ABV: 12.5%
SRP: $45 (sold out)
Grapes: Biodynamic Riesling
sample for my review
Only 200 cases of this wine was made. 

Brooks Wine Biodynamic | Vineyard | Winery
21101 SE Cherry Blossom Ln, Amity, OR 97101, United States
Phone: (503) 435-1278
info@brookswine.com
https://www.brookswine.com

In 2017, a solar eclipse passed over the Brooks Estate Vineyard and inspired this very special bottling.

Where were you on August 21 2017, when a total eclipse enveloped a swath of northern Oregon in a rare astral event that spanned a narrow 70 mile wide strip across the United States?

The total eclipse drew people from all over the world to these regions to experience totality– those brief moments when the sun is blocked by the moon and the sun’s corona shines like a halo around it. 

For Jimi Brook, founder of Brooks Winery in Oregon, the stars and their stories held a special fascination, such that he names his wines after constellations and the myths behind them, like Rastaban, the Dragon’s Eye (read more here about Rastaban the legend as well as a vertical of the wines!).

Because Jimi had an ouroboros tattoo, the labels on Brooks wines feature an ouroboros. The dragon swallowing its own tail symbolizes wholeness, infinity, the completion of a cycle, and the transmigration of the soul. According to Jung, the Ouroboros dramatizes the integration and assimilation of the opposite, of the shadow. An eclipse does a similar act: the shadow of the earth eats the sun, and they adapted the label to feature the “totality” of the eclipse. 

In 2021, we wrote about this Riesling, and its companion, a special bottling of estate Eclipse Pinot Noir which you can read about here. and we thought it would be interesting to revisit the Riesling with this menu. At that time, I said this would be my desert island wine… and that’s still true!

While Jimi Brooks tragically passed during harvest years ago, his legacy lives on: “If the vine is happy, the grapes simply taste better. I believe that farming in this way, by keeping the earth alive and the ecosystem intact, is the only way to really achieve that concept of terroir.”

While this wine is long gone, and you have to be a wine club member to get their estate wines like Ara, they do have several other organic rieslings available including this one as founder Jimi Brooks was emphatic about restoring the reputation of riesling.

Appearance:  Golden, buttercup, gold almost up to the rim.

Aroma: Diesel, petrol, nice depth and richness, asian pear, chamomile, sage. 

Palate: Very rich and round, sweet yet tart, edgy, green apple, tangerine, pleasant muskiness. This wine has really aged well, continuing to offer great acidity and structure with a nice lingering flavor.

Pairing: The fig and the wine were great together, green and green with complex and complex. The tart goat cheese highlights the beautiful flavors of the wine, the sweetness of the fig matches the sweetness in the wine, and the tartness of the goat cheese matches the tartness in the wine with the complexity of both matching beautifully together. This wine is so insanely good with the risotto showcasing the beauty of the heirloom squash, the creamy richness of the rice, and the salty goodness of the parmesan and the prosciutto. We had a hard time leaving the risotto because the wine finishes with such a pop and the palate is refreshed making us want to dive back in again. The salad was a bit too bitter with this wine; it was best with the risotto. The duck breast and the wine were just fine together as it appreciated the richness of the meat bringing out the tart fruit in the wine; only a very high quality riesling would be able to pull off this pairing like this one does. 

ABV: 14.2%e
SRP: sold out; 2022 reserve viognier $60
Grapes: Viognier
purchased on an industry press trip with an industry discount

Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden: Farm | Vineyard | Winery
1665 Eastside Road, Jacksonville, OR 97530, US
Phone: 541-899-6876 Fax: 541-899-7002

When we visited Cowhorn in August 2021 during a pre-Wine Media conference excursion, our group drove up early one morning from the Ashland Springs Hotel, an older lovely gilded beauty in downtown Ashland to Cowhorn,  located in a remote river valley near Jacksonville along the Applegate River. Low ground fog added mystery, and the vineyards, gardens, and grasses at Cowhorn were damp. Steep hillsides above the vineyards covered in a biodiverse forest added drama to the early day. On these riverside soils,  Rhone grape varieties flourish producing wines with low ABV but highly aromatic including Syrah, Grenache, Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne. The natural biodiversity, aided by the farms diverse plantings, and biodynamic and organic practices combine for a natural immune system for the vineyard and gardens. More than half of the estate holds wildlife habitat with forest and riparian areas. Vineyards occupy 25 acres with 1000 lavender plants and other crops for perennial polyculture on an additional four acres with Cowhorn supplying 6,000-7,000 pounds of fresh asparagus to local markets and stores.

At the conclusion of our visit, we sat down for a delicious multi course lunch which used as much of the local produce as possible, and as we tasted their wines, I fell in love with their viognier and purchased this reserve wine which was made under the direction of previous owners Bill and Barbara Steele. 

Appearance:  Yellow, lemon yellow, platinum rim

Aroma: Minerals, grassy, subtle nectarine, stone fruit flowers 

Palate: Honeyed peach, glycerol mouthfeel yet still quite fresh, minerals from the tip of the tongue throughout to the finish, very stoney, grassy

Pairing: The goat stuffed figs bring out the richness in the wine. The pecan on top of the stuffed figs brings out beautiful balance; the pairing was fantastic with this wine as well, but completely different than with the riesling, Sue was blown away at how well the duck breast went with this wine. The meal brought the wine straight to honeysuckle and elevated the meal at the same time, for me it was like heaven. The gamey richness  was beautiful with the wine and made us want to taste the wine with the pate; the two were insanely delicious together. The wine is also fantastic with the rich and creamy risotto.  

