2004 Pinot Noir

2004 Pinot Gris

2004 Pinot Blanc

2002 Pinot Noir
Estate Selection

Online Wineshop Visit our Online Wineshop and browse Erath's current wine releases, available online and at the winery tasting room. IRON CHEF AMERICA contestant, TAMARA MURPHY cooks in the Dundee Hills this Thursday, October 13, as part of Erath's Chef Series. Limited Seating still available!

CONTENTS
Letter from owner Dick Erath - "2005 Harvest Report "
Report from winemaker Gary Horner - "The Closures They Are A-Changin' "
What's Fermenting - Events and happenings at Erath Vineyards - 2005 Chef Series
The Cachet On Us - Recent awards, reviews and press
Cellar Society - The Willamette Valley's premiere wine club
The White-Hot Shopping Cart - What's new in the tasting room and gift shop

2005 HARVEST REPORT

Owner, Dick Erath

When it comes to growing wine grapes in Oregon, Mother Nature holds all the trump cards. From vintage to vintage, no two are alike and inevitably the weather is the greatest variable in our winemaking equation.  Going back to 1998, we’ve experienced a great winning streak of vintages – some on the warm side (2003), some cooler (1999, 2001).  As winegrowers, if we could dial in the weather just how we want it for two months out of the year, we would zero in on June and October (which coincidently are when the grape clusters form and when they mature).

Our wines from 2003 and 2004 are what are currently in our distribution channels – wine shops, grocery stores, and restaurants.  The warm 2003 growing season produced bigger, bolder wines which are drinking really nicely now.  If you like big fruit in your Pinot Noirs you will not be disappointed with the 2003’s. 

While our 2004 white wines and Oregon Pinot Noir have been released now for a few months, the Estate Selection and Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs will be bottled after the 2005 harvest.  Cool, wet weather conditions in June of 2004 caused less than ideal fruit set in the vineyards.  The result was a small crop -   fewer clusters, small berries.  A warm summer brought on maturity quickly.  A late season rainy period gave the vines a drink of water and slowed down the ripening (i.e. increased the hang time on the vines).   At this point in time, the wines bear a resemblance to the wonderful 1998’s.  They have great color, lots of fruit extract, and beautiful acidity.

It’s a little early to predict how the 2005 vintage will rate.  The weather this year has been all over the map – a dry winter followed by a wet spring with a moderate summer.  Another smallish crop is now being harvested with lots of small berries on loose clusters.  Check back with me in the next newsletter for the final word on harvest 2005.

Cheers!


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THE CLOSURES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'

Gary Horner, Winemaker

By now many of you have noticed a change in how we seal our 2004 Oregon Pinot noir and 2004 white wines.  We, as well as hundreds of other quality wine producers world-wide, have moved in the direction of screw closures.  Let me explain why.

Some years ago we discontinued using the traditional tree bark closure (cork) due to the unacceptably high level of cork taint inherent in all grades of natural cork.  Cork taint (often referred to a wine being ‘corked’) is a musty/mildew-like aroma that occurs unpredictably in natural cork. This negative aroma is readily transferred from the cork to the wine within the bottle.  Cork taint is estimated to adversely affect an average of one bottle per 12 bottle case of wine.  Some researchers have documented that up to 40% of all white wines sealed with cork are affected in someway due to cork taint.  Needless to say, the wine industry as a whole was not, and is not, terribly pleased with the situation.  What’s more is that natural cork and synthetics corks intrinsically allow an unpredictable and hugely variable amount of oxygen into the wine as the wine ages in bottle.  From cork to cork, within a single bag of corks, the differences in oxygen transfer can range almost one thousand fold. Synthetics are more consistent from one to another.  They consistently allow too much oxygen transfer! The wine responds to the above situations by ageing at different rates from bottle to bottle and ages way to fast in many cases. What you as a consumer will experience is a variation in how the wine tastes and smells from bottle to bottle, which at times can be quite dramatic. There is no way the cork and synthetic producers can adequately control this problem. 

Enter the screw closure.  Research going back to the 1960’s and continuing to this day has documented that screw closures overcome the cork taint and oxidation issues of natural cork and synthetics.  You may wonder why wine producers did not turn to screw closures years and years ago when the benefits were first recognized.  It was due to the fact that the screw closure violated tradition and their appearance suggested a ‘cheap’ wine to the consumer.  Tradition and image were all that stood between better wine for everyone and preventing the loss of millions and millions of dollars worth of wine.  It is interesting to note that much of the original screw closure research was conducted in France and Germany, two countries steeped in wine tradition and reluctant to upset the status quo.  They are changing their tune as a significant portion of the world’s wine industry moves ahead.

