The Adventure Continues 2019 – Lover of Wine – Travel along on our adventures

August 3, 2019August 3, 2019

7-28-19 The International Pinot Noir Celebration

Over the last 20 years, we have traveled to the wine country of the Willamette Valley almost every year. These trips have certainly given us a good appreciation of the area as well as the opportunity to see it change over the years. Our early visits included introductions to some great winemakers and we have been able to stay in touch with these folks over the years. As a result of all of this interaction with folks, we learned about the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC), which is held each year the last weekend of July. Over the years we have been able to attend this event a number of times.

Coupled with the IPNC are a number of special events that occur around the weekend. One we were excited to attend was the release party for the History Wines.

Melissa Burr with a bottle of her History Wine.

This wine series is a new partnership between Stoller Family Estate and the Director of Winemaking, Melissa Burr. Melissa’s family purchased a property in Washington that had a very early planting of Cabernet Sauvignon and she had wanted to make wine from it for sometime. This resulted in her development of the History Wine program that seeks to source fruit from some of the oldest vineyards in the Pacific Northwest to make limited quantities of ultra-premium wines. The release party was held July 20^th at the Stoller estate and featured several wines produced from some of the oldest plantings in the area. Wonderful way to start off our visit to the area.

The following Thursday, we joined with our friends from Pasadena ,Jessie and Phil for a lovely Pre-IPNC dinner held at Résonance Winery.

Phil and Jessie at the Résonance dinner.

Résonance is a brand new facility started by a French producer, Maison Louis Jadot, and the tasting room was just completed about a month prior to the evening’s event. Dinner, great wines and conversations with the Pierre-Henry Gagey, President of Maison Louis Jadot and his son, Thibault Gagey Director of Operations provided a wonderful insight into their feelings about starting an operation in Oregon and their commitment to the project. I found my conversation with the winemaker, Guillaume Large very enjoyable.

Janeen and winemaker Guillaume Large at Résonance

He has been active in the decisions on how new vineyards are to be planted and what varietals are used. Unlike most (read that 99%) of the vineyards in Oregon they are planting a number of different varietals as a “field blend” not as specific blocks or areas. The field blend they feel gives them a better representation of the terroir.

The next day started the actual IPNC experience.

Each year, my sister makes us name badges for this event. We make a few for friends a special wine makers.

Held on the campus of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, this was the 33^rd annual gathering of Pinot Noir lovers from around the world. The Celebration is both educational, featuring a Grand Seminar and courses as part of the University of Pinot combined with an abundance of great Pinot Noir paired with the delicious bounty of Oregon prepared by the Pacific Northwest’s most talented chefs . Voila ,you have a great food and wine event.

Over the course of three days of tastings, seminars, vineyard tours and gourmet dining there is the opportunity to taste Pinot Noir wines from over 70 carefully vetted wineries from several continents.

All the winemakers at the event get to introduce themselves and of course have their picture taken.

This year’s Master of Ceremonies and Grand Seminar moderator was Steven Spurrier who guided an in-depth discussion of the wines of the Côte Chalonnaise, “The 3rd Côte.”

Aaron Bell, Assistant winemaker at Domaine Drouhin Oregon where we are Wine Club Members #1.

The Grand Seminar had a panel of French Wine Producers and their wines. It was a lively discussion along with some very tasty wines.

Grand Seminar is held in the gym on campus.

Tasting of Burgundy wines at the Grand Seminar.

After a fantastic lunch served outdoors in the Oak Grove, I went off to a seminar with Steven Spurrier while Janeen headed to a discussion of Pinot Noir and Riesling and changing terroir.

David Millman and Seven Spurrier at the discussion panel

My seminar was a small group of people where Spurrier was asked questions by David Millman and covered the historic 1976 blind tasting between wines from California and France, the Judgment of Paris that forever changed the world’s view of New World wines and his lengthy history in the wine environment.

After our small group programs we went back to our room and regrouped for the afternoon and evening events. We decided to pass on the walk around tasting – where some 40 or so wines are presented and just hung out at our apartment. Dinner, a grand affair, held on the Intramural Field featured a wonderful meal along with more great wines.

