The Eyrie, The Nest

Roots and wings.  Roots and wings.  The most important things I have given to my children are roots and wings.

As I sit staring at the hawk soaring through the sky on the 1996 bottle of The Eyrie Vineyards Willamette Valley Pinot Noir—the birth year of my son—the symbolism of the label completely hits home.

I am no longer a mother to a teenager.  Period. 

My youngest is twenty.  A truly milestone age.  Though eighteen is considered legally an adult, we all know that’s not true.  But twenty…there’s something about twenty that seems so old, so mature, so heart-wrenching.

My son would probably tell you he was this grown up two years ago, but I’m not buying it.  Two years ago he was still in high school.  Still under my roof all the time. 

But now, just like that soaring bird, he has left our family nest, leaving his parents’ eyrie empty for the first time.  It might not seem like a big deal to many parents, but his father and I have never been adults without kids.  Never.  Parenting is what we have done every day, week, month, and year of our adult lives.

When I was eighteen, I had my first child; my husband was twenty.  There’s that age again—twenty.

________________________________________________________________

My advice on parenting has always been that it isn’t about the parents; it’s about the kids.  Many would say, “Well, duh!”  However, not many parent that way. 

I have always tried to do what was right for my children, no matter how that affected me.  When a parent tells a screaming toddler no, it is hard on the parent.  It is much easier to give in to the screaming and let the toddler have his way, but that isn’t often what is right for the child.

When a pre-teen screams, “I hate you!” at her mother.  It is really easy to let that child have her way and for the parent to be the good guy.  This is probably not the best choice though.

When a teenager has a curfew, the parents have to stay up waiting, no matter how tired those parents are.  When a teenager is grounded for staying out past said curfew, the parents are, in essence, grounded, too, because they have to stay home to monitor the teen. 

Sometimes it is easier on parents if they bury their heads in the sand and become best friends with their teen, to let the teen do whatever, whenever.  This is never what is right for that teenager.

Am I a perfect parent?  Hell, no.  Have I made mistakes?  Hell, yes!  But overall, I have always done what was right for my kids, even when they threw a fit, even when they screamed at me, even when they lied to me.  I have held them to a standard.  A standard of which I knew they were more than worthy, a standard which I knew they deserved.  Because I loved them that much.

As my youngest enters his twentieth year, I can see the results of all of this hard parenting.  And believe me, it is hard, the hardest—and the best—thing I have ever done, that I ever, ever will do.

It has truly been the highlight of my life.  And will be until the day I die.

_______________________________________________________________

Our son is back to the safety of our nest now, home for the summer after his first year of college.  Our roots have brought him here.  He will fly from our eyrie again. I want him to do that.  I can’t wait to see where his wings take him. 

As his father and I sit and drink this birth-year bottle together, we inhale the musty earth, the muted fig, the strong mint, the zippy acid.  After twenty years, this is still a gorgeous wine, barely showing its age.  It is perfect.  So perfect we make parenting be about us, just for a short moment, as we bask in another milestone of our son’s life.  Only one milestone of many yet to come.  A milestone my son doesn’t even think is that important because it is only twenty…not twenty-one.

But mostly, I stare at the wings of the regal bird on the bottle of 1996 The Eyrie Vineyards Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.  My English-teacher heart ponders the symbolism.  My mothering heart lurches with a bit of sorrow while it wonders at the passing of time—but my heart does not break—it explodes with pride while it remembers the deep roots beneath those soaring wings.

__________________________________________________________________

Why The Eyrie Vineyards?

            I had been on the lookout for a birth-year bottle of wine for our son.  My husband and I opened a birth-year wine on our daughter’s twentieth birthday and were determined to do the same on our youngest’s birthday.  I had looked around online, never finding the bottle that completely met my standards or my taste buds.

            Then my husband and I spent our spring break in the Willamette Valley.  I love pinot noir.  I love Oregon.  I love Oregon pinot noir.  I was thinking of looking for a bottle when we stopped to taste at The Eyrie Vineyards.   The Eyrie has quite a library selection.  David Lett, known as Papa Pinot for his pioneering status growing pinot noir in the Willamette, grew many of the earliest vineyards in the area, experimenting with my favorite varietal.  As part of this “experiment,” Lett also held back many cases from past vintages.

