South Carolina Wine Joe

This month, SC Wine Joe presented two classes on "Wines of Oregon" for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Furman University.   We explored why the Willamette Valley has become a world class region for Pinot Noir.  Following the discussion, we tasted four Oregon wines including my favorite, Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir. I first tasted Willamete Valley Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir last August on my tour of the Willamette Valley Vineyards winery.  Our guide, Jose, shared a taste of this wine with us on our tour and we were tremendously impressed.  Later that day, we each had a glass of this wine to accompany lunch and we ordered several bottles to be shipped to our home.  At home, we were pleased to learn that this wine is available at several local stores. Estate Pinot Noir is sourced from three winery owned, sustainable certified vineyards in the Willamette Valley.  Each vineyard has its own unique soil type and micro climate.  The wine is aged

On April 5, 2014, we attended the grand opening of Jolo Vineyards.  It was a beautiful spring North Carolina day and we thoroughly enjoyed the festivities of wine tasting, food samples and music.  The archives of this blog include my review with several pictures.  Sadly, we have not been to Jolo since 2014 because it's location is not in close proximity to the other Yadkin Valley wineries we have visited.  We hope to remedy that problem this year. Jolo Vineyards is in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina.  For those readers not familiar with this part of North Carolina, Pilot Mountain is located between Winston Salem and Mount Airy, the hometown of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for Mayberry.  A fictitious city in the Andy Griffith show was named Mount Pilot.  I am sure that the younger readers of this blog have only a vague idea what I am referring to. Golden Hallows 2016 is a blend of 55% Vidal Blanc and 45% Traminette.  Vidal Blanc is a winter hardy grape developed in the 1930&

Priorat is a small, but significant wine region in northeast Spain, south of Barcelona.  It is a warm and dry rugged mountainous region with Mediterranean sunshine.  Wine making dates back to 1163 and was controlled by monks until land distribution occurred in 1835.  In the 1800's the vines were destroyed by phylloxera and modern wine making did not fully resume until 1989.  The dominant red grapes are Granacha and Carignon which are often blended with lesser amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Predicat 2014 is a blend of Garnatxa Negra, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, aged 10 months in French oak.  The wine has 14.5% alcohol. In the glass, Predicat  has an aroma of plum and wet forest.  The medium bodied wine has flavors of plum, black cherry and blueberry with some minerality.  I thought that the initial sips outperformed  the finish which was a little tart and weak.  All in all this was a nice change of pace from the Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon th

I have had this bottle in the wine refrigerator for a month.  I had a cold, which impacted my ability to properly taste wine (it did not limit my ability to drink wine but the alcohol never killed any germs like I hoped would happen).   I am on the road to recovery and can now taste wine again.  Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley 2016 was an excellent choice for the occasion. Knights Valley is in northern Sonoma County bordering the Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley and northern Napa Valley.  It is one of the warmest areas in Sonoma County and 2/3 of the grapes grown there are Cabernet Sauvignon.  Berringer is one of the largest vineyard owners in Knights Valley. This is a full bodied, dark fruit wine.  I noted flavors of black cherry, blackberry, mocha and spice with a bit of plum.  The flavor evolves as the wine goes from the initial sip to the back of the mouth.  You do not notice tannins or oak until after you swallow and that sensation is