The food prep tent for the Grand Dinner on Friday evening.

Saturday had us board a bus and head out to a winery. The actual location is unknown until we were on our way and we discovered we were going to Ponzi Vineyard. Ponzi is one of the pioneer vineyards in the valley having been established in the late 60’s by Dick and Nancy Ponzi. The vineyards are now owned and run by their daughters, Anna Maria Ponzi and Winemaker Luisa Ponzi the second generation.

Janeen with Anna Maria Ponzi and Winemaker Luisa Ponzi

At the winery there was a panel discussion with 5 winemakers – 4 from Oregon and 1 from California with a discussion about winemaking procedures, methods sources of fruit and other quite interesting topics.

Janeen getting ready to ask the panel a question.

It is always interesting when winemakers have to taste their wines blind – most of the time they are unable to pick out their wines from the selections available and this was no different from prior panels we have been to over the years. All and it was a great afternoon and I would admit that the Arneis

If you find this wine, buy it and enjoy!

they served at lunch was so good I ordered some!

The afternoon, after getting back to the campus, had another walk around tasting with an additional 40 or so producers that we also missed. The evening had the traditional Salmon Bake – a large area under the oak trees is set up for cooking salmon, pouring wines, dancing and the eating of great food.

Salmon is baked over open flame – boy is it good.

Did I mention the Dessert table at Salmon Bake?

Sunday, the final day of the weekend ,is a sparkling brunch with several different food stations and lots and lots of sparkling wine. A wonderful end for the weekend and a time to say goodbye to old and new friends. While we have enjoyed our time both in the Willamette Valley and at the IPNC there is no guarantee when we will get back to this part of the world as there is a lot of world yet to explore.

July 30, 2019August 3, 2019

7-30-19 The Interstate Highway System

For those of you who have been following along on our adventures you know that from time to time we take a step back and drop off the radar for a while. Not much has been recorded recently, so I thought I would put up something letting our readers know what’s happening and a little bit of history at the same time.

After celebrating our granddaughter’s 4^th birthday (albeit a few days early) we packed up our stuff and headed west towards Oregon. In order to make this trip we have to thank President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was with a stroke of a pen in 1956 he signed into law the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways commonly know as the Interstate Highway System.

This network of controlled-access highways forms part of our national highway system and allows us to travel throughout this wonderful land in great comfort. This system has often been called the Greatest Public Works Project in History and has changed the daily lives of everyone . All drivers , car and truck owe a great debt to this network of roads that travel across the country – both east and west and north and south.

The new highway system didn’t help the small towns along the way as it created high speed corridors by which travelers can zip past a lot of the iconic roadways– all you have to do is think about the demise of Route 66 – the road from Chicago to Los Angeles and all the small towns that supported the travelers along that path who now don’t have the traffic to support them.

We travelled along I-80 for the better part of 2,000 miles

There has always been a “rumor” that part of the highway system was designed with long stretches of straight road that could be used for airplanes to land. Usually, this myth says the requirement came from President Eisenhower or the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. However, no legislation, regulation, or policy has ever imposed such a requirement. Airplanes do sometimes land on interstates in an emergency, but the highways are not designed for that purpose.

It seemed each Interstate rest area has some sort of dedication This one was in Pennsylvania⁩

Currently, the Interstate System is 46,876 miles long. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 imposed a statutory limitation on the Interstate mileage that would be built with Interstate Construction funds under the new program (41,000 miles at the time). Later legislation increased the limitation to 43,000 miles, of which a total of 42,795 miles has been used. Separate legislation allows the Federal Highway Administration to approve additional mileage if it meets full Interstate standards and would be a logical addition or connection.

At one rest stop in Illinois, there was this dedication – Christopher Columbus Memorial Highway

The first project to go to construction with Interstate Construction funds under the 1956 Act was in Missouri. The project on U.S. 40 (later designated the I-70 Mark Twain Expressway) in St. Charles County got underway on August 13, 1956. Officials erected a sign stating, “This is the first project in the United States on which actual construction was started under provisions of the new Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.”

