“If you go for a tasting, you can read along as you sip. I also hear that when groups of friends arrive together, there is often one in the group who likes to read the poetry aloud with flair.  Poetry readings in wineries—another dream come true.”

Cabernet Franc—Cabernet Franc is one of the six oldest grapes, but this grandmother wine is never old-fashioned. She’s a Right- and Left-Bank lady. She can gallivant around the globe, and she can stay home and make a mean plum tart. She knows a bit of earth and fruit and can run the gamut of light to heavy. This Cab Franc is at home in the world, and she’ll bring the world to your home.

Mondeuse—Once upon a time, the ancient wine stock of Mondeuse was likely in a fairy tale. Maybe its vines were trellised near a gingerbread house in the woods or along the path walked by a girl in a red hood. Spicy and crimson, this strong-legged wine makes a robust character at your table. Sit back and sip a legend begun in Savoie, France, continued by the Ginet family, and ready to tell tales at the start of your meal or at…the end.

Carménère—The Carménère’s bouquet is full of fiery cayenne. One whiff and this wine is instantly your newest favorite red-headed stepchild, and you find yourself saying yes to her request for a spicy chocolate dessert. But the palate does not deliver what the nose promises. Take a sip, and be quelled by a blanket of soft violet. Get ready to stay up well past bedtime, sitting around the fire, telling family stories brimming with purple prose.

Ginet Rosé—Life is short. So is the time this Mourvedré Rosé sat with the grape skins to achieve its lovely blush—just six hours. What can you achieve in six hours? Plenty. But we’d like to suggest an alfresco luncheon with dear friends—the kind that lasts into evening around a big table laden with bowls of green apples, guavas, and a mix of citrus…and several bottles of Ginet Rosé.

Viognier—An orchard grows inside this bottle of Viognier. It’s a veritable terrarium of magic, where the seasons and geography blend into a fruitful continuum. Take a sip and taste banana, apple, lychee—with a hint of walnut at the finish. This wine just might inspire you to find a tree, spread a blanket beneath it, and finish sipping in leafy shade, grateful for all good harvests.

Tempranillo—You could fill an ink-well with this dark delight. You could write a letter from Southern Oregon to Spain and ask for the Tempranillo’s history, suspecting nobility. You’d be right. This is a noble grape, one that keeps its character no matter where it’s planted. Count on notes of plum, tobacco, leather, and herbs. Count on a full-bodied beauty worth writing home about—sincerely.

Petit Verdot—This wine has a potent nose. It could hunt for truffles in French forests and build a perfume empire from whiffs of vanilla and violet. You’d never know the Petit Verdot is often a “blender” varietal. It may be “petit,” but this grape from Iron Gate Vineyard of Kubli Bench in the Applegate is big enough to stand alone.

Merlot—If you were to head into the Applegate Valley prospecting for treasure, you might bring a metal detector and hope to find gold. But if you go straight to Plaisance Ranch, you’ll hit pay dirt with this big Merlot—a classic wine whose veins run with the strong, clay soil where its fine grapes grew.

Syrah—A sip of this, and the sun is shining as you walk to the river—hints of warm caramel and cool mint. Wade into the terroir of Applegate Valley, inspired by the Northern Rhone. Come on in, the Syrah is fine.

Petite Sirah—What do you get when you pair a nineteenth-century French botanist with a love of wine? The Durif grape—the real name of Petite Sirah, a love-child of Syrah and science. Depending on your sources, Durif either chanced upon this new varietal growing in his nursery, or he planned the cross-pollination. Whatever happened in the past, in the present, we get to enjoy the fruit of intention—which tastes a bit like blackberries and serendipity.

Malbec—In his timeless epic, The Odyssey, Homer sent his hero sailing across the “wine-dark sea.” The deep color of this Malbec could inspire such a descriptor. It’s a grape that can take the heat of sirens and Cyclops, that can brave the tides and sky. And though this bottle may be the hue of storied seas, its earthiness calls all travelers home.

©Southern Oregon Wine Scene – from the Spring 2019 issue