Appointments

Posted on May 7, 2012
Filed Under other stuff | Comments Off

We are open by appointment, want to taste? Use your phone and ring me at 503.737.9703. Thanks, Todd

The 2010 MdB gets some love in this write up from Storyteller Wines!

Posted on May 7, 2012
Filed Under debauchery, berserker rants | Comments Off

Storyteller Wine Company

At the beginning of Davis Guggenheim’s documentary “It Might Get Loud,” Jack White takes two pieces of scrap wood, a handful of nails, a Coke bottle and a long strip of wire and builds a working guitar. As he plugs the Switchcraft male cable mount plug into an old Peavey amp, you can see the wire flex and twitch with electricity. This wine is that wire.

2010 Biggio Hamina Cellars Deux Vert Vineyard Melon (17.00 at the winery)

You may be more familiar with the Melon de Bourgougne grape in its role as Loire Valley Muscadet. Or, if you have ever enjoyed a California Pinot Blanc, odds are good you were actually drinking Melon de Bourgogne. But that’s a story for another newsletter. You don’t find a lot of Melon growing in the Willamette Valley but Mike and Patty Green planted a small plot in their Deux Vert Vineyard back in 1994. Those vines are starting to strut their stuff and winemaker Todd Hamina makes an astonishing wine with the fruit.

Astonishing? Yup, this wine will confuse even the most jaded palate. How can something made in the Willamette Valley seem so positively “old world” in nature? In the words of winemaker/wine writer Craig Camp, “…this is the first American Melon that I’ve tasted that will actually remind wine drinkers of the great wines of Muscadet, where the only really great examples of this variety have been produced.” Lately I have been drinking a ton of great Muscadet from folks like Domaine de la Pépière and Jean-Pascal Aubron and I could not agree more with Craig’s assessment.

Todd’s take on Muscadet has an aromatic profile that will confound and surprise even the most confirmed “old world” wine devotee. At first sniff I didn’t pick up anything remotely related to fruit. Instead I was dazzled by scents of talc, beeswax, wet granite, a wee bit of lanolin and lemon balm. It has a freshness that reminded me of when I was a little kid and we didn’t own a washing machine or a dryer. But we did have an old clothesline in the backyard. My mom must have had a laundry powder that was scented with lemon because when those damp sheets, towels and various pieces of clothing would go up on the line I loved the damp, clean lemon smell that would fill up the yard. This wine reminds me of those happy moments.

I have known Todd for a long time. I think the first time I met him is when he came to Illinois over a decade ago to tout his Patton Valley wines. So when he tells me to check something out, I take it seriously. A few years ago I was packing up the family and heading to Newport, Oregon for a mini-vacation. Before I left Todd emailed me and said “you have to go eat at Local Ocean.” Sure I said, is it really good? To which Todd replied, “yeah, it’s superb, but they just put my new wine on the list and you have to try it with seafood.”

So there I am, on a bright, sunny day, sitting at Local Ocean and watching the fishing boats cruising back into port. On our table was a mixture of fish tacos, fresh tuna steaks, Dungeness crab soup and a bottle of the first vintage of Todd’s Melon. I took one sip and I knew I was drinking something different from any other Oregon white wine I had ever had. This wine was 12% alcohol and packed with minerality. It was lean, jangly and nervy. Just like Jack White on that farm fresh guitar. It was one of the best meals I have had in Oregon, one I try to replicate every time I go to the Oregon coast.

This year’s model of the Biggio Hamina Melon is flat out great. It is super lean and all torqued up with acidity. I found a wide range of flavors, from a cedar-lined drawer and fennel to Mr. Zogs surfboard wax and a citrus quality that I can only describe as lemon dust heating up on a light bulb. This is a fantastic, exotic white wine, one that will give you that Jack White sneer, daring you to pair it with anything other than seafood. If I were you, I wouldn’t cross it.

The 2010 Biggio Hamina Deux Melon will set you back 17.00 at the winery, but let’s make that 30.00 for a special “introductory” two-pack, 85.00 for a six-pack or 162.00 for a case of 12 bottles. The seafood is up to you.

From Storyteller Wine’s latest email, nice news about the Syrah

Posted on March 14, 2012
Filed Under berserker rants | Comments Off

Story Teller Wine Company

It was a beautiful, sunny day here in the Willamette Valley. So I hopped in the car and decided to drive down to McMinnville to visit winemaker Todd Hamina. I wanted to check out Todd’s new winery facility and I also wanted to taste a few of his Pinot Noirs to see if there wasn’t something I could feature in a Storyteller newsletter. As we walked around the barrel room Todd gestured to one barrel in particular and said, “recognize this one?” After that it was “so long Pinot Noir (for now), hello Syrah!”