Interstate 84 took us from Salt Lake City to Portland for about 800 miles

Kansas had begun a construction project on U.S. 40 (I-70) west of Topeka before the 1956 Act, but awarded the final paving contract under the new legislation. Because this was the first paving under the 1956 Act, Kansas erected a sign claiming, “This is the first project in the United States completed under provisions of the new Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.”

Janeen and Cherlyne during our visit with them in Star Idaho.

The Interstate numbering plan was based on the plan used to number the U.S. numbered highways, but in mirror image (for example, U.S. 1 is on the East Coast, while I-5 is on the West Coast; U.S. 10 is in the north while I-10 is in the south). In both plans, numbers ending in zero are used for transcontinental and other major multi-State routes. However, one of the rules for Interstate numbering is that numbers are not duplicated on Interstate highways and U.S. numbered routes in the same State. Duplicate numbers would be confusing for motorists; for example, if told to take “Route 50,” the motorist might follow the wrong one. Because the Interstate numbering plan is a mirror image of the U.S. numbered highway plan, I-50 would be located in some of the same States as U.S. 50 (Ocean City, Maryland, to Sacramento, California). Therefore, “50” has not been used for an Interstate route.

Max, the 3 year old Saint Bernard who lives in Star Idaho with the Allens

Our route going West was along I 80 to Salt Lake City and then North on I 84. Along the way we visited friends in York Nebraska and Star Idaho – it’s nice to catch up with old friends. Once we made it to Portland Oregon we took shelter with my sister Marilynn and actually had a moment with all my sibling.s It was quite by happenstance that we were all in the same place and able to get together.

David, Marilynn, Richard and Georgia. We always stand in birth order with Georgia the first born and me the last.

For now, we are heading south from the Portland area to Los Angeles stopping along the way in Sonoma and the Bay Area again to visit friends. This piece of the trip isn’t on the Interstate but historic US 101 along the coast of Oregon and California. More as the venture continues.

Not a sign you see often – this is along Highway 101 in Oregon.

July 4, 2019August 3, 2019

07-04-2019 Thomas Jefferson & James Monroe – Presidental Homes

Monticello – Thomas Jefferson’s Home on the Hill

Monticello is neoclassical style design.

At the age of 26, Thomas Jefferson inherited approximately 5,000 acres and began plans for his home having independently studied the principles of architecture; he based the design on a neoclassical style developed by Andrea Palladio who was a popular Italian Renaissance architect in eighteenth century Europe. The home was to be built on the top of an 850-foot mountain located on the property and Jefferson named it Monticello an Italian word meaning “little mountain”.

As work began on the building in 1770, Jefferson lived in one of the outbuildings on the property known as the South Pavilion. A few years later, in 1772,he married Martha Wayles Skelton and construction still had not been completed on the house. Sadly, Martha died in 1782 and Jefferson left Monticello to go to France, undertaking a political position as Minister of the United States. The construction on this first version of Monticello was considered finished in 1784 while Jefferson was still in France.

Displayed in the Entrance Hall are a large collection of maps, Native American artifacts many collected by Lewis & Clark while Jefferson was President.

Family and friends would gather in the Parlor for games, music, and conversation, and it was the site of weddings, dances and other important social events. It held most of Jefferson’s art collection, including portraits of many people whom he admired or considered noteworthy.

Europe changed how Jefferson looked at his project and he wanted include French design elements.

At the top of the Mansion is the Dome Room. A unique feature Jefferson added after his time in France.

By 1794, Jefferson had returned to America to serve as the first Secretary of State for the newly formed United States followed by a stint as President.

The Dining Room was where Jefferson sat down with his family and guests to eat the two main meals of the day, breakfast and dinner.

In the dining room, this fireplace has a dumbwaiter for wine bottles. Put an empty in it, lower it down and magically a full bottle comes back on it’s return journey.

Although the building was considered completed in 1809 Jefferson continued to make improvements and changes on structure throughout his lifetime.

The second bedroom on the upper floor – it shares the wall with the James Madison bedroom which would be to the right.

James Madison on his frequent visits to Monticello ,stayed in this room.. The room is decorated with distinctive trellis wallpaper; the current reproduction is a pattern originally purchased by Jefferson in Paris in 1790.

