The Omaha Metro
Event Report:
Wineries Visited During the Willamette Valley Wine Festival Upcoming Events.
What’s New
Did you notice that the Council Bluffs Branch has a new name? Your Board decided to change the name to Omaha Metro Branch. New members don’t understand why we were called Council Bluffs. None of the events are in CB. The larger Omaha metro area represents our actual demographics and includes CB in its broad name. We will be ordering new nametags to reflect the new name of the Branch.
Burgundy vs. Pinot Noir was our joint CB and Omaha Branches event for June. We sold out our 40 spaces for the second year in a row, but this time it was held on a Wednesday, and we haven’t had much experience with Wednesdays. Au Courant no longer does parties during their regular days of Thursday through Sunday. Members are intrigued by Burgundy, which is a bit more mysterious than Pinot Noir, which has exploded in popularity in the last decade in this country.
After quaffing with choice wines from both branches and the restaurant, we sat down to a blind tasting of 4 wines. Our mission was simple: identify whether the glass contained Pinot Noir from Burgundy or the Willamette Valley in Oregon. There was a short tutorial on Burgundy before we began. All the best “climats” (named vineyards) are in a narrow strip of low hills 40 miles long and 2 miles wide called the Côte d’Or, or Golden Slope. The northern half is called the Côte de Nuits, and the southern half the Côte de Beaune, after its major city Beaune. Burgundy was once under the sea millennia ago, and as such has deposits of limestone and minerals scattered around the best sites. The Grand Cru designation is rare and expensive (about 32), as is the next level down, Premier Cru (about 640). Catholic monasteries identified these great vineyards, but after the French Revolution, all church property was confiscated and given to the peasants who worked the vineyards. With inheritance laws, the parcels got chopped up into the small properties they are today, sometimes just a few rows of vines per owner.
With the advent of global warming, which has benefitted Burgundy enormously, it is getting harder and harder to identify between Oregon Pinot Noir and Burgundy. I knew the answer, and after tasting the first one I knew a lot of people would be deceived. In the ensuing shakeout of the last person standing, only 2 people had the right answer: Jim Koesters and guest Charles Schurhammer from the IWFS Duluth Branch. Congrats to these two. Au Courant did a great job with our gourmet cuisine, and all the wines were stellar. It was a great night for Burgundian varietals of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
I once dated a girl with a twin and people always asked me how I could tell them apart. It was simple, Alison painted her nails red, and Bob had a beard.
AUGUST 2023
Wineries Visited During the Willamette Valley Wine Festival: Penner-Ash & WillaKenzie
Written by Tom Murnan, Photos by Tom Murnan
During the Willamette Valley Wine Festival, we had one day where the Society visited 3 wineries of Jackson Family Wines. The following is a report on 2 of them.
Penner-Ash Wine Cellars was established in 1998 when Lynn and Ron Penner built their winery in the Northern Willamette Valley, in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. The site was selected due to its proximity to the Shea Vineyard, one of the best in the valley. The winery sits atop a hill with a beautiful view of Mount Hood. The couple didn’t want to take out a hundred-year-old grove of trees below, so it was spared. They wanted to build the winery to reflect the beauty of the area and the sense of place. 2005 was the first harvest, but the winery was not quite done. Only about 100 cases of wine were labeled that first harvest. The neighboring community came out and helped them label and wax the bottles. Lynn calls this their ramen [noodle] year because all the cash was going back into building the winery.
The winery went from strength to strength, crafting Pinot Noir not only from their own property, but from leased vineyards such as the Shea, Ridgecrest, Bramble Hill, Élevée, Bella Vida, Aegrina, Hyland, Palmer Creek, and Zena Crown vineyards from the Yamhill-Carlton, Chehalem Mountain, Dundee Hills, McMinnville and Eola-Amity Hills AVAs. In 2016, Penner-Ash joined the Jackson Family Wines empire.
WillaKenzie Estate (WKE)was founded in 1992 in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA by Bernard Lacroute. It is named after the sedimentary soil on which the vines are planted. The name also pays tribute to two of the Willamette Valley’s major rivers: the Willamette and McKenzie. This is incorporated into their crest. The rivers appear as two sets of waves in the top-right and lower-left corners of the crest. These expressive lines evoke the rivers as well as the rolling hills of our Yamhill-Carlton Estate. The fleur-de-lis at the center of the crest pays homage to founder Bernard Lacroute’s French heritage.
The French are always speaking of Terroir. WKE claims to have coined the moniker “Place Matters,” the Oregon way to say terroir. Willakenzie soil is ancient marine sedimentary from uplifted seabed. It gives Pinot Noir dark fruit flavors and aromas and firm tannins. WKE’s wine lineup consists of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gamay Noir, and Pinot Meunier. They claim to have several Grand Cru vineyards. Their high-end wines are labeled La Créte (the Crest). 93 acres of vines are planted on slopes ranging from 302 to 734 feet above sea level. Eric Kramer is the winemaker. They too joined Jackson Family Wines in 2016.
AUG 10
SEP 09
METRO EVENTS
SIPS ON TENTH
USA vs. Europe
Producers: Hipples & Lemkes
TAILGATE CELLAR PARTY DURING THE NEBRASKA FOOTBALL GAME
Branch cellars odds and ends wine theme
Doctors Iris and Gary More residence
Joint event with the Omaha Branch
Producers: Mike, Rhonda & Nicholas Wilke
Theme TBD
Producers: Susan Rauth & Brent Rasmussen
OCT 08 CHEF AROUND THE BLOCK POP UP SHOP (THE OLD GREY PLUME)
HOSTING AN EVENT?
Let us know when, where and a little bit about what’s going on!
We would love to include YOUR event on the calendar!
Email details to: iwfs.councilbluffs@yahoo.com
UPCOMING
2023
OMAHA