Vintner's Dinner at McMenamins St. Francis

Join us on Saturday April 19 at 7 pm at McMenamins St. Francis for a four course wine dinner. Cost is $50 per person. Call 541-382-5174 for reservations. Here is the fabulous menu:

Hazelnut-crusted Rogue Creamery blue cheese with rosemary shortbread and champagne grapes
Volcano Vineyards 2005 Viognier

Mixed greens with Manchego cheese, spiced marcona almonds and Spanish olive vinaigrette Volcano Vineyards 2005 Syrah

Smoked buffalo tenderloin with truffle butter, roasted fingerling potatoes and sugar snap peas Volcano Vineyards 2005 Merlot

Chocolate lava cake with cherry-Syrah reduction
Volcano Vineyards Lava Red Blend

Valentine's Day Wine Dinner at Balay

Still have not made plans for Valentine’s Day? You are in luck! We are teaming up with Balay Coffee House (next to The Pine Tavern) to present a five course wine dinner featuring our Volcano Vineyards wines. Cost is $100 per couple. Space is limited, so reserve your spot today by calling 323-6417

FIRST COURSE
Wild Mushroom Tart
Riondo Pink Prosecco

SECOND COURSE
Endive, Apple, Blue Cheese and Hickory Salad
Volcano Vineyards 2005 Viognier

THIRD COURSE
Beef Provencal
Volcano Vineyards 2005 Merlot, Rogue Valley

FOURTH COURSE
Tumalo Farms Cheeses
Volcano Vineyards 2005 Syrah, Rogue Valley

FIFTH COURSE
Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake with Creme Anglaise
Harris Bridge Pinot Noir Dessert Wine

Hope to see you there!

...Once Were Waiters

Since many of you are just learning of Volcano Vineyards, this is who we are:

Scott and I were both introduced to the wine industry at young ages. While I wish we could say that we learned to walk in granddad’s vineyards or jammed Uncle Harry’s bottling line with a Barbie Doll, the fact is our initial exposure was on the consumer side. Scott’s folks were big foodies and started visiting Napa Valley in the late 60s, became members of the Chaine des Rotisseurs, and have amassed an enormous wine cellar. My dad was hit with the wine bug in the early 80s, falling in love with Chateauneuf du Pape. The day we discussed French wines in my high school French class, I was the only person who said anything – Monsieur Beckman was so excited because I NEVER said anything in that class ever and suddenly I was “Cotes du Rhone-ing” all over the place.

Scott and I met when we were both waiters in San Francisco. San Francisco waiters are professionals who love food, love restaurants and love wine (and in the best restaurants, that will always be the case). As a waiter in a four or five star restaurant (such as McCormick & Kuleto’s or The Sherman House), the more you know about the food you are serving and the wine on your list that perfectly complements it, the better the experience your guests will have (and presumably, the better your tip). Restaurants spend an enormous amount of time and money training their wait staffs on wine, wineries, the nuances of food pairing. We were 70 minutes from Sonoma and Napa and spent almost every weekend up there, first visiting wineries, then spending time at Gallaway Vineyards in Healdsburg - the vineyard that Scott helped plant - which belonged to family friends. Once those vines matured, we started home winemaking, using Gallaway Vineyards grapes that were left on the vines after harvest. In the late ‘90s we both got lured into desk jobs, which was a nice break. But we both missed the buzz from the restaurant biz, we missed the people who are drawn to working in food and wine, and we missed the daily exposure to (and the consumption of) all that great food and wine!

In the fall of 2001 we moved from San Francisco to Bend, Oregon. And again, while I wish we could say that we were cashing out stock options or that we had sold our cracker box house for a million dollars, that wasn’t the case. We were renters in San Francisco, and when the house up the street from us in the Inner Sunset sold for $650,000 and the new owners proceeded to knock it down and build a new house, we knew it was time to go. We figured out very quickly that Bend is an entrepreneurial town, thriving thanks to small businesses. After a few months we went back to the Bay Area for a wedding. While there, Scott sent off an email to Randall Grahm, (founder of Bonny Doon Vineyards and the "Original Rhone DeRanger") stating that he was a local boy thinking about going “pro” with his home winemaking and would Mr. Grahm have any advice. About 20 minutes later the phone rang in Scott’s parents’ house (where we were staying) and it was Randall Grahm himself who said he had just had surgery, was bored out of his skull and would we like to come to his house to talk wine. When we arrived, he said to us, “If I were in your position, this is what I would do…” And by the end of that meeting, Scott had thrown his heart off the cliff, and there was no turning back. Volcano Vineyards was born.