Thomas Jefferson died in 1826 and per his request he is buried in the Monticello cemetery.

Here was buried Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom & Father of the University of Virginia

At the time of his death, the estate was more than $107,000 in debt (which was a considerable amount of money at that time). Jefferson’s daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, found it necessary to sell the Monticello plantation including the house and surrounding property, she also sold the furnishings of house, livestock and farm equipment and the plantation’s slaves to pay off the debts.

Over the years, Monticello had many owners until Uriah Levy bought the property in 1834. The Levy family continued to own the property for almost 90 years. Levy, a former commodore in the U.S. Navy, had long admired Jefferson and he chose to restore and preserve the home and property. In 1923, the Levy family sold the property to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, a private non-profit organization. The Foundation now owns and operates the house as a museum, maintains the grounds of the property and administrates an educational center. Monticello is a National Historic Landmark and in 1987 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the nearby University of Virginia where Jefferson had also designed many of the buildings on the campus.

Montpelier – James Madison’s delightful home

The front of Montpelier – very large expanse of open space in front of the house.

Located a mere 30 miles from Monticello, and doing basically the same thing throughout his live, our fourth President James Madison lived in his family home called Montpelier. We visited Montpelier the following day, after visiting Monticello, on our way back home to Springfield.

In 1723, Ambrose Madison, James father, received a large parcel of land located in Virginia. By 1732 he had built Mount Pleasant, the original family homewhich became the home for his wife, Frances Taylor, and their three children. Upon his death, it was believed ,but never proved, that one of his slaves had poisoned him.His oldest son; James Madison Sr. inherited the tobacco plantation.

After inheriting the plantation, Madison Sr. acquired even more land and the estate grew to over 5,000 acres making him the largest landowner in the area. Mount Pleasant soon became a prosperous plantation and Madison Sr. established several more businesses, including a distillery and ironworks. With a growing family a new house was in order and in 1764 the new home – a two-story brick Georgian style house to be called Montpelier was completed.

The future president, James Madison Jr. was the oldest of their children and while the young boy enjoyed life on the plantation, as he grew older he realized that he wanted to pursue a career in public office. He eventually went to school at the College of New Jersey and then on to Williamsburg and Philadelphia. While serving in the new nation’s capital of Washington as a congressman, Madison meet and married a young widow, Dolley Payne Todd, in 1794. By 1797, construction had begun on the front portico and a 30-foot extension on the main building at Montpelier.

These are the stairs we took to the second floor rooms.

A number of additions were made to the house over the years to accommodate the family and to provide entertaining spaces due to James Madison’s rise in public office from Secretary of State to President of the United States. Finally in 1817, after serving two terms as president, James Madison and his wife Dolley once again left Washington and retired to Montpelier.

After leaving public office, James and Dolley Madison lead a very full life and together they spent many years editing his presidential and personal papers. They also enjoyed entertaining political statesmen and diplomats as well as their personal friends and neighbors. When James Madison died in 1836, the estate went to his stepson Todd Payne.

From 1844 until 1900, Montpelier went through a series of six different owners. In 1901, William DuPont Sr. bought the property. The wealthy DuPont family was very influential in the development of Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States and for this reason several barns, stables and other equestrian buildings were built on the property. After the death of William and his wife Annie, their daughter inherited the estate in 1928. Despite the renovations made on the Madison’s former home, Marion meant to preserve the original footprint of the estate, gardens and additional grounds. At the time of her death in 1983, Marion DuPont Scott bequeathed the property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Temple that offers spectacular views of the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. This is just to the left of the front of the house.

The Annie DuPont Garden – this was put in while the DuPont’s owned the place.

Since 1984, the National Trust for Historic Preservation took ownership of the estate and the organization has worked to restore Montpelier to how it would have looked during the time of James and Dolley Madison. From 2003 to 2008, the Montpelier, former home of James and Dolley Madison, underwent a $25 million restoration project funded by the National trust to remove the renovations created by prior owners and the DuPont family to restore the building to its original 1820 look. The restoration was able to recreate much of the color scheme from the Madison period along with some of the wallpaper.

