008s, they obliged me. It wasn't until after I'd gotten home that I realized they'd given me a just-bottled 2008 and, after telling them, they just asked me to keep quiet about it because it won't be released until next spring.

So, I won't tell you the wine, but I WILL tell you that it's up to the same standard shared by every 2008 Oregon pinot noir I've tasted from barrel and bottle. The aromatics are incredible and this, being from the Dundee Hills, was all red fruit - strawberries, raspberries, cherries and a little pomegranate with a bit of dustiness thrown in for good measure. It was perhaps a little overpowered by the tomatoes in the beans, but with the lamb it was perfect.

I'll do a more in-depth review of 2008 pinots later, but this one's worth saving up for when it's released, just like all of its cousins are.

A Screaming Deal On Oregon Pinot Noir & Pinot Gris

Made by our friends Linda and Art Lindsay at Stone Wolf in McMinnville, the two Rascal wines are true rarities. They're under $10 ($6.99 in some places) and they're varietally correct; a combination that almost never exists, especially with pinot noir. Typically, pinot noir this inexpensive reflects the grape only in that it's red and liquid, commonly because it has another wine - usually something cheap - blended into it. In California that can be as much as 25% of the finished wine but only 10% in Oregon, and that contributes to the difficulty in finding drinkable Oregon pinot noir in this price range.

It's possible there's something besides pinot noir in the Rascal, but given its flavor profile and knowing Linda and her passion, I seriously doubt it. This guy looks like pinot noir, smells like pinot noir and tastes like pinot noir. Ditto on the pinot gris which, though it has a little residual sugar in it, drinks fat and dry. You can't do better for the price and, in some instances, you won't do better for twice or three times the price.

If you see some, buy a couple of bottles. You won't be sorry.