About four years ago my son and and I went to visit Todd when he was making wine at ADEA Wine Company. While Todd and I were talking, my son, looking for something to do, grabbed a black felt pen and had started to decorate a wine barrel with stick figure soldiers from the American Revolutionary War. It was a barrel that held one of Todd’s experiments from the 2007 vintage: co-fermented Syrah (80%) and Viognier (20%) and it became rather famous around Portland as the “XX” (for 20%) Syrah. I loved that wine so much I pleaded with him to bottle it separately from the rest of his Syrah. He did and it sold out in record time.

As we laughed about that barrel decorating incident Todd asked if I would like to taste some Syrah from that cool, rainy 2007 vintage. I thought he was talking about a library bottle but no, it turns out Todd has stashed away some Syrah and it is available for purchase. I thought at first it was the infamous “XX” but Todd quickly pointed out that no, this was the wine that I didn’t write about. Well after tasting it and hearing the deal Todd was willing to strike, I am more than willing to correct that oversight.

2007 Biggio-Hamina Deux Vert Vineyard Syrah (20.00)

In case you aren’t familiar with this label, allow me to introduce you to Todd Hamina. Todd has had the good fortune to learn alongside some of our best winemakers, including Adam Campbell (Elk Cove), Mike Etzel (Beaux Frères) and at Archery Summit with the late Gary Andrus. Those apprenticeships paid off as he got his first head winemaking job (as well as being named vineyard manager and national sales director) at Patton Valley. After Patton Valley Todd took over as the head winemaker at Maysara and helped oversee the fulfilling of the late Jimi Brooks’ (Maysara’s first winemaker) dream to see Maysara become a Demeter certified biodynamic producer. By 2006 Todd knew he had to become his own winemaker and in 2007 Biggio-Hamina had its first vintage.

The 2007 Biggio-Hamina Syrah is made entirely with Syrah (93%) and Viognier (7%) from Mike and Patty Green’s Deux Vert Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. This is the wine that barrel of “XX” was supposed to be blended with. It is 100% whole cluster because Todd wanted to give the wine some “ooomph” in a vintage year that was wet and cold, even by our standards. After that it was aged in a combination of Oregon oak barrels (only 20% of which were new) and large demi-muids in order to minimize the oak influence.

Syrah and Viognier are rare enough in the northern part of Oregon, but the decision to co-ferment was definitely breaking new ground. In fact, It was Todd’s decision to co-ferment northern Willamette Valley Syrah and Viognier that inspired friend and fellow winemaker Marcus Goodfellow to start making the Matello Fool’s Journey Syrah-Viognier I wrote about in an earlier newsletter. So from here on out, whatever becomes of the Willamette Valley’s grand Côte-Rôtie experiment, this bottle is where it all started.

I will confess that I tasted this wine soon after it was bottled and I wasn’t super impressed. Part of that was probably due to being dazzled by the “XX” and part of it was tasting the wine too early, but a larger part of the equation was the fact that Deux Vert Vineyard Syrah fruit typically makes wines that are tight and unyielding at an early age. I remember writing a note to remind myself to check this wine out again in six months, then I promptly lost the note. I can kick myself for that given how this wine is tasting today.

When first opened, this wine has a nice, light plum color that looks like you took a purple crayon and dragged it sideways across a concrete sidewalk. The sidewalk metaphor makes even more sense when you get your first sniff of the wine. It has a dusty/chalky kind of mineral note that combines beautifully with aromas of tart, dark raspberry fruit. Take a piece of white chalk, dip it in raspberry juice and then write a sonnet on a chalkboard. That’s how this wine smells. A few more sniffs turn up a bit of dried hay and violets, along with the slightest touch of seared meat.

If you have never had a Biggio-Hamina wine before, Todd makes wines in a lower alcohol, higher acid style that does really well with food. If you are looking for an over-the-top fruit explosive device, keep looking. So the 2007 vintage, while challenging in many ways, really played to Todd’s strengths. With this Syrah-Viognier you are looking at a wine that clocks in at 12% alcohol and is so easy and elegant that it positively floats over your palate. There are flavors similar to what you find in the wines aromatics, with lots of raspberry fruit, wet rocks and what can only be described as a nicely coffee-charred flank steak. And somebody cracked some black pepper on that steak!

But that’s after it has been popped and poured. Todd gave me a sample bottle to take home, one that had been open at the tasting room for three full days. It was really something to be able to try this wine after so many days of “airing out.” Now it was way more floral as the Viognier seemed to have been awakened after a seventy-two hour nap. It had a sweeter floral note on day three, one that left the violets in the dust in exchange for all the lilacs my nose could handle. The palate had gone from stubborn to silky and now it tasted like a juicy little blackberry wrapped in bacon. It was still nice and chalky though, and the acidity hadn’t exactly run off to hide.

