As it says in the old commercial- we will sell no wine before it’s time. The 2008 Pinot Noir has been bottled after carefully aging it for just over 12 months in French and Hungarian Oak. (we even tested one barrel of homegrown Oregon oak). The 2008 wines are darker and fuller than 2007- with much more black ripe fruit and vanilla textures. 2008 is a totally different wine – mother nature sure is interesting-otherwise we’d be making & selling the same thing every year- which isn’t as much fun. We will start to release the 2008 vintage around May- after tasting the bottles on a bi-weekly basis to see when they are ready to go….get ready!
But not all barrels are the same. For the 3rd year in a row we are making some fun & fantastic special ‘batches’ of Pinot that are not normally available to the general public. In 2003 we made 4 barrels of “Starling Hill” which we just released this fall. Rich, dark & jubilant! For the 2007 vintage which was generally light & more fruity we made 2 barrels (that’s right – just two) of a really exquisite ruby red which we will release in this fall to our wine club & special guests. This year we convened a fun crew of ‘expert’ tasters to run through our favorite 24 barrels out of the 200 in the cellar. We’ve come up with 9 barrels of lovely, full ‘cherry bomb’ Pinot for the 2008 Kitara Reserve. That’s only a couple of hundred cases of really special wine.
In addition the tasters found out about our special lot from one section of our estate hillside vineyards. Since we keep track of these grapes we know when & where the barrels were harvested, how they were fermented & aged. Well rows 2-11 in the ‘Starling Hill” vineyard have struck again!
Our tasters were fixated on how different- richer, fuller, more unique a couple of barrels were for the 2008 harvest. So we’ve decided to do two special bottlings- each just two barrels or about 20 cases each. These will be bottled in a week to be released in 18 months or there abouts. (remember the wine let’s us know when it’s ready- not us).
The fun thing about having a small family business is that you can do things that people suggest that you do- and have fun with it. Hopefully you will get a chance to come by and taste some of these wines.
Coming up- Valentines Dinner with 5 course wine pairing on Feb 13th
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Yeah! We lived through the H1n1 AND the Thanksgiving weekend all while enjoying some good times & good wines! While many folks tour the Willamette Valley and get soaked in tasting fees and crowds- we are lucky enough to be off the beaten path. Meaning fewer folks and more time to hobnob. The family ‘worked’ the tasting room this past weekend- as we always do. And when I say ‘worked’ I mean its a privilege to be able to have an alternate lifestyle than what corporate America allows. Here we are- chatting up visitors from all over the place while sampling our Estate grown wines and enjoying life.
Over the past year we have watched our small bottlings (most in the 100-300 case range) grow & develop into new wines. The 2004 Kitara Syrah started out as a deep, tart, peppery wine. Now it has matured and mellowed in the bottle creating a rustic, Rhone style wine with complex dark fruit & long tobacco finish. A different wine from just a year ago- and it will grow to be a different wine next year. Syrah is a fabulous grape and grows into a different character based on the soils and climate. Our cool climate here in the Willamette Valley is nicely suited to a more earthy version and does more than compliment it’s Syrah cousins grown in the hotter locals of Paso Robles or the Columbia Valley. If you haven’t had a Willamette Valley Syrah yet- try one. We aren’t the only ones that have planted some Syrah to take advantage of a great grape in a great growing region. So try some - before they get too popular.
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
The fog is thick across the valley this morning- but thankfully we have just finished picking our 2009 harvest. And it a word- ‘fantabulous’! We started harvesting this year about a week early- and since we had a long dry summer and warm dry fall the sugar is quite nice. It is really something to have both great quality fruit and enough of it to make some really unique wines. In 2008 we had great fruit- however the late spring caused the vineyards in the Willamette Valley to have half the harvest of a normal year.
Next up on the agenda is getting the reds through fermentation- (we’re about halfway) and starting to rack off the whites. Come on out & see what’s happening at our crush pad patio. You can even sample some of our white wines that are halfway through fermenting. In Germany its called Nue-Wine (new wine) and it’s like drinking a NW Heffeweizen beer- cloudy & cool. While it’s sounds weird to many ‘winos’ it is actually a normal occurance in a winery- you need to taste the product while its evolving though it’s life.
