Three Rosé from Oregon’s Willamette Valley I purchased with an industry discount on a sponsored press trip.
With so many of us at home due to COVID-19 “shelter in place” policies and practices, I hear there’s been more day drinking going on!
One winemaker says that COVID-19 means “airplane rules” — you don’t judge day drinking in an airport because you have no idea what time zone people are from and what time it feels like to them! What’s breakfast time for you could be time for a night cap for them!
Located just 10 miles west of downtown Portland, Cooper Mountain Vineyards is located in the far northern reaches of Oregon’s Willamette Valley on Cooper Mountain next to the vines that Dr. Robert Gross and his wife Corinne planted in 1978; Corinne was from the area, and they wanted their three children to grow up there too.
“Our land is our life and our life is our wine.” Cooper Mountain’s Motto
After 10 years of growing grapes, they decided to make their own wine by turning an old horse barn into a winery. By the early 1990s, they evolved to grow organically (certified by Oregon Tilth in 1995) and biodynamically (certified by Demeter in 1999).
#PinotSmackdown is an all-day global celebration of the world’s most expressive wine grape combined with a knock-down, drag-out cage fight between YOUR FAVORITE Pinot-producing regions! All you need to participate is wine and Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Instagr.am or your favorite social channel. Just be sure to use the #PinotSmackdown hashtag!Who makes the best Pinot you’ve ever tasted? To vote via your tweets, posts, pins, or instagr.am snapshots simply add another 2-character hashtag after #PinotSmackdown and we’ll count the votes so that region gets bragging rights for the year! Voting region hashtags:
#OR – Oregon
#CA – California
#WA – Washington
#NY – New York
#46 – U.S. The “Other 46”
#FR – France
#IT – Italy
#DE – Germany (Deutschland)
#EU – Europe, beyond France, Germany, Italy
#CN – Canada
#NZ – New Zealand
#CH – Chile
#AR – Argentina
#AU – Australia
#SA – South Africa
#WD – World, as in none previously listed
For example, if you are drinking a Pinot from a region in California, simply tag the end of your tweets/posts with: #PinotSmackdown #CA
This year for the Pinot Noir Smackdown, I’m betting many post-WBC bloggers are rooting for and writing about Oregon Pinot Noir aka #PinotSmackdown #OR. I know that the most memorable pinot noirs for me right now are from my trip last August.
Like many of the 450 attendees to the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference in Portland, I joined a pre-excursion trip which included a late afternoon drive to the massive and beautiful King Estates for a scrumptious dinner (deserving of its own blog post) followed by an early morning jaunt from our hotel in Eugene to the Pfeiffer Winery in the southern Willamette Valley and in the northwestern part of Lane County.
It took us about 30 minutes to drive the scenic country roads, passing by alpaca farms, hay farms, forest and finally grape vines to arrive at Pfeiffer where we were greeted by Robin and Danuta Pfeiffer, an enthusiastic, energetic, boisterous and attractive couple.
At one time, Danuta was the co-host of the 700 Club. When Pat Robertson ran for President, she started over and came to Oregon to write a book and be on Air America. Eighteen years ago, she placed an ad describing herself– and looking for a man who could spell. Robin responded with an invitation to go sailing.
On that first date, Robin Pfieffer brought an unlabeled red wine saying, “It’s a little something we make–pinot noir.”
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 