This is an honest wine for an honest price. It also reminds me more of the Rhone River Valley or southwest France than it does the Willamette Valley. My friend Vincent Fritzsche makes his own wine here in Oregon but on the side he writes a nice wine blog called “élevage.” Back in May of 2009 Vincent had a chance to taste this wine and he wrote, “it’s not intense and deep, but so complex and savory I could smell this all night. In the mouth, it’s nervy and lean, clearly built for food. It was delicious with grilled copper river salmon on a cedar plank. The wine is light in body, but captivating and piquant with a sense of meat and iodine and nicely gripping tannin. The finish is long and lean, a complete opposite to most domestic syrah that overpower with flavor but lack finesse. In sum, I love this wine.” I wish I read this note on Vincent’s blog years ago because it would have definitely jogged my memory!

But here we are, with the opportunity to make amends. Go to visit Todd at the winery and this wine will cost you twenty bucks. And that’s a very fair price. But if you buy any bottles from Storyteller between now and next week, the price will be 17.00 a bottle. A six-pack may be had for the very modest price of 93.00. Or you can take the plunge and go for a case of 12 bottles for 175.00. And with backyard grilling weather just around the corner, this is going to make one heck of a nice quaffer to have around the house.

2011

Posted on January 24, 2012
Filed Under berserker rants | Comments Off

2011 was my sixteenth vintage and easily the biggest nail biter yet. May, June and the first half of July were cold and wet. The growing season flowed slowly and misery was about to destroy any sense of hope. It looked awful. Then August behaved like the perfect child, and September stepped into line as well.

Fruit set was above normal, and that was scary, but not too scary since the canopies were looking very healthy. And lots of fruit hit the ground. Flavors were coming on slowly, and I mean slowly, but coming on. October was cool too, not so wet either. However, the flavor, seed and skin maturities still needed more time, even by mid October they needed more time. And in mid October in Oregon, time is not a factor you think you’ll have much of…

So what’s the rub with the 2011’s? If you didn’t have the fermentation capacity to bring in all of your tonnage at once, then you had to roll tanks. If you had to roll tanks (and by this I mean utilize the vessel two or more times with different lots of fruit) then you had to begin with physiologically immature fruit. You had to start picking green flavored, under ripe grapes, in order for other vineyards to fully mature. This is not especially helpful.

At Biggio Hamina Cellars, like the vast majority of the small to medium producers, we can bring everything in at once. But many of the big players don’t have that luxury, and what’s more troublesome than anybody wants to admit is that they’ll put that dreck out into the marketplace early.

My fear is that just the way 2007 was submarined by critics who tasted those early releases (incidentally, it will be the same culprits in ‘11) and found them substandard; we could see it again in 2011.

So to you, my dear cousins, don’t be afraid. Please, continue to support the producers who have delivered to you beautiful wines in the past. And realize that what 2011 really did was provide concientious winemakers with almost three extra weeks of hangtime to produce fantastic wines. Maybe extra fantastic wines, but you had to wait for it.

Hours for the fall

Posted on September 17, 2011
Filed Under uncategorized | Comments Off

At this point we are open by appointment only. Thanks!

From oregonwine.com

Posted on August 9, 2011
Filed Under debauchery | Comments Off

http://www.oregonwine.com/section.cfm?wSectionID=984

Some love for the 09 Zenith Pinot noir

Posted on June 20, 2011
Filed Under debauchery, berserker rants | Leave a Comment

http://www.wineisseriousbusiness.com/

Episode 92…

June 1 & 2

Posted on May 31, 2011
Filed Under other stuff | Leave a Comment

We will be closed. Open for Friday and Saturday, thanks.

The latest email blast

Posted on May 27, 2011
Filed Under berserker rants | Leave a Comment

It looked just like this:

Biggio Hamina Cellars showcases the 2009 Single Vineyards.

Hi,
It finally looks like Spring has truly arrived, and just in time for May’s Wine Weekends. We thought that it would be fun to take a look at the 2009 Deux Vert Vineyard and the 2009 Zenith Vineyard Pinot noir. We are pleased with them both as they are forward drinking and easily accessible, which can be a wonderful combination. 2009 provided us with a warm growing season, especially August which was very hot!

By utilizing a fair amount of whole cluster in our fermentations we were able to handle the high sugar content by allowing the stems of the clusters themselves to soak up the excess alcohol while still in the fermentors. In this manner we attained civilized alcohol levels, 13-13.5%, from elevated Brix levels.

