I Admit It. I’m An Oregon Pinotphile!

I admit it. I am an Oregon Pinotphile. I don’t think there is any help for my obssession. As a level 3 Certified Sommelier, I love wines from all over the world, Italy being my favorite. Oregon Pinot Noir is not your everyday supermarket Pinot Noir. I equate Oregon Pinots with getting set up on a blind date. You speak to the person over the phone. You have a general idea of what her personality is before you decide to meet. Then you have your first meeting and something about her, a joke, her perfume, her eyes seduces you to want to see her again. By textbook most Pinot Noirs have a general taste profile of cherry or currants and some cola etc. Oregon Pinots are in a league all by themselves. Just when you think it’s time to move on to another grape variety, you try a new one you haven’t had before and it sucks you back in.

Mo and Flora Momtazi are a Persian Family in Mcminnville Oregon which used to be part of the Willamette Valley A.V.A but is now it’s own A.V.A. They own one of the most prestigious vineyard sites in the area. If you are lucky and a winemaker in Oregon, they will sell you some grapes. Maysara (A Persian word meaning house of wine) is their own estate bottled line of wines. They are Certified Demeter Biodynamic which means they follow a whole guideline of holistic farming. They even add Persian Tea Leaves, Chamomille and Dandelion Greens to their Compost.

I just tasted the “Highly Recommended” 94 point Wine Specatator rated 2009 Maysara Estate Cuvee. I don’t think any wine I have tasted from the Momtazi Vineyards is a better representative of what their method of farming does to their wines. The wine is very persistant from start to finish and has several years of aging ahead of it. All I can say about this wine is that it is a slice of grandma’s cherry pie in liquid form, with hints of baking spices and a chocolate finish. It’s one of those lip smacking Pinots that seduced me in to my addiction once again. Instead of spending my $32.99 on trying something new from Spain or Southern France, I will go to sleep tonight thinking about the alluring perfume of this wine and when we can meet again.