Wrap Up of the 2008 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition for Volcano Vineyards

In case you missed it, we were awarded two Gold Medals at the 2008 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The Gold Medal winners were the Volcano Vineyards 2006 Syrah and their Volcano Vineyards Lava Red Blend both from the Rogue Valley AVA in Southern Oregon. Both wines are set to be released later in 2008.

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is the world’s largest judging of wines produced in the US. This year, a record 4235 wines from 1500 wineries were tasted.

Wineries from Oregon fared better in the 2008 competition, winning a total of 8 Gold Medals, compared with only 3 in 2007. Volcano Vineyards is the only Oregon winery to have won Gold in both of the last two years, with our Volcano Vineyards 2004 Syrah winning Gold in 2007.

We submitted three other wines for judging, with all three winning Silver Medals. Those wines were our Volcano Vineyards 2005 Syrah, Lakeside Vineyard, the 2005 Merlot and the 2006 Merlot, Fortmiller Vineyard. All of our award winning wines were grown and produced in the Rogue Valley, Southern Oregon.

For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, Scott will be pouring our wines at the San Francisco Public Tasting on Saturday February 16 at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion from 2 to 5 pm. All wineries who won Gold Medals or better will be there. Tickets are $50 in advance, $70 at the door. Check out winejudging.com for more info.

Review on Volcano Vineyards 2005 Syrah - Lakeside Vineyard, Rogue Valley

The Tasting Lounge will be open Sunday, January 20 and Monday, January 21 from 11:30-5.

Our Volcano Vineyards 2005 Syrah, Lakeside Vineyard, won a Silver Medal at the 2008 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. And, we just got the review back from Northwest Palate (January/February 2008):

"Floral notes of lavender and rose are pretty and perfumed on the nose, while sweet and equally pretty flavors of plum and cassis fill the mouth. Light oak spice and a sense of dried potpourri infuse the full and soft fruit center of this wine, while lightly brisk acidity lends a lively tone. The tannins are plump and sweet, and the finish is fresh and long. A great wine for garlic-studded leg of lamb."

Sounds yummy, no? You can order directly from our website, and right now there is a glitch that makes your shipping costs very inexpensive: http://www.volcanovineyards.com/store/index.php

More Dirt on Soil... part 2

From a nutritional perspective, grapes are less demanding than most crops, and most challenges can be handles through various vineyard management tools, like cover crops, tilling schedules, etc. But there are some basic features one would want when deciding where to plant grapes. (See Wine Science by Ron S. Jackson for more detailed information).

Stressing the vines – fact of fiction? Lower soil fertility is actually a good thing for grape vines, as it forces the energy of the pant to focus on development of the fruit. An added bonus is that many low-nutrient soils are porous – a good thing for many reasons. Porous soil allows the roots to extend deeper. Vines then become less susceptible to drought conditions, since they can source their moisture and nutrients from below the ground. The happy result is more consistency is grape quality fro year to year.

Drainage is also an important factor, assisting the area around to vine to warm more quickly, protecting against cooler temperatures, including frost. Good drainage has also been tied to earlier spring growth.

So, soil type has a more indirect influence on resultant grape quality – still important, but not the dominant factor.

Specific soil types later this week… stay tuned!

Stress Case? Relax!

Well, we blew threw eight cases of Relax Riesling this week. I guess the price was right! And now it is gone, but fear not – it you want more, we will gladly order it for you, by the case, at $8 per bottle (as long as the distributor keeps the price the same).

Members of The Order of the Volcano should remember that we will always order wines we do not normally carry for you by the case from the distributors and only charge 10% over cost. AND we will deliver to you in Central Oregon. That’s quite a deal, with some great service on top of it!

But back to the Relax issue. We are no longer going to stock it since it doesn’t really fit with what we are doing in the Tasting Lounge. When we first opened, just over a year ago, we only had two wines released – our Merlot and our Syrah. So we carry wines from other small producers to round out our offerings. We now have four wines, and are finding that most folks who have come in this summer are pretty much only interested on our wines.

