Jan. 26, 2012
In this year's SAVEUR 100, we take stock of our favorite things: recipes, people, places. We consider every last one a new classic.
By The Editors
Grapes farmed industrially, with pesticides, herbicides, and heavy irrigation, bring about industrial-size ecological problems. These are some of the reasons why a growing number of winemakers are turning to environmentally mindful practices and going through certification processes so that wine lovers like me are able to seek out and identify "green wines." They include bottles made from grapes that are farmed sustainably or organically, as well as those produced biodynamically—that is, according to a method that views the vineyard as a biodiverse and self-sufficient whole, where insects are taken care of by natural predators, not pesticides, and organic waste, not chemical fertilizer, enriches the soil. But that's only part of the picture. For fans of green wines, there's self-interest at work, too. For centuries, winemakers have espoused this dictum: Suffering vines create the greatest fruit. Industrial agriculture simply makes life too easy for modern grape vines, causing them to produce insipid, characterless fruit. Green wines are the ones with concentrated flavors, tasting uniquely of the land from which they came.
Adelsheim Willamette Valley Elizabeth's Reserve Pinot Noir 2009
Low inputs (less water, less fertilizer, fewer weed killers and pest killers) and other earth-friendly farming methods result in this thunderous raspberry stunner of a pinot noir by a family-owned Oregon winemaker that is certified for sustainability and renowned for its renditions of this varietal. It's a perfect match for duck and game meats.
To see the full article, click here.
Jan. 26, 2012
By Andy Perdue
Wine Press Northwest
Winter 2011/2012
Forty years ago, David Adelsheim didn't have much of an inkling of what he was getting in to. He didn't expect to be thought of as a wine pioneer, that's for sure.
"It was a leap of faith, to say the least," he said with a gentle laugh.
Today, the founder of Adelsheim Vineyard is celebrating something he didn't think about when he bought a few acres of land back in 1971: four decades in the wine business and a reputation as one of the industry's guiding lights.
"In 1971, a lot of people were trying out farming for the first time," he said. "There was a revolutionary spirit that said you could do whatever you wanted."
In 1971, Adelsheim and his then-wife, Ginny, purchased land in Oregon's Chehalem Mountains near Newberg. They brought in Pinot noir, Pinot gris, Chardonnay and Riesling vines from California and planted them in 1972. Six years later, he made 1,300 cases of wine and launched one of Oregon's first wineries. Today, he farms 232 acres of vineyards and produces 40,000 cases of wine.
Adelsheim spent his early years in Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis, but his family moved to Portland when he was 11. With no background in farming or winemaking - just a love for wine - the Adelsheims dived into a business that, frankly, was new for many on the West Coast. Oregon's winemaking history went back barely a decade, and the industry was so small, it could define itself over dinner.
"There were six to 10 families involved," Adelsheim said. "And we could sit around a table and have a conversation about how to make a wine industry out of thin air. That's what the beginning of the Willamette Valley wine industry was all about: a fantasy about a future without practical experience."
The folks around the table included such names as Erath, Lett, Ponzi, Sokol Blosser and Adelsheim. Today, they are considered the pioneers, giants who built the foundation for an industry and a path for others to follow.
Adelsheim said the mid-'60s to mid-'70s was a time of enlightenment for the West Coast wine industry, when people began to get excited about wine for the sake of quality, not just to make money.
"That was particularly true in Oregon, where there was no history of growing grapes," he said. "The whole approach in Oregon was about the quality of wine. Grapes were necessary to the get the wine, so we slowly learned about viticulture."
Those were heady days, he said. And painful.
"We were certainly among the most naive," he said with a laugh that can only come with distance from hard lessons. "We had no background in growing grapes or making, selling and marketing wine. Over time, we've had to learn about all of them."
Back then, everyone brought something to the table. Dick Erath, for example, had an expertise in viticulture, and he also knew how to work with financial institutions. Adelsheim had been a sommelier prior to getting into the wine industry, so he knew his way around the food industry.
"I had a bit more clarity on how restaurants and distribution worked and was able to help on some of that," he said. "I was also willing to put in work on wine label regulations and clonal importation."
Everybody, he said, was helping to create a greater good for the entire industry.
"It was about the people in the business," he said. "It was about the collaboration everyone was able to provide. We each brought a range of talents."
