Intro to WBC

The 5^th annual Wine Bloggers Conference was held this past weekend in Portland, Oregon. It was jam-packed with wine tasting activities, educational sessions, and socializing opportunities with the other 375 attendees. (I had no idea there were so many wine bloggers!) The hashtag #WBC12 was at the top of the Twitter Trends list all week long.

The conference didn’t actually begin until Friday morning, but when I saw that the Welcome Reception was planned for Thursday evening, I flew in early.

The preliminary event was more “overwhelming” than it was “welcoming” (but don’t read that as a complaint). I was expecting a low-key gathering with a few unfamiliar wines and a few new faces; there were about 50 different wineries pouring upwards of 200 wines (needless to say it was anything but low-key).

The event was sponsored by the Oregon Wine Board; the participating wineries were from all over the state.

The largest wine growing area within Oregon is Willamette Valley (the second and third syllables of Willamette rhyme with ‘damn it’), which was well-represented.

I’ll be honest, I’m not very familiar with Oregon wine-growing areas or it’s producers (which is one of the reasons I wanted to attend the WBC in Oregon in the first place), so I tried a lot of new wines on Thursday evening.

 

As I made my way through the room, I recognized the familiar face of Craig Camp, owner of Cornerstone Cellars (who I met at the Pinot Days event). The 2010 Stepping Stone Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($30/bottle) was a fresh and lively wine with bright fruit flavors and good acidity. Tony Ryders is the winemaker for the Cornerstone Oregon wines, but I didn’t know that Tony also has his own label. When Craig suggested I check it out, I didn’t need much convincing. 

Ryders gained experience and notoriety at Domaine Serene before branching off on his own. Under the name of Tendril Wine Cellars, he produces super small quantities of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. The 2009 White Label Pinot Noir ($48/bottle) showed red berry fruit flavors, with a hint of white pepper and rose petal; silky smooth and delicious. The 2010 Tight Rope Pinot Noir ($64/bottle), only about 50 cases produced) will be released later this year, and it is the kind of Pinot that will benefit from a little aging. It is rich and powerful with flavors of cassis, violet, and spice. Contact the winery directly for availability and purchase info. 

Red Hawk Winery was represented at the table right next to Tendril, otherwise I might have missed the value-priced Pinot Noirs they were pouring. The 2009 Grateful Red Pinot Noir was only $15; light and very easy to drink! The 2010 Estate Pinot Noir ($22/bottle) was more complex and concentrated with ripe, juicy red fruit flavors. Yum!

From there, I jumped across to the Cowhorn Wine table. As a big proponent of Rhone varietals, I was eager to taste their Grenache. The 2010 Cowhorn Grenache ($30/bottle) was lush but balanced, offering aromatics of plum and raspberry with ripe strawberry flavors underscored by savory spice. The Syrah was quite delectable as well.

Another Syrah that I really enjoyed was the one poured by Big Table Farm. The 2009 Syrah ($48/bott) with a picture of silverware on the label (drawn by the winemaker’s wife) was bold and full-flavored, with intense flavors of blackberry, cinnamon, and black licorice.

I also enjoyed the Domaine Drouhin and Brooks wines before the event started shutting down. It was a terrific tasting and a wonderful introduction to so many fantastic Oregon wineries. I’ll post more about the Wine Bloggers Conference over the next couple of days. Stay tuned!