‘Excuse moi, Monsieur Chalet,” I said to the rotund, red-faced winemaker at the head of the table in his tasting room in the heart of France’s Burgundy wine region.
The room got very quiet. The American was attempting to speak their language. All of Burgundy was in shock. A dozen Frenchmen stared at me in disbelief.
“Aime vous les vins du California?” (Do you like California wine?), I asked sheepishly.
The white-haired vintner glared at me and shot back a rapid volley of French that froze up the translating neuro-connectors in my brain. Everyone burst out laughing, slapping their knees as they took another gulp of his red wine.
Yves Chalet’s son-in-law, who sat next to me to translate, said very seriously, “He does not like the wines of California.”
Then, Yves looked at me, smiled a bit, and added in French “But I like the wines of Oregon. They are good; not as good as our pinot noir, but passable.” The others around the big wooden table raised their glasses and saluted “Les vins du Oregon.”
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I quickly told them that Oregon is not far from where I live. Yves passed around another bottle of his outstanding wine – pinot noir – the blood of Burgundy. A dozen bottles of his 2000 Hautes Cotes de Nuits Bourgone Pinot Noir wine were emptied that evening.
Back in the USA just three days later, I was on a quest to sample some Oregon pinot noir. After two weeks of one great bottle of French wine after another, I had to find an Oregon pinot noir that matched the outstanding taste of what I drank in Burgundy.
After much research, I did find great Oregon pinot noir.
What is the connection between these wines, grown and produced some 5,000 miles apart?
Burgundy, in central France, is ancient turf. People are living, and vines are growing, in valleys formed during the Ice Age. In the vineyards are fossil shells left by prehistoric seas. There are more than 9,000 vineyards in Burgundy, most of them family owned. Burgundy represents barely 10 percent of all the land area used in France to grow grapes. Yet, 300 million bottles of wine come from this tiny region every year.
Red Burgundy wine is produced solely from pinot noir grapes. These same grapes grow extremely well in Oregon. French Burgundy is considered some of the best wine in the world; the result of 1,500 years of human effort. It is a light, fruity, silky wine, with a subtle floral aroma.
Today, however, some of the best pinot noir wine is made in Oregon’s 100-mile-long Willamette River Valley, stretching from Portland to Eugene. Pinot noir is the soul of this lush, emerald valley. The Coast Range keeps out the worst of the rain and cold temperatures coming off the Pacific Ocean. The town of McMinnville in the heart of the valley and the famous wine city of Beaune in Burgundy have almost identical climates, sunlight and rainfall. The cool climates in both regions provide the best conditions to ripen pinot noir grapes.
In 1967, a young couple, David and Diana Lett, planted the first pinot noir grapes in Oregon. Today, every July, the Willamette Valley hosts one of the most prestigious wine festivals in the world – the International Pinot Noir Celebration. There are even French wineries in Oregon now, such as Domaine Droughin. New French pinot noir clones have been planted there. The flavors of France are now forever connected to the wines of Oregon.
Michael “Gino” Gianunzio is a local lawyer, wine maker and artist who lives on Camano Island. He can be reached at theislanditalian@yahoo.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
