An Evening with Four Sisters

The other night we went to the Ravinia Festival for our third concert of the season. Tonight's show? The B52's and the Go-Go's. Nothing like enjoying a little bit of the 80's all over again. After a week of rain off and on, Saturday night was perfect.

Three sisters lined up for the evening

For those in the Chicagoland area, there's nothing like being able to spend a beautiful evening at the Ravinia Festival. They have concerts virtually every night all summer long. And for the really popular concerts it helps to be a donor.  A small contribution and you can enter the park 30 minutes before the gate opens to the general public.

This was one of those concerts. We arrived in time to take advantage of the early donor entrance. This allowed us to set up in close proximity to the pavilion so we could see the the stage screens from our seats. There's nothing like a delicious picnic on a beautiful evening with good food and great wines.

For this night's concert, I chose four sisters to share with my cousin Elizabeth and her husband Dale. These four sisters come from sister wineries, Seghesio, Pine Ridge, Chamisal and Archery Summit.  We started with the Fiano from Seghesio Family Vineyards. All of these wineries are owned by Crimson Wine Group.

Fiano is a wine enjoyed by the ancient Romans who referred to it as Apiano because bees were attracted to it as the harvest approached. The Seghesio family's introduction to this wine came through a blind tasting and they soon became the first grower in Sonoma County to grow this particular grape. With origins in the marine -influenced Italian village of Avellino, Fiano grows very well in the Russian River Valley.

This wine reminds me a little bit of a Pinot Grigio but more complex. It starts with floral aromas and a hint of pear and lime zest. The pear flavors come through very strongly, too. There's a hint of honey that comes through at the end. (Perhaps this is what the bees of ancient Rome were looking for!).

It paired well with our appetizers of several cheeses, a goat cheese, a cheddar and havarti. We also had some olives and some homemade pickles.  We also had some smoked salmon and a few slices of various charcuterie.

Our second bottle of wine was the Estate Rose from Chamisal Vineyards.  This was also a fruit forward wine with strong aromas of strawberry and cream.  Up until last summer's visit to wine country I had never really thought much of Rose wines. I put them in the same category as white zinfandel.

But I was wrong. I've found that the Rose wines make for a great summer wines. With both the Fiano and the Rose being chilled, provided some relief to a warm afternoon.

I found the Rose surprisingly fresh and yet complex. That may be the result of the calcareous, clay-rich soils of Chamisal Vineyards. Having been on the tour on a recent visit to the Vineyard, I can see how the soil could impart unique flavors.  I found the wine to be more than just a smooth drinking wine.  I found the flavors to be very rich . . . reminiscent of the Pinot Noir that forms the base of this wine.

My cousin Elizabeth determined that everything tastes better with Reddi-Whip. That includes not just the fruit and pound cake but also the peanut butter cups.  It's certainly something to keep in mind in the future.

The music began as we just finished this bottle. It was time to open up the Archery Summit Estate Pinot Noir.  From the Dundee Hills region of Oregon's Willamette Valley, this wine really reflects the quality of wines from Oregon.  I recently wrote a post about my recent visit to the winery -- it was the last of the four sisters for me to visit.

Each one of the wineries is producing fabulous estate wines but they're all unique. Each one of the winemakers takes the unique terroir of each vineyard and the grapes to develop really spectacular wines.  The Estate Pinot Noir from Archery Summit is no exception.

This wine opens with aromas of slate. You can really pick up on minerals of the wines.  When you taste the wine you can really pick up on the dark red cherry flavors of this wine along with depth of flavors. The finish of this wine is velvety smooth.

As it turns out it was a great way to finish the evening. Since we still needed to drive home from the concert, I decided not to open the Onyx from Pine Ridge Winery.  This is one of my favorite Bordeaux blends.

As the concert wound down, we ended the evening with a little coffee and pound cake (and of course the Reddi-Whip).  As we were putting away the tables and chairs, the B52's were belting out their hit single Rock Lobster.

Over the years we've developed a pretty good pattern for what we bring to Ravinia. We've seen so many different set-ups that we've created our own picnic package.  Now I'm looking forward to our next concert -- Heart.  A continuation of the 80's theme for this year.

If you haven't tried some of the other wines from these great wineries, I would encourage you to do so

Oregon's Beautiful Wine Country

Over the last month I've been all over the US.  I've been to California (and visited one of my favorite wineries, Chamisal Vineyard) and I've been to Texas a couple of times and I've been to Philadelphia, Atlantic City and New York. As a result, my posting of late has been a bit erratic.

That's something I intend to correct over the coming weeks.  Thank you for keeping up with this blog in the meantime.

In between those trips I had the opportunity to take a trip back in time and head back to Oregon.  I hadn't been back to Eugene since I left in the mid-80s.  In the meantime, the wine industry has taken off and they're producing some of the finest Pinot Noirs in the country.

As many of you know if you've been following this blog, I'm a huge fan of Seghesio Family Vineyards.  I have been from the very first time I tasted their Old Vine Zinfandel back in 1999 and since they were purchased by the Crimson Wine Group a couple of years ago, I've had the privilege of visiting the other sister wineries -- all except one.

I had never visited Archery Summit.

Last summer I visited Pine Ridge Winery for the first time and last fall I had visited Chamisal but I had never really had an opportunity to visit Archery Summit. That is until now.

I have made several trips back to Oregon but never really had the time to explore the wine industry.  I really didn't have a lot of time on this trip either but I allowed for a slight detour on my way down to Eugene for meetings.  The wine industry in Oregon is actually quite strong.  I've really enjoyed some of the wines I've had including those from Owen Roe like their Sharecropper's Pinot Noir and their Sinister Hand and Abbot's Table.

On this trip, however, a trip to Archery Summit was all I could manage.  And I'm glad I did.  Not only is the setting for the winery beautiful, but the wines are absolutely delightful.  After winding our way through the Oregon countryside, we arrived at the winery.

They had anticipated that there would be work done on the stairs leading to the main tasting room so they moved it to an auxiliary area. Although it was April first, the weather couldn't have been more agreeable. A surprise for Oregon this time of year.  (I even needed some sunglasses!)

Archery Summit was founded by Gary and Nancy Andrus (also founders of Pine Ridge Winery).  In fact, one of the clones is called the Archery Summit clone (also can be found at sister vineyard Chamisal). Why?

According to legend, the clone found it's way into the country underneath Gary's overcoat. But after all these years it's a little hard to tell the facts from the fiction I'm sure.

Our tasting covered both their estate wine as well as a number of their single vineyard wines.  I have to say that the more I taste wines, the more I discover how the unique soils, temperatures and rainfall can all change how a wine tastes and the particular characteristics.  Of course the specific clones that are used in making the wine also play a significant role.

At the end of the day, the wines we tasted resulted in the purchase of three bottles to enjoy on the rest of the trip.  On our return, trip after our meetings we had the opportunity to visit a little restaurant on the way to the hotel.

I had found this little place, thanks to a friend in the area, on one of my previous visits to Oregon.  Portland, if you've never been, has a very thriving food scene.  The Woodsman Tavern is no exception -- and they had a corkage fee so we could bring one of our bottles in for dinner.

After feasting on some really great oysters, we settled in for a filet with dungeness crab and potato wedge. Unbelievably delicious.  We did have to end the evening with a little dessert, too.  This is a restaurant you won't want to miss if you're in the area.