We will continue to carry other unique and boutique wines from artisan wineries – these will generally be wines no one else carries, since we buy directly from the producers who are usually friends of ours. Relax is a German wine from a HUGE producer. Ordering a few cases is no big deal, and we are happy to do it. All you have to do is ask!

Coming Attractions

Thanks to everyone who popped by the Tasting Lounge to try the 2005s and the finalists from Scott’s 2005 Lava Red Blend trials. We appreciate the feedback!

For the blend, votes were evenly split for the most part, although a slight edge went to the 75% merlot 25% syrah version, which is the one Scott ultimately decided to go with. The 2005 Lava Red Blend will be lighter on the oak than the 2004, each wine having spent only 16 months in 25% new French oak. I know you oak lovers will be disappointed, but we’re sure you’ll appreciate the true fruit you can taste when there is no oak in your way. Yum!

And, although we are sold out of the 2004 Merlot, we are probably going to hold off on releasing the 2005s until Wine by the River which is happening the first weekend in October this year, I believe. We were hoping the 2005 Merlot would be magically ready to go once the 2004 was gone, but it needs a few more months in the bottle to add a bit of refinement. Wines are like little kids – they change drastically during those first three years, then the development levels off a bit – we are going to hold the wines until their evolution has slowed down. In the meantime, for you die-hard Merlot lovers, we now have Zerba Cellars’ Merlot in the Tasting Room.

Oh, Those Tasting Fees

We had a woman in the Tasting Room who angrily threw three dollars at us, enraged that she had to pay to sample our wine. As she stomped out before getting the explanation, I thought maybe this would help clarify things:

#1: The history of complimentary tastes. Wineries initially used complimentary tastes to draw people out to their winery sites – generally miles and miles outside of cities, meaning folks had the winery as their primary destination – guests were “pre-screened,” as it were. The majority of wine regions that don’t need the allure of free wine to attract customers now charge tasting fees. Again, this is a way to ferret out folks with genuine interest in wine from folks looking for a free buzz. So, the first reason we charge for tastings is this: we are not out in a remote winery location. Our Tasting Room is in Downtown Bend.

#2: We are located in Downtown Bend. Our Tasting Room is surrounded by bars and restaurants. In fact, there is a bar right next door. If you had your business right next to a bar, would you give away any alcohol product for free? We get a lot of walk-by traffic, people who notice our signs and mosey on in to see what’s up. And like it or not, folks, most of the industry is heading towards tasting fees.

#3: The OLCC. Our Tasting Room is kid friendly – we welcome families with kids, have toys and chairs for kids, and advertise that fact. The OLCC (Oregon Liquor Control Commission) asks that in return we have certain controls in place to ensure minors are not served alcohol, and one of their requests was “no free tastes.” Do I even need to continue?

#4: We credit back the tasting fee towards the purchase of that bottle of wine. Seems more than fair to us – many wineries won’t even do that, reasoning that the taste is a product (and it is) and you paid to purchase that product.

#5: We almost ALWAYS have additional wines open that we will include in a flight at no extra charge. Unless a visitor is being a butthead, in which case they get nothing. Haha!

#6: We are not a multi-national corporation that can afford to spend millions of dollars promoting their product. The winery is me and Scott. We are very, very small. We didn’t have any money when we started and now we have even less. If someone wants cookie cutter, economies-of-scale, corporate Mega-Mart wine, then we are probably not for them anyway.

#7: Our Tasting Room is a bargain. In contrast to the Mega-Mart wines, the wines we pour in addition to ours are also premium and ultra-premium wines. See similar wines on a restaurant wine list and the glass price will hover close to $20. We are offering folks the opportunity to sample $25, $30 and even some $50 wines for only a few dollars.

#8: Tastes add up. If you are enjoying a full flight – even our shortest flight - you will end up consuming almost the equivalent of a full glass of wine.

Volcano Vineyards Vintage Updates

Vintage 2005: The 2005s are in the bottle, we’re just waiting on final label approval from the Feds. Both merlot and syrah are tasting great. The merlot is another triumph from Aguila Vineyard in Talent, although for 2005 Scott decided to blend in about 8% cabernet franc. Right now that change is most evident in the nose, which has a distinct hint of cassis, blackberry and violet.

