| A Visit From Ken Wright From Ken Wright Cellars - Oregon |
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The Dallas Secret Wine Society was paid a visit on Mother's Day from
one of the best known producers of fine Pinot Noir wines from Oregon,
Ken Wright of Ken Wright Cellars. This had to be one of the most
rewarding experiences we have ever had as a wine club. Ken generously
donated his time, his knowledge and of course, six of his incredible
vineyard designated Pinot Noir wines. Each and everyone, were incredible
wines and well worth the search. I will tell you the best way to get a hold of
them a bit later.
Before I go on any further, I need to thank the following people. First and
foremost, Ken and his brother Greg for sharing their time and their stories
with us! Thank you! I would also like to thank Dandridge for helping me
finish up in the kitchen as well as helping me facilitate the tasting. He
helped me escape almost certain disaster with efficiency! I would also like
to give thanks to Shawn who so unselfishly volunteered to take the
photographs of the event, and unfortunately was left out of our group
photo! And last, but certainly not least, each and everyone of you that
came out on Mother's Day and participated in this unbelievable event!
We are not foolish enough to believe that we could have incredible events
like this without the great group of people we have in our wine club that
come to our events. Thank you to all!
I'll give you a little background as to how this event came to fruition. I
have been volunteering for the American Heart Association's "Cotes du
Coeur", Live and Silent Wine Auction for the past four years. Ken has
been donating his wines and time to the event for the past several years
and he has family in the DFW area that he visits and stays with during the
week that this event is held every year. The first year I volunteered at
this event, I made it a point to introduce myself to Ken and found him
extremely friendly and approachable. The second year, I planted the seed
with him by telling him about our wine club and how great it would be to
host a tasting with him. The third year (2005), we decided to plan the
event for real this time and we decided that since he was in town for this
year's (2006) Cotes du Coeur anyway, my fourth year volunteering, that
we would just have the tasting that weekend, which unfortunately meant
that it had to happen on Mother's Day. Lucky for me, my Mother was
invited and came!
The tasting consisted of six different Ken Wright Cellars Pinot Noir wines,
all from the 2002 vintage. The wines were served in three flights of two,
with one wine from each flight coming from volcanic soils and one coming
from marine sediment soils. The first flight was kicked off with the Shea
Vineyard Pinot Noir (marine sediment) and the Nysa Vineyard Pinot Noir
(volcanic). Although the Shea was lighter in color than the darker Nysa, it
seemed to be more complex on the nose and more tannic. The Nysa was
more of a bright fruit driven style. The second flight featured the
Meredith Mitchell Vineyard Pinot Noir (MS) and the McCrone Vineyard
Pinot Noir (V). This was my personal favorite flight with a slight
preference going to the Meredith Mitchell. These two wines were heavier
in body then the wines from the first flight. The last flight contained the
biggest two wines in the tasting with the Freedom Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir
(MS) and the Carter Vineyard Pinot Noir (V). Again, both were stunning
and showed plenty of darker fruit flavors.
Even more amazing than the wines, if you can believe it, was Ken's
knowledge of the soils in which they came from. We're not just talking
about a decade or two of knowledge either. He took us all the way back
200 million years ago and showed us on the easel how the mountain ranges
across California, Oregon and Washington State were formed and the soils
formed as a result of volcanic activity and a receding ocean. Ken says that
the force of the plate activity below the earth is causing the ground to
move up and that the coastline will push another several hundred yards
further into the ocean. For those of you wann-a-be real estate moguls, you
better go snag some ocean front property that is currently under the water
right now. The only problem is that you have to wait about 150 million
years before you'd be able to build anything on it.
While listening to Ken talk, you begin to understand that he gives all the
credit to folks tending to the vines and grapes as well as the location and
condition of the soils, taking absolutely none of the credit himself for the
fantastic wines in the bottle. His stance is that anybody can make wine
from grapes, but it takes great fruit to make great wines. Makes sense to
me. Ken was the first person to pioneer the practice of buying wine grapes
by the acre and not by the ton. By doing it this way, instead of the other
way around, he is able to dictate more control over how the grapes are
grown and harvested. Again, another great way to ensure quality over
quantity. He has also been at the forefront of the push for designated
American Viticultural Areas (AVA's) within the Willamette Valley in
Oregon. Because as you will come to know by tasting his wines, Oregon
wines from different soils and regions have distinctly different tastes and
characteristics.
Ken is extremely interesting to listen to and everyone found his knowledge
fascinating. More importantly than that, he is extremely personable and
quite an amazing human being. I am so thankful he decided to share his
time and wines with us. Maybe in the future we will be able to do this
again.
one of the best known producers of fine Pinot Noir wines from Oregon,
Ken Wright of Ken Wright Cellars. This had to be one of the most
rewarding experiences we have ever had as a wine club. Ken generously
donated his time, his knowledge and of course, six of his incredible
vineyard designated Pinot Noir wines. Each and everyone, were incredible
wines and well worth the search. I will tell you the best way to get a hold of
them a bit later.
