Oregon Pinot Camp 2008

I remember when we were standing around at a typical road show wine tasting in 1998, in a typical hotel ballroom in Chicago, behind our typical white tablecloths, in alphabetical order: Adelsheim, Bethel Heights, Chehalem… David and Harry and I saying to each other how “this could be a tasting from anywhere – we look just like everybody else. We need to get these people out to Oregon.”  That was the beginning of Oregon Pinot Camp.

Every June since 2000, invited members of the wine trade from around the country have been coming to Willamette Valley wine country for OPC:  three days of total immersion in the Oregon wine experience. Small-group workshops at wineries and vineyards during the day, grand tastings and dinners under the stars at night. Much much better than a road show.

This year Bethel Heights hosted two sessions of the “Cool Whites” workshop. Three flights of six wines each were tasted and discussed: Chardonnay,Pinot Gris, and “Fruit Salad” – an eclectic assortment of other white varieties, which this year included Riesling, Arneis, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Blanc.

Bethel Heights winemaker Ben Casteel introduced the Fruit Salad flight by saying that even though these are minority varieties in Oregon, often available only at the wineries in very small quantities, these are wines that winemakers love to drink, and that’s why they make them. We have Ben to thank for the fact that we are making Gewurztraminer again at Bethel Heights, after a thirteen-year hiatus, and planting Riesling in our new vineyard after pulling it out of the estate vineyard sixteen years ago.

Ben Casteel, Dave Paige (Adelsheim Vineyard), and Michael Davies (Rex Hill) listen to Moderator Tony Soter telling the Pinot Campers at the Cool Whites Seminar at Bethel Heights that panelists are not allowed to say the word “pH” in the seminar. What’s that all about? Need to investigate further.