Where I am right now: McMinnville, Oregon
Why you should be here too: For wine lovers, the best reason to visit this small town south of Portland is the International Pinot Noir Celebration, held July 27-29 on the campus of Linfield College. Nearly 700 pinot noir enthusiasts gather each year to swirl, sniff and sample the wares of wineries from all over the globe, including the host state, Australia, California, Chile, the Burgundy region of France and New Zealand (there were a few South African bottles floating around, as well). When there isn’t a pinot noir festival, the wine country surrounding McMinnville is a mecca for oenophiles.
Do this: The IPNC is so worth the trip for true pinot noir fans. The $795 entrance fee per person nets you two fantastic dinners, including one four-course feast that rivals anything you would have in a top-shelf restaurant, as well as the legendary Saturday night Northwest salmon bake, two lunches (one al fresco on the campus, one at a winery cooked by a chef from one of the participating restaurants), a blowout Sunday goodbye brunch buffet and daily continental breakfasts with local berries, sausage and heavenly chocolate chip scones and croissants.
Oh, and there’s some pinot available – pretty much from 9 a.m. until midnight each day. Sometimes it’s offered at a winery, to which participants are shuttled by bus. Sometimes it’s offered at a seminar, like the one that emerged as one of this year’s themes, “The Secret Life of Pinot Noir: Pinot Takes a Walk on the Sparkling Side,” where Argyle Winery founder Rollin Soles and Bollinger head Ghislain de Montgolfier allowed attendees to taste the rare (and in the case of Bollinger, unheard of) sips of their 2006 base wines, the blended liquid as it will be before second fermentation, before it becomes a champagne or sparkling.
Sometimes the pinot is offered at a tasting, and there are many of those over the course of the event. This time, we tried rosés, compared new vines and old ones (not my favorite, because it didn’t seem to be a true comparison) and did several open tastings where wineries simply showcased their best stuff.
And sometimes the pinot is just poured like crazy, as at the dinners, where maîtres d’hôtel – sommeliers and wine stewards from restaurants from all over the country and Canada – uncork special bottles and share them among the tables, repeatedly, until you cry uncle. If you don’t cry uncle, well, then, for heaven’s sake drink some water, too.
An added treat this year came courtesy of master of ceremonies Georg Riedel, tenth-generation head of the famous Riedel Crystal company, who gave attendees the new Oregon Pinot Noir glass, a shapely little number that’s actually not so little comparatively – it has a large bowl and a tulip top with a slightly narrower opening than Riedel’s other pinot noir glasses to concentrate the aromas, also all the better to hold the glass sideways and check out that glorious color before hoisting it up to your lips and letting the wine glide out. It’s a sexy glass…
The other fun thing to come out of this year’s event was the return of Burgundy to the fold. The French had been strong participants during the early years but had since fallen away; they were back in full force this time, even cracking some jokes.
Drink these: Some favorites from this trip include anything by Argyle, for a long time one of my favorite sparkling producers…the 2004 Hamacher and Hamacher’s 2006 Pinot Noir Rosé (owner Eric Hamacher promises to find a new distributor in Colorado soon)…Stoller Estate 2004 Pinot Noir…Brick House Vineyards 2005 Les Dijonnais…Bollinger 1999 Grand Année…Domaine Alfred 2006 Vin Gris Rosé… 2005 Addamo Vineyards Reserve…2004 Domaine Drouhin Laurène…Godmé Grand Cru Blanc de Noir…Thierry Massin Brut Rosé…Domaine Jacques Prieur 2005 Beaune Greves 1er Cru…Maison Ambrose 2005 Corton Grand Cru…Domaine Claude Dugat 2005 Charmes Chambertin (two thumbs up)…Domaine Fougeray de Beauclair 2005 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru…
Next year: The 21st IPNC will be held July 25-27. Call 503-472-8964, e-mail info@ipnc.org or visit ipnc.org for more information.
Travel editor Kyle Wagner can be reached at 303-954-1599 or travel@denverpost.com.