ABV: 11.4%
SRP: sold out, 
Grapes: 60% Primitivo, 40% Tinta Roriz
purchased on an industry press trip with an industry discount

Troon Vineyard
1475 Kubli Road, Grants Pass, OR 97527, US
Phone: 541-846-9900
tastingroom@troonvineyard.com
http://www.troonvineyard.com/

Troon Vineyard has had quite the transformation.  When Craig Camp took over, the new owners trusted Camp to take Troon to new heights — by fully committing to being a leader in biodynamic viticulture. Vines were struggling, so slowly but surely Camp and team rejuvenated them which often required pulling them out and replacing them often with more exotic grapes, and ones which have proven to show well in Southern Oregon like those originating in the Rhone region of France like Syrah, Mourvedre (which we wrote about here featuring their amphora wine during May’s Oregon Wine Month), Grenache and Vermentino. In addition to making wine in Amphora, they are make a “Fizzante” as well as orange wines and other winemaking styles which seem innovative but are truly coming from long traditions — just not common in the US.

We love what they are doing at Troon! During my 2021 visit, we were placed into smaller groups where we learned about their biodynamic composting, their worm bins, and more. What really stuck with me was a drive out to see the soils of the Kubli Bench — soils that truly are just layers of rocks laid down by the river over time. It is this landscape– and these biodynamic viticultural practices as well as the gifted team at Troon led by Craig Camp–  that gives the Troon wines their special character. 

• Read about Troon’s Amphora Mourvedre
• Read about Troon’s Fizzante 
• Read about Troon’s Vermentino 
• Read about Troon’s Malbec 

Appearance:  Very pale peach, easy to mistake for a white wine, more yellow than pink, a bit on the orange side, golden, coral, very pale.

Aroma: Confectioners sugar, Persian rosewater candy, carnation. 

Palate: Sweet and floral, jasmine, candied flowers, tangerine, yellow peach, minerals, clay, bright acidity, tart lemon, lemon drop, Meyer lemon, pomelo. Impressive to have so much going on in a rose that’s been hanging out for four years! The following day it was still super refreshing and enjoyable with a simple pasta with summer squash, capers, prosciutto, and shrimp. 

Pairing: Very nice with the goat cheese stuffed figs bringing out the confectioner sugar flavor in the wine, the herbed pecans bring out beautiful complexity in both the figs and the wine, fantastic with the salt cured olives, the kale winter salad was beautiful with the wine the pomegranate, walnuts, apple and bitter kale were enhanced by the wine and the wine loved the balance of the salad and brings out the confectioners sugar aspect of the wine, so good with the risotto loving the sweetness of the squash and the saltiness of the parm and prosciutto, oh so beautiful together, very nice with the duck going well with the fresh peppercorn and blueberries which makes the wine pop. The following day it was still super refreshing and enjoyable with a simple pasta with summer squash, capers, prosciutto, and shrimp. 

ABV: 13.4%
SRP: sold out; 2022 vintage is only available to wine club members 
Grapes: Pinot Noir
purchased on an industry press trip with an industry discount

Ackley Brands, Montinore Estate Biodynamic | Vineyard | Vineyard & winery | Vineyard | Winery | Winery
3663 SW Dilley Road, Forest Grove, OR 97116, United States
Phone: 503-359-5012 Fax: 503-357-4313
info@montinore.com
http://www.montinore.com

I met Rudy Marchesi in May of 2017 at the Biodynamic Symposium in San Francisco where he was one of the primary speakers. At the conference, Marchesi explained that by turning to biodynamics, he turned around a failing winery with soil problems, specifically high ph. Biodynamic practices brought it down without doing anything differently, plus wines had better aromatics and color. 

“Costs aren’t different, results are good, why not?” said Marchesi. “Plus the land gets better every year.”

Montinore became certified biodynamic in 2002,  and are considered leaders in biodynamic practices in the world, and their 200 acre biodynamic farmed estate wines certified by Demeter is the largest in the United States.

“We have a paradise for biodynamics, we have healthy soils, almost no rain, wines are recieving good scores around the world,” reported Marchesi in May 2018.

• Read more about Montinore and Rudy Marchesi in “Defining Biodynamic: Rudy Marchesi and Three Montinore Pinot Noir.”
• Read about Montinore’s Italian wines here.
• Read more about Montinore’s orange or Ramato wine here.

Planted at a higher density with a short trellis for low yields of tightly knit, small berry clusters, Block 7 aka Graham’s Block lies in the heart of their home vineyard. Partial whole clusters are fermented with native yeasts they cultivated,  lightly pressed, and moved to barrel for malolactic fermentation. The winemaking team blends select barrels for this wine.

Appearance:  Cranberry, raspberry, with an orangish rim, medium density

Aroma: Orange oil, mint, eucalyptus, rose, carnation, nose candy, contemplative, etherial, strawberry, raspberry, sandalwood and amber, tart sour cherry,  

Palate: Delicious, juicy, tart raspberry, woody, very dry, church intense, frankincense, woodsy, orange oil, bold tannins, mild acidity, 

Pairing: No surprise that the wine sings with the pate, and amazing with the mushroom brie, beautiful with the duck, the orange blueberry reduction went perfectly with both the duck and is enhanced with the wine, great flavors together, there is a beautiful umami to both the duck breast and the squash, that matches the lovely characteristics in the wine, the  salad was alright with the wine loving the apples and the pomegranates,  but found the bitterness of the kale to not be so great.