WINERY REMINDER: KNOW YOUR TASTING GLASS

This is a winery reminder for Oregon wine country:

If you buy a flight of wine to taste test, keep track of your glass.

A seven-wine flight doesn’t mean seven glasses.

But you probably know this. Since I live within shouting distance from one winery after another, now I know.

The top picture is of a table during a tasting at Hawk’s View Winery.

Enjoy breathtaking views of Mt. Hood and exceptional Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and more at Hawks View Winery. A true hidden gem in the Willamette Valley Wine Country, we’re only 17 miles from downtown Portland. Hawks View is the perfect destination for visitors and locals alike.

And it’s ten minutes away from where I live, as well as my first time at the winery and my first official tasting, so that’s a win-win.

Why The Winery Reminder?

I’ve dodged the wine-tasting effect until now. What’s the effect? A bunch of people pretending to have a great time for pictures to post on social media.

Turns out no one was pretending. I had a wonderful time at Hawk’s View. Looking around, I saw table after table full of people doing the same.

Maybe it was the group I was with, but my one experience at a wine tasting was one for the books, or one for the blog.

Ours was a three generation table ranging from the oldest at sixty-six to the youngest at seven months. Whoever said, “Never take a baby to a winery,” had the wrong baby. This kid was a natural, as organically inclined as the grapes in the field.

I didn’t wait specifically for this group before the event as much as I avoided any group with a ‘wine expert’ to explain why the wine on any table is trash compared to the wines of France and even California.

Winery Reminder: Don’t be that guy.

The Hawks View Winery Effect

Drive up the hill and park the car and step into a time machine of organized efficiency and precision operations.

We made a reservation for the afternoon, but it didn’t show on the books. However, the big group was welcomed just the same. By the time everyone settled at the third table, the welcome was consistent, like they expected rookies to make better decisions table by table.

Maybe we were better informed than I thought? Not me.

While we waited for the rest of the group, someone ordered a bottle of wine. I asked the wine lady for their best glass of wine, their trademark.

It was named Jack.

Named after our founder Jack Kemp, this Pinot Noir is elegant and complex. A delicious blend made from several Hawks View estate blocks and clones, this wine was fermented in open top tanks and aged in French oak barrels for a year. Our Winemaker, Don Crank III, punched it down by hand while jazz played in the background. Does this wine reflect this? You be the judge. 

Let The Judging Begin

Was the wine perfect?

The flight of seven were all winners, not a pucker in the batch.

When anyplace is listed as a ‘hidden gem’ it brings an extra level of scrutiny. I tasted seven out of seven hidden gems. Jack was in the flight, too.

Each wine on the flight schedule had characteristics unique to the region.

Chehalem Mountains is contained within the Willamette Valley AVA. This viticultural area is 19 miles southwest of Portland and 45 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. It is 20 miles in length and 5 miles wide.

Winery Reminder #2

The Chehalem Mountains AVA is a single uplifted landmass southwest of Portland in the northern Willamette Valley, extending 20 miles in length and 5 miles in breadth, stretching from southeast to northwest. It includes several discrete spurs, mountains and ridges, such as Ribbon Ridge and Parrett Mountain.

The highest point within the Willamette Valley is the Chehalem Mountains’ Bald Peak (at 1,633 feet) affecting weather for the AVA and for adjoining grape growing hillsides. It is the geography and climate that differentiate this AVA from others.

All three important hillside soil types are represented: basaltic, ocean sedimentary and loess (blown lake bed sediment), the predominant soil on the northern face of the Chehalem Mountains. Within the almost 70,000 acres of this AVA are over 2,600 acres of grapes, grown in over 179 vineyards, and 53 wineries.

Hawks View Winery A Hidden Gem

Since it’s a hidden gem, Hawks View isn’t listed in the Chehalem Mountains AVA.

Whether a mistake or not, it feels more like a hidden treasure.

Most of the time finding a treasure is a nice memory to look back on. Not this time. I’m looking forward to making more.

Membership Benefits

• Complimentary Tasting Flight for you and a guest per day (limit one per person per day)
• Six additional guests will receive 50% discount on tastings flights (limit one per person per day)
• 20% Discount on Wine, Merchandise and Event Tickets
• 25% Discount on Full Case Purchases
• First access to Newly Released Wines
• Complimentary Tasting for you and a guest per day at our sister winery, Ponte Winery, in Temecula, California

Disclosure: Hawks View is one place to build memories with old friends and new. My wife has friendships that stretch back to second grade who make plans together. They are a guide for how to get along.

And they make it look easy.

Along with my favorite new parents and Baby G, the next time out will include all of them and a caring couple on the verge.

And Karla. Hey Karla. This is the Hawks View Team.

Sign me up.

(Correction: Hawks View Winery is situated in the Laurelwood District, the newest federally approved American Viticultural Area.)