Art Chowder September | October Issue No. 29 | Page 43

In Washington, Long Shadows’ Poet’s
Leap Riesling, inspired by Germany’s
Armin Diel, has made a slight course
correction and the current vintage steers
away from the austerity of absolutely dry,
petrol-driven, Riesling. The result is a
wine with a touch of sweetness, enough to
highlight the citrus and apple orchard fruit
and floral characters – barely enough to be
noticed while it stands up to apple-braised
pork loins and zingy, fresh cranberry sauce.
In Oregon, King Estate’s Sauvignon Blanc
may need no introduction from this largest
of Oregonian wineries but Sauvignon Blanc
here gets overlooked (and underpriced)
in the vicinages of American Burgundy.
No sweetness here, nor the pet grapefruit
impressions, yet vivid lemongrass, snap
pea and (hints at) white pepper unfold in a
light style meant to evoke flavor from fresh
chevre (Art Chowder, Sept/Oct 2019) as
easily as from the season’s first oysters.
As long as we’re in Oregon, one of the
best discoveries of the year is the current
release of ROCO Pinot Noir Gravel Road,
built for crowd-pleasing in an era in which
crowds are rare. This wine also hits a
rare balance in Oregon with approachable
fruit impressions of plum and dark cherry
without the higher cranberry-style acidities
for which Oregon is well-known. This is a
welcome “bridge” wine for Thanksgiving
tables too.
Washington boasts many food-friendly red
wines and Palencia’s Grenache hits the
mark for some of the heavy-hitter foods like
fire-roasted vegetables or spicy marinaras
and butternut squash soups of every base.
Tipping 15 percent on the alcohol scale, this
wine’s supple texture and lack of woody
tannins make it a brilliant platform for
the smoky black raspberry notes and dark
mocha impressions.
No matter these or other moderate,
balanced wines, enjoy the seasons of taste
and your developing taste in wine, art,
music and life.
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