As many of you know, the Aguila Vineyard syrah never fully ripened in 2005. While our original plan was to have two distinct syrah styles for vintage 2005, we’ll only have the Lakeside Vineyard Syrah. Those grapes are a Hermitage Clone, and the site is much more vigorous than Aguila. Right now it is much bigger than the 2004, less earthy, distinct raspberry on the nose, bold fruit throughout and starting to show the classic syrah white pepper on the finish.

Release dates will probably be late summer. After two years of no increase, prices are going up for vintage 2005 – but you can pre-order Vintage 2005 wine now at Vintage 2004 prices. Use our secure on-line store, pop into the Tasting Room or call us toll free at 866.844.9487.

Volcano Vineyards website: http://www.volcanovineyards.com/

Vintage 2006: It’s racking and blending time. Racking is a siphoning process that removes the sediment which accumulates during barrel aging. It is also the perfect time to consider any blending. This last week Scott was in Medford doing blending trials and he decided to keep the Ft. Miller syrah as a single vineyards designated wine, while the Serenade Vineyard and Lakeside Vineyard syrahs will be blended together. Serenade Vineyard is similar to Aguila in that it sits at an elevation (2100 feet), but the vines face west, get sun all day and are treated to a cool breeze that keeps the temperatures from getting too hot. So, the grapes have good acidity but slightly higher sugars than the Aguila grapes. This syrah will be complex with characteristics of both warm weather syrahs and cool weather syrahs. The syrah grapes from all three vineyards were co-fermented with viognier. I’m not going to torture you with the viognier speech again, but if you need a refresher, you can find it in the archives of our blog.

The producers of Rogue Valley wines get together every year for a blind tastings of their barrel samples. This year, our 2006 merlot and syrahs were at the top of the heap. We are predicting the 2006 wines to be our breakout vintage.

The “Virtual” Winery vs The “Micro” Winery

Bend’s newest glossy mag has just published its first issue and we have a nice mention in it. They spelled our last name incorrectly and referred to us as a “virtual” winery, but you know what they say: All publicity is good publicity. So, we appreciate the nod.

But I do want to clear up this “virtual” vs “micro” winery topic. As both business models become more common throughout the wine industry, the distinction is becoming more defined and apparent.

The VIRTUAL Winery: Can be operated by someone living thousands of miles from the production site. They write the checks to a production facility which then handles the entire process – from sourcing grapes through the finished wine in the bottle. The owner can sometimes watch the progress of their wine via the web, and they can even visit on-site and participate in their wine production. Day to day involvement is absolutely unnecessary. In fact, any involvement beyond sending money is unnecessary. The Virtual Winery owner can be as involved or as detached as he or she wants to be.

The MICRO Winery: Run in basically the same way as a 100,000 case per year winery, except production facilities are contracted rather than owned. Producers may grow their own grapes, or source their own. We spent years finding and securing long term contracts with the best growers. Producers of Micro-Wineries have all the final wine-making decisions – yeasts, barrel program composition, blending, bottling issues – the whole shebang. Consultants may be used – just like the giant multi-national producers. But the responsibility for the full-cycle – from grape to wine in the bottle – rests solely with the producer.

You may have read recently that there is only one winery in Central Oregon. That is not true. There is one commercial wine production facility. Volcano Vineyards® is a licensed Oregon winery and the address on our license reads “Bend, Oregon.”

Sometimes it seems as though we are being penalized for not having the millions of dollars it takes to open our own winery facility. Well, we’re working on it. In the meantime, with debt up to our eyeballs, we have focused on the grapes that are producing wines that are winning awards across the U.S. including a gold medal for our 2004 syrah from the largest domestic wine competition in the country (the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition). So, have patience with us. We will have our very own production facility some day. And we seem to be off to a good start. But doing the production facility the right way – to allow us to produce wines of superior quality - will take time and funding. If we decided to do a commercial wine production facility on the cheap, we could have chosen to simply buy bulk wine, get it to Bend on a tanker truck, blend, then bottle it – a perfectly legitimate business model, but not the path we’ve taken.

I hope this clears things up and gives everyone a better idea of what we are doing.