            These cases were not just left and forgotten.  The Eyrie actually has quite a certification process where library wines are tasted through for quality before being re-blended and re-corked, then covered with a wax capsule to store for more aging.  The tasting room always has one library selection on its menu for customers to enjoy.  On the day of our visit, a 1978 Merlot was on the list.  There was also a 1987 Chardonnay for a white option.  Both were absolutely amazing.  The age was showing, but only in the finest ways.  Lett’s experiment has obviously been proven a success time and time again.  If I wasn’t a believer of the Willamette Valley and Oregon wines before (which I was), I surely was at that moment.

            The Eyrie had two different options for 1996 wines—the year for which I was looking.  My husband and I contemplated our selections and made our choice, taking home the South Block Willamette Valley.  This was just another serendipitous event on a trip that was filled with such moments.   Truly, this birth-year wine capped off a great trip and proved why The Eyrie Vineyards is considered a must-stop winery.

A Classic--Ponzi Vineyards

As we wound our way up the gentle hillside, the overcast sky was barely letting the sun through.  However, the looming rain clouds provided one of the most beautiful views:  lush, green knolls in every direction we looked.

We passed houses and farmland, and then entered the sloping vineyards just before we glimpsed the gorgeous facility.  Modern, with a rustic feel, the wood and glass seemed to fit into the hill itself, part of the environment as if it had always been there.

But it hadn’t.  This was actually Ponzi Vineyards' new tasting and production facility.  Though these structures were only recently completed, it is the quintessential example of Willamette Valley wine—a family-owned winery that cares about the environment so much that it feels as if it is actually a part of the environment.

Dick and Nancy Ponzi were Willamette Valley winemaking pioneers.  They came to Oregon from California in 1970 looking for the perfect place to grow pinot noir.  Vines were planted and worked by the Ponzis, and as the children grew, they helped their parents work the vineyards.  The first commercial sale of wine was in 1976, and the entire Ponzi family has been involved on some level ever since.

Today, Dick and Nancy’s daughter Luisa is the winemaker, having learned the ropes from her parents and at school in Beaune, France twenty vintages ago. Luisa’s husband, fellow winemaker Eric Hamacher, and their children are active in the business and even live with views of the valley’s vineyards.

Luisa’s sister Anna is the president at Ponzi Vineyards.  She is the marketing force behind making Ponzi’s wonderful wines known around the world.  Anna’s family is also active in the winery life, especially her architect husband Brett, who helped design and build the new tasting room that opened in 2013.

Luisa and Anna’s brother Michael was active in the family business for nearly twenty years before he and his wife branched out to move to Italy and focus on another product:  olive oil.  

However, don’t believe for a minute that Dick and Nancy passed the winery to their children for a relaxed, retired life.  They are still active at the winery and have delved into other business ventures as well, including an early-Oregon craft brewery.  One of their accomplishments has been the Dundee Bistro and Bubble Bar, a restaurant with an outstanding food program featuring locally grown and raised products, known for excellent regional cuisine and an extensive wine list.    

The pioneer story makes this family-owned winery a classic, but so does the winemaking facility.  The winemaking was moved from the original, historic Ponzi vineyard site (which is still a working vineyard and winery) to the new facility—Collina del Sogno—in 2008, where 45,000 cases are made a year.  This is gravity-flow production; the grapes come in at the top level, move to the second level for fermentation, go to the third level for barrel aging, and end at the fourth level for bottling and storage.  Gravity does the work during these processes, meaning that the wine sees less oxygen and softer handling, leading to a high-quality wine. 

The new tasting room was opened in 2013 at the same site as Collina del Sogno.  The wood, concrete, and glass create a welcoming environment for tasting.  The windows let in clear views of the Willamette Valley while customers warm themselves near the indoor fireplace.  The Bocci ball court is just one place to spend time when the Oregon weather is beautiful.  The outdoor patios offer more amazing views of the greenery and vines below.  All of the winery offices are also located here, as well as a small museum area that chronicles the Ponzi Family’s story over the last forty-five years of making wine.    

