From Crater Lake we headed east over the mountains and down into Oregon's
most exciting new wine country in the south of the state along the I-5 corridor
in Ashland/Medford and points north. As we were staying at the Winchester Inn
while attending the wonderful Oregon Shakespeare Festival, we decided to try
their highly rated restaurant Alchemy (www.alchemyashland.com) which was a total
treat.
Our server Hallie spoke to us about her love of wine and had hopes to own a
vineyard one day and was most kind in offering tastes from the wine list. We
loved many of the areas Viogniers, so we tried the 2013 Trium Viognier which
just didn't do much for us. We returned to our favorite local winery (which we
had discovered the first night in Oregon at Andina in Portland) and adored the
Quady North 2012 Steelhead Run Viognier from the Applegate Valley. We visited
the winery earlier that day in adorable Jacksonville and fell in love with
their tasting room manager Davis, who poured everything he could find for us (we
left with two cases and a new wine club membership---as I write this 4 days
later, we have just shipped back close to 20 cases we purchased and I can't even
add up the new wine club memberships we have!). The wine was awesome, the plain
French bread with a nice salted herb butter was unremarkable.
The day we had just completed included three wineries, a farmer's market
and the most awesome of cheesemakers in all of Oregon and perhaps the entire US
of A, Rogue Creamery. As soon as I saw the menu starter of Stuffed Endive with
Pickled Garlic Beets, Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue, Honey Tarragon & Shallot
Vinaigrette, which also had sunflower seeds and micro greens, I was in love.
Will, forsaking our hometown, ordered the Dungeness Crab Salad with Baby
Arugula, Orange Supreme, Garlic Lemon Aioli, Sunchoke Chips and Hazelnut Oil
which was a wonderful treatment of so many local Oregon ingredients. We love the
fact that there is so much amazing local farm fresh stuff here that appears on
every menu. The crab was actually quite wonderful, but we still prefer Maryland
Blues.
We moved onto another wonderful Oregon wine on Hallie's recommendation,
which we have not had for some time, 2010 Cristom Vineyards "Mt Jefferson Cuvee"
from the Willamette Valley (where we were heading the next day). This wine's
name was also important in that our main reason for coming to Oregon was for my
cousin's wedding the previous weekend, which was indeed held at the foot of Mt.
Jefferson!
The wine is rich and creamy and truly an ideal Pinot Noir from Oregon and
went magnificently with both varied main courses:
Will had the Trio of Diver Scallops which were seared and given various
treatments.
Anaheim Chili Corn Relish, Heirloom Tomato, Sherry Bacon Vinaigrette, Corn
Puree, Grilled Leeks and a Kaffir Lime Risotto. It was a superb dish marred only
by the fact that the risotto was like a crunchy block of rice; perhaps the chef
needs to start with some basic pasta training.
They got my Stuffed Quail perfect with a light stuffing of rabbit sausage
with Italian black plums and a superb Purple Haze Goat Cheese Polenta along with
Fig Marsala reduction, Grilled Asparagus and Pea Tendrils. I was one happy
camper.
We decided to be adventurous with our dessert wine choice and went for a
local 2009 Abacela Port, which really needs work. We had tasted several Petite
Sirah local ports and we felt they just were not quite right in general; this
was okay, but no prize.
Layered Chocolate Cake of chocolate sponge, chocolate mousse all wrapped in
a Chocolate Ganache shell with pecan brittle, salted Caramel sauce, Orange
marmalade gelee and whipped cream was okay, but just a bit too much for my
palate.
We need to learn to stick to the amazing fresh local Oregon berry
desserts.
We climbed the two flights back to our room, packed and headed off to bed,
knowing that this is a region we must return to..and sooner than
later.