We (myself and the rest of the informed wine industry) can now say, irrefutably, that screw closures as they are manufactured and applied today, are the best closure to assure that the wine we work so hard in producing is delivered to our consumers with the freshness we intended and will age for years to come. The science is firmly in place to support that statement. Screw closures have become the closure that all past and future closures will have to measure up to.

I encourage you to not let image and tradition stand in your way on this one.

Best regards,

Gary Horner, Winemaker

PS  How does the availability of screw closures affect my personal wine buying decisions?  I reach for a screw closure bottle first and think twice about cork.

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WHAT’S FERMENTING
Events & Happenings at Erath Vineyards

CHEF SERIES -Final Installment this Thursday, October 13th
Limited seating still available; make your reservation today!

Thursday, October 13th – Tamara Murphy, Brasa – Seattle, Washington
Look for Tamara competing in the kitchen in an upcoming episode of Iron Chef America, this fall on the Food Network.

Begin with an introduction and welcome by Oregon wine pioneer, Dick Erath, and our celebrated Chef, Tamara Murphy. The evening will start with passed hors d'oeuvres of Taylor Farms Kumomoto oysters, Gewurztraminer mignonette and mussels with roasted pepper vinaigrette paired with Erath Vineyards 2004 Willamette Valley Gewurztraminer. Five course meal to follow.

Seating is limited and the cost is $125 per person. Event starts at 6:00 p.m. Make your reservation now by calling Erath Vineyards at 503.538.3318, or toll free at 1.800.539.9463.

Stay at the Black Walnut Inn while attending the Chef Series!
Two rooms are still available for our Guest Package at the Black Walnut Inn, which includes two-night stay (Wednesday/Thursday); a Wednesday evening cocktail hour with Chef Tamara Murphy; a guided tour of three Dundee Hills wineries (including Lange Estate Winery, Domaine Serene, and a VIP barrel tasting and lunch at Erath); and the Chef Series wine dinner. Call Erath Vineyards immediately for more information and to book the last room(s) for the Guest Package.

2005 CHEF SERIES A HIT!



Beginning this summer, we invited some of the most respected names in the international culinary world to roll through the Red Hills of Dundee and into the kitchen of the Black Walnut Inn with Dick Erath, as Erath Vineyards offered the Willamette Valley’s first guest chef dinner series – Wine Country Cooking.

Each month, between July and October, Dundee’s new, spectacular Black Walnut Inn co-hosted Erath Vineyards and one chef from a world-famous winegrowing region in an interactive wine dinner. Celebrated chefs representing New Zealand, Sonoma, Oregon and Washington partnered with Dick Erath to present the beautiful, fresh cooking found in these wine regions. All three events sold out!

The guest chef line-up included:

Thursday, July 28th – Alister Brown, Logan Brown – Wellington, New Zealand
Alister, the head Guest Chef at this year's International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon, commenced his culinary talents at the Black Walnut Inn before cooking for several hundred IPNC guests...
Menu and wine pairings


Thursday, August 11th – Michael Voltaggio, Dry Creek Kitchen – Sonoma, California
Michael's brother, Bryan Voltaggio, Executive Chef at Charlie Palmer's Steak House in Washington, DC, assisted his younger brother in the kitchen...
Menu and wine pairings


Thursday, September 15th – Adam Sappington, Wildwood – Willamette Valley, Oregon
At Wildwood, you get the best the Pacific Northwest has to offer! The complexity of Adam's dishes comes from the depth of flavor in the ingredients, most found only miles from the restaurant.
Menu and wine pairings

To view the PHOTO GALLERY online, please visit www.erath.com. Photos will be uploaded soon - stay tuned! Thank you to Holland Studios for the beautiful photography.

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND FESTIVAL
One of the Willamette Valley's biggest weekends of the year, come by and taste all of our newest releases, available for the first time, only in our tasting room. The $5 per person tasting fee includes an etched Erath wine glass.

Oregon Bounty samplings to be included in the tasting room every weekend in November.



ARTIST SERIES
Erath proudly presents a series of artists showcasing and selling their wares in our tasting room. Come out and meet the artists, enjoy and contemplate fine art, all the while tasting our beautifully crafted wines.

Oct. 8th             Marie Gunton                 Photography
Oct 22nd           Al Turpen                       Handmade Jewelry
Oct. 29th           Jack Jia                          Jewelry
Dec. 10th           Kari Fahrenkopf            Fused Glass
Dec. 17th           Jack Jia                          Jewelry

ERATH VINEYARDS GUEST PACKAGE
At The Black Walnut Inn