Friday Sips

This entry is our hot local pick to impress your out of town guests at the holiday table. The minds behind Walter Scott are veteran Oregon wine biz players, husband and wife team of Ken Pahlow and Erica Landon. Ken was assistant winemaker at St. Innocent for 13 years and did time at Evening Land. Erica has been a fixture in Oregon restaurants working as a sommelier, creating fantastic wine lists and generally spreading wine knowledge throughout our fine city. Given the talents of these two, it's not surprising that what's been emerging from their Eola-Amity-based cellars is nothing short of impressive.

La Combe Verte is Walter Scott's entry Pinot Noir doesn't exactly open the door with its terrific quality, it kicks the door in! Blended from four top-drawer vineyard sites (Bieze, Clos des Oiseaux, Freedom Hill & Eola Springs) the 2013 version an enigma for $20 with the pedigree of each of these renowned sites shining through. Aromatic, forward and laden with nutmeg and exotic spices along with impressive, smoke-tinged, red raspberry scents. Crawling through the mouth, this wine exudes its caressing qualities that are eloquent and absorbing from start to the lingering finish. Enjoy this extroverted Pinot Noir over the next 3-5 years.

Turkey wines are different from wines to serve with turkeys. Turkey wines are jiveass wines like Yellowtail, Turning Leaf, or DaVinci. Wines for turkey include deliciously dry, multi-faceted Rose. Reuilly is very much an unknown name when it comes to pink wines and wine in general. Located about an hour west of Sancerre, it is one of the real sleeper regions of the Loire Valley. More known for its 100% Sauvignon Blanc white wines, most don't know that there is a small amount of Rosé that comes from the region. It is also one of the world's most intriguing Rosé wines due to it made with 100% Pinot Gris

. Pinot Gris is normally thought of as white, but in actuality, it is a grey, slightly pink grape. When left on its skins the resulting wine comes out rather pink. Nothing like any Pinot Gris or Grigio that you would have, it is 100% terroir-driven and soil-laden. Seashell, lanolin, solid perfume, floral and strawberry tones shine on the nose and the wine's texture is rather substantial and layered, but with no shortage of briskness and brace. This is very stereotype-breaking stuff! Drawn-out, linear, very salinous and with a slight hint of spice, this is rock star juice with ceviche, grilled prawns, goat cheese and turkey.

Friends don't let friends drink Beaujolais Nouveau! Instead, have them drink REAL Beaujolais made by REAL growers. Authentic Beaujolais Villages and Cru Beaujolais are food friendly wines that are not to be confused with the Olde English 800 of red wine, Beaujolais Nouveau. These traditionally fermented red wines are super-food-friendly and the bottom line is that there is nothing more festive with holiday turkey. The Nouveau phenomenon put this region on the wine map, however it has done a disservice for the growers in this zone making serious wine. Unless you are familiar with wine from the Beaujolais villages of Moulin-À-Vent, Morgon, Fleurie etc. drop your former perception of this region and let's start over. Like a snort of whiskey at 9 AM, these wines are unmitigated eye-openers!!

Terrière's old vine Beaujolais Village is best described as "Premium Beaujolais Villages" since it's produced from grapes that are grown in red granite soil (known as rosbif, which also is the term that French use when they come upon a gaggle of drunken Englishmen) entirely within the Cru of Régnié. An unbelievable seducer with packed aromas of strawberry and raspberry followed by granitic spice scents of cinnamon-stick, graham and mineral. The wine reveals an excellent core of pure fruit in the mouth and is very ethereal and smooth with superb depth which is the result of the 70+ year old vines. Versatile and food friendly, it will pair well with fare beyond the big bird such as sausages, roasted chicken, grilled salmon & more.

It is commonly known that Charlie Brown served buttered toast, freshly-popped popcorn and pretzel sticks for Thanksgiving dinner when Peppermint Patty invited herself and others over for dinner. While Charlie Brown was doomed from the start with this, he could have easily appeased and calmed down his militantly androgynous guest by serving her a grown-up beverage or six! Whether you are serving turkey, duck, tofu-burgers or buttered toast, this obscenely delicious white wine will satisfy everyone! Clean, dry and very explosive, this engaging white is from one of Austria's tasty, value-driven producers.

Aromatic and very detailed; intense loess, mussel-chalk and gravel soil-driven minerals are buffered by stonefruit, lemon-lime and subtle fennel notes. The fleshy and clean attack shows plenty of mouth-coating aspects, but the real beauty lies in the back of the mouth where the wine gains stirring energetic zest and length. With its ample burst and depth, this white wine will work exquisitely pretty much with starters all the through to just before heading on to dessert.