Our visit toured the interior of the property and much of the grounds. While there really are few furnishings left from when Madison owned the property, the house is furnished with period pieces and much of the history is brought to life by the docents leading the tour.

Adjacent to the property is a large forest – which was an old growth forest during Madison’s time.

The estate includes a Landmark forest which Madison preserved for house use in fireplaces.

Some of the Tulip trees are hundreds of years old. He also was an advocate of preserving natural resources. A Witness Tree stands near the slave quarters and back of the main house.

The tree next to the building is called the Witness Tree as it was there when the building was first built.

January 23, 2019

1-23-19 Why Swirl a Glass of Wine

OK, it’s true we love wine. And yes, there are a variety of traditions and rituals we seem to follow from time to time. I was thinking about this recently when I ran across a blog on this very subject – and as I am not one to pass up good information I have borrowed liberally from it for this update to our Blog.

Tasting wine with friends is always a treat. Here we are with our besties Jessie and Phil.

Wine lovers develop certain habits that may seem strange in polite company. These customs and rituals are part of wine appreciation that you pick up as you progress through your wine education. They are also easy to ridicule, and become the essence of wine snobbery to the uninitiated. Yet they (almost always) serve a role in enhancing our enjoyment of the wine.

Drinking Pinot Noir with the winemaker is always a treat. This time Stoller Vineyards with winemaker Melissa

Did you know that we hold our glass up to the light and gaze intently at the liquid within as if it holds the secret of life? In truth, it may only hold the secret of the next few minutes, but this visual inspection allows us to evaluate the wine’s clarity. Similarly, by tilting the glass against a white background, we can see the wine’s color and discern a clue to its age and condition. The color of the wine around the rim changes with age, and if the wine (white or red) seems murky, it may be over the hill or have been stored improperly and exposed to heat.

Janeen with a bottle of Native9. Winemaker James Ontiveros’s a night generation farmer in California and celebrates his heritage with the wine he makes from his family’s 8-acre Rancho Ontiveros Vineyard

This visual inspection is also why we hold the glass by the stem; fingerprints on the bowl are unsightly, and our hands may warm the wine. True wine geeks will hold the glass by its foot, with or without the pinky extended. This shows sophistication but requires care in performing the next tasting ritual – The Swirl. Swirling the glass becomes second nature to wine lovers – we’ve been spotted swirling water glasses, juice drinks and the occasional cocktail in unguarded moments. Yet it serves two purposes. First, it completes our visual appreciation as we note how the wine cascades down the side of the glass. Try this experiment: Take two identical wine glasses and fill one with water no more than a quarter to the top. Then pour an equal amount of red wine into the second glass. Swirl each glass. The water will simply fall back to the bottom, but the wine should form rivulets that flow more slowly, as if clinging to the side of the glass. These rivulets are called “legs” or “tears,” depending on whether you’re feeling sexist or emotional. A wine that has “nice legs” will have good body and will taste richer, perhaps with more alcohol, than one that leaves little to behold after a good swirl.

I really am of the opinion that lots of glasses on the table is a good thing.

The swirl’s second purpose is to release the wine’s aromas into the bowl of the glass so we can perform the next step: Stick our nose in the glass and inhale deeply. (Swirling and sticking one’s proboscis below the rim are two very good reasons not to fill the glass too high!)

Champagne – Always an enjoyable beverage

Finally, after all this rigmarole, we actually put the wine into our mouth. But we don’t swallow it at first. Rather, we gargle it or swish it around the inside of our mouth. By aerating the wine and swishing it noisily around our gums, we theoretically release more of the wine’s flavors. We certainly annoy anyone around us.

Even after we swallow (or spit if we’re at a wine tasting and have a LOT to taste), we’re not done. There’s still the “Oooh – ahh” of sucking in air to enjoy the wine’s leftover flavors that linger in the mouth. This is yet another way of accentuating the wine’s flavors.

And then, maybe we’ll smile. But there’s still one more ritual: We pull out our smartphones and post a photo of the wine on social media. Facebook and apps like Delectable or Vivino make it easy to catalog and brag about the wines we drink. For what’s the point of enjoying a wine if we can’t share it?