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New Yorkers made a run on Portland urban winery Division Winemaking Company's supplies, nearly cleaning the winery out of its stocks. Turns out when the New York Times sings our praises, they're just fattening us up before they have us with dinner.
Portland-area wineries dominated the New York Times' November 10 roundup of wines to drink with Thanksgiving dinner. In particular, renowned wine critic Eric Asimov singled out Division's Gamay Noir as the best red to pair with a Thankgiving meal.
Well, good luck getting it now.
According to winemaker Thomas Monroe, supplies went "lickety split" after the article came outâand not just the 2012 Gamay. "We got as many calls in one day as we've ever received," says Monroe. "We didn't even know that article was going to come out."
It wasn't just the winery's gamay noirs that sold out. The winery is down to its cabernet franc, its chardonnay, its pinot noir "Un", and the gamay nouveau it released on November 20. Though the website currently appears to allow orders of the pinot noir "Deux" from 2012, the last six cases of that wine are also shipping out.
"It's been really great," Monroe says, "except we don't have any wine to sell." The next spring release of 1,000 cases will occur in March 2015.
For now, we recommend picking up the nouveau if you'd like a Thanksgiving gamay from Division. We tasted it yesterday at a successful Nouveau Division Wine Crawl, and the lightly acidic red was delicious paired with little salmon rilletes at Block and Tackle. (Our favorite nouveau, nonetheless, was the very jammy, very French Georges DuBoeuf at St. Honore, paired with one of the bakery's addictive little chouquettes.)
For now, we recommend picking up the nouveau if you'd like a Thanksgiving gamay from Division. We tasted it yesterday at a successful Nouveau Division Wine Crawl, and the lightly acidic red was delicious paired with little salmon rilletes at Block and Tackle. (Our favorite nouveau, nonetheless, was the very jammy, very French Georges DuBoeuf at St. Honore, paired with one of the bakery's addictive little chouquettes.)
However, Monroe says, a certain number of cases of Division's gamay noir were held for wine club members at the SE Wine Collective. So if you sign up, you can get it there.
In the same article, Asimov also named Forest Grove's Montinore Estate's Almost Dry riesling one of his two favorite whites (our arts and culture editor favors Montinore's Müller-Thurgau), giving it the same three star-rating he gave to a sauvignon blanc from the Loire.
Florence brought the 2013 Almost Dry riesling from the undersung Montinore Estate. It was an interesting choice, as many people fear the hint of sweetness that âAlmost Dryâ implies. But this wine was bright and refreshing, with light floral notes.
Portland winery Teutonic's 2013 Crow Valley Vineyard riesling got middling praise, though Asimov noted it was a "producer I ordinarily love."
Commenters on the site complained they couldn't find the wines at their local stores. They apparently found a way to get hold of it.
For locals, Montinore Almost Dry is available at their tasting room in Forest Grove and at many New Seasons locations. Teutonic's wines are also carried by New Seasons. We don't know for sure whether New Yorkers know to call New Seasons for wine.
WWeek 2015