Food and Wine Pairing

With the Holidays just a few days away, I thought I would try to help some of you who are not sure what wine to serve with dinner. If you click on the title of the blog, you will be linked to a great resource to help with those questions you have. Don't think that I have all of the answers. Between my wife and I, we usually are able to serve the right wine with the course. Last week we had a dinner for our drivers and served four wines for dinner. We started with a Gypsy Dancer Pinot Gris to get things going when the guests arrived. Starting with a nice white wine is easy on the palatte and works nicely with the appetizers. We had a steak and salmon for dinner so we had a medium to heavy bodied Pinot Noir. We could have gone a couple of directions there, but we chose a Pinot from Panther Creek. For dessert, we chose Deglace which is a dessert wine from Adelsheim. I'm not sure if I spelled the wine correctly, but you'll get the idea.
Don't get all worried about what wine to serve with what course. I'm sure that everyone who reads this will be thinking, I would have served... Great! Sure, some wines work better than others, but the point is to enjoy the wine and food together with friends. Dont let it get all overblown into a big stressfull mess. Just eat, drink and be merry! Check out that link and learn a little and have a wonderful holiday season.

Harvest 2006

If you have not heard yet, 2006 is looking like a great year for wine. Wineries got perfect weather for the entire year. Yields were way up from the previous three years in Oregon. Quality overall is excellent. Some great wines will begin to be released later next year. I've talked with many winemakers in the area and the general response is the quality is very good and the overall harvest is a great one.
It will be nice to not be running out of Pinot around here for a change. Many wineries were closed over Thanksgiving weekend due to low amounts or no wine available.
If you find a wine you really like, I highly suggest you buy as much as you can afford and safely store. If you are like me, you will find a really good wine and then go back to buy more and find yourself not able to get any and then you are seriously bummed out! Wine is meant to be enjoyed, not just coveted too. Enjoy it, but when it's that good, enjoy more of it! Boy that makes me sound like a real lush! Hmmmm?

Gift Certificates / Holiday Wine Tours

With the holidays coming, now is a great time to think about giving wine tours as presents. I offer colorful gift certificates that you can give in any amount. You can customize them just like you can my tours. I can add lunches, tasting fees (over and above), special tours with stops at antique malls, Evergreen Aviation Museum, etc..
Also, in time for Christmas are tours focusing on great wine values for holiday meals or as presents. We also plan on stopping at Sleighbells in Sherwood with great holiday cheer and also at some of the wineries with great gift selections. We are going out every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Wine Tours are great thing to do with family members from out of town and a nice break from all of the Christmas malls and hectic pace of the holidays. Slow down for a day and enjoy some great wine and relax as we travel the backroads of wine country.

Call us at 503-681-9463 or at ron@orwinetours.com

Merry Christmas!