It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. So begins Charles Dickens “A Tale of Two Cities.” When we visited Oregon for the 2013 Wine Bloggers Conference, I could have rewritten that line to be, “It was the best of times, it was the best of times.”
One of the reasons that conference was so good was the special tour of Stoller Vineyard. Winemaker Melissa Burr conducted a tasting and presented us with this autographed bottle of 2008 Stoller Pinot.
The bottle reemerged during this last weekend. Green Dragon and I were on a trip to a rustic cabin in West Virginia with some of our best friends. What better time could there be to open a special bottle like this?
I had intended this to go with our cedar plank salmon, but on that evening, Green Dragon had already popped open a magnum of Bordeaux. So this baby waited until the next evening. As a fire crackled in the fireplace, we gathered around a communal table in a log cabin built by the CCC back in the 1920s. The meal was a mélange of leftovers, including meatloaf, chicken, couscous, salad and a dazzling assortment of pies (apple, cherry, pecan, blueberry and peach).
This is an elegant wine with soft cherry flavors and smooth edges. A pleasant acidity keeps it bright and balanced. Had it lost some zip since I drank my other bottle in 2013? Who can tell? When toasting with old friends in a beautiful forest setting, I can’t imagine a more perfect wine.
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