Column: May is Oregon Wine Month

May is Oregon Wine Month, which means it is your patriotic duty to drink wine made from grapes grown and vinified here in the state south of Washington and north of California. Zach Wahl, at the Nye Beach Wine Cellar, can put some of the top Oregon labels in your hands. You can also swing by Grocery Outlet where Eric Vaughn has a decent Oregon 2020 vintage Pinot noir for a very decent price: $8.99. It is called Precarious.

When I searched the internet to learn how it came by this ominous name, I came up empty. The back label on the bottle tells us that it is Oregon Pinot noir “cellared and bottled by our cellars, Richland, Washington.” A further note adds, “Oregon’s precarious, cooler climate is ideal for Pinot Noir, an elegant grape that prefers a bit of struggle.”

Some wineries purchase grapes from other sources and make wine under their label. Or they will purchase finished wine and label it as theirs. So, all we know is that this Pinot was produced in Oregon and bottled in Washington. The internet tells us that there are four or five vintages that online sellers have priced at about $20 to $25. This medium-bodied red delivers berry fruit flavors — blackberry, strawberry — and is certainly worth $8.99 at Grocery Outlet.

I remind you that Memorial Day Weekend (May 25-27) is traditionally one of the two weekends (the other is Thanksgiving weekend) when most Oregon wineries stage open houses featuring food, music, art exhibits and special pricing on wines. I can’t think of many things nicer than a visit on a sunny spring day to a lovely Oregon vineyard, strolling through the undulating symmetry of the hillside vine rows, enjoying beautiful pastoral vistas and then tasting recent vintages while speculating on what wines will come from the budding grape clusters you’ve just seen up close.

Pick up a free copy of Oregon Wine Press magazine at the Newport Chamber of Commerce, Grocery Outlet or Nye Beach Wine Cellar and let the articles and maps guide you in planning an itinerary of at least three or four of this state’s spectacular wine estates.

Continuing on the theme of the beauty and romance of spending time in a vineyard, I am reminded of how appropriate these locations are for weddings. Many wineries even have a staff person who helps plan the details with bride and groom. Christina and I attended a friend’s wedding in a vineyard some years ago down in California and then got invited back years later for an anniversary celebration. Of course, Oregon has no shortage of excellent wedding venues, but I just learned of a wedding that took place in a beautiful vineyard that we visited in New Zealand back in 2005.

Craggy Range Winery is in Hawkes Bay on the North Island of New Zealand, and we hiked to the top of one of those crags to enjoy a magnificent view of row upon row of the vines responsible for the world-famous Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc Martinborough Te Muno. And whose wedding took place in January of this year in that vineyard? The bride was Jacinda Ardern, who six years earlier had become New Zealand’s youngest Prime Minister at 37. She and her groom, TV host Clarke Gayford, had postponed the wedding due to her observing her own nationwide COVID restrictions on large gatherings. I intend to get a bottle of the above-mentioned Sauvignon Blanc (only about $25 a bottle) to toast both memorable newlyweds and that vineyard we remember fondly!

Cheers!

Joseph Swafford, jcswaff56@gmail.com