2019 Nicholas Jay Affinités Chardonnay

A few months ago, our friends brought over this 2019 Nicholas Jay Affinités Chardonnay and we kept it in our wine cellar until we could invite them back to taste the wine together. So, recently we had them over and drank their wine with them. My husband thought that the right pairing for this Chardonnay would be crab cakes from SeaWell and he was right. Initially, the wine was a bit cold so the aromas and the first sip was not really indicative of what the wine would blossom into. We slowly sipped the Chardonnay between bites of the crabcake, the sauce for the crabcakes had chives and tarragon and those herbs really made the crabcakes the right pairing with the Chardonnay. Although the wine is made in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, it reminded me of a well made Burgundy. There is a reason for this. The Nicholas Jay Affinités Chardonnay is a collaboration between Burgundian winemaker Jean-Nicolas Méo and music entrepreneur Jay Boberg. In 2011, a visit to the Willamette Valley reignited Jay’s fascination with the region. It also inspired him to commit himself fully to his lifelong passion for wine. He approached Jean-Nicolas with the idea of starting a small winery in Oregon. After nearly a quarter century of making wine at Meo-Camuzet, Jean-Nicolas was excited by the idea of taking what he’s learned from the grands and premiers crus of Burgundy, and applying it to a new region, a new climate, new soils and new vineyards.¹
We are so glad that our friends shared this Chardonnay with us! I learned about the Nicholas Jay collaboration and their passion for making Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley.
References:
1. Nicholas Jay Website.

Dinner with Friends

We had our friends over for dinner this past Saturday. It was a thank you for all of the help that they provided us during the pruning season and beyond. We began the dinner with this 2020 sparkling Auxerrois from Bel Lago. We paired this wine with crabcakes and shrimp cocktail that our friends brought over, procured from SeaWell which exceeded our expectations. The seafood paired very well with the sparkling Auxerrois.
The wine has a special significance for us because we "know" the winemaker (Charles) and our friends have relatives near the Bel Lago winery and have visited the winery and brought back some wine from there. We didn't know that our friends were headed to Michigan and we asked them if they could do us a favor and bring Charles a bottle of our still Auxerrois. They said sure, so our 2020 Auxerrois is headed for Michigan!

We moved on to the main meal which was a Sam Choy stuffed pork chop that my husband made. In Sam Choy's recipe the stuffing is made from macadamia nuts, shiitake mushrooms and a whole lot of flavor. The stuffed pork chop is placed on a bed of bok choy and sliced, grilled red onions.
We paired this meal with a Krug Cuvée 170ème Édition because our friends have a special affiliation with two bottles of 1985 Krug, one from Clos du Mesnil and the other a Vintage Krug Champagne which they shared with us and the memory has imprinted Krug in our minds. The meal was decadence to the max.The meal did the Krug justice.
The dessert was from the New York Times, using fresh strawberries called Double Strawberry Shortcakes.
Here is a photo of the meal we had with our friends:

Who needs to go to a restaurant when I have a husband that can cook a meal like this!

2020 Grace Koshu Toriibira Vineyard Private Reserve

Recently, we went to a gathering at our friend's home and one of the couples brought this 2020 Grace Koshu Torribira Vineyard Private Reserve wine. Although this is a wine made in Japan, our friends bought this wine in China when they were there on a recent visit.
It was a real treat and an eye-opener since we had never had a wine from Japan before and the gathering was abuzz with wanting to know what the Koshu grape could be. We learned on the Internet that the Koshu grape is probably a Vitis vinifera. It is grown in Yamanashi Prefecture in the Koshu Valley, where the grape has been grown and made into wine since the Meiji Era (1868-1912).¹
Having just the barest of information, we tasted the wine. It was very floral on the nose, reminding some of Gewürztraminer. The wine was light and clean and went well with the platter of cheese and crackers.
Wanting to learn more about the Koshu Grape, I went on the Internet and dug a little deeper. Grace is the name of the winery. Toriibira is the name of the district on the south-western slopes of Mount Kashio. This location is blessed with plenty of sunshine and cool breezes blowing down from the Sasago Pass. There exists area a profound temperature difference between day and night, providing the perfect conditions for the grapes to ripen well. The gravelly, well-drained, clayey soils result in grapes with robust flavour that is reflected in the depth of the wines.
The Koshu grape originated in the distant South Caucasus, but how the Koshu arrived in Japan remains a mystery to this day. After more than a thousand years, rather than falling out of favour it is greatly treasured. In 2010, it became the first grape variety indigenous to Japan to be included as a registered grape variety of the International Organisation of Vines and Wines (O.I.V.), allowing it to appear as a varietal name on labels.
Grace grows their Koshu grapes using vertical shoot positioning.

The resulting Koshu grape berries are smaller, have higher sugar content and containing more malic acid than the traditional Koshu grown on pergolas. This allows malo-lactic fermentation to occur naturally, something which seldom happens to conventionally-grown Koshu, and which gives the resulting wine a unique character. I concur.

References:
1. Grave Wines.

Vintage 2023: June Doings

We spent the month of May taking care of the north end of our vineyard, disbudding and shoot thinning. The north end of our vineyard was remarkably spared from the mid-May frost event that hit us so we wanted to ensure that those vines were properly taken care of in a timely way.
Now we are at the south end of the vineyard. Here is a view from the south looking north:

The good thing is that my husband has already weeded the entire vineyard using the Fischer Twister that we purchased last year that arrived in June. My husband thought he could have weeded a little earlier, but the weeder still did an excellent job in beating down the weeds. In a month the weeds will probably grow and need weeding, but now we have the wherewithall to do it in only a few days!
The south end of our vineyard is where the frost hit the hardest and this is what it looks like:

The above photo shows what frost hit shoots look like in the Chardonnay. There are also some signs of life on some of the devasted shoots. Overall, the south end of the Chardonnay looks rather devoid of flowers.
It's a waiting game now to see what bloom and fruitset brings.