As with all Biggio Hamina Cellars wines we strive to make sophisticated wines that marry beautifully with food. In order to do this we utilize Old World techniques in the cellar: complete fermentation, total malolactic conversion, extended lees aging, and a stalwart attitude towards filtration (we don’t like to).

We are fortunate to work together with fine growers and visit the vineyards like zealots, just ask them. A responsible attitude to the living earth is tantamount to our success in the cellar. We have our Farmers grow diverse cover crops, and while we do green manure, we don’t have them till.

I look at it like this; the years it takes to build up the soil biota and plant fauna needs to be fostered and protected. It just makes sense to let all those critters in the dirt make the plants happy. A happy plant makes tasty fruit. We strive for tasty fruit.

So come on in this weekend, and next, and taste our efforts. The kitchen is open and Caroline is making some fantastic cuisine that pair so finely with our wines. One of the best aspects of our new location is the fact that we put a full service commercial kitchen into our Wine Bar. We serve lunch and Dinner during our regular business hours as well as for these weekends.

Caroline was classically trained at the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, New York and has worked at some fantastic restaurants around the country. She has been to numerous James Beard Dinners during the 1990’s, and now that our children are older she has come out retirement. This is a very good thing for all of us! Let me remind you again, Lunch: Wednesday through Saturday, and Dinner: Friday and Saturday nights.

On the 21st we are open from Noon to 9:00, and for Memorial Weekend we will be open Saturday from Noon to 9:00, Sunday 11-5 and Monday 11-5. Come visit! For Memorial Day Weekend it will be $10 for the tasting, and there will be some special guests (Denison Cellars and Jan-Marc Wine Cellars) too!

We are looking forward to seeing you, feeding you, and sharing our wines with you.

Yours truly,
Caroline Biggio Hamina and Todd Hamina

Technical notes on what is at the bar (and then some)

Posted on May 20, 2011
Filed Under tasting notes | Leave a Comment

2009 Pinot Grigio $17
Cougar’s Mark vineyard
Willamette Valley AVA
150 cases produced

The vineyard was planted in 1994 and the soil type is Jory, which is volcanic. It is located on Baker Creek road outside of McMinnville.
The wine is fermented completely and technically dry, undergoes full malolactic fermentation (when malic acid converts to lactic acid), is cold stabilized outside in the winter.
It is not sterile filtered.

2009 Melon de Bourgogne $17
Deux Vert vineyard
46 cases produced

Same style of fermentation as the Grigio. Deux Vert vineyard is on a marine sedimentary soil type called Willakenzie. It is located just East of the town of Yamhill between Willakenzie and Shea vineyards.
Dry and full malo.

2009 Rose of Pinot noir $17
Zenith vineyard
23 cases produced

Zenith vineyard is located in the Eola-Amity Hills outside of west Salem. It’s soil is called Helmick which is one that saw glacial activity crumble many rocks into the topsoil.
One barrel was made by draining 60 gallons of brand new Pinot noir out of a freshly filled fermentor after 24 hours. It was then barrel fermented like a white wine. Also dry and full malo, zero filtration.

2009 Riesling $20
Amity vineyard
120 cases produced

This vineyard was planted in 1974 on Jory soil. The vineyard is in the Eola-Amity Hills. This is the only wine we make that has residual sugar (8 grams per liter), so it is also sterile filtered.

2008 Willamette Valley pinot noir $25
460 cases produced

A blend of Ana, deux Vert, Hawk’s View and Zenith vineyards. 10% new French oak, 30% whole cluster.

2008 Deux Vert vineyard Pinot noir $36
Yamhill-Carlton District
168 cases produced

Willakenzie soil, 37% new French oak, 35% whole cluster.

2008 Hawk’s View vineyard Pinot noir $36
Chehalem Mountains
48 cases produced

Laurelwood soil, which is a wind blown Sedimentary type. 50% new French oak, 20% whole cluster.

2008 Zenith vineyard Pinot noir $36
Eola-Amity Hills
148 cases produced

Helmick soil, which is one that has quite a bit of Glacial activity on top of it. 30% new french oak, 30% whole cluster.

2008 Cuvee Katri, Deux Vert vineyard Pinot noir $88
Yamhill-Carlton District
23 cases produced

A single new barrel of the most delicious Deux Vert we have made. 33% whole cluster.

2008 Cuvee Lucca, Zenith vineyard Pinot noir $88
Eola-Amity Hills
23 cases produced

A single new barrel of fantastic Zenith vineyard Pinot noir. 33% whole cluster.