However, all wine lovers know that the best wines start in the vineyards—Ponzi is no exception.  The vineyards are LIVE certified sustainable, “the world’s highest standard for sustainable viticulture.”  These environmentally-sound strategies can be seen almost everywhere:  from cover crops to compost, from organic pest control to eco-friendly glass.  Yet, the only other resource that is as important to the Ponzis as their grapes is their people, another vital part of a thriving winery.

The beautiful wines of this winery also show Ponzi Vineyards as the classic example of what the Willamette Valley can produce: beautiful pinot noirs and chardonnays. 

The 2014 Chardonnay, aged in stainless steel, is a spectacular example of chardonnay’s tendencies to be a chameleon.  In the steel tank, the light, mineral characteristics show before the fruit, and then the tropical fruit shows through to the finish—a more Chablis-like example.

The 2012 Avellana is the other side of the chardonnay coin.  This wine, twenty-five percent aged in oak for twenty months, is full of butter and pear, richness and cream.  The tropical fruit finish ends the quintessential example of a quality, buttery chardonnay, all without being overdone or overripe.

Pinot noirs are showcased here, too, like the 2013 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, with the archetypal favorites of an Oregon pinot:  bright strawberry, deep cherry, crisp acid, and tasty eucalyptus.  From the bright color in the glass to the long finish, it is a perfect Willamette Valley pinot noir.

The Aurora Vineyard Pinot Noir uses fruit from the most prized vineyard site, situated at slightly higher elevations (300-600 feet) and planted in prestigious laurelwood soil.  This is a deeper, richer, darker wine with great fruit, but the wet earth makes this incredibly complex, while showing the characteristic signs of pinot delicacy.

Lest one think that Ponzi Vineyards is not a diverse producer, think again.  Indigenous Italian varieties are grown by the family, like arneis and dolcetto.  Rosés and sparklings are also made, and, recently, even a lightly-sparkling muscat was produced—a Moscato di Ponzi. 

Though Ponzi does make a select few unique wines from unique grapes, Ponzi Vineyards is the classic example of a Willamette Valley winery.  The Ponzis were early pioneers in the wine industry in the valley.  Still today, they produce excellent examples of the region’s top grapes.  The Oregon philosophy of caring for the environment is first and foremost for this winery, as is caring for the people who work there.  The gravity-flow winery is not specific to Oregon, but has become an Oregon mainstay.  The tasting room is new and modern, yet fits into its surroundings like it has been there for decades. 

Yes, Ponzi Vineyards is truly a classic—the perfect example of what a Willamette Valley winery can…and should…be.

Size Matters: The Journey to a New Frontier--Cartograph Wines

The third installment in my series on microwineries features Alan Baker and Serena Lourie of Cartograph Wines, perfect examples to illustrate the path to making wine is rarely a straight and simple journey.  Cheers to another great wine story!

Size Matters:  The Journey to a New Frontier--Cartograph Wines

Surrounded by the silent woods on a lake in northern Wisconsin, Alan Baker opened a bottle of 1998 Riesling from the Alsace region of France, a wine that had traveled well over 4,500 miles to be poured.

Alan still remembers the wine’s flavor as a “cacophony of citrus blossom, pear, black tea, and petrol.” He was also acutely aware of how much that one wine “engaged his senses.”  It spoke to him and intrigued him.

His official wine journey had started.

At this time, Alan was working in Minnesota Public Radio, after being a vocal music major in college.  His radio job found him working with many orchestras and composers, including two projects that earned Alan prestigious awards.  Though he found much gratification and success in this work, he still was nagged by the fact that wine needed to be a part of his future. 

 

In 2005, he changed courses by selling his home in Minnesota and moving to Healdsburg, California.

He was able to take this step after meshing his radio career with the wine career he was trying to pursue.  As a way to finance his interest in wine and get hands-on learning, he created cellarrat.org.  Part of his web site was a blog while the other part was a podcast, a then-new concept.

Alan’s goal was to offer his services as a “cellar rat” to wineries.  In addition to the work, Alan gave publicity through his blog and podcast.  Sonoma producers Peterson and Unti were first to give Alan a chance.

Alan never expected to make a great deal of money on this leg of his journey; he just wanted to learn everything he could about the industry.  He was still so good at his public radio job that NPR picked up the podcast, which turned into a lucky break for his wine-making career.