Stop on by & enjoy!
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
We’ve had a long strange summer here. Not just long because my kids have finally gone back to school, but long due to the incredible heat days that we have had in the vineyard. What started out as a slow wet spring has evolved into a grand summer and fall-so far. We are now about 6 days early for the harvest. We are picking & crushing Pinot Noir all this week, since we’ve picked the Gewurztraminer first as we do in most years. We’ve hit over 23 brix in the sugar content on the Pinot – which is really outstanding and hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate.
We are excited for the crush as we have upgraded our equipment and redesigned the crush area. Our new destemmer is made especially for Pinot Noir and it gently releases the grapes without crushing them. So we have a more gentle touch and extraction. Come on out & watch the ‘action’ on the new ‘crush pad patio’ with a glass of wine & picnic. (please don’t feed the animals- or winemakers). Since we estate grow nearly 90% of our own fruit we can be crushing literally minutes after the grapes are harvested. It makes for a long day- but the payout is great as our affordable wines have continued to win praise and awards from the wine community.
The harvest season lasts through October and we will be sampling some of the fresh white wines – called Neu Wein in German (ones that are still going through fermentation) in 4-5 weeks. It’s like a Hefeweizen beer but better- it’s made with 100% fruit- not water & hops. Give us a call & we’ll keep you up to date.
Friday, September 25th, 2009
Here we are just a half hour south of Portland getting ready for the “crush”. It is a fun, but strenuous time in the winemaking cycle- but it doesn’t have to be too serious!
We were founded by European immigrants Josef & Lilli who knew that getting to harvest is a lot of long hours and hard work. So they brought a little bit of European fun into the season by hosting a “GrapeStomping” festival to kick off the harvest. What started with friends and neighbors having a glass and stomping in a metal milk buckets has evolved into a nearly famous good time. The 27th annual Grapestomping Festival - occurs this weekend Sept 26 & 27thfrom 12-6. The fest is complete with a Bavarian Band playing some great music (it’s not all chicken dancing), 400lbs of St Josef’s special recipe bratwurst, homemade kraut, wine tasting, stomping in an 800 gallon oak barrel and much more.
Come on out for some fun and to taste our special Willamette Valley reserve wines. We will have all of our current releases and reserves open for tasting this weekend including the highly regarded 2003 KB Cabernet and multiple award winning ‘03 KB Merlot. And to make sure everyone knows how good 2003 really was- we are finally ready to sell our ‘03 Kitara “Starling Hill” Pinot Noir. This single block vinetage from one of our southwest facing hillsides was made from an outstanding year- and unfortunately a year that the birds ate nearly everything in sight. We were able to salvage only a few tons of fruit from our best hillside lot and made only 100 or so cases. It has aged nearly 3 years in the bottle and is now fully ripe- great cherry on the nose with a long lingering finish of fine tobacco & smoke. Absolutely lovely.
Come on out & try some Oregon Pinot Noir that is worth the price- not overpriced.
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Yea! We just got a nice write-up in the WIllamette Valley Press- a magazine pullout from Salem. They compared Pinot Noirs- St Josef’s to the French mega-snob super famous winery. And guess who got the better review? THats right- St Josef’s 2007 Pinot Noir. We are proud of our family tradition and we’re glad other people like our style of wine too.
If you haven’t tried the 2007 Pinot Noir- you should. Some people think the 2007 Pinots are really light- and they are. But that’s what makes them fun to drink. They are light, easy on the tounge and not trying to be something they are not. Like Big & Bold. Heck- it’s 90+ degrees at the winery today and a big ol cabernet is a great thing to drink- but not this pm. No Way- it’s a Pinot Day!
The harvest is coming up- look for the next post as we will be harvesting next week!
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
Thanks to all that came out this past weekend to our 3rd annual “Cheeseburger in Paradise Party”. The music by the Shwing Daddies got everybody dancing around the 3-tiered concert area on the Pond. A perfect night to drink some fine Oregon wines. We are proud to host the events which over look 2 of our 5 estate vineyards- just 30 minutes from downtown Portland Oregon. The most popular wines for this past Saturday night were our easy drinking Merlot and our special Gewurztraminer which we call “L’Esprit”. (That’s much easier to say than Gewurz……) The Merlot is a 2005 from right here in the Willamette Valley. Light and easy to drink it has a full berry nose and mellow finish. The LEsprit is made in a slightly sweet style and carbonated before bottling- making it a great picnic wine for a summer night.