After Adelsheim put his vines in the ground, he began thinking about what to do with the resulting grapes, so he turned to "Papa Pinot," David Lett, who is credited with planting the first Pinot noir in the Willamette Valley in 1965.
"I worked with David in 1973 and looked to him for a range of help with sylistic advice," he said. "Our focus on style and balance is related to what he did."
That same year, Adelsheim and Lett worked together to craft regulations that would set aside the best vineyard land in the north Willamette Valley. With the help of the Yamhill County planning director, they were able to protect hillsides from becoming housing developments. Today, those hills grow some of the world's most exciting Pinot noir.
Several judgings and tastings over the next decade would put Oregon on the global wine map and force the Old World to take notice. In the mid-'80s, the Drouhin family of Burgundy purchased land and launched Domaine Drouhin Oregon in the Dundee Hills. The International Pinot noir Celebration soon followed, and suddenly the little industry was growing up.
Adelsheim and others never envisioned today's Oregon wine industry.
"I'm not sure we knew what doing a good job would look like or what the industry would become," he said. "I would not have predicted it."
He said the uniqueness of the northern Willamette Valley drew today's industry here - 'idealism about growing Pinot noir and not doing it the way it's done in Burgundy and California." He added that Oregon was not content with simply growing grapes and crafting wine. Instead, the industry continued to evolve and grow, to create ways for wine lovers to experience Oregon wine rather than simply drink it.
Adelsheim said that the wine industry's growth and success has led some to lose that personal touch. But for every winemaker who gets caught up in distancing himself from the consumer, 15 more are hungry to take his place.
"It's difficult to envision our future," he said. "We don't want it to be Napa Valley, and we don't want it to be Burgundy. We want it to be the Willamette Valley. We want to hang onto that collaborative aspect. That has led this upstart place with little or no reason to exist."
He describes Oregon as tiny compared with Wasington and "off the chart" compared with California. Yet the quality of the wines - and their subsequent importance amid wine critics and consumers alike - makes Oregon way bigger than its size would otherwise indicate.
The six American Viticultural Areas that carved the north Willamette Valley into smaller pieces a half-decade ago are a natural part of Oregon's wine evolution, he said, describing them as one part sophistication and one part "nerdism."
"For all the detractors who think there are huge numbers of people who are not ready for that detail, I think it's another reason to be excited about Oregon wine," he said. "It starts setting the fine details apart, which is exciting."
Adelsheim is no longer the winemaker for his eponymous operation - he leaves that to winemaker Dave Paige and cellarmaster Gina Hennen. He co-owns the winery with Ginny - they divorced in 2007 after a long separation but remain on good terms - and Jack and Lynn Loacker, who have been involved since 1994, a year before they began planting grapes on nearby Ribbon Ridge.
Depending on what the vintage gives, Adelsheim will produce anywhere from 16 to 22 different wines, everything from single-vineyard Pinot noirs to Chardonnay and Auxerrois. The focus on Pinot noir will continue to drive Adelsheim - and Oregon - forward, he said.
"We love playing with as many white varieties as we can plant," he said. "We love the two acres of Syrah here. But that's all fiddling around the edges."
He said that Adelsheim Vineyard has gone from being evenly split between whites and reds to two-thirds red - and that gap will only widen as the focus narrows on Pinot noir.
"We need to keep our focus on that variety and get even better at finding blocks and pieces of blocks that are extraordinary and should be kept separate," he said. "Our grape growing and winemaking teams are in the running for the best in the north Willamette Valley. Our goal is to do everything even more consistently and to identify those places that we should be keeping separate. We're trying to deliver something that reflects what comes out of the vineyard with the least amount of distraction from winemaking, albeit with a stylistic bent that leads us in the direction of balance and elegance. Naively, that's where we started out - and that's ultimately where we've stayed."
At 68, Adelsheim has no thoughts of retiring, thought he is involved in fewer of the details.
"I'm pretty confident that we're making the best wine we've evr made without me being there with the day-to-day decisions. I've planted vines, built wineries, been the winemaker, sold wine, done the books, done the taxes - and I eventually realized that the people I've hired were better at those jobs than I could ever be, so I rely on them to make the day-to-day decisions, which lets me focus on the future."