 

At this point, Alan knew he wanted to make wine full time; however, he could no longer do both radio and wine.  He would have to commit to one completely.  He took yet another giant leap and asked his online audience for help.  His supporters purchased wine futures, basically paying for his first vintage of wine before it was made, enabling the production to be completed.

Alan used this early form of crowd sourcing to produce his first vintage at Crushpad.  About 100 of those who purchased futures—called The Rat Pack—helped do cellar work to make the vintage, all documented in a video podcast called Pinot 2.0.  The Cellar Rat Cellars label production was 100 cases of Wentzel Vineyard’s pinot noir.

 

Immediately following, Alan became the director of Crushnet, a web site that virtualized “the winemaking process so anyone across the globe could create their own customized barrel of wine.” This kept him at Crushpad for three years and introduced him to another wine lover, a meeting that would forever change his course.

Serena Lourie’s wine journey started an ocean away, as a child in France.  Having a grandmother that lived in Brittany, Serena’s family spent four months every year there.  Serena’s French experience with food and wine would follow her home and to adulthood. 

 

In Washington D.C., Serena found her interests in health care, specifically adolescent psychiatry, a field in which she worked for fifteen years.  At 18, her first job was in an adolescent unit.  She finished her degree at Georgetown, then later went on to get an MBA.  This led her to be in charge of programs for teenagers, often creating these programs herself.

D.C. was also home to Serena’s wine aha! moment.  At a table of friends overlooking the beautiful city harbor, she ordered a bottle of Shafer Cabernet from Napa to celebrate her graduation.  The taste and smell was amazing, but she still recollects how the finish lasted two full minutes—an amazing wine.  The ultimate irony came years later when a Napa cab was the first wine she made.

 

In order to take a break from her high-stress job, Serena traveled cross country to Crushpad, getting her hands dirty while enjoying her wine passion.  She and Alan found themselves working together and noticed all they had in common:  a zest for life, a love for wine, and a palate for pinot noir.

After a long day of wine work in 2009, Alan and Serena mapped out their plan to launch a label together, focusing on Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.  They knew they wanted their wines to tell a story—not just any story—but the story of the paths they took to end up in Healdsburg making wine.

Their first vintage consisted of “two barrels, 50 cases, of pinot noir…which would become the inaugural release under the Cartograph label. The logo on the front of each bottle is a visual encapsulation of the winding road that brought the two of them together and how they joined forces to launch the new brand.”

Cartograph’s primary focus is pinot noir; it is the reason they produce in the heart of Sonoma and from the Russian River Valley.  Alan and Serena both love the versatility of these wines.  They also love the challenge of producing wines from such a finicky—and prestigious—grape.

Alan uses his musical background to explain:  “Making Pinot noir is the winemaking equivalent of a composer writing a string quartet. Any composer who decides to write a string quartet is instantly putting their work up against some of the greatest composers who have ever put pen to paper: Beethoven, Bartok, Mozart, Schubert, Debussy, Haydn, Brahms.”

Cartograph’s pinot noirs are wonderful works.  The Mariah Vineyard (my personal favorite because my sister’s name is Mariah) is wonderfully delicate and complex.  The Choate Vineyard and Perli Vineyard are also excellent examples of terroir-driven wines.  The Russian River Valley pinot is yet another quality wine.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Cartograph also makes an amazing riesling.  In true Alsatian style, the wine is bone dry and elegant with a hint of petrol and wet rock, a wine both novices and experts will enjoy.

A sangiovese from Upton Vineyard (my husband’s hometown name) brings the Cartograph story back to the beginning, as the first wine Alan and Serena made together at Crushpad was from sangiovese grapes. 

 

The Cartograph journey continues its course with the recent purchase of an estate vineyard.  Alan and Serena will be growing their own fruit on just under ten acres in western Sonoma County, fourteen miles from the coast.  In addition to the four clones of pinot noir, there are also 180 olive trees.  (Yes, there will also be Cartograph olive oil!)

This vineyard will continue to help Alan and Serena reach their wine-making goals:  “to produce wines of quality that can be called great, unique, memorable and meaningful…it is the most important element of our winemaking at Cartograph.”