Our next event is on Saturday Aug 29th from 6-9 pm. A great band called “RUST” is back by popular demand!- playing 80s rock with some fantastic vocal work. Come out & join us and enjoy the wines on the “Crush Pad Patio” and music on the pond. There aren’t too many settings better than this….
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Thanks to all that attended our first concert of the summer (Sat July 11th)! If you missed it we had a couple hundred intrepid souls who ’suffered’ through great music, good wine & unbelievable weather @ Jo-Lilli pond. The night was fabulous with a fun band – Jawbone Flats- who streamed the music live across the world. We had phone calls from North Carolina and the Midwest who listened in to the show. One of them asked us to turn up the music (I am not a techie-but wouldn’t that be easier from your laptop/stereo?). Perhaps that was due to the ‘dead-head’ & ‘little feat’ covers that the band mixed in with original material.
An evening show at the pond, with a sunset, wine & friends is a tough way to spend a summer Saturday night in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. And thanks to all the folks that traveled the 30 minutes out from Portland. We are really sorry there were no sirens, traffic or snooty wine geeks to add to the evening.
Next up for music on the pond is Saturday July 25th with “Colonel Angus & His Privates”. Party Time rock n roll – so a fun time should be had by all. Music is from 6-9 with $5 cover for adults. Limited food (BBQ) & picnic plates, beer & wines by the glass are available. (no outside beverages please). Join us!
And if you have any pictures of the event (my battery went dead) or ideas on how to make the evening better please contact us – info@stjosefswinery.com
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Oh my gosh… have we been discovered!!?? No- there’s no jam packed interstate or traffic jam in our tasting room. But the folks at Portland monthly magazine have listed us as their favorite sipping spot. (way cool!)
- “Dozens of picturesque wineries dot the Willamette Valley, but for family-owned coziness try St. Josef’s, which has a terra-cotta-colored fountain courtyard and a glittering blue pond. We’ve yet to find a better sipping spot.” —BWB
Over the course of the summer we have been thrilled to have so many people come ito the winery tasting room that have never been here before. And what’s fun is that most of them are from Portland. We have had the great good fortune to have many loyal customers that have recommended us to other folks. And many people are spending the summer exploring the back roads here instead of going down to Napa & Sonoma and spending their hard earned money on California wines instead of local ones.
They’re finding the East Side of the Willamette Valley is uncrowded & unspoiled. Many very small family wineries and lots of vineyards (many like us sell to the other side). There are several great biking routes out this way- we just had a 50 person group out this way and everyone was amazed and the uncrowded country lanes and the off the beaten path feel. For Portland biking & hiking reccommendations there are some good ones in this month’s Portland Magazine. Check out the rest of the current Portland Monthly for great hiking & biking tips for across Oregon & SW WA. The East WIllamette Valley is a great place for a bike ride & wine tasting- lots of scenery , not cars.
Friday, June 19th, 2009
Join us at our Estate Vineyard & Winery- just 30 minutes south of downtown Portland. We have been working on our 3 tiered amphitheatre overlooking the pond at our winery. Richly planted with roses and herbs it also will host some great casual musical events this summer. A prefect place to enjoy a summer evening- sitting on the lawn in the country, good music and a glass or two of award winning wine.
- Sat July 11th- Jawbone Flats plays NW Roots Rock. They call it “Funk with Flannel”.
- Sat July 25th- Colonel Angus & His Privates- Party Time Rock N Roll
- Sat Aug 8th- Parrot Heads of Portland unite! Cheeseburger in Paradise Party with the Schwing Daddies
- Sat Aug 29th- Rust plays 70s & 80s rock. Makes you want to have a mullet again….
All concerts are from 6-9 pm with $5 fee per adult. Wines by the glass & light food are available. Picnics are encouraged- but no outside beverages please.
Come on out & visit!