It's Fall in Oregon???

Well, it sure seems like fall anyway. Here is a shot I took on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007 at Bethel Heights Winery outside of Salem, OR. They have a beautiful location and some great wines. They are one of that areas first wineries and one of the earlier wineries in the Willamette Valley.
It's been a bit of a cool summer. The grapes are looking fairly good overall, but we just need a couple weeks of solid, warm, intense sun to finish these babies off. Quantities are good too so this has the potential to be a very good year. Tours have been very busy and we are taking out a lot of very interesting and enjoyable people. I've taken people out this summer from all over the country and world. I think people are really catching on and finding out about our wines here. They are good. We went to the Salem area again today and visited some excellent wineries. One in particular, Firesteed, is really a great stop every time. Michael, the tasting room manger there is honestly one of the best, most well informed tasting room staff anywhere here in the valley. If you ever stop in to Firesteed Winery, you will see what I mean. People just like Michael are exactly why I became so pationate about wine. He really makes the experience a good one. It is still a joy to go to a tasting room at almost all of the wineries here. You find very well informed staff, very excited to talk to you about wine and where to eat, the next winery to go to or which wine would be best to buy to enjoy with their lunch out on the patio.
I am a very lucky person to do what I do here in Oregon. We really do have a lot of very excellent people here who really love wine and sharing it with others.

Cheers!

Ron

Wine Facts

I'm often asked how many clusters of grapes make a bottle of wine or things like that. My answer is usually "I don't know"... I hate saying that, but I don't know everything and I don't want to lie to you either. So I decided that I would put that information out on the blog along with the link to web site that I found all of the information on. This is a lot of fun stuff so I hope you enjoy it.
There are about 400 species of oak, though only about 20 are used in making oak barrels. Of the trees that are used, only 5% is suitable for making high grade wine barrels. The average age of a French oak tree harvested for use in wine barrels is 170 years!
As of this year (Sept. 2007) the average cost of a French Oak wine Barrel is $900 each! The price can go a little lower and a bit higher, but that's a good average.
The figures below are adjusted for Oregon Pinot Noir so to reflect this area. Also remember these are averages...

2 grape cluster = 1 glass
80 grapes = 1 cluster
6 clusters = 1 bottle
40 clusters = 1 vine
1 vine = 10 bottles
1200 clusters = 1 barrel
1 barrel = 60 gallons
60 gallons = 25 cases
30 vines = 1 barrel
400 vines = 1 acre
1 acre = 2 tons
2 tons = 132 cases

Another question I'm frequently asked is what the different sized wine bottles are called. I know the first couple, but you would be surprised how big they can get.
How big can a wine bottle get?
Capacity (Liters) followed by the number of standard size bottles contained:
Standard (.75) 1
Magnum (1.5) 2
Jeroboam (3) 4
Rehoboam (4.5) 6
Methuselah (6) 8
Salmanazar (9) 12
Balthazar (12) 16
Nebuchadnezzar (15) 20
Tell me... How does Nebuchadnezzar rate anyway?

Some more interesting stuff.

What is the ideal temperature for wine?
Whites: chilled (45-55 degrees F) for a few hours in the refrigerator.
Reds: slightly cooler than room temperature (about 65 degrees)
Sparkling Wine: thoroughly chilled; refrigerate several hours or the night before serving.
Dessert Wine: room temperature. (I prefer it ice cold myself).

Chilling tones down the sweetness of wine. If a red wine becomes too warm, it may lose some of its fruity flavor. Just don't put an ice cube in your red wine. OK?

Well there is some interesting facts for you. Hope you enjoyed it. Now go open a nice glass of Pinot and enjoy!

Cheers!