The journey of a thousand miles literally started in different locations for Alan and Serena.  Their lives were on a direct course to collide, over the most exceptional of topics—wine.  Together, they have traveled far and wide on a winding path to get to where they are today: making beautiful wines in a beautiful place. 

See another great look at Cartograph Wine's story by watching American Wine Story.

Size Matters: All in the Family--J Cage Cellars

The next installment in my small series on microwineries, continuing to tell the stories behind great, small producers.  Learn more about Roger and Donna Beery and their newest wine adventure, J Cage Cellars.  

Size Matters:  All in the Family--J Cage Cellars

Don’t let the last name fool you. 

 

Though “beer” is at the heart of their surname, wine has always been at the heart of Donna and Roger Beery’s family. 

 

It all started on their first date.

 

Roger confesses he may have had a little too much wine that night. 

 

Though just in his twenties then, Roger can think back even further to when he started to appreciate wine.  It was international cooking sensation Graham Kerr, who paired food with wine on his tv show, that turned Roger’s teenage interests to wine.

 

Both Roger and Donna saw their “wine-stained dream” begin in Napa, California on their first trip there in 1984. 

 

Roger’s aha! moment for wine happened when the Beerys pulled into Caymus Vineyards.  Winemaker Charlie Wagner met them in the tasting room.  Though the day was cold and rainy, Charlie gave a tour of the vines.  Roger began to understand how wine was actually made in the vineyard; he also saw that wine making was both a science and an art. 

Roger and Chuck Wagner, father to Charlie Wagner.

He was hooked.

Donna’s aha! moment happened later that same trip.  At the time, she didn’t like red wines, so she drank whites only.  At the end of the tasting day, the travelers and their companions made it a habit to open a special bottle.  One evening, the wine was a Jordan Cabernet.  The Beery’s companions basically forced Donna to drink the first sip…then she needed no encouragement.  She fell in love with the beautiful red wine.  She “lost her cabernet virginity” and went back to the winery the next day to buy two cases!

These two cases were the start of the 1000-bottle cellar Roger and Donna eventually collected.

It was this collection that initiated the Beery children into the world of wine.

 

Roger and Donna raised their children first in Austin, Texas and then in Breckenridge and Denver, Colorado, where Roger owned a risk management company for the auto industry.  All the family members kept close ties to Austin and their Texas roots.

Enjoying time with the Beerys...wine passion with Texas roots. 

In fact, when Roger and his son Conch were reading “the bible”—AKA Texas Monthly Magazine to a red-blooded Texan—Conch saw an ad for the brand new viticulture and enology program at Texas Tech.  He instantly knew that was what he really wanted to do, even though he was already working on a business degree from another college. 

 

Conch started at Texas Tech and fell into the life of wine he saw modeled at his parents’ elbows. Conch’s first winery gig was as a volunteer intern at Solaro Estate.  This turned into a paid internship and then an assistant wine making job there in the Texas Hill Country outside of Austin.

 

Roger encouraged any and all wine-related education for his children.  So much so that when Conch turned 21, Roger took his son to Napa, mimicking the trip Roger experienced in his twenties.  Later, Conch was able to follow the harvest season around the world.  Since the southern hemisphere harvests six months ahead of the north, Conch was able to work not only in Texas, Sonoma, and Napa, but also in Australia and New Zealand.  He currently works for Gundlach Bundschu in Sonoma.

Lest anyone believe daughter Whitney was not following the family passion, don’t be worried.  She also went to Texas Tech—like a good Texan—and got a degree in marketing and hospitality.  The wine-travel bug bit Whitney as well, and she soon started searching for jobs in Sonoma.  Today, she works for Jordan Winery.  Yes, the family wine story came full circle when Whitney took a job for the producer who made her mother’s aha! wine. 

The Beery family.

During this time of wine exploration for the Beery children, Roger and Donna were also charting new wine territories.  Still foodies, Roger and Donna watched the movie Julie and Julia.  The whole idea of blogging about their passion intrigued them.  At this same time, Conch was working on a project for his enology program—researching stories about the emotional impacts of wine.  Roger volunteered himself and Donna to write their wine stories.  These became the first posts on their new blog "Bacchus and Beery."