Before I go on any further, I need to thank the following people. First and
foremost, Ken and his brother Greg for sharing their time and their stories
with us! Thank you! I would also like to thank Dandridge for helping me
finish up in the kitchen as well as helping me facilitate the tasting. He
helped me escape almost certain disaster with efficiency! I would also like
to give thanks to Shawn who so unselfishly volunteered to take the
photographs of the event, and unfortunately was left out of our group
photo! And last, but certainly not least, each and everyone of you that
came out on Mother's Day and participated in this unbelievable event!
We are not foolish enough to believe that we could have incredible events
like this without the great group of people we have in our wine club that
come to our events. Thank you to all!
I'll give you a little background as to how this event came to fruition. I
have been volunteering for the American Heart Association's "Cotes du
Coeur", Live and Silent Wine Auction for the past four years. Ken has
been donating his wines and time to the event for the past several years
and he has family in the DFW area that he visits and stays with during the
week that this event is held every year. The first year I volunteered at
this event, I made it a point to introduce myself to Ken and found him
extremely friendly and approachable. The second year, I planted the seed
with him by telling him about our wine club and how great it would be to
host a tasting with him. The third year (2005), we decided to plan the
event for real this time and we decided that since he was in town for this
year's (2006) Cotes du Coeur anyway, my fourth year volunteering, that
we would just have the tasting that weekend, which unfortunately meant
that it had to happen on Mother's Day. Lucky for me, my Mother was
invited and came!
The tasting consisted of six different Ken Wright Cellars Pinot Noir wines,
all from the 2002 vintage. The wines were served in three flights of two,
with one wine from each flight coming from volcanic soils and one coming
from marine sediment soils. The first flight was kicked off with the Shea
Vineyard Pinot Noir (marine sediment) and the Nysa Vineyard Pinot Noir
(volcanic). Although the Shea was lighter in color than the darker Nysa, it
seemed to be more complex on the nose and more tannic. The Nysa was
more of a bright fruit driven style. The second flight featured the
Meredith Mitchell Vineyard Pinot Noir (MS) and the McCrone Vineyard
Pinot Noir (V). This was my personal favorite flight with a slight
preference going to the Meredith Mitchell. These two wines were heavier
in body then the wines from the first flight. The last flight contained the
biggest two wines in the tasting with the Freedom Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir
(MS) and the Carter Vineyard Pinot Noir (V). Again, both were stunning
and showed plenty of darker fruit flavors.
Even more amazing than the wines, if you can believe it, was Ken's
knowledge of the soils in which they came from. We're not just talking
about a decade or two of knowledge either. He took us all the way back
200 million years ago and showed us on the easel how the mountain ranges
across California, Oregon and Washington State were formed and the soils
formed as a result of volcanic activity and a receding ocean. Ken says that
the force of the plate activity below the earth is causing the ground to
move up and that the coastline will push another several hundred yards
further into the ocean. For those of you wann-a-be real estate moguls, you
better go snag some ocean front property that is currently under the water
right now. The only problem is that you have to wait about 150 million
years before you'd be able to build anything on it.
While listening to Ken talk, you begin to understand that he gives all the
credit to folks tending to the vines and grapes as well as the location and
condition of the soils, taking absolutely none of the credit himself for the
fantastic wines in the bottle. His stance is that anybody can make wine
from grapes, but it takes great fruit to make great wines. Makes sense to
me. Ken was the first person to pioneer the practice of buying wine grapes
by the acre and not by the ton. By doing it this way, instead of the other
way around, he is able to dictate more control over how the grapes are
grown and harvested. Again, another great way to ensure quality over
quantity. He has also been at the forefront of the push for designated
American Viticultural Areas (AVA's) within the Willamette Valley in
Oregon. Because as you will come to know by tasting his wines, Oregon
wines from different soils and regions have distinctly different tastes and
characteristics.
Ken is extremely interesting to listen to and everyone found his knowledge
fascinating. More importantly than that, he is extremely personable and
quite an amazing human being. I am so thankful he decided to share his
time and wines with us. Maybe in the future we will be able to do this
again.
| Ken Discusses how the soil was formed and what it is made up of. |
| I presented Ken with a Port and Chardonnay from the Best Winery in Texas, Llano Estacado |
| Or you can go online and sign up for their mailing list at www.kenwrightcellars.com |
| You can find Ken Wright Cellars Pinot Noir Wines at Pogo's in downtown Dallas on Lover's and Inwood. |
