Weekly Wine Online

On a cold Wednesday night in San Francisco, I walked down from Russian Hill into the gully of Polk Street. Fog was rolling in making auras around all the lamp posts and headlights, and people walked around cuddled up against each other, ducking into restaurants and houses. Made me want to cuddle up as I wrapped my jacket tighter around me and waddled on to a tasting. A perfect night for some hearty red wine!

William Cross Wine Shop was glowing amidst the closed stores with light and laughter pouring out onto the sidewalk. In the back of the shop, a crowd was gathered around the bar, arms sticking out reaching for more. The owner gave me a nod and a smile as he grabbed a wine glass and I stretched over a huddling mass for my first taste of wine.

The winery of the evening was Owen Roe, a small boutique spot located about 45 miles east of Portland, Oregon. The winemaker, David O'Reilly, is Irish and named the winery after Owen Roe O'Neill, a legendary 17th Century Irish Patriot with a passion for doing what's right. (If you google "Owen Roe," you find not only wine but a lot of Irish folk song sing-a-long albums, too!) I wouldn't say the wine is perfect, but it's obvious from both the passion of the gentleman pouring the wine that night and the beautiful packaging of each bottle of wine that the effort is there. The winery is young - started in 1999 - and I think with each year the wine will get better and better.

We started off with what was actually my favorite wine of the evening: 2008 Pinot Gris "Crawford-Beck Vineyard", from the Eola and Amity Hills. On the nose was a faint scent of lemon and pear. But the palate was surprisingly good! While still delicate, it had great lime and mineral qualities. There was no risidual sweetness either. It tasted quite similar, actually, to a very limey gin and tonic (and that's just how I like my gin and tonic!). Unfortunately, the store was already out of the 12 bottles they were allocated, since there are only 100 cases made of this wine. Guess I'll have to stick with the gin and tonics.

Yumminess factor: 8.5; Pairing with food: 6 (drink it on its own, too weak for food, I think); Buy it again: 10 (if only I could find it!)

Next up was the 2008 Sharecropper's Pinot Noir from Oregon. When I heard the name "Sharecropper's," I imagined visions of the great sharecropping story, "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry." But the story of the wine is that when Owen Roe was first starting opened, a neighbor tried to sell the winery his grapes to make wine. David and team were skeptical, so they said, "ok, we'll make it. But we're not buying the grapes. We'll make the wine, and we'll split the profits." The wine was a hit, and the arrangement still stands today.

As for the wine, it had a very intense deep cranberry color to it, which caused me to ask if there was any syrah in it. But no, it was 100% pinot noir; 2008, they said, just had a very long harvest resulting in dark, juicy fruit. On the nose were rasberry & cranberry, and the palate had bright red fruit with some dusty earth and a general juicyness. While being tasty, and especially tasty for its fair price in the mid-$20s, I have to say that I did not go bonkers for it like I usually do for Oregon pinot (see entry on Amity Vineyards).

Yumminess factor: 6.5; Pairing with food: 6; Buy it again: 5 (doubtful)

I kept anticipating that the next wine would be a knock-your-socks off upscale pinot noir, but instead I was served a strange combination of Zin, Sangiovese and Malbec in the Abbot's Table 2008 from Columbia Valley. Clearly, this is an experimental wine. And while I appreciate the uniqueness of the blend, the nose was a strange combination of cayenne, pommegranate, earthiness and some stewed vegetables. And on the palate was all menthol. Perhaps I am just a simple taster, but the vastness of flavors on the nose followed up by the taste of ben-gay caused me to dump and move on.

Yumminess factor: 4; Pairing with food: 0 (too many flavors on the nose to pick one food); Buy it again: 1

Sinister Hand 2008, a GSM (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre) blend in the Rhone tradition had a nice dirty, dark red color, which got me excited for what I was hoping would be a stinky, old-fashioned Southern Rhone-like wine. The wine was pretty nauseating, though. Like the Abbot's Table, it was medicinal, and there was hardly any fruit. Needless to say, this was a dumper, as well.

Yumminess factor: 1; Pairing with food: 0 (too many flavors on the nose to pick one food); Buy it again: 0

I loved the name of the next wine - Ex Umbris Syrah - and I've attached below a link to a blog of a gentleman that gave it a great write-up. "Ex Umbris" means "Out of the Shadows," and by this point, I was very ready to get out of the shadows of mediocre wines 3 and 4. This 100% syrah wine had a  nose of dark molassas and huckleberry jam. On the palate was the taste of a balsamic reduction and stewed cherries. I didn't love it, but I could tell it was very well made. Kudos to the winemaker on this one. My favorite part, though, was definitely the name.

Yumminess factor: 5; Pairing with food: 4 - maybe a savory beef stew?; Buy it again: 3

By the last wine, I was one of the only winos left in the bar. I had been there for an hour and a half scribbling notes on the back of balance sheets leftover from my day job and hoping that one of the wines would move me. Finally, Lady Rosa Syrah came to my rescue. This dark purple wine from the Yakima Valley and Rattlesnake Hills and Washington State was the ringer. With lovely blackberry and stinky earth on the nose, it represented the syrah family well. The palate was dark and tangy with fantastic acidity. The chewy cassis flavors almost caused it to resemble a well-made Napa cab. According to the gentleman pouring the wine, this wine will only get better. With all that acidity, I can see that this wine will be fantastic about 2 years from now. And at $40-ish a bottle, it might be worth the investment...

Yumminess factor: 7; Pairing with food: 7 - steak; Buy it again: 6 (but only if they didn't have the Pinot Gris available)

All in all, it was a fun tasting. I wouldn't say Owen Roe is a star, but it is a quality family of wines. And on a cold night, mixed in with great neighbors and a great ambiance, overall it tasted pretty darn good.

Other blogs that have written about Owen Roe:

"Riding Shotgun on the Hell Express": http://www.rperro.com/

RJ's Wine Blog: http://www.rjswineblog.com/2009/08/owen-roe-winery.html

Best deals I could find online:

2007 Pinot Gris, 2008 Sharecropper's Pinot Noir and 2008 Abbot's Table: all $20.95 at www.northwest-wine.com

2008 Sinister Hand: $23.95 at www.northwest-wine.com

2007 Ex Umbris Syrah: $19.99 at www.klwines.com

2008 Lady Rosa Syrah: $44.95 at www.northwest-wine.com