At first, Roger and Donna thought they were just going to be writing about why they loved wine and why others should too.  However, they quickly saw their fascination with, and appreciation for, small producers come to the forefront.  They championed the “little guys” of wine, those artisan producers who were often “overshadowed by their large, corporate brethren.” 

 

"Bacchus and Beery" continued to expand.  Roger and Donna wrote about wine events, wine travel, and wine samples.  They met and interviewed winemakers.  Soon, “Bacchus and Beery Wine Radio” on Voice America Radio gave them yet another outlet to help artisan producers showcase their wines. 

 

Roger and Donna loved all aspects of being bloggers.  They especially enjoyed the stories of those that had left established careers to follow their dreams of making wine, often doing low-paid internships just to learn the craft.  Only a lover of the written word like Roger—who minored in poetry—could see the foreshadowing in this.

Tools of the blogging and wine making trade.

Sitting on a porch in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California, Roger and Donna were celebrating their wedding anniversary.  Roger had a very special gift for his wife of thirty-five years—a ton of pinot noir grapes from the Nunes Vineyard, one of their favorites.  This is exactly what Donna wanted and exactly what both Beerys had been working toward.

They now split their time between their home in Austin and the mother-in-law’s cottage in Whitney’s backyard, where wine making has them scrambling during the months they spend living in Sonoma County.

J Cage Cellars

The first vintage (2014) was the Nunes pinot, sourced because of great connections the Beerys made through their blog; a viognier that Donna calls “Momma’s wine,” sourced from an unusual clone; and a sauvignon blanc, sourced from the historic Schmidt Family vineyard.

  

Roger and Donna believe in minimal manipulation of their wines.  This is the reason they worked so hard to find high-quality fruit from high-quality growers.  They also believe that single-vineyard fruit shows true terroir, and they will continue to make this style of wine. 

 

This endeavor is accurately a family affair, as finally all four of the Beery family members and their wine obsessions have come together for this project.  Roger and Donna are at the helm of J Cage wines.  They harvest the grapes from those select vineyards themselves.  They also do the sorting table, punch down, and initial fermentation labor at a custom crush facility in Healdsburg. 

 

When they do go back to Austin, son Conch acts as a consultant to keep tabs on the wine as it ages and waits for the next step in its wine life.  Daughter Whitney uses her marketing expertise to promote and sell J Cage wines.  Even Conch’s and Whitney’s significant others help.

The entire extended Beery clan!

The name also has a personal connection.  Though the Beerys did experiment with other titles, they wanted something that was meaningful.  Beery sounds more like a malt beverage than a wine, so they went in a different family direction.  J Frank Cage was Roger’s great-grandfather.  The Cage family was very influential in Austin, and J Frank helped design and build the iconic Lamar Street bridge over Lady Bird Lake in downtown.  He was a great craftsman, and Roger wanted to honor the wine craft by naming it after J Cage. 

 

J Cage Cellars

The three current releases are truly excellent wines.

The Pinot Noir is filled with cherry, strawberry, and earth, both on the nose and the palate.  The strong acid is clearly showing, so this wine will age beautifully.

The Viognier is filled with overripe melon, tropical fruit, and mineral on the nose.  These same elements, in addition to a slight creaminess and a touch of apricot, show on the palate.

The Sauvignon Blanc is a beautifully aromatic blend of pineapple, mineral, and grass.  A richness shows through to the finish, without being overdone.  

 

J Cage wine and wine grapes.

In 2015, these same three varieties will be the backbone of the production, with chardonnay and another single-vineyard pinot being added.  The 2016 plan is still wide open.  Grapes will continue to be sourced from single vineyards; Roger and Donna hope to grow in production quantity while keeping the quality of wines top priority.

With a last name like Beery, one might believe this would be a beer-loving family—not that the Beerys have anything against beer!  However, from father and mother to son and daughter, passion for wine is in the blood of this clan. 

   

Roger and Donna should have known after their first date that wine was going to be a large part of their futures.  The connections made due to their passion for wine and the “Bacchus and Beery” blog continued to foreshadow the paths that would take four different routes but all end in the same place—Sonoma County, California.